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Booster Breaks: Improving Employee Health One Break at a Time Review

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(More customer reviews)The American workplace is notorious for being overly stressful and nonconducive to a healthy lifestyle--even in the health-care sector where I have worked for more than 30 years. Many of my coworkers still drink numerous cups of coffee, smoke cigarettes, and eat fatty and surgary snacks to propel them through the workday and to meet project deadlines. So I have to admit my excitement when I discovered this evidence-based book on booster breaks. Although the book targets organizational managers, the healthy ways recommended for using 15-minute work breaks should be welcomed by anyone seeking to reduce work-related stress and improve productivity.
Tied to a computer in my work as a medical editor, I long ago learned the value of physical movement during the workday. However, I never thought of using other break activities, such as meditation, relaxation techniques, and rhythmic breathing. With so many break activities to choose from, everyone should find the type of break activity that works best for them should they decide to take solo breaks or breaks with their coworkers. The Appendix also offers other resources for anyone who wants to design his or her own booster break activities.
Overall, the book is concise and well written. I would recommend it to anyone who is seeking a novel approach to health promotion and stress reduction.

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What a Difference 15 Minutes Can Make!Making healthful changes takes less time than you may think. Booster Breaks take advantage of regularly scheduled work breaks and give employees an easy and enjoyable way to replace unhealthful break activities, such as smoking or eating junk food, with healthier alternatives. These small changes, made in a supportive environment, give employees a simple way to develop healthy habits that they will carry with them, both on and off the job.Booster Breaks empower employees to make positive lifestyle changes, and help them to:* Reduce stress* Improve morale* Increase productivity* Enhance health and well-beingBooster Breaks are a new way of thinking about work breaks. They provide the support and encouragement employees need to take a break from bad habits and form healthful new habits.

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Organise Yourself: Clear the Clutter; Take Charge of Your Time; Manage Information (Sunday Times Creating Success) Review

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(More customer reviews)Just as you would hire specialists to organize your closets, use John Caunt's tips to organize your business and personal life. He offers creative ideas for individuals who perennially can't find their notes and miss their deadlines, and provides some modest but workable solutions to chaos and clutter. Getting organized may not seem difficult, if you are an organized person. If you aren't, Caunt understands. He has given this idea a lot of thought, and his useful book may help you overcome bad habits and become more productive. We recommend this easy-to-read handbook to disorganized people who have always wondered how the other half does it.

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Many people find it hard to get on top of their workload. They constantly bounce from one task to another and struggle to prioritize, which can have a serious impact on productivity.
Organise Yourself helps readers develop effective organizational skills and dramatically improve the way they work. It contains tips on seeing through complex problems, building positive workplace habits, avoiding information overload, overcoming distractions and interruptions, organizing work space and filing systems, making effective use of technology, and coping with the challenges of working from home.

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Dealing with Difficult People: Handle Aggression; Manage Conflict; Motivate Poor Performers (Sunday Times Creating Success) Review

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(More customer reviews)This was a worthwhile and short read, primarily meant for workplace hassles. Lilley pulls out the best points from other authors, especially Bramson's Coping with Difficult People. I liked the brevity of this book, compared to Dealing with People You Can't Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst - that book was helpful for its breakdown of intentions (get it right, get it done, get along with others, get appreciated), and what happens when these are frustrated. I'm looking forward to reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coping with Difficult People which has really good reviews.

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Workplaces are filled with all types of people, and some of them can be very difficult to get along with. By understanding difficult people and their behaviors, a savvy individual can resolve the awkward and problematic situations created by difficult people.Dealing with Difficult People looks at difficult behavior – what drives it and how to cope with it. Issues Roy Lilley discusses include: recognizing the seven types of difficult person, handling aggressive people, handling conflict, motivating lazy colleagues, dealing with difficult customers, and handling complaints. Practical and accessible, this book is recommended for managers looking to improve performance, sales people looking to win more business, or anyone who has to deal with difficult colleagues or the public.

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The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook: How to accomplish more in less time, less effort, and less stress--Second Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)I attended Pierre's "Accomplishing More with Less" workshop at Stanford a few years ago. I valued it so much that I hired Pierre to do the workshop for my staff. And yet, I confess, I practice only half of what I learned that day. So when the workbook was released, I eagerly ordered a copy, hoping it would reinforce what I learned and help me get back on track. It has exceeded my expectations! There are more details than what we were able to cover in the workshop, and I love being able to go back to the key points and visual aids that address my particular needs.
Pierre's values and expertise shine through this workbook. He genuinely wants to help people be more productive, without laying on judgment or guilt-trips. He presents productivity issues less as a human failing and more as a universal workplace struggle. Too many of us have too much to do, too much information and too many interruptions. Pierre helps us understand why we feel overwhelmed and how we can change with very simple and practical techniques. I love the "Maybe Later" box! Whether you take baby steps or giant steps, I guarantee Pierre's techniques will help you accomplish more - maybe with the same time rather than less... but certainly feeling better about it! Thank you, Pierre!

