5 Strategies To Get Ahead Of Your Growing Workload In The Digital Age

Most of us have so many tasks to do every day that it can seem unmanageable and overwhelming. The digital marketing workload only seems to increase with each passing week. And phone calls, emails and social media can focus us on the latest and loudest, rather than what is truly important.

The workload isn't going to change, but we can change how we handle it. By prioritizing, we can separate what needs to get done from what could be done, and break down tasks into manageable goals and next actions.

Here are 5 strategies to help you prioritize your work:

1. Trim task lists.

Delete or move the tasks on your list that remain at the bottom and realistically won't get done. This will leave more room to work on tasks that need most of your focus. Rank your tasks to see what you are able to purge. Or use one of the many task management software programs, some of which even have mobile device versions, to more efficiently handle your task lists.

2. Control your inbox.

Email is a great way of communicating, but going through your inbox can be a huge time commitment and it can be overwhelming. Of all the emails you receive in a day, 20% of them are probably worth 80% of the time you spend. Organizing and purging the remaining emails will make the important ones feel more manageable.

3. Set goals.

Determine what is a primary goal for you for the week and what is actually secondary. If you take the time to think about it, the answer may surprise you. And don't just write it down and forget it! Revisit your goals and reward yourself for completing them, or make adjustments if they no longer seem feasible. This should be a living document that changes as your needs change. You can use your email application or other software to keep your goals in a handy, digital location.

4. Evaluate the important vs. the urgent.

Interruptions may seem important, but are they really? Looking at what is truly important can help you to focus on the work that really needs to be done. The urgent tasks may seem like they need to be done now, but take the time to consider if they really need to be handled immediately or if they just seem like they do. Set up action folders in your email application or create to-do lists in other software so that you don't lose sight of your less-than-urgent tasks.

5. Create a schedule.

Think about those tasks you decided were important and make sure you have enough time to work on them. Distractions will come up throughout your day! The important thing is to make sure you budget your time well so you can process your massive inbox and answer that emergency phone call without sacrificing your high priority items.


Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

5 Tips For Improving Your People Skills

Improving your interpersonal skills is something that cannot happen overnight. The only way to improve is to practice and actually do it. Many of the skills may take time for you to adopt, however there are also some quick little techniques that can start to make things easier almost immediately.

1) Stay professional. Remember no matter whom you're talking to make sure you are at your best. The way you act reflects on your character. Learn to deal with situations in an appropriate way.

2) Establish credibility. Be sincere, if you are truthful and upfront with people it will go a long way to gaining others' respect and trust.

3) Understand others' point of view. Remember to reflect on what others tell you, even if you disagree take the time to learn and understand where they are coming from.

4) Learn about others. Take time talk with employees or clients. Conversations do not need to be work related, rather simple conversations that help you learn about the person and build rapport.

5) Be confidant. Keep eye contact and your body relaxed. Be sure to speak clearly and at a moderate pace.


Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

How To Control Your Stress In The Workplace

Pressure situations are present during both good and bad economic times. However, when times are tough the situations can be magnified. Problems at home can directly influence issues in the workplace. It is important as a manager to recognize that your team might have outside stressors affecting their job performance. It is your job to create an environment that reduces stress and promotes engagement. In a workplace environment like this, employees will be more apt to reach their full potential and drive results. Here are 8 tips to help you and your team control stress and worry in tough situations:

1. Live in a compartment of the present. The professional with a commitment to service seals off each interaction with a customer so that negative experiences don't poison future interactions. Don't allow past successes or failures or future anticipated success or difficulties influence your current performance. When it comes to customer service, live in the moment.

2. Don't fuss about trifles. A "trifle" is something that is insignificant in comparison to other things in your life. When you focus on trifles, you lose perspective. Keep the big picture in mind. Doing so will help you objectively sort out the small stuff from the important issues.

3. Cooperate with the inevitable. Realize when your situation is inevitable. If you can learn to recognize situations where you have no control, you can gain some control over the emotional aspects of the situation. By cooperating with the outcome, you are making a conscious choice about how to respond to an inevitable situation.

4. Decide just how much anxiety a situation is worth and refuse to give it any more of your energy. Once you make this decision, it is easier to find ways you can improve on the situation or let it go and move on.

5. Create happiness for others. This principle appeals to your nobler motives. It is difficult to sustain a negative attitude when you are doing something good or helpful for someone else. Simply put: Doing good for others makes you feel better.

6. Expect ingratitude. In your job, you provide many diverse services. When you do so, you probably expect in return some signal of gratitude for your assistance. This expectation is rarely met. If you do receive heartfelt thanks from someone, you should count yourself lucky; you are dealing with a grateful person. Most people are simply not accustomed to being grateful, even when you provide them with excellent service. You shouldn't let ingratitude deter you from providing top-quality service.

