The other day I shared five tips on being a better leader.

But that list wasn’t complete! So here are five more tips on how you can do this.

(Remember, #s 1-5 are in the previous post.)

6. Be approachable.

An open-door policy, a suggestion box, an invitation delivered at an all-staff meeting to “come visit,” even a memo promising folksy charm isn’t the kind of approachability employees want from their leaders.

Get out there! Don’t sit back passively waiting for them to initiate contact; YOU have to do the approaching.

Institute periodic breakfasts or lunches with hierarchically segmented groups, offering open and/or issue specific agendas. Task each of your direct reports with keeping you informed about the challenges and achievements their employees.

When you later engage with those individuals, surprise and delight them with your awareness of specific details.

Resolve today to step out of your office and into the working lives of your employees.

7. Expand responsibility.

Take action to help the unfortunate, contribute to society, protect the earth, and more. Your role as leader not only requires you to model this behavior consistently, but also to foster it in others.

Resolve to be conspicuous in exhibiting a sense of responsibility for the earth and its inhabitants.

Better still: create opportunities for your employees to do likewise.

8. Create possibility.

Leaders can be so absorbed in moving people and organizations from the current state to the desired state that they fail to inquire about the “possible state.”

When was the last time you set aside time to just “wonder” together with your employees?

“What could we do if…what should we do with…what next big step…what new idea…”

Resolve to engage your employees in possibility thinking.

9. Think versatility.

Typically leaders create, apply and direct multiple types of capital simultaneously: financial, intellectual, natural, human, etc.

There is another type of capital leaders also use every day, but perhaps with less fluency: social capital.

More than just an indication of how well networked you are, this important component of your leadership portfolio reveals the ability to modify your style of leadership to be just as effective with your CTO, for example, as you are with your CMO.

Successful leaders get good at packaging their messages to elicit what they need from engineering, sales, manufacturing, finance, etc.

Resolve today to stop waiting for others to become who you wish they were, and instead, develop the versatility to work effectively with who they actually are!

10. Demand creativity.

Absent your explicit invitation for creative ideas to reduce workloads, you may never hear such ideas as reformatting deliverables, strategic abandonment, joint-venturing, portfolio workers, job sharing, virtual employment, etc.

Resolve today to invite creative ideas from your employees on how to honor work/life balance.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Patricia Frame’s three gifts for you in 2011
• Listening to the “little voice,” by Robin Ferrier
• Vision, intention and attention: 3 critical steps to being your best, by Jen Consalvo

Image: Infidelic via Flickr, Creative Commons

Francie Dalton, CMC, is founder and president of Dalton Alliances, Inc.and author of the recently published book Versatility. Her Washington, DC based consultancy helps the C-Suite solve business nightmares. Francie equips clients to deal with what they didn’t see coming (and shows them there’s always another way to win!). She welcomes a chance to meet you via Twitter or on LinkedIn.

Guest post by Lisa Byrne

When I’m not writing about-attending-or hosting an event, I can be found at Network Solutions where I act as Social Media Marketing Lead.

Since you’re familiar with Women Grow Business, you know that this blog community of female business owners and entrepreneurs is very generous in the great information and insights that they share.

(That’s a pic of WGB editor Shonali Burke and Chief Hot Momma Kathy Korman Frey from the immensely successful 2010 #wgbiz boot camp.)

So, in the spirit of “paying it forward,” Network Solutions has developed a local offline event series to impart relevant guidance and insight to women businesses on the benefits, tradeoffs and tools around social media and how it can support their efforts.

For our first event in the Pay It Forward series, we are honored to have Jen Consalvo (@noreaster and WGB contributor) as our featured speaker.

Jen is COO and co-editor of Tech Cocktail as well as the co-founder of Shiny Heart Ventures, a technology startup focused on building community driven products that remind people of the joys of life. She has worked in product development for almost 14 years, leading large and small teams in a range of product areas such as digital imaging, community & social platforms and personalization. The majority of her career was at AOL, planning and building products used by millions of people globally.

Our first event will be hosted on the morning of May 5th in Washington, DC by our sponsor, Venable LLP. We encourage women business owners – or those on the verge of starting their own business – who are seeking guidance on how to start or optimize their social media presence to attend.

