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Your #Career : 7 Things You Must Do To Maximize The Value Of Your LinkedIn Profile…Your LinkedIn Profile is One of the Most Important Career Marketing Tools you Have.

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You’ve done all the hard work to create a stellar LinkedIn profile. You have a professional headshot, a compelling headline and a complete, authentic summary (if you are still working on this, read this post for guidance). When LinkedIn says your profile is “all-star,” it’s time to turn your hard work into a tool that will advance your career.

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Here are seven actions to take (in four categories) to maximize the value of your perfect profile:

1. Make it visible. You don’t want to be the world’s best-kept secret, wasting all that effort you spent building the online representation of the real you. I recommend making every element of your profile visible to everyone. Through the Privacy and Settings option, you can choose to share your entire profile or just a few elements with public viewers. Allow anyone to see your public profile. What’s the value of creating your profile if you don’t showcase it?

 

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2. Keep it current. The more interaction you have with your profile, the more likely it will be seen by others. In fact, according to LinkedIn, you should “update your status at least 20 times per month in order to maximize your reach to approximately 60% of your unique audience.”

Stay connected with your contacts by updating your status regularly – letting others know what you are working on and the events you are attending, along with sharing links to the content you find interesting. 

Direct People to it

Sure, people can find your profile through LinkedIn searches – publishing all the right keywords is essential for attracting people you didn’t even know were looking for you. I call it planned serendipity. But you need to go beyond the random and unplanned connections. You need to send people to your profile so they can learn more about you.

There are two easy ways to get people to check out your profile:

3. Use a QR Code. You want people to learn more about you after meeting you at a networking function. Make it easy for them to get to your profile by creating a QR (quick response) code that links directly to your profile. Add your QR code to business cards, your resume, and your pitch letters. You can also create stickers with your QR code and add them to your name badge at networking functions.

4. Create LinkedIn buttons. Use the LinkedIn buttons to direct people to your profile. Under “Privacy and Settings” you can access your public profile settings (on the right side of the screen). At the bottom of the box, there’s an option to create what LinkedIn calls “your public profile badge.” This lets you choose from a series of button options that you can add to your email signature, Blog, Website, etc.

Repurpose it

LinkedIn provides a valuable, one-stop-shopping resource for people who want to know more about your expertise. But the act of putting your profile together is also a valuable, one-stop-shopping exercise in getting clear about your personal brand message and defining and documenting your career success. Now that you have all that content in one place, leverage that work for other applications. In personal branding, we have a technique we call “being lazy,” which means repurpose and reuse content. This helps ensure consistency and saves time and effort. Here are three ways to maximize the effort you put into build your amazing LinkedIn profile: 

5. Get a copy of it. You can export your profile to Word or PDF document to use in your career marketing activities. Here’s how.

6. Turn it into a resume. LinkedIn Labsprovides an option to turn your LinkedIn profile into your resume. First, you select your resume template, and then you can customize the content that you pull directly from your profile. This helps save time and ensures consistency between your on- and offline career materials.

7. Create your own website. There are a number of services that will let you import your LinkedIn content into their platform so you can create your own custom website. My favorite is branded.me (disclosure: branded.me is a partner of my company, Reach Personal Branding). They allow you to import your profile content into one of a variety of templates. Then you can customize your site with images, colors, fonts, etc.

Your LinkedIn profile is one of the most important career marketing tools you have. Its value is amplified when you get more people to see it, and when you repurpose it to support your personal branding efforts.

Remember, before you maximize your profile, you need to make sure it is compelling and reflects who you are in the real world. Learn how to build a stellar LinkedIn summary in this recorded webinar which you can download here.

 

Forbes.com | January 4, 2015 | William Arruda

 

Your #Career : Do You Need A New Job in 2016? This One Question Will Tell You…So here is the Question. Where is your Career on the Curve?

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Should you stay in your current job, or is it time to move? You will have various ways of dealing with this question, but let me suggest one concept that you may have missed. Or if you are thinking of it, you may not have realised its full ramifications. I’m going to ask you a very pointed question here. The answers might transform your plans for the coming year.

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The concept is  the simple S-curve. If you have studied marketing, you will recognise it immediately as the product lifecycle, but it applies to everything – businesses, careers, musical genres, empires…

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For a product the stages are introduction-growth-maturity-decline. For a career the stages can be characterised as:

    1. Learning the job – excitement, disorientation, growth;
    2. Proving yourself – producing results, acquiring mastery;
    3. Mastery – quite effortless competence;
    4. Decline – boredom, staleness, beyond your sell-by date.

So here is the question. Where is your career on the curve? How much have you learned in the past year, compared to how much you learned in the first year? What is your level of excitement, relative to past years? If you are still growing, that’s good. It’s probably worth staying, unless there’s something wrong with the organisation. It’s the mastery phase that is dangerous.