7. Put enthusiasm into your work. Enthusiasm is the positive energy and sustained effort that keeps you driving toward your goals. Making a decision to have a positive outlook can be critical in enjoying your job and working with your internal and external customers.

8. Do the very best you can. It can be difficult to deal with criticism, especially if you feel it is undeserved or if it hurts your self-esteem. One way to put criticism in perspective is to ask yourself if you are doing the very best you can with what you know and are able to do. If you are, then you can avoid taking the criticism personally. If there is room for improvement in your performance, you can look at the criticism objectively and take responsibility for improving your performance.


Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

How To Inspire People

It is not easy to instill such work ethic and leadership abilities in others. It's very important to also understand that some people do not share the same goals and aspirations as you might. Keep and open mind and learn to use different techniques to inspire different people. Here are few ways that you can inspire your managers to stand up and lead.

- Challenge - Issue a challenge to motivate people. By laying down a challenge you also create a very clear and measurable goals for the manager to achieve.

- Appeal to more noble motives - Many employees can think that their work does not make a difference. By appealing to a noble motive you can increase morale while also setting higher standards for your managers.

- Be sympathetic - Never tell a person they are wrong. Rather listen and be empathetic to the other person ideas and desires.

- Evidence - Back up your ideas with proof. By providing evidence you can give instant credibility to your ideas. If you have evidence even the most hard to reach managers will take notice.

- Listen - Listen to what your managers have to say. Some employees may not have aspirations to reach top corporate positions, rather they are content if their opinions and ideas are valued.

"Keep your mind open to change all the time. Welcome it. Court it. It is only by examining and re-examining your opinions and ideas that you can progress." – Dale Carnegie


Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

Gain Credibility While Selling

Do you want people to trust you and trust their money in your ideas? Before you gain trust, you have to be viewed as a credible person. Here are a few ways that you can increase your credibility with your prospects during sales calls.

• Give general benefits - Cite general benefits your company provides that relate to the buyers needs, wants and issues.  Prepare and research the prospect before you communicate with them. When you present the ideas it will show that you were interested in helping the prospect not just making money.

• Be specific - Give results of how past clients have benefited. Talk specifically about return on investment. Instead of saying that "This product improves efficiency", say "Company XYZ started using this product last year, since then they have $500,000."
  

• Suggest similar benefits - If a company is going through the same issues as previous companies, tell them. Since you have already given general benefits and then given specific examples it is logical to tie them together.
  

• Don't sell - Focus on the buyer. By knowing the wants, interests and needs of the prospective client, giving specific examples of results, and then connecting them together, you are appealing logically to a client. Make the logical connection and prospect will know you are not just another sales person.

Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

Learning To Network

Networking is an important part of any job. Getting fresh ideas and perspectives can enhance the way you work and what you are able to contribute to your organization. While it is imperative that you make contacts, it isn't necessary that you be the life of the party to do so.

With this in mind, take note of these tips for making your networking a success.

• Make an effort to remember names. Keep in mind that a person's name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language to them. People naturally feel friendly toward you if you've made the effort to remember this one important fact about them. And, because you took the effort, they'll likely feel you're already a friend. It's really fairly easy to remember people's names, and it may be the most important career skill you can learn. We go into detail on this strategy in the Dale Carnegie Course, but the key is to associate the person with something you can easily picture so you can recall this image when you are trying to think of their name.
  

• Create conversations and be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves, because people love to speak about their lives. All you have to do is ask a few leading questions and most people will keep the conversation going with only a few comments from you leading them to further details. Get people talking and before you know it, you'll have plenty of fresh contacts lined up.
  

• Become genuinely interested in other people. Being a good listener is important, but the next step to keeping up the relationship is to really care about these people. Remember things about their personal lives or their jobs and sincerely show you care. For example, I once had a co-worker whose daughter had a serious illness. At least once a week I stopped by and asked how her daughter was doing. It doesn't take much of your time to make people feel as though you truly care about them, but it will forge lasting relationships that will help you throughout your career.

These are some truly easy ways, which can enhance your relationships with people both in your personal and professional life. Don't worry that you are not the one doing all the talking. In most cases, it is best to listen and then share to form a real bond.

Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

Stay In Control During Stressful Situations

Are you concerned about the financial turmoil? Is your worry affecting your work performance? Are you concerned about losing your job? Probably...and it's not doing your health any good to worry about it either.

