Juggling Elephants Blog

I came across a list of toxic personalities compiled by Brett Blumenthal of Sheer Balance. While the list is not closely based on any personality styles inventories, it does offer several opportunities to evaluate your personal style and how it impacts the creativity, cooperation and productivity of those around you. You can also use the list to have some interesting team or group discussions about the negative influence these personalities can have on the success of your team's performance-and how to deal with them.

Granted, you need some people to keep you grounded and insure that a choice is the right one. But as you will see, too much of one of these personalities or a day filled with several of them could have you running for the door!

Get the article to see the full list, their descriptions and their toxicity, but here's a sampling:

• Manipulative Mary
• Narcissistic Nancy
• Judgmental Jims
• Dream-Killer Keiths
• Insincere Illissas
• Disrespectful Dannys
• Never Enought Nellies

Labels: conflict resolution, engagement, teamwork

USA Today had an insightful article recently entitled, Teen Entrepreneurs Offer Tips To Peers On Starting A Business. While the focus of the article was teen-oriented businesses, the tips are relevant for anyone building their own work ring. They included:

• Don't let shortcomings thwart you
• Expand upon your interests
• Create a formal business plan
• Scour for savings
• Price wisely
• Make taxes less taxing
• Create a sound financial plan
• Don't over invest in supplies/equipment
• Promote your business and yourself
• Know the rules
• Carve out personal time
• Stick with your dream

Labels: business management, self-employment, strategic planning

While in a commercial plane this week, I experienced something quite strange. The plane was taxiing to the gate when a passenger got up and went to the bathroom. The flight attendant alerted the pilot and he immediately stopped the plane. The flight was already late, and the needless delay due to one person's selfish act really made many of the passengers angry. Moments later the passenger emerged and took the "walk of shame" back to their seat.

The incident made me think about things that might cause my circus to abruptly stop... and what I need to do to prevent them. Some of the key steps for me to take would be:

• Keeping my employees up-to-date on using technology and office equipment as well as diagnosing and repairing problems.
• Having contingency plans in place if an employee doesn't show up for work or is delayed for some reason.
• Maintaining my physical health to minimize time lost to sickeness or lack of energy.
• Always being aware of an alternate way to travel to a destination in the event of flight delays or cancellations.

What about you? What are those things that bring your performance to a screeching halt?

Labels: employees, interruptions, stress

A study by coolsavings.com found that 60% of children in families are "couponing." Faced with shrinking family budgets and the need to cut back, 78% of families surveyed indicated that they see saving and budgeting as an important life lesson.

Cutting back is rarely pleasant-and having to tell your children "no" is never easy. A more constructive approach may be to involve them in the process of saving money. As a parent we know the value of involving them in the solution versus just telling them about the plan.

I tried this approach with my 5 year old a few days ago. We had been talking about the need to save our money and make good choices. We then looked through the coupon section of the newspaper and found some of the items she liked and clipped those coupons. Later that week we went to the store and compared prices with the store brands. Good time in the relationship ring.

Read the full article here.

Labels: choices, family, finances