Tips and Tricks to Lead a Team Successfully

One thing that I have always loved is leading and working with teams.  There is just something so rewarding to me about working with others and watching a group of people successfully accomplish something together.  Team leadership happens to be a strong suit of mine, but management is not for everyone! A lot of people don't like it at all.  For some, they just don't like the responsibility or pressure.  Others, I believe, just don't know how to manage a team.  It's something that needs a little mix of intuition and a lot of training and experience.

We have all seen these hilarious Dilbert cartoons portraying bad management.  They're so funny because they're based in truth! Everyone I have ever asked has had a bad manager at some point in their work history.  I certainly have.  There are a lot of bad managers out there because people don't focus enough on the importance of training for it.  If you find yourself managing a team, either because you wanted to or because you got assigned to do it, I suggest you do some research.  Put in some effort!  You don't want to just be guessing your way through it. You are now responsible for the team's success and job satisfaction of both you and everyone under you.  You alone can be the factor on whether someone hates or loves their job.  That's a big deal!

I found myself managing a large team at one point and decided I wanted to do it well.  So I went and met with a management professor at the local university and had an hour long meeting about her best tips to manage a team.  The following list is a compilation of what I took away from the meeting, what I have learned through personal experience, and what I do any time I am leading a team.  Good luck to you and I hope it helps!

• Be concerned about both the product you are producing and the people you are working with
• Find strengths and weaknesses of team members and pair them together 
• If someone on your team is struggling, find out why.  For example, maybe they are too shy to speak up in meetings or ask for help.  Make a point to meet with them on the side for a few minutes or submit their ideas in writing.
• Get to know your people on the team.  Finding out outside commitments and interests is important! It will endear them to you if they feel like you care and will help you manage them, gauge their stress levels, and generally help them better.  For example, say one lady is always late to a 7:30 morning meeting.  Other team members are getting irritated with her until you go talk to her and find out that she has to drop her child off at the company day care every day and it doesn't open till 7:30.  So you move the meeting to 7:45 and everyone is  now happy.
• Hold your people accountable. If they know you will hold them accountable, they will try harder. Your team will be stronger if people know they won't have to pull the weight of someone who is slacking off.
• Have good questions and communication with your team. Be as precise as possible when communicating.  If/when something goes wrong, recognize it, find out where something got miscommunicated and learn from it.
• Be sure to tell all people on your team the big picture and the overall goal that you're working towards and remind them of that on a regular basis.   The more unified people's ideas of a project or goal is, the more you will succeed.
• Some managers only tell an employee their small part and forget the "why" which is important.  For example, if you work at a clothing store, tell don't just tell your employees "Fold the shirts this way".  Tell them "We fold the shirts this way becasue then customers can see the front more easily and they won't dig through the piles as much.  It will make your job easier in the long run".  They are way more likely to fold them correctly if they know why.
• Repeat assignments and be very clear on what each person needs to do.  If you sense a lack of understanding, have the person repeat back to you what was said in their own words.
• Cheerleading your team is a great motivator. Use kind words, treats, snacks, etc.
• When celebrating a milestone, do it at an appropriate level.  If your team barely scrapes by a deadline and some less than superior work got put in towards the end, be realistic.  Bring in doughnuts or something and save the pool party for something great. Don't celebrate big over a small victory. 
• Having a common enemy is a strong team motivator but that should be used with caution. For example, if you're in marketing and your team is creating ads to go against a rival company, that may be a good motivator.  If you are competing against another department in your company, you may want to steer clear of making them the enemy.
• Find a common ground to unite a team. Whether it's a common enemy, recognition, desire to win, having respect, etc. use it!  Remember what the uniting thing is and continuously repeat it.
• When receiving a suggestion, never EVER ridicule the person making it.
• Praise in public, reprimand in private. This one is SO important! You will destroy the morale of your team if you reprimand and get onto people in front of their coworkers.
• When problems arise with a specific person, be sure to first get them to recognize that they are causing a problem. Once that is accomplished, ask them to come up with ideas to fix it.  Help people solve their own problems in a gracious and kind way.  Be careful with this though because you don't want them to feel like they have no help from you.  There is a line - find it.
• Find out who is emerging as a team leader and who people seem to respect.  That way, if there is any tough news or situations, you can get their input and use them to help you win over the team if there is a controversial situation or decision that has been made.
• Before you speak to your team, think of how you would react to what you are saying if you were in their shoes
• Sometimes, people feel as if some team members are not as involved or don't do as much "real" work.  Don't let people who feel that way, put down others who are proud of their jobs.
• Hold everyone to the same standards.
• It is always better to ask questions than to make assumptions.  This is important.  Don't accuse, ask.  There are always, always two sides to every story.
• Try to engage everyone and find their talents.  Don't dismiss people.  They may suprise you.
• Find out what the customer wants and tailor to them.  For example, some companies like to see a bunch of numbers and data on presentations, and some like more abstract ideas.
• If someone continuously submits sub-standard work, you need to decide what to do.  If the person has a desire to work there and seems to be trying and is just lacking training, you may want to mentor them and help them learn.  If they seem like they could care less about their work, you may just want to let them be until you can replace them.  Or, maybe find out if there is something they would rather be doing and try to move them to another task.
• Be fair and sincere.  People will see it and respect it.
• Recognize individuals who shine in front of the team but don't go overboard.  Too much praise and you will make others jealous and possibly embarrass the person you are praising.  Public praise will let everyone know you are keeping an eye out for exceptional work and encourage them to try harder and do their best for you.
• Reflect credit and absorb blame.  Make everyone feel as if their ideas were what made things work and take blame for what goes wrong.  Stay out of the limelight - it looks bad if you sing your own praise.  Your team thriving will reflect well on you and your good leadership.

