You know it’s going to be a bad day when she storms into the building, screams at the receptionist, walks in without saying hello to anyone and slams the door of her office behind her.

You see her typing away furiously on her keyboard behind closed doors and it isn’t long before you hear the incoming mail alert.

“Dear colleagues,

Our productivity was below average this month and as such, we will be instituting new rules, effective immediately:

• Bathroom breaks are to take no longer than five minutes and are not to be taken more than twice a day.
• Coffee breaks are hereby banned. You are paid to work, not to drink coffee and chat. You can do these things on your own time.
• Women in the office are to wear concealing clothing and no make up. We feel you are distracting your male colleagues and this must stop.
• Spot desk checks will be performed. Your desk is a place for you to put your work. Photo’s of ‘loved ones’, cartoons or other distractions will not be tolerated.”

So, perhaps the above story is a little exaggerated (or perhaps not, in my own experience!), but we’ve all worked in offices with managers who make you wonder how they actually got to be managers in the first place. After all, it clearly had nothing to do with their people skills.

Type A personalities of the old school Anglo ‘Command and Control’ style of top down management are thankfully becoming a rarity in Australia, but remnants of this archaic and aggressive style of management can still be seen in corporate Australia from time to time.

Interestingly, the above picture is in direct contrast to the Swedish style of Management.

In Sweden, the manager is considered to be a facilitator rather than a dictator.

It is common for staff to go on long coffee breaks, with management’s blessing, in order to reach consensus on different ideas and thoughts.

Consensus is really the key word when it comes to Swedish Managers. Like Australians, the Swedes pride themselves on being an egalitarian society. However, they take it a little further than Australians, particularly in the workplace.

It is not uncommon for a Swedish manager to work within an open door style management framework, allowing employees to come and speak about the concerns and worries they have and facilitating a solutions-based discussion.

In this country, it is an outlandish and perhaps revolutionary idea – that by not cracking the whip you may actually be able to achieve better results from people. The Swedish style of management is also on trend, as coaching, mentoring and facilitation are becoming the catch phrases of choice in 21st century management vocabulary.

The concept of personal responsibility is a culture within the Swedish workplace. This puts the onus back on the worker to, in many ways, manage themselves and this is backed up by the fact that everyone else is doing the same thing and it has become an expected standard of behaviour.

Importantly, this is also the style of management that Generations X and Y are inherently drawn to. So, guess what? If you want your company to build its employer brand and become an employer of choice among Gen X and Y, you need to make sure that your managers are adept at this open style of Swedish-designed management.

The Swedish style of management also lends itself to innovation – as evidenced by highly innovative Swedish companies, like IKEA. The freedom people feel to speak their minds without fear of negative repercussions or put-downs leads to an environment in which innovation can flourish.

The Swedes understand that by listening to all ideas, even the ones that seem foolish, they foster a culture of employees who think for themselves.

This is not a practice that can be replicated and implemented overnight. It needs to be ongoing, so that employees have time to trust and believe that this isn’t just a one-off change and that everything will revert to normal fairly soon. A corporate culture of personal responsibility will also take time to foster.

The pay offs, however, are potentially substantial. Managers will spend less of their time managing disputes and grievances and more time fostering consensus among staff; staff will be more content and have a greater investment in the success of the organisation; innovation and free-thought will flourish; and attraction and retention of staff, particularly those in Generations X and Y, will become easier.

It seems clear that Australian managers potentially have a lot to learn from their Swedish counterparts.

By opening the door on consensus-based Swedish-style management, Australian organisations may find a range of benefits, for less effort, than they had ever thought possible.

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For more information about Anders Sorman-Nilsson, please go to: www.Thinque.com.au

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” ~ Buddha

We’re several days into the New Year, and many of us are still basking in the glow of a fresh start.

Every year, January brings renewed optimism for change, for a better life, for a better you. And that’s a wonderful thing.

It’s wonderful, because this fresh start gives us a chance to reinvent our lives and ourselves. It allows us to reinvigorate ourselves, to shed the baggage of the previous year and do anything. Anything is possible!

That is a gift, my friends, and I suggest we make the most of this gift. Not just by creating and sticking to resolutions (here’s my guide for doing that), but by reinventing the way we live.

Here’s how.

