Joyce Weiss, Author at Joyce Weiss

December 11, 2013 By Joyce Weiss Leave a Comment

Tips to Help You Discover Your Purpose & Passion in Your Career

Photo of Lori Williams

Thoughts from Joyce

I have three powerful questions for you:

1. Are you doing what you do best?
2. Do you REALLY like what you are doing?
3. Have you thought about your natural strengths and skills?

Many of my clients discover their innate skills and feel better about themselves after we delve deep to find their natural talents. It is hard to recognize what comes easy to us because we take these things for granted. Friends and colleagues usually see these things about us long before we do.

My natural “gift” is helping others solve their issues so they feel better about themselves. High school friends all knew that I would be a coach or counselor way before I recognized this. It took me many years to discover my innate talents of supporting others to resolve conflict. Once I finally figured this out, I can proudly say that “I’m an over night’s success…it only took me 30 years!”

Many people are so busy complaining about their job or life. They don’t take the time to look within to discover how they can switch one minor thing to actually love what they do.

Here is a powerful story about a colleague of mine who discovered her purpose and passion and created a new career for herself:

Lori T. Williams is a 25 year attorney based in Birminhgam MI. She owns a legal referral business called Your Legal Resource, PLLC and assists individuals and small business in need of legal advice or representation in Metro Detroit by connecting them with the right legal specialist for their situation. Lori is also an active networker, blogger, and event host/facilitator. Those who know Lori, know she is a connector and that THIS is her passion!

Lori did not always feel so passionate about her work as a divorce attorney, which is the area of law she practiced for 14 years before creating her current business in 2004. Lori saw herself as the serious professional who would help her clients through one of the worst of times in their lives. She was well respected in the legal community and enjoyed helping others, yet she didn’t have a passion for family law. Who gets excited about ending marriages?

How Lori figured out her authentic self

The light bulb went on during a class that Lori took on “finding your purpose.” This was a turning point for her. The rest of this blog may give you some ideas on how to discover your own purpose especially if you don’t like what you are doing for a living. Lori read a book, Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren. This book and the class study had a huge impact on Lori, because she discovered her purpose was to connect others.

She wasn’t quite sure what to do with this new found awareness, so she starting discussing it with another friend who was in the course with her. Lori’s friend was also a coach and she helped Lori return to her legal background in a way that would inspire and energize her. Since Lori had built an extensive network within and outside of the legal profession, and was seen as a resource to others, she was able to combine her networking skills and legal background and create Your Legal Resource.

Lori is now sought after as a legal matchmaker who connects the right client with the right lawyer. She also helps attorneys grow their practice by introducing them to their target referral partners and teaching them effective networking and marketing strategies. Lori notes, “it gives me great joy to bring people together for a living, rather than ending relationships like I used to do as a divorce attorney, and it benefits the people I connect.”

2014 will be a powerful year for Lori as she celebrates her 25th year as an attorney and her 10 year anniversary as the owner and managing attorney of Your Legal Resource. Way to go, Lori!

Click here for more information on the valuable services that Lori Williams provides, and visit her blog to read articles about law, marketing, and networking tips for the small business owner.

Here are more interesting articles by Lori Williams

Valuable Resources for Professional and Business Growth
Is My Business Investor-Ready?
Tips for Finding the Right Attorney For You

So, what about you?

I’m not suggesting that you quit your job! I am asking you to think about how you view your career.
Are you doing what you do best?
Do you REALLY like what you are doing?
Have you thought about your natural strengths and skills?
Ask good friends what they think you are best at. You may be surprised at what they say.

Feel free to share your comments in the comment section after the blog. I will answer you immediately. For those of you who have discovered your own story during your professional growth, please share how you did it, what changes you had to make, and how it has impacted your life.

Was this helpful?

Please send me any comments that you may have for this blog post. Place your comments in the comment box at the end of this post. Loyal readers like you help us find more people who could benefit from these posts. Feel free to share this information. Just make sure and give credit to:
Joyce Weiss Training & Development LLC > www.JoyceWeiss.com.

Please let others know about these blog posts on reducing conflict at the workplace and home. There may be someone in your life who is feeling stressed out… who could benefit from the inspiration and knowledge on improving their working condition or home life.

Until next time,
This is Joyce Weiss, Conflict Resolution Consultant
I help others have tough conversations so they get a better night’s sleep.