Our social media team (aka yours truly and the infamous @ShashiB) will be onsite to assist with hands-on tool techniques and answer any and all of your questions – please join us!

What: “Socialize” Your Small Business: Understanding Social Media
When: May 5, 2011 | 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Where: Venable LLP | 575 7th Street NW, Washington DC
Who: Women business owners and entrepreneurs
What’s Next? RSVP on Eventbrite; Share the event on Facebook; Stay up-to-date with the Women Grow Biz community on Facebook and Twitter!

Image: Shashi Bellamkonda

Lisa Byrne is social media marketing lead for Network Solutions, and the editor and creator of DCeventjunkie, as well as the founder and president of Social Zest. She is a complete social nut, online and off. Talk to her on Twitter.

I’m a traditional kind of girl. I love family holidays and love entertaining. So Passover provides the perfect canvas for me.

And did I mention that I love matzo ball soup? Love!

But lately, I’ve been thinking about the real meaning of the holiday.

• The exodus: the march to freedom.
• The plagues: the obstacles to overcome.
• The symbols: remembering and learning from the past.

And I’ve been thinking about how these themes relate to running a business.

The exodus

According to a new report from American Express OPEN, women start businesses at 1.5 times the national rate and are now estimated to own just over 8.1 million enterprises that generate nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employ 7.7 million.

It’s interesting to note that almost 85% of women-owned businesses are sole proprietorships and more than half of women-owned businesses are home-based businesses.

So why do women start businesses? A fascinating study by the SBA, Self-Employed Women and Time Use, concludes that the majority of women are seeking life and family flexibility.

Who are these women? The SBA report states “higher-earning women are slightly more likely to enter self-employment than their lower earning peers. Further, entry rates do not differ between women who are not in the labor force and those previously employed in wage-and-salary jobs. Weak evidence also supports the claim that women are less likely to enter from unemployment.”

What this says to me is that women are leaving their jobs and choosing independence and freedom.

And that’s exactly what I did 16 years ago. I left my position as a partner at a global advertising agency and started my own business. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve never looked back. I’ve had my challenges – particularly as the business has grown – but nothing says freedom like setting your own goals, creating your boundaries, and being accountable to yourself.

The Plagues

According to the story of Passover, 10 awful plagues were delivered to Egypt in order to get the Pharaoh to change his mind and let Moses and the people of Israel leave Egypt.

When I was a little girl, I was frightened by the reading of the plagues at the Passover Seder. The illustrations were a bit intimidating. In particular, I was pretty disturbed by the boils and the locusts. And there they were, every single year at our Seder reading before dinner.

But I digress.

Bad things happen sometimes. So maybe losing a client is not as bad as wall-to-wall frogs, but I can tell you from experience that it sometimes feels that way. In business, and in particular if you run your own business, challenges, disappointments, and hardships abound. Surely none of us wants to dwell on the bad things that happen, but there is real value in remembering and even revisiting the difficulties in order to grow and learn from them.

Do you need to have a big dinner every year and list them? I think not!

But, knowing what could trip you up will go a long way to help you plan and prevent future issues and, perhaps, can help you deal with bumps along the road.

The Symbols

There are seven symbolic foods for Passover. Six are arranged on a plate and explained in conjunction with the telling of the story of the exodus. And then, of course, there’s matzo.

What strikes me is that the foods are to remind us of: bitterness, slavery, tears, pain, mourning, sacrifice, and lack of time. That, in and of itself, is depressing, no?

But the real significance lies in the juxtaposition of these symbols and remembering them in good times. Do you take the time to appreciate your success? Do you appreciate the sweat and effort that got you here?

Freedom

Passover is about moving toward freedom. And to me, running a business is about independence and, yes, freedom; the freedom to set goals, to succeed and to sometimes fail- and always to learn, grow, remember, and strive.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Gambling on business: what a dreidel can teach you, by Thursday Bram
• Kicking holiday fraud to the curb, by Stella Fayman
• 3 lessons from the unsigned contract, by Jen Consalvo

Image: Lawrence OP via Flickr, Creative Commons

Wendy Goldman Scherer is a founding partner of research firms The Social Studies Group and Scherer Cybrarian. They provide business research and geographic information services, news aggregation and monitoring. What Wendy loves most is social media research. Her focus for clients for many years has been on monitoring, reporting, building custom knowledge dashboards and virtual ethnography reporting. You can always find her at wendyscherer.com.

