No more Mondayitis

It's Sunday night again, and in less than 9 hrs, I'll be back at my desk at work, shortly there after, my staff will arrive. Most will be flat from a big weekend of socialising and looking for excuses to delay the working week. So what can you do (as a manager/leader) to help get your staff focused and pumped for the week ahead?

This is primarily a question of attitude, and I can't help but recite one of my all time favourite quotes which comes from Remember The Titans "attitude reflects leadership". It reminds me that if I want to see change in my team, I first need to assess the way I am behaving and how that might be affecting my team.

So the first thing you need to do is make sure you yourself are in the right mood. Make sure you've got a smile on your face, get in slightly earlier so you can have your morning coffee and a bite to eat before your staff get in. Think about what your going to say when people ask you about your weekend, ensure it's positive. Most importantly however, be really clear on what your goals for the week are, and what you want you and your team to achieve. So after the pleasantries, share the weeks goals with the team, and frame the importance and benefits of completing tasks.

Ensure you're not dishonest about your feelings, people see through that and you'll only lose credibility. No one (or at least very few) is all that happy about having to get through a pile of paper work or deal with customer complaints. Most however can buy into the benefits of getting it done and out the way, so focus on that. "I want to get those creative briefs done this morning so we can really focus on the xxxx proposal,and nail that account"

If you struggle to get your head in the right place with your current routine, make changes, find something that helps you clear your head or puts a smile on your dial. Being a radio man I should probably say "tune into your favourite radio station" but it might be a quick walk around the block, or jump onto You tube and watch another ridiculous cat video.

So if you want to get more out of your Mondays for you and your team remember "attitude reflects leadership"

Only my opinion.