Remember…You Get What YOU Tolerate!

PS Click here for my article on “Make the Most of a Job That You May Not Like.”

December 5, 2013 By Joyce Weiss Leave a Comment

Liberate Your Team With These 4 Easy Steps

Thoughts from Joyce

I’ve been meeting many people who share their stories on why they love working at their company…and these are NOT the owners or presidents!
You will experience their stories in future blogs. Many of you know that I help people take on conflict and resolve it to get better results.

The other part of the equation is how to feel more engaged at work to resolve conflict in the workplace. This post will help those of you who want 4 easy ways to start seeing smiles at work again. Please call me if your team is experiencing hidden agendas, lack of responsibility and accountability because the ideas below will work only after you remove the communication issues. BUT if you have a good team and want to make the environment more positive…enjoy these tips.

How can you make your work environment more enjoyable? Increase motivation? Create an atmosphere where others share new ideas? Working with a team is at times tedious and contentious. Bring on more cake!

The following ideas are a good starting point to liberate your team:

1. Celebrate small wins (birthdays)

2. Manage the junk pile (What is the most annoying rule we can eliminate?)

3. Appreciate them now (Write thank you notes to 2-3 people each week especially when people take risks, speak well to a customer/member, and handle a tough member.)

4. See windows of opportunity (Organize a team to visit other teams to see how they involve their employees)

Check out this article on 5 Ridiculously Simple Ways to Improve Your Team.

Was this helpful?
Please send me any comments that you may have for this blog post. Place your comments in the comment box at the end of this post.
Loyal readers like you help us find more people who could benefit from these posts. Feel free to share this post. Just make sure and give credit to: Joyce Weiss Training & Development LLC > www.JoyceWeiss.com.

Please let others know about these blog posts on reducing conflict at the workplace and home. There may be someone in your life who is feeling stressed out… who could benefit from the inspiration and knowledge on improving their working condition or home life.

Until next time,
This is Joyce Weiss, Conflict Resolution Consultant
I help others have tough conversations so they get a better night’s sleep.
Remember…You Get What YOU Tolerate!

PS Check out this article on 5 Ridiculously Simple Ways to Improve Your Team

PPS Please click here for gift ideas for unique inspirational professional growth books. I will autograph all copies once you send me the names. Shipping and handling are FREE.

November 18, 2013 By Joyce Weiss 2 Comments

You Have to Read This to See the Importance of JOY at Work

Periodically I share innovative projects and systems that my colleagues or clients are doing to reduce conflict in the workplace and create employee engagement. This post is about a company based in Ann Arbor, MI. It’s fearless leader, Rich Sheridan’s title says it all – “CEO, Chief Story Teller & Tour Guide.” Anna Flynn who is also in the photograph has the following title…“Jack of all Trades.”

Menlo Innovations is a leader in the business value of joy and is passionate about building quality software. They have been voted the 101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work numerous times.

The minute I walked in I knew I was not in a “normal” place! There was no receptionist. There were no cubicles. The room was full of people laughing and working together. Rich was right in the middle of all of this and was NOT in a special gold studded office.

The following are just a few of the best practices at Menlo Innovations:

pairing; no one works alone

change partners every 5 days

open and collaborate workspace

40 hour work weeks

pets and babies at work

making mistakes faster

Menlo’s way of hiring new team members:

Team members and leaders don’t ask any questions to the job applicants. Job applicants are put to work immediately. There are 30-50 people working at the same time during the interview. The applicant experiences what they will be doing if they get hired… to make sure that they like this kind of environment without micro managers. In 20 minutes they switch pairs. This process takes 2 hours.

After they leave employees gather to analyze what they observed. The team discusses whether the job applicants bring out all the best qualities in their partners. The applicant’s job is to make the other applicant look as good as possible.

When they make the cut applicants are invited back for the 2nd interview and get paid for their time. If they make this cut they work for 3 weeks to see if they like the Menlo Way and if Menlo sees a fit.

How does Menlo deal with conflict?

Team members receive feedback from a peer group whenever they request it. When team members have an issue with others they are empowered to take care of this themselves. A factory floor manager gives them strategies if they need extra assistance. Managers don’t get involved.

Check out Joy, Inc: How We Build a Workplace People Love by Richard Sheridan.