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The feeling that you have mastered your job is, for most of us, very pleasant. We feel comfortable, competent, in control (but see my previous post!). Life is good. But here’s the bad news. If you have reached this point, the rot is already setting in. Peak mastery is in fact the beginning of decline. And from this follows something very important; just when you feel on top of things is the moment you need to be looking for the next step. This seems counterintuitive, but think for a moment and you will see why it makes sense.

When is the best time to be looking for a new job? Is it when you are at the top of your powers? Still energised about the job you are doing, still performing strongly, still confident? Or is it better to be looking when you are starting to fade, getting a little bored, maybe not giving of your best, starting to worry? Put that way, it’s obvious, but it is so easy to miss. So often, we don’t start to plan the next move until we start to feel bored or uncomfortable where we are. Then, given the inevitable delays in getting our ideas together and the time waiting for the right thing to come up, we are into the period of decline. Trust me on this – it’s a mistake I’ve made. Probably one of my biggest mistakes.

If this little piece of productive paranoia seems an unwelcome intrusion in the season of peace and goodwill, please believe it’s well intentioned. If it does make you feel uncomfortable, that probably means there’s something you need to attend to as soon as you are back at work.

Forbes.com | December 31, 2015 | Alastair Dryburgh 

#Leadership : Challenges For HR Directors In 2016…There is a Growing Trend towards Manager & Employee-Driven HR Processes Rather than HR being the Main Driver

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In 2015, one of the notable features of the business world has been the impact that a corporate scandal can have on the reputation of a company or sector.

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As Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the US remarked: ‘It takes many good deeds to build a reputation and only one bad one to lose it’.

In 2015, the repercussions of the carbon emissions cheating debacle by Volkswagen continues to be felt by its customers, suppliers and employees and a catalogue of misdemeanors such as the foreign exchange rate rigging and money laundering has plagued the banking sector.

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On a macro-economic level, the population continues to age in many countries across the EU as well as the US and Japan. Germany and Japan have a population average age of 46 years while in the US this is 36 years old. The demographic profile is very different in Africa where the average age in South Africa is 25 and 15 years old in Uganda. The changing demographics within the West and in emerging markets will have implications for the talent management programs of global firms. I asked some experts to gaze into their crystal balls and give their views for 2016 in terms of talent management, leadership, culture and technology.

Reputation management will be front and centre of HR directors’ agenda, commented Rita Trehan, chief capacity officer at Rita Trehan LLC. “The Volkswagen downfall has cast a long shadow; a healthy culture gone astray. If it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone. Next year, the onus will be on HR to take the lead, manage the company reputation and call out risky practices that might bring down a business.”

Major skill shortages and huge changes in demographics will be on the radar of HR directors of FTSE100 firms, remarked Nick Holley, co-director of the center of HR Excellence at Henley Business School.

“I see a lot of companies have a big issue where there is shortage of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills. At the same time, we see that many FTSE100 firms have demographic problems as there are a significant proportion of baby boomers on the cusp of retirement. There is a real issue with knowledge transfer here.”

As the job market becomes more competitive and skill shortages worsen, this will place the prospective employee in a more influential position to research an employer, argued O’Connell. “Employees have more information than ever before on a prospective employer. HR needs to focus on what their employer brand is and build trust between potential employees and the business.”

In terms of talent management challenges facing global firms in 2016, there is a growing understanding within the HR industry that the annual performance review isn’t an effective way to manage people or boost performance, argued David Brennan, general manager of Achievers. “It’s a process that looks in the rear-view mirror, that’s focused on what your employee did a year ago. It’s no longer a relevant or fruitful procedure for the new generation of employees. Learning how to incorporate real-time feedback into the company’s culture will be crucial for global firms who want to see engaged and successful employees.”

Holley warned that global firms had to be careful when it came to defining ‘talent’. “It’s not just the high potential employees. Most organizations see the talent issue is around critical skills that they require to deliver their business strategy.” Holley argued that there needs to be more ‘subject-matter’ leadership within organizations. “We tend to think that leadership is about leading people but it’s also about commercial leadership, multi-cultural leadership and leading within the context of the organization.”

HR directors of multinational companies need the ability to balance the need of different business challenges arising from different regions, said O’Connell. “Immigration is an interesting challenge. There will be increasing workforce diversity and companies that embrace that diversity will see that leverage of value.”

Global organizations must consider what it means to have a multi-generational workforce and how they work together, advised Charlotte Sweeney, founder of Charlotte Sweeney Associates, a diversity and inclusion consultancy. “Organizations need to consider what employees from different generations and different life styles are looking for from an employer, whether that’s interesting work, being able to make a difference to wider communities or the rewards and recognition they receive. Research shows that the younger generation is much more vocal about what they want and don’t want from their employer and career. If companies want to be able to attract and retain future talent, then these perspectives do need to be listened to.”