So there you have it.  My tips and tricks to successfully lead a team.  I hope these help you in some way.  Good luck out there!  Being a good leader isn't easy but the fact that you're researching it and care about the people you're going to manage already gives you a leg up on everyone else :)

Couples Easy At-Home Spa Day

For Christmas this year I gave my husband the gift of a year of dates.  Each month I have a pre-planned, pre-paid date ready to go.  He gets to open an envelope on the first of each month to find out what we are doing and we pick a day that works for us.  This February, his date is a spa day at home.  When I was planning this, I was having a really hard time finding anything online about how to plan out a home spa day.  I wanted to make it really fun and relaxing and make us feel like we were at a real spa! So, I just sort of winged it and here is what I came up with.

First, I found this wedding template online and modified it to fit our spa day.  Just to make things a bit fancy :)  This is what I ended up with.

You can download what I made here if you like. 

Buying the things for the spa day was pretty inexpensive.  Marshall's and Ross always have spa and bath stuff on sale.  I think I got this basket that has a loufa, salt scrub, massage oil, shower gel, and bath salts for about $10.  

I also got a jar of mud mask at Marshall's for $5. 

Here is how to do your spa day set up:

1. Buy Everything Beforehand
Have food purchased and all your spa stuff bought ahead of time.  There is no need to be rushing around on the day of your spa day to buy things.  Remember, this is supposed to be relaxing for you both!

2. Make the Bedroom Feel Clean and Spa-like.  

I am going to set up candles, have this youtube video ready to play on my phone, strip the bed, and lay down beach towels so we don't get any spa product on the sheets/comforter.

3. Get Rid of Kids

If you want some real time to relax with your hubby/significant other and have children, either do a shortened version of this after they go to bed or send them off for the day.  It will feel much more luxurious without having little ones knocking on your door all afternoon.

4. Have Food Made
First, I want some lemon water for the bedroom and for lunch so I'll cut up the lemons and get the pitcher ready the night before.  For lunch, I'm going to buy one of those baked chickens from Walmart that always smell so yummy as you're checking out and shred some of the meat for a salad.  So when it comes time for lunch, I'll pull out the bag of chicken, the cut up tomatoes (also done the night before), and the two bowls of salad.  It won't even take 2 minutes to put together.  Super easy!

For our afternoon snack, I'll have a bottle of chilled champagne ready and I pre-ordered (two days ahead) a dozen chocolate covered strawberries from Publix.  They are so pretty and only cost about $12 (that includes tax) for a dozen there.

5. Have Everything Ready
The night before, go ahead and get all the stuff out that you need.  Unwrap everything and even group it by when you'll be using it and where.  Make sure you have washcloths, cotton pads, nail files, etc. all ready to go. 

Here is how to do the actual spa stuff:

1. Massage
For the massage, I'm just going to use a little bit of oil since I have it, but you can use lotion as well.  This part is pretty straightforward for Adam and I but if you feel like massaging isn't a skill of yours, I suggest watching some youtube tutorials on how to give a good massage. Your significant other will appreciate it! :)

2. Facial
I have never done a facial at home before, so I am going to follow Lauren Conrad's easy 5 Step Facial found here.

3. Rinse Off
I am just going to have us jump into the shower real quick to rinse off the oils and the mud mask before we have lunch.  Have robes ready for when you get out so you don't really have to get dressed to have lunch!

4. Mani/Pedi
For the manicures and pedicures, we will file each other's nails and give little massages with lotion.  I am not going to paint my nails or anything since I don't want to have to be careful with them.

5. Body Scrub & Bath Soak
For the last part, I was going to fill a bath full of bath salts and then use an exfoliating body scrub once we get in.  Your skin should feel heavenly at this point and you should be majorly relaxed!  Just remember to stay hydrated and drink water :)

6. Relax!
After the bath, we are just going to sit back, relax, and enjoy our time off for a bit.  We rarely have a day like this to ourselves so I'll let hubby decide if he wants us to watch a show together or if he wants to read together or something.