Chief Hot Momma aka Kathy Korman Frey (you’ll remember her electrifying keynote if you attended the 2010 #wgbiz boot camp) tells us that the submission deadline for HMP’s annual case competition is January 31 – that’s Monday.

What is it? From their site:

“The Hot Mommas^® Project is an award-winning venture housed at the George Washington University School of Business.

“We make women’s stories teachable using our “case wizard” at www.HotMommasProject.org. The Hot Mommas Project library is the first of its kind, providing scalable, global access to role models and virtual mentors that can be used by peer support groups, educators, trainers, and parents.

“We’ve been featured in Prentice Hall textbooks, the Washington Post, NPR and are the winner of a national Coleman Foundation case award.”

What’s the competition?

They are currently accepting nominations for the 2011 case study competition (the 2010 case study competition closed midnight, January 31, 2010.)

Nominated women receive a nomination notice, write their story at HotMommasProject.org using their “case wizard,” then click “publish” prior to January 31, 2011. Writers are permanently archived in their case library. Winners will be judged in February 2011 and published in a leading Prentice Hall textbook.

What to do next?

Go to www.HotMommasProject.org to learn more, see their recent press release, and browse their library of teachable stories (aka “cases”).

Nominees registered at www.HotMommasProject.org will receive updates on prizes and honors.

Don’t wait! Nominate a dynamic woman 18 or older (yourself included). You can also email your nominations at support [a] hotmommasproject [dot] org.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Jen Consalvo shares lessons from Austin for women in business
• 4 lessons learned from co-founding with a friend, by guest contributor Jessica Valenzuela

Image © our own “social media swami,” Shashi Bellamkonda of Network Solutions

Women Grow Business editor Shonali Burke is the award-winning principal of Shonali Burke Consulting, which specializes in “integrated communication to the nth degree.” In other words, she turns your communication conundrums into community cool. Featured on BNET as The Startup Storyteller, she also publishes Waxing UnLyrical under the watchful eyes of Chuck, Suzy Q. and Lola, her three rescue dogs. Her long-suffering husband has accepted that Shonali can most often be found on Twitter.

Looking back

As 2010 draws to a close, we thought it would be fun to take a look at a few of the posts that, over the last two years of this blog community’s life, have made an impact.

Last week, we looked at some of the posts that have made a special impact on the contributors to this blog.

Today, we take a look at the 10 posts that have received the most attention in terms of views or, as Google Analytics calls it, “top content.”

1. A Pre-Launch Checklist For Your Small Business (Jen Consalvo).

2. Say it, Sister: Five Public Speaking Tips from Toastmasters International’s Pat Johnson (guest post).

3. The Rock Star Boss: A Conversation With Lynn Tilton (me).

4. Value of Face Time as Entrepreneurs: Top Women’s Networking Groups in the DC Metro Area (Marissa Levin).

5. A Business Owner Researches Financial Options to Expand (Tinu Abayomi-Paul).

6. Think Less, Experiment More: 5 Lessons from an Entrepreneur (and Former Engineer at Google, Apple, and Microsoft) (guest post by Gayle Laakmann).

7. Your Revenue and a Harsh Fairytale: When Building a Good Sales Team, You Kiss A Lot of Frogs (Marissa Levin).

8. 3 Qualities Women Entrepreneurs Need to Succeed in a Man’s World (guest post by Brenda Harris).

9. The Business of Good Negotiation Skills: It’s Relationships (Not Money) That’s at Stake (guest post by Katie Kemple).

10. Fear Not Failure (or this economy): MBA Lessons from the Emerging Entrepreneur (guest post by Alexis Rodich).

While I think pretty much every post on this blog is terrific, it’s nice to take a walk down memory lane sometimes, and know that we can still learn from posts that were written last year, as quite a few of these were.