Rich offers an inside look at how he removed the fear and ambiguity that typically make a workplace miserable. I will be writing another blog post about Menlo Innovations after I read Joy, Inc.

Check out this video on resources to reduce conflict in the workplace to increase morale at work.

Thoughts From Joyce

I can just hear some of you thinking…”I would love to work at Menlo Innovations” or “This will never work at my company.” Why not? Start with small steps. Reread some of my past posts on how other companies engage their employees.

Let me know what you do to engage your employees to bring JOY at work. When I started my career, leaders told me NOT to have their employees laugh during my presentation. Leaders only wanted serious training to increase productivity. They only wanted me to share strategies. I’m so glad that this archaic thinking has changed. Those of you who know my personality realize that humor is part of my life and every training project. Laughter and getting energy from each other makes a great training session rock!

Was this helpful?

Please send me any comments that you may have for this blog post. Place your comments in the comment box at the end of this post. Loyal readers like you help us find more people who could benefit from these posts. Feel free to share this post. Just make sure and give credit to Joyce Weiss Training & Development LLC > www.JoyceWeiss.com

Please let others know about these blog posts on reducing conflict at the workplace and home. There may be someone in your life who is experiencing some stress… who could benefit from the inspiration and knowledge on improving their working condition or home life.

Until next time,

This is Joyce Weiss, Conflict Resolution Consultant

I help others have tough conversations so they get a better night’s sleep.

Remember…You Get What YOU Tolerate!

PS. Check out this video on Resources to reduce conflict in the workplace to increase morale at work.

November 6, 2013 By Joyce Weiss 7 Comments

Powerful Presentation Skills Secrets From a 13 Year Old

Do you want to…

Get a standing ovation at your next speech?
Feel more confident at your own presentation?
Earn the respect that you deserve?
Have fun during your presentation?

If you answered “yes” to any of these important stress producers, then you are in the right place! This blog post will show you EASY ways to create a speech that your audience will appreciate and that you will actually enjoy.

I had the honor of being my grandson’s tutor for his Bar Mitzvah speech. The portion that I helped Dylan with was in English. The Temple asked me to help him since I am a keynote presenter and consultant who writes my own material. I jumped at the chance and didn’t realize that this experience was going to be such a highlight in my life. Many of my clients share that they create a lot of stress and conflict for themselves when they have to make a presentation. Believe me they are NOT alone!

It took us over a year to do the research and develop Dylan’s paper.
He had to find 2 heroes that represented his values. Dylan selected Simcha Blass (the Israeli inventor of drip irrigation) and Salva Dut (who develops wells in South Sudan with his project “Water for South Sudan.) Dylan thought that we were almost done. Here is where the fun began! Please try these tips when you develop your own speech.

I asked Dylan to read his speech out loud. He did and like any good coach I asked him, “What did you like about your presentation and where can you improve?” His answer was perfect when he said, “I liked the content but I was bored when I read it out loud.”

We usually fall in love with our words of wisdom which is good. The first step is to create an interesting speech. I find that most people miss the second step…which is delivery. Think of a time when you heard a speaker and you bored out of your mind. The content was probably good BUT it is all about delivery. The delivery part of the project took 6 months. We immediately fixed the part where he was bored.

Here are the secrets on why he received a standing ovation:

We placed the symbols >>> where he needed to pause
We highlighted the areas where there was humor and placed a 🙂 at the end of the sentence so he would smile. This gave a hint to the audience and sure enough they laughed during these great moments
We underlined words that needed emphasis
We marked sentences where he needed to lower his voice
We found stories in his own life so the audience could relate

He worked on this part for weeks and guess what happened? His presentation was not only informative, humorous, and delivered like a professional…he also received a standing ovation. This is not typical when a 13 year old gives a speech!

What can we all learn from this?

Be yourself and make sure to add humor in your speech. I’m not talking about jokes!
Decide where you need to slow down, emphasize words, and lower your voice.
Add stories from your own experience. I don’t care what topic you are speaking about because this personalizes your ideas.
Prepare, prepare and prepare so your audience thinks that you are relaxed and an expert.
The experience that Dylan and I had was priceless. The lessons that we both learned were amazing. I hope that these ideas will help you create future speeches that will reduce stress and conflict for you. Please feel free to ask me questions about your own presentation skills. I look forward to answering your questions. If you need another pair of eyes to see how you can improve your speech, please feel free to contact me.

