Don't be afraid of failure.

A lot of people avoid doing a lot of things because they're afraid of not doing them well. If you sometimes find yourself immobilized by the fear of failure, try any or all of these suggested antidotes.

1. Don't be so hard on yourself. "Failure" is a relative term, depending on who is doing the measuring. A "failure" by Rembrandt might be considered a success if it were painted by someone else. If you want to lose 20 pounds and only manage to lose 15, is that failure? Really?

2. Don't view every situation in black-and-white terms. If you set a goal and pursue it, judge your performance in terms of degrees of success.

3. Don't confuse success with excellence. There is nothing bad or wrong with bowling a mediocre game as long as you enjoy what you're doing.

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4. Plunge right in. Next time you fear trying to do something, throw caution to the wind and do it! Even if you only experience partial success, you will be doing what you really want to do and that's a good feeling. In most instances, it's better to try than to nurse regrets.

5. Consider the worst case scenario. Afraid to do something? Ask yourself, "What's the worst that can happen if I fail?" If your answer is something you can live with, why not give it a shot?

6. View failure for what it really is--a learning experience. Perceived this way, failure becomes something positive--a contribution to future success. We can almost always learn more from our failures than from our successes ... a good thing to remember.

How To Create Job Interest

Compare the employee who is interested in his or her work against the one who isn't and there is no contest. A is more reliable, more creative, and more productive than B. It follows that the manager who knows how to generate employee interest in a job ends up with the more competent staff. Here are some specific steps you can take to upgrade your people's interest in what they do.

View interest building as a new challenge. You will strengthen your approach if you can put aside old ideas and past efforts. See the assignment as a brand new one: a responsibility, a new kind of structure to build, with new tools designed for the task.

Treat it as an individual situation. Don't think, "How can I get my people to love their work?" Rather, picture your target as a single individual: "How can I get A to feel better about one specific job?" Now you have a situation you can deal with. When you finish with A you can turn to B, C, and D.

Consider departmental factors. Even though it helps to think of your goal as a one-by-one undertaking, you will have many opportunities to work toward a favorable outcome while you are implementing general departmental policies.

Conventional wisdom to the contrary notwithstanding, most workers like their jobs, at least in part, and most jobs are likable to some degree. So when an employee gripes, "I don't want the Acme job; it's a pain." You can respond, "Let's look it over together and see what can be done. As far as possible, I want my people to like what they're doing."

Certain undesirable elements in the work can probably be eliminated. Every job can be improved. In the course of your reconsideration of work methods, place high on your priority list the goal of eliminating or minimizing the unpleasant, dirty or depressing parts of a job.

For instance, a manager knows that the department detests the weekly chore of reading regional production reports. Although the importance of the material has been repeatedly stressed, continuing complaints necessitate another look into the problem. Once done, it is obvious that the reports could be simplified by substituting check-off items for the usual essay answers. The revised format takes a great deal of pain out of checking the reports.

Enlist the participation of employees in making their work satisfying. Get them in on the act at every opportunity: "Is there any other job you would rather be doing here?" "Is there any change in routine that you feel you would like to make?" "Can you think of any way to make the job less tedious?" In the process, you may unearth some worthwhile ideas. By letting them know that you are perfectly willing to consider their thoughts, you further ensure their job interest.

Clever Shortcuts 

Some people have devised ingenious ways and means to get more done in less time. A few of the more offbeat:

* An insurance broker groups all his telephone calls in the late afternoon, thus avoiding the need to interrupt himself several times during the day. An added advantage: he can include any calls made necessary by the day's developments. As a result, he minimizes the need to make follow-up calls.

* One executive VP finds that if he stands when someone visits him in his office and doesn't invite the visitor to take a seat, the mutual vertical position tends to keep the conference brief and to the point.

* An engineer has designated one drawer in his desk as his "procrastination drawer." Items that don't require his immediate attention go there. He checks on them weekly and reports that at least 75 percent of them "work themselves out" without any action on his part at all.

10 Tips For The Recently Promoted

Been promoted? Some things to bear in mind:

Don't get personally involved when something doesn't seem to be turning out right.

Make sure your door is open to your people. You can't learn everything from written reports.

Listen more than you speak.

Adopt a positive attitude in performing the administrative details of your job. How well you handle them will figure in any estimate of your future potential.

Set out to help your people develop their greatest potential. You will also be judged by how well you perform this job.

Don't shy away from decisions in the early months. Your judgments must have been good in the past or you wouldn't have been promoted. So don't be afraid to keep making them.

Don't automatically support the old and familiar. Give a fair hearing to new ideas.

Don't tolerate mediocrity. Most people want to meet a high standard.

Don't make a fuss over your promotion. By protesting too much about how you are still "one of the little people," you may plant the suspicion that you really aren't.

Work harder than ever.

How To Fight Status Quo Thinking

One of the most exasperating objections to an idea is, "We're satisfied with our current method (plan, strategy, process, product, etc.) Why change?"

It may come from people likely to be affected by your idea, from a member of your department, or from the approving authority itself. Supported by arguments on behalf of current benefits enjoyed and the inconveniences of disrupting routine, these words are too often accepted as final by proponents of a plan.

How, then, do you, advocate of the new idea, overcome inertia in others?

Approaches vary, but the strategy remains the same: when the people you are trying to persuade plead satisfaction with the status quo, you must sell them some "constructive dissatisfaction." How? Create a new standard. Frequently, the "satisfied" individual is simply unaware that a better method or product is available. So look for "hidden benefits" in your plan. Will it simplify procedures? Save money? Result in a safer work environment? Reduce errors? Give your company a competitive edge? Explain how. If possible, dramatize the benefits. Change the frame of reference. People tend to grow rigid in their thinking, to see things in very limited terms: cost, safety, convenience, and so on.

Introduce another factor for consideration, however, thereby altering the frame of reference, and you may break through their resistance. For example, "True, this machine turns out widgits at a profit today. But will it continue to do so in 2010, when our volume requirements will be 150 percent higher?" "The old product is sturdy enough, but this new lightweight alloy is easier to machine and will slash shipping costs in half without sacrificing quality."

Introduce the ultimate cost factor. Prove that your idea will cost less in the long run and you have a powerful argument on its behalf. Often, you can do this by citing the hidden savings implicit in it. For instance, will your idea reduce idle inventory, worker inefficiency, errors, customer dissatisfaction? These all have dollar values. Develop the knack of tracing the cost ramifications of the way things are done now, then examine your plan with a view toward pinpointing the costs it can eliminate or reduce.

Before You Give An Assignment, Ask Yourself ...

1. Does the employee have the background, training and skill to carry out this assignment?

2. Can I explain the reasons for the assignment?

3. Are the details complete in my own mind so that I can tell the employee what he or she needs to know to carry out the assignment?

4. Have I thought through the best way to give the assignment so that the employee will be motivated to carry it out?

5. Have I chosen the best time to give the assignment?

By Ted Pollock, Management Columnist [e-mail]