1. Let go.

Many times we are held back by the tangled web of previous failures, commitments, emotions, barriers. We cannot change careers because we’re used to what we’re doing and it’s too hard to change. We cannot find time to get healthy and fit because we have all these other things to do. We cannot find time for our loved ones because we have too many commitments.

This is all old baggage. A fresh start demands a clean slate. Let everything from the past go (easier said than done, I know). Clear your plate and your palate.

Let go of attachments to what you’ve been doing for the past year, or years. Let go of failures. Let go of fears you’ve built up. Let go of reluctance. Let go of your ideas about what your life has to be like, because that’s the way it’s evolved so far. Let go of long-held beliefs and habits.

You have a fresh start. Let go of last year, and start anew.

2. Decide what matters most today.

Forget about your goals for all of this year. Instead, decide: what do you want to do today?

What matters most to you, to your life? What are you most passionate about, right now? What excites and invigorates you? What would give you the most fulfillment?

Often the answer is in creating something, making something new, helping other people, becoming a better person, working on a project that will be an accomplishment to be proud of. But whatever your answer, have it clear in your mind at the beginning of the day.

This might be something you work on all year, or it might just last a month, or it might last a week or a few days, or just today. It doesn’t matter. What matters is today — that you’re going to work on this with all your heart, today. Tomorrow … we’ll decide on that tomorrow.

3. Clear away distractions and focus.

Clear away email and Facebook and Twitter and your favorite blogs and news websites and social forums, clear away the iPhone or Blackberry or Android or cell phone, clear away all the little nagging work and chores and errands that pull at your attention, clear away the clutter that surrounds you (sweep it off to the side to deal with later).

In fact, if you can, shut off the Internet for awhile. You can come back to it when you take a break.

Now, find focus. Even if only for 15 or 20 minutes at first, but preferably for 30-60 minutes. You can take a break and check your email or whatever after you’ve focused. Focus on the thing that matters most. Do it for as long as you can, until you’re done if possible. Feel free to take breaks, but always return to your focus.

When you’re done, focus on the next thing that matters most, and so on.

4. Find happiness now.

Don’t look at happiness as something that will come when you’re done with this goal, or when you’ve attained a certain accomplishment or certain amount of wealth or material goods. Don’t look at happiness as a destination, something that you’ll get later.

Happiness is possible right now. Always remember that. When you push it back until later, it’ll never come. When you learn to be happy now, it’ll always be here.

When you’re doing whatever you’re passionate about, whatever matters most, whatever you decide is worthy of your time and heart and focus … be happy! You’re doing what you love. And that is truly a gift.

5. Reinvent yourself, every day.

Every day, you are reborn. Reinvent yourself and your life, every day. Do what matters most to you, that day.

It might be the same thing that mattered most yesterday, or it might not be. That isn’t important. What’s important is today — right now. Be passionate, be happy, right now.

You’ll have a fresh start every single day — not just on January 1. And that, my friends, is the best thing ever.

If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my friends.

The most important single quality of success is self-discipline. Self-discipline is having the ability within yourself, based on your strength of character and willpower, to do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. Character is the ability to follow through on a resolution after the enthusiasm with which the resolution was made has passed.

Persistence is Self-Discipline in Action

Perhaps the greatest display of self-discipline is persisting when the going gets tough. Persistence is self-discipline in action. Persistence is the great measure of individual human character. Your persistence is, in fact, the true measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to succeed. Each time that you persist in the face of adversity and disappointment, you build the habit of persistence. You build pride, power, and self-esteem in your character and your personality. You become stronger and more resolute. By persisting, you become more self-disciplined. You develop within yourself the iron quality of success, the one quality that will carry you forward and over any obstacle that life can throw in your path.

Get Going and Keep Going

Orison Swett Marden wrote in his book, “There are two essential requirements for success. The first is ‘go-at-it-iveness’ and the second is ‘stick-to-it-iveness’” Referring to the quality of persistence he wrote, “There is no failure for the man who realizes his power, who never knows when he is beaten; there is no failure for the determined endeavor, the conquerable will. There is no failure for the man who gets up every time he falls, who rebounds like a rubber ball, who persists when everyone else gives up, who pushes on when everyone else turns back.”

“Accomplish More in a Month Than Most People Accomplish in a Year”
Your ability to discipline yourself “to do what you should, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not,” is the key to becoming a great person and living a great life. When you develop the habits of self-discipline, you will accomplish more in a month than most people accomplish in a year.