Another challenge for multinational firms is how they communicate with the millennial generation especially with the increasing influence and presence of online sites that review organizations, argued O’Connell. “Employers have a real challenge here as with greater choice and influence, this generation has a depth of knowledge about companies. HR directors have to make sure they are communicating properly about their company. Glassdoor has provided authentic feedback about companies and I see the more progressive organizations respond to comments on Glassdoor, rather than ignore it.”

O’Connell warned that the HR function had to get closer to the business in 2016 in order to be more effective. “We did research recently which revealed that 50% of business leaders don’t value the analytics that HR provides for them. HR is taking a technology-focused approach but it needs to provide the data that the business unit values.”

Technology will play a pivotal role for the HR function in 2016, commented Simon Constance, partner, people advisory services at EY. “I think that 2016 will be the year that automation hits the administrative processes and we’re going to see an explosion of artificial intelligence. Automation will take a swathe of process roles out in call centers. Junior analysis roles will also be hit by automation.”

Dominique Jones, Vice-President of Human Resources at Halogen Software believes that there is a growing trend towards manager and employee-driven HR processes rather than HR being the main driver. “To support this, HR technology will provide employees and managers a central view of all ongoing performance and development activities, and a simpler way to review and revise goals, development plans and gather and provide feedback across multiple devices.”

 

Forbes.com | December 30, 2015 | Karen Higginbottom ,CONTRIBUTOR

 

Your #Career : 7 New Year’s Resolutions for Career Success in 2016… With the new year quickly approaching, many of us are starting to reevaluate some life and career choices. New Years resolutions are a perfect way for us to focus on certain areas that we would like to improve on for the upcoming year.

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Each year resolutions come around, and when thinking about career resolutions specifically, some of the same items make the list over and over again. Whether you still have some of the same goals as you did last year or are looking for new resolutions to add to your list, being able to put these ideas to paper and get organized before the New Year hits is crucial to success.

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Below are 7 New Years resolutions that focus on career success and are realistic for most professionals. Sometimes the reason resolutions don’t stick is because they are unclear or too difficult to manage all at once (and consistently), so check out a few ideas below that may help you succeed this New Year:

Make sleep and healthy eating a priority over your workload.

One of the worst things you can do in your career is work so hard that you forget to take care of yourself. In fact, eating healthy and exercise has actually been linked tobetter productivity in the workplace. This means you should make healthy eating and sleep a priority this year. If you feel like you’re behind on work but you’ve run out of time if you want to get 7 hours of sleep, then allow yourself to run out of time. The same can be said for spending time cooking healthy meals. Let those take priority and watch your work get done faster and more efficiently than before.

 

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Actively network outside of the office.

Even if you’re not looking for a new job, networking is still something you should be actively pursuing. Going to networking events every few months can help keep you active in your industry, help you make valuable connections and learn new things, and help you improve your skills as a professional. Simply networking with those in your office is great, but getting out to networking events is even better. It definitely takes some effort, but after a while you’ll likely start to feel more comfortable and it will become a part of your routine.

Do your own career evaluation.

This means sitting down and thinking about your goals for the year in terms of your own personal career. Write down any responsibilities you want to take on for the year, evaluate what is making you happy and what is making you unhappy in your career so you can make changes, and do some research about salary for your position. Make sure you’re getting treated fairly and you’re happy, and if not, come up with a plan to make changes.

Get certified in one new skill.

Whatever the skill, make sure it is something that interests you and really make time for it this year as part of your personal development. This will help keep you motivated and hopefully learn something that will make you more valuable in the years to come.

Organize personal social accounts for business.

Even if you’re not the social media expert in your office, that doesn’t mean you can’t use social media to your advantage. Make it a goal to utilize social media to help promote your business and even more importantly, help improve your personal brand.

Clean out your inbox and keep it clean.

This is probably the easiest resolution to master on the list. Take one weekend day before January and clean out your entire inbox so you can start fresh at 0 emails. This not only means deleting the emails you don’t want, but actually unsubscribing from them as you go so that they don’t keep bothering you. It’s also important to keep it up throughout the year, which involves creating email folders for organization, turning off notifications, and more.

Read industry news every morning.

Before work everyday, read the news that’s happening in your industry. Find the blog that really focuses on industry specifics so that you do not have to sift through other distracting news, and give it a quick read every single morning. If you keep up with it, you should only have three or four new headlines to read each day, and for most, only about one or two stories per week even deserves a click and a read. Regardless, it’s important to have a feel for what is going on so that you don’t miss a beat.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
PUBLISHED ON: DEC 29, 2015
Inc.om | 

BY ADAM HEITZMAN

Co-founder, HigherVisibility

#Leadership : 5 Surefire Signs That You’re #Promotable … When it Comes to Getting #Promoted, you Want to Present yourself in a Way that Feeds into the Biases that #Bosses ’ have about What Makes someone Promotable.

