Polos and Work Shirts: The Pick of the Litter for Business Uniforms

It's always exciting to start a new job at a reputable company, but if the required uniforms are uncomfortably stuffy, the anticipation of clocking in may decline a few notches. Polos and work shirts are definitely the preference when it comes to uniform gear.

One of the benefits of dispensing Polos and work shirts to employees is the easy upkeep. There's nothing worse than the look on a supervisor or manager's face when an employee shows up in a wrinkled garment. While it is possible to wrinkle Polos, it would take a lot of effort, such as scrunching the shirt into a ball, running over it with a steam roller and then attaching it to a flag pole to flutter in the wind! As long as the worker washes, dries and hangs up the Polo or work shirt in a normal and proper way, they should be able to walk into work wrinkle-free. Really, the only concern at hand for management is making sure the Polo work shirt is tucked into the dress pants or jeans and not stylishly (and sloppily) hanging loosely over the waist line.

Employees prefer polos as work shirts because they simply are more fun and comfortable. These duds are less confining and resemble the casual attire many people would likely wear during their everyday lives rather than a button-down, stiff dress shirt.

Solid color Polo work shirts also add a bit of excitement to the atmosphere of a retail store or restaurant for business patrons. They project a lively and playful environment which sends a message of light-heartedness and sincerity. Additionally, providing employees with matching Polos and work shirts will send a message to customers that help can be attained by simply tracking down an eye-catching red work shirt, for example.

For a retail business, such as an electronics store, it is probably best to keep the Polo work shirt direct and modest as to express the utmost professionalism and business-like atmosphere. Name tags would be a nice addition to add a personable touch to the customer-salesman relationship. Instead of blue jeans, require employees to present themselves in a more salesman-type way, accompanying the Polo work shirt with dress slacks or kaki pants and comfortable, yet clean and tidy, shoes.

However, in a restaurant scene, the more fun the ambience the better. Encourage employees to not only display name tags, but also sport entertaining (but tasteful) pins or broaches and colorful animated buttons. This adds a memorable experience to the paying customer. Because most restaurant workers are required by the health department to secure long hair, providing employees with solid color baseball caps that coordinate with their Polos or work shirts will add to finesse of the uniform. Not only will instituting Polo work shirts into uniform requirements for your business add a controlled and professional appearance to your sales floor, but it was also instill a high-spirited and lively attitude in your employees, as they will feel more comfortable and less confined in their work uniform.

Poor Performance Reward And Recognition

The most effective tool in a manager's toolkit for dealing with poor performance is coaching. Not screaming at them from the stands and withholding rewards but working with them down on the pitch to find out what's causing the problem and building their fitness and stamina like the corporate athletes they should be.

The study of how we interact with one another in society is called Transactional Analysis. This research has broken down the complexities of the hundreds of interactions that we have every day into a simple model.

In principle there are three modes we can adopt in any transaction that we participate in with another human being. We can choose to be Adult which is a non-judgmental, constructive approach. We can choose to play the role of a Critical Parent which involves being highly scathing and negative or we can choose to take the role of child. There are a few variations on the child role but the simplest is the submissive, fearful role a bit like catching a rabbit in your headlights.

It goes without saying that the most progress in any transaction is going to made if both parties adopt an Adult role. Parent to Parent transactions tend to be about how good things would be without the others.

It is a common phrase used to describe everyone from a small schoolchild to old-age pensioners; he or she just has "the wrong attitude". Unfortunately, telling someone this is never going to make a difference. It will always get the reaction "I don't think there's anything wrong with my attitude." and, if there's nothing wrong, why fix it?

To communicate your feelings better it may be worth breaking down what "Wrong Attitude" actually means in each case. This is because it acts as a sort of umbrella phrase to cover a wide range of behaviors. It is also a very aggressive criticism and can be very hurtful to hear; causing a defensive reaction.

Child to Child transactions tend to be about having fun and let's not bother with work. Practical jokes, for example work at the child level in transactional analysis and are harmless as long as they are infrequent and risk-free.

Coaching should always be conducted on an Adult to Adult basis if a change in behavior is to be brought about. Adopting a Critical parent approach will bring out the Child in anybody and is more likely to reveal displacement behavior "It's not my fault", "What about the others?"

With effective coaching each individual should be encouraged to identify their weaknesses and to implement an improvement plan for their self-development. The coach can help along the way by introducing the person to good role models, by making development opportunities available and by helping to monitor progress on a regular basis.

Poor performers don't have to stay that way. They can pretty quickly get themselves into the recognition league by concentrating on the issues that really matter and proving that they have the will to excel.

Portfolio Management - Let The Professionals Take The Load

Do you have a lot of shares in different companies?
Do you have a large sum that you are looking to invest in the stock market?
Are you finding that doing the essential research too time consuming?

You might want to consider a portfolio management company.