I wonder what 2011 will have in store for us?

Happy New Year, everyone.

Image: Frank Tellez via Flickr, Creative Commons

Women Grow Business editor Shonali Burke is the award-winning principal of Shonali Burke Consulting, which specializes in “integrated communication to the nth degree.” In other words, she turns your communication conundrums into community cool. Featured on BNET as The Startup Storyteller, she also publishes Waxing UnLyrical under the watchful eyes of Chuck, Suzy Q. and Lola, her three rescue dogs. Her long-suffering husband has accepted that Shonali can most often be found on Twitter.

Plan, plant and reap what you sow

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, a small business is an independent business that employs fewer than 500 employees, and small businesses represent 99.7% of all employer firms in the country.

Because of this enormous reach, small businesses may also be the ones hurt most during the recession.

There are three things you can do to position yourself for the long run: tax planning, entity structuring, and board meetings.

Tax Planning and Preparation

Your tax returns for the last three years should be reviewed for accuracies, inconsistencies, audit flags, and potentially overlooked deductions.

An important part of reduction planning is not wasting deductions or making certain elections to take advantage of unused deductions in the future or even carry them back to prior years.

Tax preparation for the April 15th return is not considered advance tax planning. It is merely tax compliance as opposed to voluntary tax reduction planning. Though returns aren’t due until April, they cover a tax year that ends Dec. 31. Some of the best tax-reduction moves really need to be done by mid-November or early December. They often take some advance planning.

Getting a head start in September could make you a lot happier in April, giving you a bigger refund or a smaller check to write to Uncle Sam.

You either pay the IRS, pay a tax preparer, or pay a qualified CPA to come up with some tax reduction strategies.

Entity Structuring and Asset Protection

Entity structuring is the use of a legal entity in an effort to provide asset protection and tax mitigation. It is the essential framework used to help manage cash flow and to allow you to retain revenue that can be reinvested to continue wealth accumulation.

There are three factors to consider in forming an entity: legal liability, tax reduction strategies, and ease of compliance. You will need to look at your business strategy and match it to an entity structure that best fits.

Many start-up entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to go after too broad a market. You need to develop a niche market for your business and then find a structure that fits that niche. Remember, as a small business owner, you want a structure that minimizes your exposure to self-employment taxes.

If you already have an entity set up, do you have an EIN number from the IRS, an operating agreement, a separate business bank account, and a workable bookkeeping system?

Business Analysis Meetings

Most wealthy privately held businesses form the “Alternative Board.” The Alternative Board® (TAB) brings business owners, CEOs and presidents of non-competing businesses together to discuss challenges and opportunities. Board members exchange ideas and practical advice with other experienced business owners who have the ability and the interest to contribute meaningful solutions.

TAB members lead businesses with annual revenues ranging from $1 million to more than $200 million, have anywhere from four to more than 300 employees. The goal of the board is to

1. Get crystal clear on how your business is doing today
2. Identify where you want to go with your business in the future
3. Discuss the steps you need to take and strategies you need to implement to get there.

If you are a small business with revenues of less than $1 million, this may not be accessible but you still need to reap the benefits. Consider working with a CPA or other business owners to form your own board.

Implementing any of the strategies mentioned above will position your small business to survive the economic crisis and set you up for long-term success.

More:

• Jen Consalvo gives you a pre-launch checklist for your small business
• Thursday Bram’s interview with the Tax Girl over at Grow Smart Business

Image: Alex Indigo via Flickr, Creative Commons

Ebere Okoye is the CEO of Wealth Building CPA and has been a Certified Public Accountant for 15 years. She holds a B.S. in Accounting and MBA from the University of Maryland. Her unique areas of expertise give her an in-depth understanding of the mistakes individuals and businesses make in their tax planning and investments. You can reach Ebere via email at info [a] wealthbuildingcpa [dot] com, on Twitter, or via her website. Mention WomenGrowBusiness.com for a free initial consultation.

Adversity and change are some of the greatest motivators when starting your own business.