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It’s the end of the year already, and it isn’t too late to show your boss that you’re worthy of a promotion. Maybe you’ve been holding down the same position for a few years and are ready to move up. Maybe your company is going through some internal shuffling and you’re expecting your dream job to open up. Or, maybe you’ve been disappointed a few too many times by other people getting promoted ahead of you.

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Whatever the reason, you want to make certain now that you’re ready to move up. In other words, you need to make certain that your boss sees it that way.

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” –Steve Martin

Anthony Greenwald at the University of Washington has studied bias more than just about anyone, and his research findings have major implications for your ability to get promoted. His recent studies showed that unconscious workplace biases tend to stay constant, and bosses follow these biases, whether they are aware of them or not.

“People are claiming that they can train away biases,” Greenwald says, “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][They’re] making those claims without evidence.”

When it comes to getting promoted, you want to present yourself in a way that feeds into the biases that bosses’ have about what makes someone promotable. You’re already doing the hard work, so why not frame your effort in such a way that it increases your chances of obtaining the position you want?

While this probably sounds a bit manipulative, there are several straightforward things that you can do to showcase your work and make certain that you’re promotable. The following five actions will appeal to your boss’s inherent biases about promotability, without you being disingenuous.

1. You stretch your boundaries

Anybody (well, almost anybody) can do what they’re told. To get promoted, you have to go above and beyond. Taking on additional responsibilities without being asked is not only a great way to demonstrate your work ethic, energy, and skills, but it also lets your boss know that you’re ready (and able) to expand your scope. When you take on more than the norm, your boss can’t help but think that you’re capable of a bigger role. This includes showing that you’re willing to take risks by making innovative suggestions.

 

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2. You aren’t too irreplaceable

Most people fail at this. Of course, performing at your highest level regardless of the position you’re in is always the best idea. The key here is not to be seen as the onlyperson capable of performing the necessary duties in the position that you want to move on from. If you do, your boss will conclude that promoting you isn’t worth the trouble (and risk) of finding someone to replace you.

The best way to find a balance between doing your best and showing that you’re ready for more is by developing other people. As tempting as it is to hoard knowledge, don’t. Instead, make certain that there are others who know how to do important aspects of your job. Plus, teaching is a critical leadership skill. So, in addition to alleviating concerns about finding your replacement, you’ll demonstrate that you can handle the responsibility that comes with a more advanced position.

3. You demonstrate emotional intelligence (EQ)

You might be able to get away with being a temperamental genius in entry-level positions, but you’ll never move past that without emotional intelligence. If you’re the type who’s prone to temper tantrums when things don’t go your way; losing your cool when people cross you; storming out of rooms, yelling; or going silent during conflict, you’re signaling to your boss that you don’t want a promotion.

No boss wants to be known as the guy or gal who promoted a short-fused person. Once you’re promoted, your behavior is a reflection of the judgment of the person who promoted you. Show your boss that you have enough self-awareness to acknowledge your weaknesses and to work to improve them. This will prove you’re capable. Emotional self-control is the result of hard work, not an inherent skill.

4. You speak the company’s language

Bosses appreciate vision more than anything. They love it when you see what could be useful to the company over the long term and tell them about it in language they understand. As you move up in any company, your choice of language becomes increasingly important. It’s no longer enough to simply be an expert at what you do; you have to demonstrate that you understand how the work you do serves the business.

That means learning the vocabulary of the executive team and your boss. Whether that’s KPIs, EBITA, profit margin, market share, failure rate, or what have you, know what the terms mean and why they’re important so that you can use them correctly when speaking with upper management. Speaking the right language will not only show that you’re interested in more than your current role, but it will also demonstrate your intelligence and fit within the company.

5. You aren’t afraid to ask for it

Not everybody wants to be promoted; some people are perfectly happy doing the same job for years on end. If you don’t tell your boss otherwise, he or she may assume that you’re one of them. When the time comes to show up in your boss’s office and say, “I’m interested in a promotion,” it’s important that you have something specific in mind—if not a specific job title, then at least a clear idea of what the responsibilities might include and how this ties in to your career goals. And, if the job requires skills you don’t have yet, outline your plan for acquiring them.

Bringing It All Together

You may not get the promotion you’re aiming for. If that happens, ask for feedback, but stay away from sour-grapes questions like “Why did you pick him and not me?” In fact, don’t speak about the person who got the promotion at all. Instead, ask which of the critical skills you lack and what you need to do to be ready for the next opportunity. Don’t argue; just listen, and ask thoughtful follow-up questions. Just make certain you follow through on the suggestions you’re given. If your boss suggests some things you can do to become more promotable and you don’t follow through, don’t expect to be considered the next time around.

Promotions don’t just happen, and they’re not a guaranteed result of high performance. That’s because you don’t get promoted as a reward for what you’ve already done. You get promoted because your boss thinks you have the potential to add more value in a larger role.

 

Forbes.com | December 28, 2015 | Travis Bradberry 

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Your #Career : Beyond #LinkedIn — Using Social Media For Your Job Search…It’s no Secret that LinkedIn is a Powerful Job Search Tool. It Can Help you Expand your #Network, gain Job Prospects, Grab the Attention of #Recruiters & More.

