3 signs to look for when a team member is about to quit

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

If you don’t want a valued team member to quit, you need to pay attention to them and watch the signals carefully.

In my experience, here are three strong signals of someone intending to quit.

1️⃣ They start using all their personal leave – but on an ad hoc basis. So it’s not like they have a hospital stay – but it’s spread out over a few weeks.

2️⃣ They stop being on camera in meetings – and avoid coming into the office – especially on the days the rest of the team is in the building.

3️⃣ They avoid taking on new work – especially if it’s extra work like office parties etc. They have a deadline in their mind – so they have no interest in starting something that they won’t be there to finish.

Now all of this could also apply to someone who is disengaged.

But the hardest thing to anticipate is that sly team member who will go out of their way to do NONE of the above things, and then, wham, they hit you with their resignation. 😲

No one said people leadership was easy.

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Do you ever wake up feeling grumpy for no reason and then (un)intentionally spread negativity around you?

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

I recently dealt with a family member who exhibited this behavior, waking up in a bad mood and then successfully spreading his negativity to others.

I firmly believe that imposing one’s bad mood on others is unfair. When this happens, I have no issue telling my family member that weaponising his bad mood is an act of terrorism on the family. 👿 💀

It’s essential to communicate openly if you’re having a rough day and seek understanding from others rather than projecting your emotions onto them.

No one should feel obligated to walk on eggshells due to someone else’s mood, be it a family member, a colleague, a friend – or especially, a manager.

[[Let’s strive to create a positive environment where everyone’s feelings are respected. ]] Friends – AI tells me I should add this final, positive statement. I’m not sure about it – it reads somewhat inauthentically for me. 😂

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Friends, we all have an opinion on the return to office mandates.

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

Now some of you are people leaders who are struggling with trying to get your teams to comply with this mandate – even though your own perspectives on the subject may differ from the organisational one.

Here is a useful HBR article that provides some tips on how to navigate this challenging subject. Pay attention friends – your engagement score will be impacted by this most-tricky of topics.

ReturnToOffice HybridWorking

https://hbr.org/2024/05/when-someone-you-manage-isnt-following-the-return-to-office-policy

 

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People leaders: If someone in your team is not meeting your expectations, what are you NOT seeing?

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

Could it be that:

📳 the role has changed and this person is bored?
✝ this team member is experiencing personal issues?
💠 other team members are creating friction for this person?
✳ you have been distracted and not giving this person your attention?
✴ organisational changes have impacted this team member’s mindset?

No one wakes up one day and decides that they are going to stop performing. The key is for you to ASSESS what is happening around this person – BEFORE you even think of discussing their performance issues with them.

leadership LetsBeBetter

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Friends – are you aware that your future manager is right here, within your reach, on LinkedIn?

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

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A surefire way others can tell when you multitask in meetings

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

Let’s accept this, friends – no one is great at multitasking in the workplace. And by multitasking, I mean, activities like attending a meeting/presentation AND responding to emails/chats concurrently.

Now you might think you can get away with it, but here is a definitive way OTHERS can tell that you were distracted or were multitasking during the session

🧛‍♀️ You bring up a point that was discussed earlier – and your comments demonstrate that you hadn’t listened the first time around.

I have seen this happen frequently, and others are too polite to point out the obvious – but you know they are THINKING it. 🧐

By the way, I have also noticed that the senior people in the meetings usually tend to engage fully in the session. So if you want to be seen as leadership material, stop cheating yourself and others. Stop multitasking.

LetsBeBetter Mindfulness Leadership

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The people who get my admiration, and eternal gratitude…..

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

Friends, we all have someone like this in our lives. When things are rough and you’re struggling through a tough time, this person just knows exactly what to say to bring us up.

They tell us:

💚 that we will get through this rough period
💛 they have confidence in us and our abilities
💜 that it’s these tough times which will make us stronger
🧡 and that we should hang on, because tough times don’t last forever

And with their kind and gentle (and mostly reassuring) words, we feel better, and we have hope. So friends, if you have anyone in your life who gives you HOPE, then declare your gratitude to this person. They are rare, and priceless.

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Are you a serial complainer?

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

A couple of weekends ago I met up with a relative – and in the first 10 mins of our conversation, she told me she was:

👿 sick to death of all the rain Sydney was having
😡 so tired from having to cook meals for her family
😠 irritated about how much housework she had to do
🤡 concerned that I had not called her all week
👹 bothered by how often people walked around looking at phones

Friends – this dear relative of mine has made complaining an art form.

So, how do you know if you are a complainer? If you:

💀 talk about facts, but your tone and attitude toward it is anger/irritation
☠ you are not interested in hearing solutions to your complaints
👽 people around you roll their eyes whenever you make a “negative” comment

There are many other signs. But the best way to know is this:

When someone says something (generally neutral or positive), you chime in with your “factual comment” and others laugh and make a comment about how YOU tend to “keep it real” or “you have a knack for injecting negativity”.

This likely means that you have a pattern of being negative through your frequent complaints.

Try not to be a complainer, friends. In case you did not know this, serial complainers bring others down. 💡 🙄
LetsBeBetter Leadership

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Friends, from time to time, I silently judge others for their social media comments and resharing of posts.

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

Yes. I am fully aware that judging is terrible. And LinkedIn is the only social media I am on – so I have a biased perspective of what people do on social media.

But every now and again, I see a post which is usually meant to be an inspirational one, for example, someone rescuing and raising parrots from hatchlings.

Most of the comments focus on what is seen at first sight – and there is an astounding lack of critical analysis of what is shown.

So here is an interesting and practical article from the BBC on how to develop those critical thinking skills – especially when it comes to social media posts.

https://lnkd.in/gyYXtBrp

CriticalThinking SocialMedia

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You’ve been asked a question in a meeting and you don’t know the answer. What do you do?

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Shereena Hussein

Some people think that not knowing the answer to a question posed to you by a senior leader is detrimental to your image. So they sweat on ensuring they know everything.

But, senior leaders will respect those who are honest about this. Here is one way you could respond in that moment:

“I am not certain about the details on that – let me get back to you by email before the end of the day.”

The reality is, no one can be expected to know everything. Unless it is something really simple and obvious, most folks will be fine with you responding as above.

Also, state the above response with confidence, and ensure you provide the information when you said you would.

BetterCommunication Confidence LeadershipSkills

 

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