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Join us in making the workplace less hectic and interrupt driven, more satisfying and results driven instead. We work and live in an era of interruptions. The very moment you begin a task, you are stopped by emails, IM's, colleague visits, phone calls, meetings, and now, tweets and Facebook updates. The very technologies that were invented to enhance productivity have made it nearly impossible. Not only this, we are bombarded by an unprecedented information overload dominated by the Internet and globalization. This puts unreasonable demands on our work and personal lives, and as a result, we suffer, feel helpless, and our accomplishments decline. This needs to stop. We invite you to join us in this movement. Will you join us? This journey starts in this workbok and the comprehensive and innovative methodology that it teaches you!This second edition of The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook demonstrates the e-mail tips and techniques in Microsoft Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, and Outlook 2003, as well as includes tips on how to implement these techniques in other e-mail clients such as Gmail, Apple Mail, Entourage, and others.

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How To Say It for First-Time Managers: Winning Words and Strategies for Earning Your Team's Confidence Review

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(More customer reviews)Managers must be able to communicate with their employees. However, new supervisors generally do not get promoted on the basis of their communication skills. The executives who promote them assume, often mistakenly, that terrific salespeople or bookkeepers magically will become strong communicators. If newly appointed managers can't communicate their ideas, directions and instructions, the areas they supervise will fall apart. Jack Griffin's valuable book on communication for novice managers dictates what they need to say and how and when they need to say it. He suggests the best words to use and those to avoid, and even the body language inexperienced managers should adopt. getAbstract finds this book insightful, informative and comprehensive, filled with useful tips and techniques that will benefit anyone who wants to communicate.

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Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time Review

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(More customer reviews)How many times have we dropped the ball in onboarding new employees? Too many times to count.
This step-by-step guide will ensure that it never happens again. The book is a must read for every HR professional, no matter where you work.
I recommend it to all my colleagues.

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A guide to getting new employees recruited, oriented, and productive—FAST
"Onboarding," a growing trend in the business community, is a focused methodology that gets people in new roles up to speed quickly and efficiently. This book guides you through a process that enables you to recruit, orient, and enable your new employees to get the job done. Learn how to inspire and encourage your new employees to deliver better results faster.
George Bradt and Mary Vonnegut's Onboarding helps ensure that your new employees are productive and efficient from day one. You'll learn how to help them assimilate into your corporate culture and accelerate their learning.
Onboarding is one of the hottest trends in business
This is the first book about onboarding
George Bradt is a leading speaker and consultant, and the author of The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan

For business leaders and managers who want well-trained, responsive, efficient, and effective employees, Onboarding helps you get the best from your new employees.

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Optimizing the Power of Action Learning: Solving Problems and Building Leaders in Real Time Review

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(More customer reviews)Michael J. Marquardt has developed a problem-solving tool. His process, which can be adapted by organizations of any size not only provides solutions but also builds leaders and teams.
Marquardt, a professor of HRD and Program Direction of Overseas Programs at The George Washington University, is an expert in action learning. His process has six components.
1. A problem - It must be significant and urgent.
2. A group - The ideal group has between 4 and 8 diverse members.
3. Questions - Initially, team members are restricted to questions. This reflective inquiry period develops a thorough understanding of the problem.
4. Action - The group is authorized to implement their solution.
5. Learning - A commitment to the process is as important as the solution.
6. A coach - Someone is needed to keep the group focused.
A key step is "action." Learning is meaningful only if some type of action is taken. Action generally involves four steps:
1. Understand and Redefine the Problem. This is often the most important step.
2. Articulate a Goal.
3. Develop and Test Strategies.
4. Take Action and Reflect on the Results.
Marquardt includes a 12 step plan to introduce action learning to your organization. Properly implemented, it will accomplish three goals for your organization:
1. It will provide solutions to problems.
2. Develop leaders.
3. Build a problem-solving culture.

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Rethinking Retention In Good Times and Bad: Breakthrough Ideas for Keeping Your Best Workers Review

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(More customer reviews)You might think that a recession is exactly the time when good employees batten down their hatches and cling to their jobs, even if they do not like them. Think again. Really talented employees can find work during any economic period. Indeed, they change jobs all the time. Such turnover cuts productivity, making operations less efficient, and burdens companies with heavy employee replacement costs. Although the tariff can be staggering, most organizations do not have a formal - or even an informal - retention abatement process. Instead, they relegate retention to a sideline human resources department activity. To correct this operational oversight, retention consultant Richard P. Finnegan provides the "Rethinking Retention Model," a robust best-practices program you can use to cut down on expensive employee churn. In his heavily researched and sourced book, Finnegan thoroughly details the exact steps organizations should implement to increase retention. He offers numerous case studies that illustrate how companies hold on to their best employees. getAbstract highly recommends this comprehensive, logical, thoughtful guide as an ideal resource for CEOs, managers and HR executives who need to close the revolving door.