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It’s no secret that LinkedIn is a powerful job search tool. It can help you expand your network, gain job prospects, grab the attention of recruiters and more. There are many other ways to leverage social media to give your job hunt a boost, though. Try these tips during your job search in 2016, to get a leg up on the competition.

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Scope out Instagram. If a potential employer has a company Instagram account, the photos can offer some serious intel into the day-to-day happenings of its office. The No. 1 question an Instagram account will answer: What is the dress code really like? This helps get rid of any confusion or anxiety over an appropriate interview outfit. Additionally, you might also find that the company is hosting an event, supporting a charity or partaking in fun team-building exercises. These are all great for giving you a better understanding of the culture and helping you make genuine conversation during an interview.

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Read the blog of an insider. Find a list of employees who work within your desired department via LinkedIn to see if any promote themselves as bloggers or keynote speakers. If yes, reading an employee’s industry blog can provide insight into how the people at a potential employer think and work. And if your hiring manager is the one with a blog, it will offer a wealth of information and ideas to discuss during your interview, making you look incredibly smart and tuned in to the company.

Follow on Twitter. A Twitter account can provide an up-to-date feed of important news, trends and even job opportunities. Plus, if the company is small, interacting on Twitter could help provide you with name recognition for when you submit a resume. However, make sure that your Twitter page is squeaky clean and reflects your professional goals before connecting.

Take LinkedIn even further. Many people use LinkedIn as only a digital version of their resume, but there are so many other ways to showcase your skills and experience on the social platform. For example: Ensure you’re getting the most out your LinkedIn recommendations. Upload portfolio examples. Join industry groups. Follow prospective employers and influential people in your industry.

And my final piece of advice: Social media is a quick and easy way to gain information and make connections, but don’t take it too far. You shouldn’t be hounding a hiring manager via Twitter after an interview, sending messages on LinkedIn when it’s not appropriate or stalking employees through Instagram.

Lisa Quast, author of the book, Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach: A Foolproof Guide to Getting the Job You Want. Every Time. Join me on Twitter @careerwomaninc

Forbes.com | December 27, 2015 | Lisa Quast

Your #Career : 6 Ways To Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick In 2016… No One Wants to Attempt a Positive Change in His or Her Life, Only to Dump His or Her Goal in a few Short Weeks. But 24% of People Fail to Keep their Resolutions every Year

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As a new year approaches and you contemplate becoming part of the 45% of Americans who usually set New Year’s resolutions, you can either set yourself up for success or failure. No one wants to attempt a positive change in his or her life, only to dump his or her goal in a few short weeks. But 24% of people fail to keep their resolutions every year.

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to join the ranks of people who celebrate January 17 as “Dump Your Resolutions Day.”

It doesn’t have to be that way. You can actually use the start of a new year to make significant changes that can make a lasting impact on your life.

Here are six ways to achieve your New Year’s resolutions in 2016:

Set short-term goals.

Maybe we should choose “New Month’s Resolutions” every 30 or 31 days instead of New Year’s resolutions once a year. Try breaking down a larger goal into shorter periods of time.

Why not shorten the timing of your resolution to what suits your particular goal rather than something that fits neatly on the calendar?

Write down your goals and share them with a friend (or two)

In a study on goal-setting at the Dominican University of California, one group of study participants wrote their goals down, broke them into action steps, and shared them with friends.

This group’s success rate was high — 62% had achieved their goals or were halfway there, compared to the 43% who only thought deeply about the goals and rated their difficulty and importance. Taking it a step further, of the goal-setters who did all of the above but also sent weekly updates to a friend, 76% were at least halfway to achieving their goals.

Consider keeping a journal with your goals for 2016 and reviewing them weekly. Enlist the support of friends or colleagues, share your plans with them, get feedback and meet at regular intervals to share your progress.

 

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Create momentum.

Knock off a few important steps early in the process.

For example, say your resolution is to get on track for retirement. If you have a pretty good idea that you are behind in your savings, don’t wait until you have completed an exhaustive and thorough analysis. Bump up your contributions right away — even if it’s only a little bit.

Pick your game-changer.

What is the most important action you can take this month to meet your goal?What’s one thing you could accomplish that would make or break a successful outcome? Focus your time and energy on this aspect of your goal.

For example, some friends of mine who are in their mid-30s live in California, and their careers (and incomes) are taking off. Their tax bill is following suit, so they called me to ask for help in finding ways to reduce their taxes. A game-changing New Year’s resolution for them would be to become tax savvy in order to reduce their income taxes this year and going forward.

Some steps they might take:

Meet with a financial advisor early in the year.

Hire an accountant instead of doing their taxes themselves.

Defer the maximum they can in their retirement plans.

Set up a receipt file and save every receipt related to taxes.

