New Years Eve is typically the time when many people make New Year’s Resolutions.

Unfortunately, many of those resolutions get broken, sometimes on the very first day of the new year!

Here are some guidelines for setting achievable goals for yourself and your business in 2008:

1. Set the goal high enough that there is about a 50/50 chance of hitting it. Goals that are set too low don’t motivate you to try hard enough to achieve them. Goals that are set too high cause you to give up too quickly because you figure you can’t possibly hit them. This works with both personal goals and career and business goals.

2. Make your goal specific. For example lose weight is not really a goal – Lose 10 pounds by June 30th is more specific.

3. Bring your goal to life – cut out pictures, make up reminder signs – imagine success and the positives that will come from achieving your goal. Set a reward for yourself when you achieve the goal.

4. Examine your behaviours – look at the behaviours that work against your goal and those that support it. Remember that goals will require you to act and even speak differently in order to get a different result. Often we don’t need to make dramatic changes – just a few strategic small changes in behaviour can yield big results. If you’re in sales perhaps you’ll decide to ask for referrals or make on additional prospecting call per day. If you want to lose weight, perhaps you will trim portion sizes, go for a walk once a day.

5. Take action – do something each and every day to move towards your goal. If you find yourself procrastinating, chances are the goal isn’t enticing enough to motivate you or you are letting your wn self talk or others to keep you from success.

Next Monday, Jan 7th I will be away, however when I come back on Jan 14th we’ll be telling everyone more about the Personal, Career and Leadership Success Seminar on February 20th at the Caboto Club. Get on the guest list at www.LeadershipWizard.com.

Dear Santa:

I have been a good employee all year and wish that you could help my manager bring me the following gifts this season. They would help me become happier and more productive next year.

1. Give me the gift of clear expectations – help my manager become more clear in what he or she expects of me. I am tired of guessing the expectations and getting limited direction.

2. Give me the gift of regular feedback – rather than wait until my performance review, I wish my manager would give me feedback regularly – daily, weekly and monthly. If he or she gave me regular feedback on what I was doing well or needed to improve, I would do my best to improve.

3. Give me the gift of feeling part of the team – like everyone else I have the need to belong and feel part of the team. Help my manager build a stronger team by treating people fairly, not playing favorites and not talking about people behind their backs.

4. Give me the gift of better communication – help my manager keep me better informed about what is going on. If communication is so important, why does my manager do so little of it? Sure they are busy – typically doing things that we the employees could do if only they would delegate and stop trying to make every decision themselves.

5. Give me the gift of praise and recognition – it’s natural to find faults but please help my manager notice all the good things we are doing and tell us about them more often. We will be more likely to repeat the good things if they are mentioned to us more often. On the other hand when our manager focuses on the negative, we tend to give him more of that. Human behavior is funny, eh Santa?

6. Give me the gift of a challenge to grow my talent – My manager finds it easier to keep giving the same assignments to the same people. He thinks it makes his job easier but it really hurts our flexibility and we want something new to do every once in a while. One of the reasons I will stay in my job is because I can learn something new.

7. Give me the gift of training (and train my boss too!) – Show me I am important by investing in me to do my job better. My manager could benefit from some training too – making my wishes come true. I think even my manager’s manager needs some training because my boss behaves the way his boss expects. In fact most of the behaviors my boss wants to change come all the way from the top!

A wish of Merry Christmas and Season’s greetings to all listeners. I will be back on New Year’s Eve for some tips on setting achievable goals for 2008.

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There are still a number of managers out there who are bullies – they treat people in an aggressive and demeaning way – and they are making life miserable for their employees who are victims to their bullying – and what the boss might not realize – it is hurting the bottom line as well.

An acquaintance of mine, Karen, recently had to endure a two-hour berating from her boss -on the telephone – the boss hurled one accusation after another at her – without giving her an opportunity to respond to his tirade. Needless to say this made her very upset. My advice was for her to set up an appointment and go visit her boss face to face. When she did confront her boss and told him that his behaviour was unacceptable he backed right off and the relationship got back to a more professional one. My congratulations go out to her and my encouragement goes out to others in the same situation.

Bullying is really a defensive behaviour – Bullies get their power by controling others and by making the other person fearful and weak. Because they do it in such an aggressive way, they think they look strong to others. And they continue to get away with this behaviour because no one will stand up to them.

What do you recommend to those employees who have a bullying boss?

Do what Karen did – wait for an opportunity after the tirade, ask to see the boss one on one – in an assertive and professional tone – tell the boss that their behaviour towards you is unacceptable and that it cannot happen again. It might feel awkward but generally the result will be a change of behaviour because the boss has been called out for their behaviour. If there are no results then I suggest to go to the individual’s manager and tell them about the situation. You will definitely get a lot of strength from standing up.

What recommendations for the bully boss themselves?

If you are the type of boss who treats people poorly and are demanding and demeaning – realize that by instilling fear in others, you are driving down productivity and profitability. Make a decision to change your approach, accept yourself for who you are and confront the reason why you are being defensive. It will be the best Christmas present ever for the people who tolerate your behaviour.

Remember to get on the guest list for the Personal, Career and Leadership Success Seminar on February 20th at www.LeadershipWizard.com

It’s the time of year when many companies have their holiday Christmas party so I thought we could share some tips to help you enjoy and steer clear of any pitfalls – potential career limiting moves:

1. Don’t drink too much – For many people, the draw of an open bar encourages them to drink way more than they should. Being drunk tends to bring out behaviour that will be noticed by others but not in a good way.

2. What you say can be held against you. You have the right to remain silent – okay maybe being silent is a bit extreme. Many presidents of companies have told me about the really dumb things employees have said and done at the company Christmas party – it really can make other people think less of you. Look at point number one – if booze gives you liquid courage to say things you shouldn’t – then don’t drink too much.

3. Avoid being too friendly! – I’m talking about the amorous side. This is not the time to make your move on someone from the office that you have had your eye on. Not only is it career limiting – it can result in some explaining back at home if you happen to be married or committed. At one company Christmas party, an executive had some explaining to do to his wife when he danced a little too intimately with his secretary. Again this is linked to consumption of alcohol and mistletoe.

4. A word of warning to employers – you have some liability related to letting employees get drunk at a company function so consider giving out only a couple of drink tickets, arranging cabs, etc.

5. If you do want to let loose at bit more, go out on a different night, or I’ve seen that some people will hit the bars after the company party starts to wind down.

A reminder to get on the guest list for the Personal, Career and Leadership Success seminar on February 20th – go to LeadershipWizard.com. I want to say a big hello to the folks at Brighton Beach Power – a fantastic group to work with.