Image: Ellyn Rivers via Flickr, Creative Commons

After our family relocated overseas mid-year with children, and many lessons learned along the way, I saw an opportunity to help families like ours avoid our oversights and to guide them in choosing the best education for their children.

At that vulnerable time, since I had nothing to lose, I had everything to gain.

Being anonymous in a new country gave me courage that I otherwise would not have had; it was that nerve that enabled me to launch of School Choice International.

I started referring to myself as an educational consultant and began visiting schools. At the same time I developed a brochure about my new company. And then I went to an American expatriate newspaper and convinced them to run a story about this innovative concept.

With the article and the brochure in hand, I did a mailing to a large number of Fortune 500 companies, and before long had my first call.

SWOT yourself

Women may find themselves in the same position – seeing a need they’d like to fill – brought on by events such as relocation or loss of a job. But prior to building the business, the most important step is to do an honest, self-assessment.

To mentally prepare, I asked myself questions such as:

How do I feel about taking risks? Do I trust my ability to distinguish between a calculated risk and a wild one?

Am I aware of my strengths and weaknesses? Am I comfortable with the fact that I don’t know everything about all aspects of the business? Am I willing to surround myself with people who have the skills that I don’t?

Am I willing to do things that are hard for me?

Am I decisive? Am I willing to make unpopular decisions?

Am I willing to devote time, money and energy to my business – based on the needs of my clients rather than my own needs?

By honestly answering these questions

I was able to determine that I was ready to help families – something that I wasn’t prepared for prior to my experience as an expat.

Since founding my company, I’ve learned a handful of important lessons along the way.

I have learned to balance necessary risk and fiscal conservatism.

Facing this challenge forced me to make some hard decisions, but finding this equilibrium has enabled me to hire the right people to complement my skills.

During the recession, for example, our revenue was down and I saw that we needed to reduce personnel costs. As my employees were all very strong I could not decide who to let go.

My solution was to reduce several people to three days per week and continue paying for their health insurance. Reducing our overhead in this way left the company with enough disposable income to invest in a new client management system, marketing initiatives, and develop a web-based tool comparing curriculum and educational systems worldwide.

Our limited funds went a long way during the recession. Building the web-based tool provided our clients with a cost effective alternative to our individualized services, and gave them the sense that we were listening to their needs.

As a result of cutting costs to invest in strategic initiatives, we burst out of the recession.

Had I not made hard decisions and taken risks – within financially conservative limits – we would not have moved forward during this period, which turned out to be a time when many others in our industry failed.

I have learned that I can’t do everything personally.

I need to hire staff or contractors who are effective at doing the things that I don’t do well or that I can no longer do personally, because my role has expanded as my business has grown.

I now know that sometimes you have to walk away from an idea, to say we’ve tried it long enough and it is not worth any further investment. I have learned that I must do what is best for my company, even if that means raising prices with confidence or letting go of employees who don’t fit.

And finally, I have learned to trust my intuition.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Setback to resilience: 3 lessons from the unsigned contract, by Jen Consalvo
• Raising capital for your business: strategies and resources from Marissa Levin

Founder and President of School Choice International, Elizabeth Perelstein was recently named one of Fortune Magazine’s “2010 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs.” Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., School Choice International is the leading global educational consulting service specializing in school placement services in private, public and international schools, from nursery through college. The company also conducts research projects and policy analysis for corporations, schools and governments seeking strategic policy decisions or implementations. You can reach Elizabeth at info [a] schoolchoiceintl [dot] com.

In his book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill wrote about imaginary Council meetings with a group he called his “Invisible Counselors.”

Image: Michael Wade via Flickr, Creative Commons

His council included nine individuals whose lives and work Hill admired, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln. He would “meet” with this imaginary group every night for the exclusive purpose of “rebuilding (his) own character so it would represent a composite of the characters of (his) imaginary counselors.”

You’ve heard it before; if you want to soar like an eagle, you have to hang out with eagles, not turkeys.

So if you want to live a more grateful life, then it makes sense to surround yourself with people who recognize the importance of gratitude in their lives.

What if you created a “Gratitude Council” to help you become more grateful?