Determine a charitable giving strategy to maximize their deductions.

What action can you take in 2016 that would be a game-changer?

Get some skin in the game.

Sometimes changing behavior can be challenging. It’s simple in theory, but when the rubber hits the road, we can easily fall back on old bad habits. Light a fire under your goals to make yourself accountable for what you really want to accomplish.

Consider using negative consequences when you don’t complete the action steps you’ve committed to.

For example, a few years ago my friend Dianne and I set fitness goals that we simply weren’t reaching, even though we tried month after month to complete them. So we decided to put some skin in the game in a creative way.

We each wrote checks to causes we abhor, post-dated at the end of the month, and handed them to each other. If we didn’t complete the promised actions, the partner would mail the check to the cause we detested!

Guess what? I always seemed to find the time to complete the action steps. I even did it with a smile, because I sure didn’t want my hard-earned money going to that particular cause! Be sure to only sign up for a goal you are truly committed to, or you might have to write that check! This exercise can be a great test of commitment.

Nudge yourself.

A little reminder can go a long way — especially when you remind yourself why you want to accomplish this goal . Skip “Dump Your Resolutions Day” and simply set up reminders to encourage yourself to stick with it.

Use the calendar on your smartphone or work computer. Set a recurring reminder or appointment to review your progress toward your goal.

Ask others to remind you to check in and do the same for them. Set up a private group on Facebook, use a group Google Docs goal sheet, or sign up for an app like MyFitnessPal that is meant for group interaction and reminders. Encourage each other to stick with your promises to yourselves.

A financial planning colleague of mine in Florida and I set up a monthly call to review our goals, share ideas, and support each other. This works because of the collaborative element as well as having a recurring appointment on the calendar that I prioritize and prepare for. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

The New Year is a time to hope and dream and to make those dreams a reality, but it takes work. You can set yourself up for success by starting early, setting up realistic action steps, and engaging supportive people so 2016 becomes a year of great accomplishments for you.

Nancy L. Anderson, CFP is a financial planner in Park City, Utah. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter as well on the Official blog of Deer Valley Ski Resort.

 

Forbes.com | December 26, 2015 | Nancy Anderson

Your #Career : This One Skill Can Get Your #Résumé to the Top of the Pile… #Networking is One of the Most Valuable Skills that an Individual can Have these Days, in Terms of Getting Where you Want to Go, Be it a Selective School, or Landing a Competitive Job.

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If you’re looking for a job, or simply re-evaluating your current career trajectory, having a coherent and clear strategy is essential. That can include a number of things — getting the perfect résumé put together, knowing the right people, and even having at least some grasp as to what industries are growing or shrinking, or what cities and states are seeing the most economic growth.

Free- Door to Building

But more than anything, you’ll want to have a solid set of skills and competencies that will win over hiring managers, and show businesses that you can and will be an asset to their growth and long-term strategy. 

Your résumé should include all of the traditional core competencies that businesses are looking for, including punctuality, solid industry experience, and maybe even a college degree. It’s all going to depend on what you’re looking for, of course, but there’s some new insight that is giving job-seekers — that may mean you — a bit of insider information that may put you in the upper echelon of applicants.

Businesses want employees with social skills.

This is the conclusion of a slew of new research into labor economics. The New York Times’ Upshot recently did a story covering the phenomenon, which included diving into a new study from David Deming, associate professor of education and economics at Harvard University. Deming’s paper, The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market, says that social skills and an ability to bring a “human touch” to the workplace is becoming more important as automation and technology render many positions obsolete.

 

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“While computers perform cognitive tasks of rapidly increasing complexity, simple human interaction has proven difficult to automate,” his paper reads. “Since 1980, jobs with high social skill requirements have experienced greater relative growth throughout the wage distribution. Moreover, employment and wage growth has been strongest in jobs that require high levels of both cognitive skill and social skill.”

Networking is one of the most valuable skills that an individual can have these days, in terms of getting where you want to go, be it a selective school, or landing a competitive job.

It’s an interesting development and hypothesis, and the data seems to support Deming’s findings.

As we know, automation is rapidly encroaching on many industries. Over the next few decades, the economy is going to be going through some drastic changes as a good deal of the labor needed across many industries is taken out of human hands, and put into the hands of robots and artificial intelligences. It’s happening at fast food restaurants, and it’s happening in the finance industry. There’s really no stopping it.

That’s what makes social skills so important. We’re going to need people — actual flesh, blood, and the ability to empathize and understand — to work in concert with the metal and circuits doing the heavy lifting. So, all that time you spent screwing around with your buddies instead of paying attention during math class? You may have been polishing the skills that will actually find you work in a rapidly changing economy.

Think about it — one of the most foolproof ways to actually get a job is to have a connection through some sort of social networking. In fact, networking is one of the most valuable skills that an individual can have these days, in terms of getting where you want to go, be it a selective school, or landing a competitive job.