Persistence is Your Greatest Asset

Perhaps your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay at a task longer than anyone else. B.C. Forbes, who founded Forbes magazine and built it into a major publication during the darkest days of the Depression, wrote, “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeat.”

Adversity is What Tests Us

Throughout history, great thinkers have reflected on this paradox and have concluded that adversity is the test that you must pass on the path to accomplishing anything worthwhile. Herodotus, the Greek philosopher, said, “Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence.” The very best qualities of strength, courage, character, and persistence are brought out in you when you face your greatest challenges and when you respond to them positively and constructively.

Action Exercise

Your greatest successes almost invariably come one step beyond your greatest failures, when everything inside you says quit. Think of failures in terms of how you can make them successes.

Learn more from Brian Tracy here at Your Success Club.

Here are 10 practical strategies to get you winning, today.

DON’T:

1. Don’t let someone force a goal on you that you don’t really want – follow your heart.
2. Don’t let the past stop you – past goals you failed to reach have nothing to do with NOW.
3. Don’t think some of your goals are not important enough, not big enough – all your goals matter.
4. Don’t be rigid. Yes, set a path, a goal, and go for it, but tunnel-vision can make you miss vital information and feedback.
5. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Be willing to delegate.

DO:

1. Have a clean conscience. When you feel guilty, you don’t feel that you deserve to get the goals you’re going for.
2. Come from a place of service and helping others get what they want. Serve first and the Universe serves you.
3. Celebrate your wins. Reaching a goal is cause for celebration – and it leads to MORE wins!
4. Support those people who support you – flow power and support to them. It creates a win/win loop of power, and everyone wins.
5. Every day make a list of what you are grateful for – express your gratitude for everything and everyone you can think of!

Click here to learn how to Change Your Thinking

Increasing Your Value

By: Brian Tracy

Your goal is to organize your life in such a way that you enjoy a good income, a high standard of living, and that you are the master of your economic destiny rather than a victim of changing economic times.

Contribution is the Key

Your job is an opportunity to contribute a value to your company in excess of your cost. In its simplest terms, your job is as secure as your ability to render value in excess of what it costs to keep you on the payroll. If you want to earn more money at your current job, you have to increase your value, your contribution to the enterprise.

Add Value Every Day

If you want to get a new job, you have to find a way to contribute value to that enterprise. If you want any kind of job security, you must continually work at maintaining and increasing your value in the competitive marketplace.

And here’s a key point. Your education, knowledge, skills and experience all are investments in your ability to contribute a value for which you can be paid. But they are like any other investments. They are highly speculative.

Knowledge and Education Are Sunk Costs

Once you have learned a subject or developed a skill, it is a sunk cost. It is time and money spent that you cannot get back. No employer in the marketplace has any obligation to pay you for it, unless he can use your skill to produce a product or service that people are ready to buy, today.

Prepare For Your Next Job

Whatever job you are doing, you should be preparing for your next job. And the key question is always: Where are the customers? Which businesses and industries are growing in this economy, and which ones are declining?

Where is the Future?

I continually meet people who ask me how they can increase their income when their entire industry is shrinking. I tell them that there are jobs with futures and there are jobs without futures, and they need to get into a field that is expanding, not contracting.

Never Be Without A Job

There are three forms of unemployment in America: voluntary, involuntary, and frictional. Voluntary employment exists when a person decides not to work for a certain period of time, or not to accept a particular type of job, hoping that something better will come along. Involuntary unemployment exists when a person is willing and able to work but cannot find a job anywhere. Frictional unemployment is the natural level; this includes the approximately 4 or 5 percent of the working population who are between jobs at any given time.

Three Keys to Lifelong Employment

However, there are always jobs for the creative minority. You never have to be unemployed if you will do one of three things: change the work that you are offering to do, change the place where you are offering to work, or change the amount that you are asking for your services. You should consider one or more of these three strategies whenever you are dissatisfied with your current work situation.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, look around you at your current job and find ways to create added value every day. There’s always something more you can do.

Second, identify the kind of work you want to be doing in the future and then make a plan to develop the knowledge and skills you will require to do it well.

I hope you guys got as much out of this article as I did~ You can learn more from Brian Tracy here at Your Success Club