Share Portfolio management is an option for those with a high value portfolio of shares, or a large amount of capital to invest in shares and commodity futures. Portfolio managers have various minimum values that they require to actively manage your investments.

The reason large minimum values are in place is because of the high commission charges that these companies make. It would not be worth a small investor, with $10,000 employing a company to manage his portfolio of shares in one or two companies.

Having a professional Portfolio Manager does remove a lot of anxiety from the individual. The manager's role is to ensure that your portfolio is a balanced one, without excess exposure to currency fluctuations or to any one sector of the market.

It is part of the managing company’s role to conduct research, so that they can advise you on the best options. Research is an area that many individual investors find difficult, unless they spend hours every day watching share prices. The professional advisor employs people to conduct research into specific companies or market sectors, allowing you access to better research than you would have otherwise.

Your Portfolio Manager will also ascertain the degree of risk that you are happy with and ensure that your portfolio of shares is not at odds with your risk acceptance.

For anyone with a smaller amount than a Portfolio Management Company will manage there are other options. Look at Investment Trusts and Unit Trusts. These are companies which take investors cash, pool it and buy a balanced portfolio of shares in stock market companies, reducing the investor's overall risk.

Find out more at http://www.portfolio-management-today.info.

Praise Matters

In working with businesses and organizations of all kinds, I hear the same concerns everyday:

How do we increase productivity?

How do we improve Customer service?

How do we keep people actively engaged in their work and with others on their team?

How do we reduce turnover?

How do we improve safety?

Even if you aren’t thinking about or concerned about every one of those questions, I’m sure at least one of them has kept you up at night in the past.

As leaders we think about these things because they impact the success of the organization.   As coaches we think about how to impact these things day-to-day, person-by-person.

As a coach, someone helping people improve their performance for the benefit of both the individual and the organization, there are typically two types of feedback that you could provide on their performance at anytime.   Constructive feedback (sometimes called criticism) and positive feedback (which I will call praise).

Forgetting the words for a minute, these two types of information are important to anyone trying to do anything better.  We need to know what we aren’t doing quite right, so we can adjust, and we need to know what we are doing well, so we can replicate that. Makes sense doesn’t it?

Now, let’s look at the words.  I looked up criticism in my thesaurus and here is what I found:

“1. censure, faultfinding, disapproval, condemnation, disparagement 2. a judgment, evaluation, appraisal, analysis, assessment, estimation, valuation, 2 b critique, review, commentary.

I also looked up the word praise, and found:

“v. 1 acclaim, laud, applaud, pay tribute to, compliment, commend, eulogize, extol, honor, sing the praises of, pay homage to, endorse…”

Now, think about these two lists of synonyms.  Granted, not all of them make sense in a business context, but ask yourself these questions:

· Which of these things have I received more of in my professional life?

· Which of them motivates and inspires me to strive for greater achievement and higher performance?

And now with your coach’s hat on, think about these questions:

· Which of these things do I share more often?

· Which will help me most inspire and motivate others to reach their potential?

If you are like me and most everyone I’ve ever discussed this with, you have received more negative, “constructive” feedback than positive, encouraging feedback at work.  And you believe that with more encouragement or praise you might have been more successful quicker.

The point in two words?

Praise matters.

Want some more proof?

According to a Gallup survey outlined in the book, How Full is Your Bucket? 61% of American workers received no praise at work last year.  61%!  And the #1 reason people leave their jobs is because the feel unappreciated.

It is undeniably true.  You can prove it from your personal experiences and from the hard data.  Praise matters. And it is vastly underused as a coaching tool by most people most of the time.

As you finish reading this and walk away from your desk and begin interacting with people (whether you coach them or not), keep these things in mind:

· <B>Everyone needs recognition and reassurance.</B>  Hopefully the exercise and the data above confirm this fact for you.

· <B>Praise gives us pride in our jobs.</B>  Given a choice, would you rather have people who take pride in their work, or not?

· <B>Praise generates enthusiasm and commitment.</B>  Committed people can work miracles, so it pays to build commitment.

· <B>Praise builds loyalty.</B>  What are the real and hidden costs of employee turnover?

· <B>Praise prevents people from feeling taken for granted.</B>  When people feel taken for granted they are less committed and loyal, aren’t they?

· <B>Praise motivates us to “go the extra mile.”</B>  The extra mile is often where we find satisfied customers, higher returns and more.

· <B>Praise improves our relationships.</B>  Would you like to have better relationships with those you lead, coach and work with?

· <B>Praise takes hardly any time and costs nothing.</B>  There are few things in life that can produce such great returns for such a small investment.

Get that praise tool out of your toolbox.  Dust it off and allow it to become shiny with use.  It is an easy tool to use.  It is a fun tool to use.  You might even want to take it out of your mental toolbox and lay it on top of your desk so you remember to use it more often.

If you want answers to the questions at the beginning of this article, start with praise, because praise matters.