✅ Set a “done for the day” time
📌 Transformational managers demand that employees leave the office at a decent hour
📌 A manager would say to an employee staying late “Why are you still here? We don’t stay late here unless there is an absolute emergency. We want you to be fresh tomorrow morning. Please go home.”

✅ Request a little less than the maximum effort–studies show that 85% effort is ideal
📌 Maximum effort doesn’t always translate into the best results. Studies show that 85% effort leads to better long-term results.
📌 Managers can start by asking, “What does it feel like to be at 100% intensity?” and then, “How can you keep this closer to the 85% level?” to help coach employees to reach and maintain this sweet spot.

✅ Ask “how I am adding unnecessary stress to your work?”
📌 Top performers are already self-motivated, so managing them in the same way as everyone else will just wear them out and make them a flight risk.
📌 Managers can ask their top performers “How I am adding unnecessary stress to your work?” and take the necessary steps to fix the situation

✅ Encourage 85%-correct decisions
📌 Let people know that an 85%-right decision is acceptable while making decisions as a team. Don’t insist on “100% perfect.”
📌 Asking for 85%-correct decisions relieves your top employees of unnecessary strain and keeps your team moving forward as opposed to waiting for the 100%-right decision before taking action.

✅ Be mindful when using high-pressure language
📌 High-pressure words like “ASAP,” “NEED,” or “URGENT” can put your team members under too much stress.
📌 Asking your team members, “What do you need to say no to in order to say yes to this?” can be a better alternative to expecting them to always agree to every request.

✅ End meetings 10 minutes early
📌 Research from Microsoft’s Human Factors Lab found that a brief break prevents stress from building up, but back-to-back no-break meetings make it harder for attendees to concentrate and participate.
📌 Ending meetings 10 minutes early can help keep employees out of “stressed brain” and keep them in “relaxed brain,” where they can do their best thinking.

✅ Make 85% your personal intensity level
📌 Managers must similarly set their own intensity to 85% to show their employees that it’s okay to not constantly be stressed out.
📌 Managers that embrace the 85% rule as their new way of thinking will see an improvement in the performance of their teams.

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