Your #Career: How To Get Past #Job Search Gatekeepers…What Can you Do to Get Ahead of Those 700 other #Résumés?

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The Tough Truth for #Job Seekers, she says: Even if you Play all of your Best Cards, Chances are you will be Stopped at the Gate at Least 50% of the Time. But it’s essential to keep plugging beyond simply sending your résumé through an automated website or via email. “If you do nothing, nothing will happen,” she says. Many people don’t realize that it’s the gatekeeper who is holding back their chances. “For a lot of these positions, they’re getting 600-700 #résumés,” she notes. “If someone the organization knows and trusts recommends you, it can move you to the top of the pile.”

Recently a friend of mine applied for a #job at a Washington, D.C. political advocacy group. She knew she would face stiff competition because the position was widely advertised. But she had several ins. Her husband knew a highly placed staffer there and told him my friend was pursuing the job. Also she was acquainted with a board member through a previous job; she sent him an email asking him to put in a good word. Then she sent her résumé with a peppy, detailed cover letter to the person who was listed as the contact on the job posting. She followed up with the board member and left repeated phone messages for the job posting contact. But after six weeks she’d heard nothing, not even a response saying they had gotten her materials. She finally gave up.

ChineseArmy

 

Does this story sound familiar? It can be the most frustrating, confounding part of a job search: Getting past the company gatekeeper. You do your best to make personal contacts inside an organization, you make calls and send emails, but nevertheless, you hit a brick wall.

Kathleen Brady, a New York City career coach and author of three books, including GET A JOB: 10 Steps to Career Success, says it’s one of the top two biggest challenges job seekers face. (The other: locating “hidden” openings not listed on job boards or company websites.) Brady says my friend did everything right. The tough truth for job seekers, she says: Even if you play all of your best cards, chances are you will be stopped at the gate at least 50% of the time. But it’s essential to keep plugging beyond simply sending your résumé through an automated website or via email. “If you do nothing, nothing will happen,” she says. Many people don’t realize that it’s the gatekeeper who is holding back their chances. “For a lot of these positions, they’re getting 600-700 résumés,” she notes. “If someone the organization knows and trusts recommends you, it can move you to the top of the pile.”

Often there are forces at play beyond the job seeker’s reach. For my friend, Brady suggests, there may have been internal politics, her contacts may not have had the same “juice” as another applicant’s connections or, despite the listing, the group may have decided not to fill the post. “Sometimes you just can’t make any sense of the situation and you’ve got to move onto the next one,” she says.

What can you do to get ahead of those 700 other résumés? Here is what Brady recommends:

1. Tap your friends and family network. Your goal is to find a contact who can pluck your résumé out of the gatekeeper’s hands and put it on the top of the pile. Though it didn’t work for my friend, tapping your personal network often does the trick. Brady recalls a client who was trying to get a corporate job, but didn’t know anyone at the company. At a family party she noticed that her cousin’s husband was wearing a golf shirt with the company’s logo. Knowing he didn’t work there, she asked him about the shirt and he said a buddy from college worked at the firm and invited him to a yearly golf outing. Her cousin-in-law introduced her to his friend, who in turn introduced her to the hiring manager, who interviewed her and hired her.

2. Use #LinkedIn. I have written this in many previous stories: There is no question that #LinkedIn is a hugely valuable, easy-to-use resource. Simply type the company name into the search field and then click on the “people who work at” tab that appears below and you will instantly see your connections. One of the first, most useful things your contacts can do for you: Establish that the opening still exists. A friend who lived in Abu Dhabi and was looking to relocate, emailed me because she saw I had a first-degree connection with a guy who works at an investment firm in New York where she had seen a listing. She asked me to reach out to him, which I did, and he helped her figure out that the posting was out of date. She saved herself the trouble of applying and made a contact to use in the future should a job open up.

 

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3. Drill down into the company website. Brady recommends searching not just the careers link on a company’s website but the investor relations page and the company news links to find the names of potential contacts. Publicly traded companies also frequently have links to their annual reports, which list the people in leadership positions. You may realize you have a connection to someone on the list. Try doing a LinkedIn search on each of the names.

4. Use your schools’ alumni networks. Fellow alumni won’t necessarily recommend you for a position but they will probably be willing to have a phone conversation or a coffee and they will likely be happy to do a little searching and at least tell you whether the job you are pursuing is still open. Alumni events can also lead to unexpected opportunities. A lawyer client of Brady’s looking for an in-house job at a company, learned he had gone to the same law school as the company’s general counsel. The client found out that the general counsel was planning to go to an alumni event, so he decided to go too. His efforts to connect with the general counsel failed but he met several other in-house lawyers and wound up landing a job with one of their companies.