Here are some strategies to keep you going through the next few months:

1. Keep busy.
With companies closing doors and laying off employees so quickly, you're fortunate to have the next few weeks to collect the information you need and set up a plan of action. First, list all the people at your current job who would give you a good recommendation when a new opportunity for employment arises. Next, evaluate your skills. Research jobs available in your area and try to determine what skills they would require. Since you are in human resources yourself, call some human resource contacts to determine if any openings will be, or are available. Begin updating your resume should you come across any job opportunities you believe you may be interested in.

2. Cooperate with the inevitable.
Everyone has unexpected changes that occur in their lives. The office is closing, and you'll need a new job. Those facts are beyond your control, and worrying about them will only affect your work performance and have a negative affect on your health. However, what you can control, is how you will handle this situation, and have a positive outcome from this. This is a great time to look into a career change you may have been considering, or perhaps a new type of work environment, or just a different department to work in.

3. Decide just how much anxiety this is worth and refuse to give it more.
You've realized your situation, and you've come up with a plan. Now, you'll likely find that concentrating on your future is going to be your main concern. Also, remember that you're a very capable worker, or you wouldn't have been with your current company for as long as you have. You have the skills to utilize at other companies.

4. Live in "day-tight compartments."
Handling each day as it comes will keep your workload manageable in size, and the situation will be easier to handle. Deal with each situation as it arises. Set goals for yourself each day, and as you complete them, you'll realize that you can handle more and maintain focus.

Realizing that change is a part of life, and not reserved as something that happens only to ourselves, we can gain control of a situation by working on how we will react to it. Worrying and panic may seem like the natural response, however in the long run, these reactions will only have a negative effect. Keep in mind to handle each situation as it comes, living day by day, and that taking control of the situation by making a plan for yourself will help you overcome this hurdle.

Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

Coaching To Become A Better Manager

There's little room for followers in today's fast-paced world. Whatever your role, you're responsible for getting something done. And the way to meet that goal is to be a good coach. A manager can tell people what to do, when to do it, and how to do it but only a good coach can motivate them to give the job their full attention. While others may point out problems, a coach is there to help solve them. Many in leadership positions will hold a carrot out for people to go after. But a coach will motivate the individual to want to achieve the highest performance possible. Below are some guidelines to help you be a better leader by coaching your employees:

1. Listen.

Conduct an "innerview." Get to know the individual better. Discuss the family situation, the high points and low points in their lives. Find out how they survived low points

2. Ask insightful questions.

Whenever your employees complete an assignment, ask them three things they felt were accomplished effectively in the project and find out which one area that could be improved. If they were on target with the area that needed improvement, praise them for the good work.

3. Don't avoid the negative.

An effective team considers every member's input and ideas. Although it is sometimes easier to dismiss negative or contradicting feedback and comments, take into account that the team members who are in the most disagreement, can also be a strong advocate of the solution and can provide valuable insight from a different perspective.

4. Don't pretend you're perfect.

It is important to realize that there are times you need to criticize as a leader. Criticism need not always have a negative connotation to it. You can build rapport. Try relating similar issues you faced and talk about how you resolved them. Focus on the behavior or action, not the individual. Reassure the employee that he or she isn't a bad person.

5. Build self-esteem.

What we are actually and frequently coaching most of the time is really fear and self-confidence. Recognize the employee's achievement. Or encourage people by telling them how valuable their work is.

6. Believe in what you do.

Coaching is hard work. It's rarely given the limelight. Yet, by being a strong coach, you can move your team to work wonders while giving individuals the sense of accomplishment they need.

Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

How To Win Respect For Your Ideas

1. Try to see things from the other person's point of view.

Your colleagues may be comparing your ideas to theirs. Try to see your proposal from their perspectives. Imagine the questions that your co-workers may have, and how you would answer them.

2. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.

Understand that your colleagues can be just as enthusiastic regarding their work as much as yourself. Being receptive to their opinions can bring on a new perspective you haven't considered, and will assist your colleagues in keeping an open mind to your ideas once they realize you are sincerely interested in theirs. Perhaps you can even incorporate each other's suggestions into your project.

3. Show respect for the other person's opinion.

Never say, "You're wrong." Your colleagues have their own views and ideas and want to be heard as much as you do. While their views may differ from your own, that doesn't necessarily make them incorrect or useless. Negative comments will create defensive walls, create arguments, and essentially cause others to tune out. Be attentive to what your colleagues are saying, and sincerely consider their proposals.

4. Dramatize your ideas.

Be enthusiastic about the work you've done and back up your work with facts and examples. Your colleagues will appreciate your well-thought plan and your enthusiasm, and give it the credibility it deserves.

By incorporating these techniques in your next meeting, you will begin to gain respect from your colleagues for your suggestions and learn to become a better listener as well.

Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.