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How do organizations keep the workers they want? Until now, employee retention strategies have been based on instincts rather than research. With no firm body of knowledge to use as a guide, employee turnover has been a problem for all organizations. This book is the first to offer a top-to-bottom, organization-wide retention action plan. Many organizations lose employees and profits because they don't know which processes to put into place to cut employee turnover. They speak of building retention cultures but don't know who should do what and when. This hands-on tactical guide gives those answers, providing specific strategies and tactics backed by the author's own research and on-site experience. It is essential reading for all types of organizations-large or small, public or private, with high concentrations of low-skilled or high skilled workers, and across multiple industries. Also addressed is how to retain your high-performing workers in slow economic times. If you are losing workers you want to keep, this book will tell you how to put retention solutions in place across Read this book with a pen in your hand. Circle ideas you like, strike through those you don't, and make notes as to how you can apply these tactics in your company. Then pass it on to a colleague and ask her to do the same. Stir up your company's thinking on employee retention so progress happens, fast.-From the Introduction, Rethinking Retention

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OOPS 13 Management Practices That Waste Time & Money (and what to do instead) Review

OOPS 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money (and what to do instead)

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(More customer reviews)OOPS! really gets to the point about what needs to be done and how to do it. It is extremely helpful in pinpointing ways to be better managers. I enjoyed reading it and I have bought copies for friends that I know are in need of managerial advice.

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Getting a Project Done on Time: Managing People, Time, and Results Review

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(More customer reviews)I have read several business related books which have been a waste of my time. However, this book is clear, concise, and very easy to apply to daily work. It helps you by giving a defined process and also addresses the "what ifs" associated with many aspects of managing a project. I found the book easy to read and hard to put down. I found myself say "so thats why I have a hard time of accomplishing a certain phase of the project". Almost all of my questions were addressed....and answered in this book. It's a definite "must read" for new project managers.

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This guide to successful project management provides an easy-to-follow roadmap to planning a course of action, staying on track and finishing a project. The book supplies step-by-step instructions on project management, including how to: begin a project with realistic goals; apply planning techniques to co-ordinate multiple tasks and activities; and communicate with supervisors and influence colleagues. It provides guidelines that are applicable to a wide variety of readers, from a newly appointed project manager to a tech professional with a complex assignment but no team. It is also filled with self-assessment tools, checklists, tips and other aids for getting a big job done on time and with desired results.

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The First-Time Manager Review

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(More customer reviews)Many rookie managers feel like imposters until they grow into their jobs, but if you are scaling that learning curve, help has arrived. Authors Loren B. Belker and Gary S. Topchik provide managerial coaching for new occupants of corner offices (or, at least, of cubes with windows). The text provides novice managers with concrete examples, solid discussions, helpful suggestions and insights on a wide menu of corporate challenges. Although the book is redundant in spots, and needs more extensive chapter summaries, it is a terrific tutorial for managers. We recommend this book to everyone in managerial slots, especially those who just arrived.

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Get Rid of the Performance Review: How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing--and Focus on What Really Matters (Business Plus) Review

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(More customer reviews)Ah, the business/career advice book, that calm appeal to mature rumination in favor of some innovative approach! That is NOT this book. This is a would-be inflammatory polemic looking to send mobs of its readers, pitchforks and torches in hand, to overturn the oppressive and inefficient old regime and bring in a new and happier age.
Okay, I exaggerate a bit. The book is full of rational arguments establishing the dysfunctionality of the performance review ("PR""). The tone, however, is wholly unlike that of most such books. Culbert writes with the zeal of a righteous preacher, who knows sin when he sees it and strives to extirpate it root and branch. And he wants the reader to join him. He hammers away (sometimes repetitiously, as in all good sermons) at the evil and promotes a remedy at once more effective and virtuous, what Culbert calls a performance preview ("PP").
Other reviewers outlined Culbert's strictures against the PR, so I will not repeat them at length. My own experience has been that Culbert is spot on. The PR is irremediably one-sided, subjective, boss-serving, dishonest, counter-productive and backward looking. It leaves employees demoralized and concerned more about personal "faults" than business objectives.
The PP, as Culbert describes it, at least has a chance to create true teams, with everyone (including the boss) jointly accountable for achieving team goals that reflect business objectives. To work, the PP requires trust and honesty between and among subordinates and boss. Culbert recognizes that this can be difficult both to establish and to sustain and must be worked at. Without trust and honesty the PP approach will fail.
Culbert's views are anchored in his deep belief that a desire for useful work is a central part of our humanity. The work experience, he thinks, should thus be satisfying as well as efficient; and fulfilling as well as profitable. He believes that the PR makes attaining these goals impossible. He may well be right.
This is an interesting and passionately argued book, well worth the reading.

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Harvard Business Essentials: Performance Management: Measure and Improve the Effectiveness of Your Employees Review

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(More customer reviews)An easy-to-read and easy-to-understand book on performance management for those who are new to the subject. This is a very nice book for those who do not have a formal education in the subject and who wish to work towards improving the performance of their team.
I highly recommend it for all managers!

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Today's competitive workplace demands that managers evaluate employee performance, and provide coaching. PerformanceManagement will help managers prepare for a formal performance meeting with a direct report, and create a development plan to increase employee productivity.The Harvard Business Essentials series is designed to provide comprehensive advice, personal coaching, background information, and guidance on the most relevant topics in business. Whether you are a new manager seeking to expand your skills or a seasoned professional looking to broaden your knowledge base, these solution-oriented books put reliable answers at your fingertips.

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