One way to do this is to create a list of nine to twelve people who have inspired you to bring more gratitude into your life or who have set a good example for you in that regard. Think of your friends, family, world, religious or business leaders, artists, etc.

They don’t necessarily have to still be in physical form in this world and you don’t have to know them personally. Mother Teresa comes to mind, or you might include Gandhi or Nelson Mandela on your list.

Now connect with them energetically and create this awesome circle of wisdom and support.

In what aspects are you choosing to grow and expand your awareness? What is it about each of your council members that you respect and admire, specifically?

Think about and thank them for their character and grateful acts you would like to emulate.

Allow them to guide you on your journey of a gratitude-filled life.

When you are faced with a challenging situation, where appreciation is not your first, or even your fifth most forthcoming emotion, turn to the council. Ask them how to see the gift within the challenge. Ask them what you’re not seeing that would help you better respond with thankfulness.

Ask them how to transform your view of detour and delay into an understanding of divine timing.

Hill said, “On scores of occasions when I have faced emergencies, some of them so grave that my life was in jeopardy, I have been miraculously guided past these difficulties through the influence of my Invisible Counselors.”

Sometimes I’m asked how to distinguish your own thoughts or imagination from the words or messages from the counselors.

Sit quietly for a few moments. Some people like to put on “spa-type” music to help themselves get into the right mind-state while others prefer complete silence.

Set the intention to clear the channels of communication. Open your mind and your heart to hear your counselors. Picture them sitting and talking with you, individually or as a group. Whatever you “imagine” them to say to you is really what they are saying to you.

The more you consult with your Gratitude Council, the more adept you will become at appreciating your surrounding circumstances.

You will go to gratitude more quickly and be better able to respond appropriately rather than react. You’ll find yourself feeling happier and more content.

In due time, you’ll be the inspiration for others and perhaps they’ll ask you, energetically, to join their Gratitude Council and help them on their journey.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Lori asks, “Is your business delivering happiness?“
• Jen Consalvo shares 5 launch lessons on business partners, time and teams

Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She shares happiness by helping business people show appreciation for and give recognition to customers and employees with The Gratitude Cookie™. With an understanding of the value of creating strong connections and experiences, she supports clients in increasing customer loyalty, referrals and profits. Connect with Lori on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

This is Part II of a two-part series

Last week in Part One, we established five solid reasons why you should take action immediately to nuke the toxic dumper in your workplace.

This week, you’ll learn specific techniques for neutralizing your toxic dumper – whether that person is your boss, a peer, or your subordinate.

If the toxic dumper is your superior

Technique #1: the moment you notice this toxic dumper headed your way, stand up and start gathering your things as though you’re heading off to a meeting. As the person enters your office, look up and smile, saying, “I’m almost late for a meeting; we’ll have to catch up later. How about lunch tomorrow?”

Technique #2, and this next idea works well if the buttons of your phone are not visible to entrants:

When you see this toxic dumper coming, look at your phone and say, “Sure I’ll be happy to hold.” As the dumper enters your office, say, “I’m on hold – we’ll have to talk later. How about lunch tomorrow?”

Technique #3: As the dumper enters your office, simply say, “I’m on an impossible deadline for an urgent project for my boss. Can we talk later? How about lunch tomorrow?”

The good news is that these three approaches don’t require you to confront the issue directly. Instead, you can skirt the actual issue, while simultaneously establishing a pattern of busy-ness that may be adequate to dissuade further similar interruptions.

Perhaps most importantly, these tips begin to set the expectation that such interactions be limited to lunchtime.

Remember: you’ll need to follow-up on that offer for lunch!

If the toxic dumper is your peer

If your peer dumper is a friend, or if you’re uncomfortable with confrontation, one of these two fairly benevolent approaches may be helpful:

(a) “You know, you’ve been struggling with this issue for a long time. How about if you take the issue up with the relevant parties and talk it out with them; or

(b) “I empathize with your issues, but talking with you about them during work hours is causing me to get behind in my work. Could we take these conversations offline? I’d be happy to meet you for breakfast or lunch…”

If you’d rather play hard-ball with your peer dumper, consider some variation of the following:

(a) “You know, at your level you really need to be identifying solutions to problems – not just talking about them. Why not figure out how to solve the problem, and then go implement that solution, instead of complaining to me about it?”

