While we often think of conflict as something to be avoided, conflict also presents opportunities. It presents an opportunity to develop your management skills, produce new ideas, and cement your authority. Conflict occurs in every organisation. What matters is how you deal with it. Watch this Skill-Pill for tips on how to resolve conflict in the most positive manner possible for all those involved.
 
If you're committed to being a mission-driven leader of an engaged team, you see that even failures are an opportunity to reinforce your collaborative culture of energized, freshly motivated individuals who respect themselves, each other (and that includes you), and what they do... Your behaviour will solidify your team as a group who survived a big- if bad-adventure, and their shared learning will teach them to work more smoothly together the next time. (Getting the Best From People, by Martha I. Finney. P.135)
 
 


If an individual is not working to their best, it could be for a number of reasons. To overcome this, it's vital that you understand your team. You need to recognise that what motivates you might not motivate them. Understanding the background of colleagues can provide a good insight into motivation and improving performance. Watch this Skill-Pill for advice on how to understand and motivate your team.
 
I often hear experienced managers complain that "people just aren't motivated to work anymore." If this is true, the fault is with managers and organizational practices, not the employees! When employees lack motivation, the problem almost always lies in one of five areas: selection, ambiguous goals, the performance appraisal system, the organization's reward system, or the manager's inability to shape employee's perception of the appraisal and reward systems. (Managing People, by Stephen P. Robbins. P.34)
 
 


Being made redundant is a difficult process. You'll go through a range of emotions such as anger, sadness and fear. These are all completely normal and entirely understandable, but in order to bounce back from a redundancy you need to snap out of it. This Skill-Pill contains a wealth of advice on how to bounce back including tips for finding new employment.
 
If you're mainly worried about "recession-proofing your job," you don't own your career. When you're worried about keeping your job, you have given ownership of your career over to your employer- who just may not want it anymore, regardless of how well you play internal politics. This position is keeping you rigidly attached to the perception of security. Real security can be found when you regard your job as only a small moment in your career. (Rebound, by Martha I. Finney, p.16)
 
 


Contrary to popular belief, a customer who has a complaint that is well handled is more likely to buy again than a customer who never had a complaint. Watch this Skill-Pill to learn how to structure your staff to best address complaints. You'll also see how to turn complaints into opportunities to learn, and gain loyal customers.
 
Be suspicious when told something is impossible. Experts will seldom tell you an outright lie. However, when they say, correctly, that something is impossible, they may well know that if you changed the question slightly then you could achieve what you wanted. This is why it is so important to explore the underlying issues and not to let your experts get you bogged down in irrelevant detail A good question to ask is,'Is there anything I can do that will give me 80 per cent of what I want?' (Brilliant Manager, by Nic Peeling. P.65)
 
 


Being an effective manager is no longer enough. Now organisations are looking for effective leaders at every level. If you want to be a leader it's essential that you can deal with every challenge you face. This Skill-Pill demonstrates how to meet the challenges you face as a leader and how you can inspire unshakeable confidence.
 
 
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