About Us
Women in Standards is an enthusiastic network of standards professionals who provide support, resources, and mentoring to promote business and personal growth.
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Members and friends,
This is our second newsletter since the coronavirus outbreak caused stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders to sweep the United States and abroad. We at Women in Standards hope that you are hunkered down with good friends and family, maybe a good book (or standard!), and are doing well.
I’ve gotten to chat with several of our members online, virtually, and via email and am happy to hear that you are letting your creativity loose in amazing and exciting ways. If you need to talk, chat, catch up, or play games, just reach out – we are here for you. Remember to register for the May 7th Women in Standards virtual happy hour and continue the conversation in the Women in Standards LinkedIn and Facebook members only groups.
Need a bit of entertainment? Sign up for the Women in Standards 2020 Challenge – top winners will be recognized at the 2021 Women in Standards Dinner and you never know, there might be a prize!
Feeling positive? Great! Now how can you pass that positivity down to your staff, teammates, and committees? This month we explore ways to motivate and encourage to build a culture of growth.
Warm wishes,
Karin Athanas
Executive Officer & Board President
Women in Standards
admin@womeninstanards.org
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Motivate Your Commi ttee to Give you Their Best
Keeping a team engaged and motivated throughout a project is critical in ensuring high quality performance and on time completion. If you are working on a standards committee, your work is twice as hard because your ‘team’ might consist of only volunteers and they probably all have day jobs. So how do you motivate volunteers to consistently give you their best? Here are a few tips to motivate your committee and keep them running at full steam.
Continue reading at WomeninStandards.org, Click Here
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Helpful Links to Growing a Strong Company Culture
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Five Tips to Keep You From Demotivating Your Team
If you are running at top speed, the last thing you need is a muscle cramp stopping you in your tracks. Demotivating your team is just as bad and can cost you valuable time and resources. Evaluate your performance to ensure you’re not tripping up with these costly demotivators:
Don’t change the rules mid-play. This goes without saying, but understanding what everyone is doing, including yourself, is critical to ensuring efficiency. First, it helps you identify what is not working and second, when everyone knows who is doing what, nothing gets missed, overlooked, or dropped. While changing a person’s assignment might seem small, for the team, it can cause significant ripples and slow down progress. If you need to do it, don’t do it often and ensure you communicate with the full team so that everyone understands the change and who is doing what.
Don’t overburden your hardest worker. It makes sense, one person always seems to get the work done, the work is always great, and they seem willing to do more. Don’t fall for this trap and yes, it is a trap. If you keep assigning work to the one employee, you can ‘trust’ you will quickly wear them out or slow down progress by over burdening them. And that star player will also start to resent the other team members who aren’t being asked to do the same amount of work.
Don’t micromanage. This is often said, but rarely followed. Maybe because one person’s help is another’s micromanagement. Ask yourself if this team member really needs the level of detailed instructions, you’re giving them. A good test is to try giving less details and if the result is just as good, try providing even less. If you aren’t giving enough instruction, don’t worry, they will let you know but people will rarely tell you if it’s too much.
A team needs to be cohesive, well supported, and encouraged to do their best. When they do their best, recognize them! Reward them. And show them that you appreciate their contributions.
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Women in Standards Board update
On 8 April 2020, the Women in Standards Board of Directors met virtually to develop the 2020 strategic plan, discuss logistics, and to formally approve the Women in Standards Bylaws. The approved bylaws are now available on the website and can be viewed here.
The organization enjoyed a strong first quarter for 2020 with membership increases from industry contributors and standards professionals. On the horizon are plans for virtual round tables, virtual social events and workshops, and continuing to develop value-added content.
Looking to support Women in Standards? Consider submitting your nomination for Member Representative on the Women in Standards Board. Help us build a strong community.
Nominees must be full members registered on the Women in Standards website and in good standing. Nominations are due 18 May 2020. Click here for more information.
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Welcome CTA!
CTA recently became a Women in Standards SDO member. SDO members are provided first look opportunities to join working committees within the Women in Standards, may post and manage job and committee opportunities listed on the Women in Standards Employment Opportunities page, and have access to update and enhance their SDO Directory listing. Everyone send warm welcomes to CTA!
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May 7, 2020 @ 5:30pm-6:30pm
We’ve gone virtual!
RSVP today! |
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Participate in an educational presentation and voice your thoughts on standards development.
Submit an article for publication in the WiS E-news.
Follow the Women in Standards on LinkedIn and Facebook and get up-to-date information on new standards activities - events, committees, and federal programs.
Participate in online chats on issues of standards and raising the voice and participation of women in standards.
Gain life-long friends, champions, and mentors within the standards community.
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Motivation for Multicultural Teams
Leading a multicultural team requires stamina, coordination, quite a bit of humor, and dedication. Flexibility is key. As is a clear understanding of what may be demotivating and motivating your team. The important thing to remember is what motivates you, may annoy others.
In some countries, a desire to achieve and be rewarded for good performance is highly motivating. In other countries, those same traits are seen as selfish or would cause confusion because who would desire such a thing. Then again, some countries value social needs, which means that performing well to help others brings more satisfaction than performing to help yourself.
If you aren’t keen on becoming a cultural expert, asking questions is free. Ask your employees why they come to work each day, why they picked the industry they work in or the job they current perform. Ask them what they do when they don’t feel like working and what helps them get refocused. For some, you might discover that lunch and coffee with teammates is just the break and refresh needed to get everyone back at the table and doing their best.
Another tip, short and long-term satisfaction can also differ between cultures. Some team members might find reaching small goals more often more rewarding then a large goal far off in the distance. If the goal is too large and too far way, some might lose interest or go seeking small ‘winnable’ goals elsewhere. Try a mix of short and long goals to keep the full team motivated and mix up your approach to reward and success to see what works best.
Finally, remember that for some, work/life balance is expected and assumed while for others, the only thing on the horizon is reaching the goal. [1] Ensuring that each member of your team is understood, and their needs fulfilled and respected can be a difficult task. You may need to help each team member understand their counterparts a bit better to help build community and trust. Team building exercises, open communication about needs and goals, and asking questions will keep you rolling in the right direction.
[1] https://www.rw-3.com/blog/the-motivation-dimension-how-different-cultures-inspire-high-performance
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Support Employees by Creating Purpose
 Are your employees focused at work? Are they excited to arrive each day and discuss future projects with interest? If not, your organization may be lacking clear purpose for employee work. Without a clear purpose, employees can begin to question why the work they do matters and lose focus and motivation. Establishing a clear purpose and relating it to the work they do and goals they are pursuing will help your staff focus and find value in the day-to-day. Establishing that big-picture purpose that “help employees connect what they are doing to the impact they are having in a way that helps them see how they are changing the organization, the community and the world” will pay off in big ways such increased employee retention and increased productivity and focus.
Continue reading at WomeninStandards.org, Click Here
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