Was this helpful?
Please send me any comments that you may have for this blog post. Place your comments in the comment box at the end of this post.
Loyal readers like you help us find more people who could benefit from these posts. Feel free to share this post. Just make sure and give credit to:
Joyce Weiss Training & Development LLC > www.JoyceWeiss.com

Until next time,
This is Joyce Weiss, Conflict Resolution Consultant
I help others have tough conversations so they get a better night’s sleep.
Remember…You Get What YOU Tolerate!

PS If you want to learn how to Communicate with Impact please read this description about a powerful On-Line Master Communication Course. The course will teach you how to improve your communication at meetings, deal with bullies and negative people, and reduce conflict in the workplace. Feel free to call me for more details on how I will be your coach for 2 months. The course only requires a few minutes of work per day. Call today (800.713.1926) to start improving your communication so you can earn the respect that you deserve!

October 29, 2013 By Joyce Weiss Leave a Comment

Powerful Secrets to Liberate Your Team

In the last blog post you read how Daniel Pink (author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us) describes motivation 1 and 2. This blog post will cover how to reduce conflict in the workplace and liberate your team.

Motivation 3 is about 3 of my favorite words…quality and continual improvement. Daniel Pink tells us that “Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives. People are devoted to becoming better and better at something that matters. It connects that quest for excellence to a larger purpose.”

ROWE: Results Only Work Environment

The ROWE environment is one where people can get the work done how they want and wherever they want as long as they get it done. It’s all about creating conditions for people to do their best work.

Meddius a software company promotes an environment where people focus on doing the work and not on being judged for wanting to go to their daughter’s soccer game. It’s not about the money…it’s about the feeling of freedom and autonomy.
Atlassian an Australian software company encourages employees to spend a day working on a problem they want to solve, even if it isn’t part of their regular job. They work 24 hours on solving a problem and share their discoveries the next day with their team. Many great ideas come out of this problem solving day. The management serves chocolate cake and beer during the 24 hours.
Netflix the company that offers us movies or TV series allows employees to take as much time off as long as they get their work done or covered. They focus on what people get done and not how many hours or days they worked.

Features of Autonomy

What people do
When they do it
How they do it
Whom they do it with

Liberated Behavior Emerges When People Have Autonomy Over the 4 T’s

Their task
Their time
Their Technique
Their Team

Thoughts from Joyce

You may be thinking something like…”Joyce, this sounds really interesting BUT this will not work in my company or with my team. I realize that your corporate structure may not “allow” this kind of liberation. I do encourage you to be open and to see how you can make some realistic changes to start liberating your people.

The most important ingredient in this entire blog is to make sure you have people working at your company who want to be autonomous. They must have a growing mindset. You need to trust them. They need to do quality work. Another words…Do you have a team who can be liberated on their own watch? Can they be autonomous? If not, none of these ideas will work. The next blog post will give more strategies on how to liberate your team.

I have just created a new program called Keys to Employee Engagement: Love What You Do! Please call me at 800.713.1926 for details on how we can start making powerful changes in your work environment.

Click here to watch my short video on the
Importance of Constant Improvement

Was This Helpful?

Please send me any comments that you may have for this blog post. Place your comments in the comment box at the end of this post.

Loyal readers like you help us find more people who could benefit from these posts. Feel free to share this post. Just make sure and give credit to: Joyce Weiss Training & Development LLC, www.JoyceWeiss.com

Please let others know about these blog posts on reducing conflict at the workplace and home. There may be someone in your life who is experiencing some stress…who could benefit from the inspiration and knowledge on improving their working condition or home life.

Until next time,

This is Joyce Weiss, Conflict Resolution Consultant

I help others have tough conversations so they get a better night’s sleep.

Remember…You Get What YOU Tolerate!

Click here to watch my short video on the
Importance of Constant Improvement

Tips to Help You Discover Your Purpose & Passion in Your Career

Liberate Your Team With These 4 Easy Steps

You Have to Read This to See the Importance of JOY at Work

Powerful Presentation Skills Secrets From a 13 Year Old

Powerful Secrets to Liberate Your Team

Contact Joyce

Legal Terms & Conditions