And those networking and social skills are the ones we have learned from an early age. As The New York Times puts it, “what you learned at preschool.”

So, if you were more apt to screw around during your formative years, rather than be a serious student, this might be some good news. Albeit it was hard to see this coming, but still, it’s a silver lining. The bad news is that you’ll still have to couple those social skills with some sort of training or education. The jobs that are disappearing are the ones that require little training or skill, or that can be easily automated. You may be a chatterbox at your jobat the local Taco Bell drive-thru, but that doesn’t mean your position isn’t going to be automated in the near future.

For job seekers — which all of us either are, or will be at some point in the future — don’t forget to take stock of your social skills as an asset. What if you’re not a social person? Make it a point to work on those skills, as they may be more valuable in the future than anyone would’ve imagined a decade or two ago.

Follow Sam on Twitter @SliceOfGinger

 

CheatSheet.com | December 22, 2015 | Sam Becker

#Leadership : How Successful People Overcome Toxic Bosses … Research Suggests that Roughly 50% of Workers are Currently Working for a Bad Boss.

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Bad bosses contaminate the workplace. Some do so obliviously, while others smugly manipulate their employees, using them as instruments of their own success. Regardless of their methods, bad bosses cause irrevocable damage to their companies and employees by hindering performance and creating unnecessary stress.

Free- Rusted Tanker

The stress your boss causes is bad for your health. Multiple studies have found that working for a bad boss increases your chance of having a heart attack by as much as 50%.

Even more troubling is the number of bad bosses out there. Gallup research found that 60% of government workers are miserable because of bad bosses. In another study 69% of US workers compared bosses with too much power to toddlers with too much power.

Related: How Successful People Stay Productive and In Control

The comparisons don’t stop there. Significant percentages of US workers describe their bosses as follows:

  • Self-oriented (60%)
  • Stubborn (49%)
  • Overly demanding (43%)
  • Impulsive (41%)
  • Interruptive (39%)

Most bosses aren’t surprised by these statistics. A DDI study found that 64% of managers admit that they need to work on their management skills. When asked where they should focus their efforts, managers overwhelmingly say, “Bringing in the numbers”; yet, they are most often fired for poor people skills.

TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control. One of their greatest gifts is the ability to neutralize toxic people—even those they report to. This is no easy task. It requires a great deal of emotional intelligence, a skill that top performers rely on.

While the best option when you have a bad boss is to seek other employment, this isn’t always possible. Successful people know how to make the most of a bad situation. A bad boss doesn’t deter them because they understand that success is simply the product of how well you can play the hand you’ve been dealt. When that “hand” is a bad boss, successful people identify the type of bad boss they are working for and then use this information to neutralize their boss’ behavior. What follows are six of the most common types of bad bosses and the strategies that successful people employ to work effectively with them.

The Inappropriate Buddy

This is the boss who’s too friendly, and not in the fun, team-building sort of way. He is constantly inviting you to hang out outside of work and engages in unnecessary office gossip. He uses his influence to make friends at the expense of his work. He chooses favorites and creates divisions among employees, who become frustrated by the imbalance in attention and respect. He can’t make tough decisions involving employees or even fire those who need to be fired (unless he doesn’t like them). His office quickly becomesThe Office.

How to neutralize an inappropriate buddy: The most important thing to do with this type of boss is to learn to set firm boundaries. Don’t allow his position to intimidate you. By consciously and proactively establishing a boundary, you can take control of the situation. For example, you can remain friendly with your boss throughout the day but still not be afraid to say no to drinks after work. The difficult part here is maintaining consistency with your boundaries, even if your boss is persistent. By distancing yourself from his behaviors that you deem inappropriate, you will still be able to succeed and even have a healthy relationship with your boss.

It’s important you don’t put up unnecessary boundaries that stop you from being seen as friendly (ideally, a friend). Instead of trying to change the crowd-pleaser and force him to be something he’s not, having him see you as an ally will put you in a stronger position than you could have anticipated.

 

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The Micromanager

This is the boss who makes you feel as if you are under constant surveillance. She thought your handwriting could use improvement, so she waited until you left work at 7:00 p.m. to throw away your pencils and replace them with the .9 lead mechanical pencils that have the “proper grip.” She has even handed back your 20-page report because you used a binder clip instead of a staple. The micromanager pays too much attention to small details, and her constant hovering makes employees feel discouraged, frustrated, and even uncomfortable.

Related: 15 Secrets of Really Persuasive People

How to neutralize a micromanager: Successful people appeal to micromanagers by proving themselves to be flexible, competent, and disciplined while staying in constant communication. A micromanager is naturally drawn to the employee who produces work the way she envisions. The challenge with the micromanager is grasping the “envisioned way.” To do this, try asking specific questions about your project, check in frequently, and look for trends in the micromanager’s feedback.