Or, even harder ball: “Look – it’s not that I don’t like you – it’s just that I can’t afford and frankly don’t want to spend time giving succor to your complaints. If you wanted help solving problems, that’s one thing; I’d be willing to carve out time to be helpful.  But you seem only to want to complain – and I’m just not up for that.”

If the toxic dumper is your subordinate

Technique #1: Require that your subordinate identify at least two possible solutions to every problem before bringing the problem to you.

Technique #2: Use the Socratic method. When your subordinate complains about something, don’t respond with advice or solutions.

Instead, ask the specific, successive questions that lead your subordinate through the reasoning process, revealing what you already know to be the appropriate conclusion.

Given the volume of work for which most of us are responsible, we simply must be willing to issue “cease and desist” orders to our toxic dumpers. Using the tips provided in this article should get you off to a good start!

More from Women Grow Business:

• Jen Consalvo discusses vision, intention and attention: 3 critical steps to being your best
• Katie Kemple talks to Claire Meany about open source leadership

Image: Temari 09 via Flickr, Creative Commons

Francie Dalton, CMC, is founder and president of Dalton Alliances, Inc. and author of the recently published book Versatility. Her Washington, DC based consultancy helps the C-Suite solve business nightmares. Francie equips clients to deal with what they didn’t see coming (and shows them there’s always another way to win!). She welcomes a chance to meet you via Twitter or on LinkedIn.

It’s so darn easy to get in a rut.

If you find yourself doing the same thing day after day, week after week, maybe it’s time to mix it up!

Changing different aspects of your work life will help you stay sharp and focused.

Notice how you might keep things interesting in these key areas:

What You Do

I’m all for having a niche, but are you taking this to the extreme?

Do you find yourself working with the same sorts of clients over and over again: same industry, same revenue model, same number of employees?

Are your clients the same people, just with different heads?

What about your projects?  Is everything starting to look the same?

I can’t think of a quicker way to become bored and burnt out.

In fact, one of the main reasons I started my company (lo, back in the day!) was to get away from having to write about the same horrid crap and designing to the same wretched guidelines every single day.

(Maybe your work isn’t really horrid or wretched, but doesn’t it start to feel that way after a while?)

If you work with small organizations, stretch yourself by working with a national brand.

If you normally do project work, think about how you might reposition yourself as a consultant.

Can’t get that sort of work, you say?

Even the process of writing the proposal will help you gain a new perspective.

What You Focus On

We all wear many hats.  How about trying on someone else’s cap for size?

If you normally handle a particular aspect of the business, like sales or customer service, try switching off with a colleague, or at least sitting in for a few hours.

Maybe you can offer to draft a blog post or proposal, or join a colleague at lunch with a client.

This isn’t always comfortable or fun.

Early in my career, my sales guys would always try to get me to go out on sales calls with them.

“No thanks,” I’d say. “You make the money. I spend it.”

Now that I’m, uh, more seasoned, I see the value in understanding what other people do from the inside out.

Who knows?  You just might discover a new calling!

How You Decompress

I work too much, and I bet you do too.

One of the most important things you can do to stay fresh is to keep doing what you love, whether it’s taking photos, making music, or writing poetry.

In other words, stay geeky!

Staying geeky allows you to come back to work with fresh eyes, which leads to higher creativity and productivity.

Remember, work expands to fit the time you give it.  Avoid that rut by planning to mix it up!

More rut-reducing resources for you:

• Marie Forleo on Parkinson’s Law
• Ray Martin on getting out of a rut
• Regular contributor Jen Consalvo on Vision, Intention and Attention: 3 critical steps to being your best

Image: Kenny Hindgren via Flickr, Creative Commons

Ann Bevans is a writer, graphic designer and web developer.  As principal of Ann Bevans Collective, she helps clients articulate messages that matter and create print and online marketing programs that communicate those messages with impact. Ann asks tough questions and doesn’t accept flimsy answers. She makes music and writes fiction. She does all her own stunts.  Connect with Ann at www.annbevans.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.