I hope you get to do something like this with your significant other soon and I truly hope you enjoy a relaxing spa day as much I know we are going to enjoy it. Leave a comment if you have done something like this or have any suggestions that I didn't think about! :)

10 Cheap Ways To Improve Curb Appeal

When you’re selling your house or just having new people over, curb appeal makes a big difference. It’s just like meeting someone on a first date.  You’re going to shave, put makeup on, and wear that dress that hugs your curves in all the right places because as much as people like to deny it, first impressions matter.  Yes, you/it may have great personality on the inside, but people always notice looks first whether you’re talking about a person or a house.  It’s human nature.  People are always super critical of a house they are looking at.  If you don’t believe me, go drive by or go tour a house you are interested in.  You will see every flaw that the homeowners probably stopped noticing long ago.

So when people see the outside of your house, you want them to say “Oh how cute!  I can’t wait to see the inside” instead of “Oh, well the outside isn’t pretty, I wonder if they neglected the inside too?”  Because, let’s face it, the outside of our house gets neglected sometimes.  It’s hard enough keeping the inside of a house clean and sometimes you look up and realize that six months has gone by since you trimmed the bushes and you have a weed growing up to your roof (oops). 

Now, I'm no expert, but as we are getting our house cleaned up to put on the market and house searching, we realized that our curb appeal was a bit lacking.  We were guilty of the awful overgrown bushes, the moss-covered walkway, broken doorbell, and the boring, leaf-ridden, cobweb-covered front porch.  So, here are a few things we did to greatly improve our curb appeal in a super inexpensive way.  And you can do these things whether you are wanting to sell your house or not!

1. Remove cobwebs

People hate spiders. This is science. They will absolutely notice cobwebs and egg sacks.  Go get one of those fluffy yellow brushes (make sure your hubby and kids have their fun playing with it before you start cleaning) and get rid of all the spiders and webs from your windows, doors, shutters, and porch. I got this for about $5:

Here is a link to what I got: Cobweb Duster

2. Put a plant out front
Foliage in a cute potted plant is always welcoming. I absolutely do not have a green thumb however. Seriously, I commit vegecide (aka plant murder) on every green thing I own.   

So I went to Home Goods and bought a fake one for $59 (cheaper if you have a coupon!) that I thankfully can’t kill while the house is being shown. Feel free to buy a real one if you can keep it looking nice!

3. Put out a welcome mat
They have them at Walmart or really anywhere for $10-$20.   

Welcome mats are another one of those things that make people feel at home. Go get you one.

4. Sweep the porch
This just takes 5 minutes of work and makes a big difference. You may not notice the leaves, pebbles, and chunks of plant and mud that are on your front porch, but I guarantee you a buyer or your mother will!

5. Add pretty house numbers
House numbers are one of those things that draw your eye as you’re walking up. They look nice, and if you are selling, you want people to remember what house they are looking at. You can find some at Lowes for about $5 a number.

These are what I got: House numbers

6. Pressure wash the walkway and driveway
This one is time-consuming since it's tedious and not to mention cold if you’re doing it in the winter, but extremely important. I had literally no idea how bad our sidewalk was until we did this. Holy cow look at the difference a half-hour of washing makes!
Before:

During:

After:

Borrow a pressure washer from a friend, rent one for a day (Home Depot has them), or sometimes they have pressure washing services on Groupon or Living Social for a serious discount. Just do it though, ok?!

7. Touch-up paint
When you purchased your house or if you did any work on it, you should have some leftover paint for the outside. If you don't happen to have paint, spend the few dollars and go buy some.  Go around the house and wash and touch up shutters or porch paint that may be peeling. It will give the outside a fresh, clean feeling!

8. Add a decorative wreath/welcome sign
I am not really a wreath girl. I hate having to shove doors closed with the wreath hanger over the door, but they are definitely cute and will make your house seem friendly. I was going to make this instead.

I found this picture on pinterest but couldn't find the instructions, so I am going to make my own and will post something about it when I do! :)

9. Add chairs and a small table
If you have a front porch, you should do this. My husband and I are not people to sit around on the front porch and watch the cars go by. We have never, ever hung out for no reason on the front porch. And yet, whenever I see pictures of houses that have a cute little chair and table set, I automatically go “Aww, how cute” even though I know I will never use it. It makes me feel homey. You want other people to say that about your house. Try something like this:

P.S. As a disclaimer, that is not my picture. Just found it on google images and am going garage sailing next weekend to find something cute like that ;)
P.P.S Notice all the things they are doing right! Clean porch, furniture, wreath, plant, fresh paint. Nice!

10. Trim bushes and mow lawn
This goes back to first impressions. Let people know that you care about your house and take care of it. No one wants to see your giant weeds, overgrown grass, or gigantic bushes. If you are listing your house in the summer, make sure you mow and really upkeep your lawn for showings.

Bonus tip: Fancy up your garage door

I came across this DIY post a while back and loved the idea. Think they pulled it off for about $30 and an hours worth of work. Here is the link to it: Garage Door

Hope you enjoy these tips and have fun prettying up the outside of your house. And, if you are doing these to sell your home, good luck to you! :)