Of course, this will not always work. Some micromanagers will never stop searching for something to over-analyze and micromanage. When this is the case, you must learn to derive your sense of satisfaction from within. Don’t allow your boss’ obsession with details to create feelings of inadequacy as this will only lead to further stress and underperformance. Remember, a good report without a staple is still a good report. Despite your boss’ fixation on detail, she appreciates your work; she just doesn’t know how to show it.

The Tyrant

The tyrant resorts to Machiavellian tactics and constantly makes decisions that feed his ego. His primary concern is maintaining power, and he will coerce and intimidate others to do so. The tyrant thinks of his employees as a criminal gang aboard his ship. He classifies people in his mind and treats them accordingly: High achievers who challenge his thinking are treated as mutinous. Those who support their achievements with gestures of loyalty find themselves in the position of first mate. Those who perform poorly are stuck cleaning the latrines and swabbing the decks.

How to neutralize a tyrant: A painful but effective strategy with the tyrant is to present your ideas in a way that allows him to take partial credit. The tyrant can then maintain his ego without having to shut down your idea. Always be quick to give him some credit, even though he is unlikely to reciprocate, because this will inevitably put you on his good side. Also, to survive a tyrant, you must choose your battles wisely. If you practice self-awareness and manage your emotions, you can rationally choose which battles are worth fighting and which ones you should just let go. This way, you won’t find yourself on latrine duty.

The Incompetent

This boss was promoted hastily or hired haphazardly and holds a position that is beyond her capabilities. Most likely, she is not completely incompetent, but she has people who report to her that have been at the company a lot longer and have information and skills that she lacks.

How to neutralize an incompetent: If you find yourself frustrated with this type of boss, it is likely because you have experience that she lacks. It is important to swallow your pride and share your experience and knowledge, without rubbing it in her face. Share the information that this boss needs to grow into her role, and you’ll become her ally and confidant.

The Robot

In the mind of the robot, you are employee number 72 with a production yield of 84 percent and experience level 91. This boss makes decisions based on the numbers, and when he’s forced to reach a conclusion without the proper data, he self-destructs. He makes little or no effort to connect with his employees, and instead, looks solely to the numbers to decide who is invaluable and who needs to go.

How to neutralize a robot: To succeed with a robot, you need to speak his language. When you have an idea, make certain you have the data to back it up. The same goes with your performance—you need to know what he values and be able to show it to him if you want to prove your worth. Once you’ve accomplished this, you can begin trying to nudge him out of his antisocial comfort zone. The trick is to find ways to connect with him directly, without being pushy or rude. Schedule face-to-face meetings and respond to some of his e-mails by knocking on his door. Forcing him to connect with you as a person, however so slightly, will make you more than a list of numbers and put a face to your name. Just because he’s all about the numbers, it doesn’t mean you can’t make yourself the exception. Do so in small doses, however, because he’s unlikely to respond well to the overbearing social type.

The Visionary

Her strength lies in her ideas and innovations. However, this entrepreneurial approach becomes dangerous when a plan or solution needs to be implemented, and she can’t bring herself to focus on the task at hand. When the time comes to execute her vision, she’s already off onto the next idea, and you’re left to figure things out on your own.

How to neutralize a visionary: To best deal with this type, reverse her train of thought. She naturally takes a broad perspective, so be quick to funnel things down into something smaller and more practical. To do so, ask a lot of specific questions that force her to rationally approach the issue and to consider potential obstacles to executing her broad ideas. Don’t refute her ideas directly, or she will feel criticized; instead, focus her attention on what it will take to realistically implement her plan. Oftentimes, your questions will diffuse her plan, and when they don’t, they’ll get her to understand—and commit to—the effort it’s going to take on her part to help make it happen.

The Seagull

We’ve all been there—sitting in the shadow of a seagull manager who decided it was time to roll up his sleeves, swoop in, and squawk up a storm. Instead of taking the time to get the facts straight and work alongside the team to realize a viable solution, the seagull deposits steaming piles of formulaic advice and then abruptly takes off, leaving everyone else behind to clean up the mess. Seagulls interact with their employees only when there’s a fire to put out. Even then, they move in and out so hastily—and put so little thought into their approach—that they make bad situations worse by frustrating and alienating those who need them the most.

Related: Why Leaders Lack Emotional Intelligence

How to neutralize a seagull: A group approach works best with seagulls. If you can get the entire team to sit down with him and explain that his abrupt approach to solving problems makes it extremely difficult for everyone to perform at their best, this message is likely to be heard. If the entire group bands together and provides constructive, non-threatening feedback, the seagull will more often than not find a better way to work with his team. It’s easy to spot a seagull when you’re on the receiving end of their airborne dumps, but the manager doing the squawking is often unaware of the negative impact of his behavior. Have the group give him a little nudge, and things are bound to change for the better.

Bringing It All Together

If you think these strategies might help others, please share this article with your network. Research suggests that roughly half of them are currently working for a bad boss.

<b>Get Your Valuation</b>

Travis Bradberry – Author