5. Make phone calls. We all make fewer calls these days, relying instead on texts and emails. But most of us suffer from email overload. When you’re applying for a job, assume that the listed contact is getting hundreds of emails from eager job seekers. You will stand out if you pick up the phone.  This holds for the contacts you cultivate through your personal network, LinkedIn and your alumni list.

6. Befriend the contact’s assistant. In a law firm or large company, chances are good that your call will reach the assistant to the gatekeeper. Do your best to make the assistant your ally. Ask when would be a good time to call back. You can also ask the assistant to print out your cover letter and résumé and put it on the gatekeeper’s desk. “You don’t want to be overly familiar or friendly,” advises Brady. “You do want to be professional and engaging.”

7. Push outside your comfort zone. It can be tough to know how hard you should try to get past the gatekeeper. Consider what you’re comfortable doing and then take one step beyond that. If you’re not working with a career counselor, it can be helpful to recruit a friend who is willing to be your informal coach. My friend in DC consulted with me and I cheered her on as she kept following up with her contacts. Our efforts didn’t bear fruit but at least she knows she did everything she could.

8. Get creative. Sometimes it’s possible to combine networking and alumni connections and then to take a step beyond that. Brady had a client who wanted to work at a particular company but couldn’t find a contact or even a job listing. Through the company website he discovered that the firm supported a charity he liked, and was hosting a fundraiser. He went to the event and made company contacts who helped him connect with a hiring manager. But you need to know where to draw the line. One of Brady’s lawyer clients sent his résumé to firms in the form of a blue, tri-fold subpoena. “That was over the top,” she says. “He was getting noticed but not in the way he wanted to get noticed.”

9. Know when to give up. At what point should you quit trying to get past a gatekeeper? “I operate by the rule of threes,” says Brady. If the contact doesn’t respond after your first call or email, you can assume your note or message could have gotten lost in the shuffle. Brady advises waiting five days before trying again. I think it’s always best to write a fresh email rather than forwarding an old one. Then if the contact doesn’t return that call or email, wait another five days and give it a final try. If they still don’t respond, it’s time to move on.

This is an update of a story that appeared previously.

 

Forbes.com | June 8, 2015  |  Susan Adams

#Leadership: Grief At The #Office: When A Coworker Loses A Loved One…Our Culture’s Discomfort with Death Stems partially from our Obsession with Youth, which then Leads Many of Us to be Unsure of What to Say or How to Act in the Face of Death

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Death in the #Workplace is an Especially Awkward Manifestation of Our Society’s General Discomfort with Grief. “When we’re in a properly functioning workplace, we have boundaries between ourselves and others in the way we dress, in the way we speak to each other and in the way we behave,” says Smith. “For example, when people come to my house, I hug them as a greeting, but in a workplace setting, I may not hug them. When we talk about grief in the office, we are blurring that boundary. In general, somebody passing away is really part of our personal lives, but it is so important and affects us so deeply that it does come about in our professional lives.”

Sheryl Sandberg and her husband David Goldberg (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

In 2003, Allison Ellis was in a new job after taking some time off to have her first child. She had been hired as an independent marketing consultant to get a new website off the ground for a company and was just getting rolling on hiring her team and creating a budget.

One Sunday, the day before she was supposed to make a presentation to executives, her 39-year-old husband, who had been training for a marathon, died suddenly from a heart attack, leaving her with a 10-month-old daughter. She took a week to arrange the funeral and memorial service and then went back to work.

“I went straight to [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”][my boss’s] office, and she said, ‘Listen, nobody knows what to do with this, and they keep coming up to me, saying, “What are we supposed to do?,” and I told them, ‘Get back to work, focus on the work, that’s what we’re going to do,’” Ellis recalls.

 

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Though Ellis felt this was the right thing to do and a “blessing,” she says that, after this conversation, “Nobody said a word to me. I was an outside contractor and I hadn’t established the kind of long-term relationships you would in a normal job situation, so I was literally ignored. I was off in a cubicle and nobody said anything to me except related to work.” Her boss never spoke of it again either.

  The awkwardness she and her coworkers felt after her husband’s sudden death is a universal one.

As Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said last week in a widely shared post mourning the loss of her husband David Goldberg, “For me, starting the transition back to work has been a savior, a chance to feel useful and connected. But I quickly discovered that even those connections had changed. Many of my co-workers had a look of fear in their eyes as I approached. I knew why—they wanted to help but weren’t sure how. Should I mention it? Should I not mention it? If I mention it, what the hell do I say?”

Our culture’s discomfort with death stems partially from our obsession with youth, which then leads many of us to be unsure of what to say or how to act in the face of death, says Jodi R. R. Smith, of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting.

And death in the workplace is an especially awkward manifestation of our society’s general discomfort with grief. “When we’re in a properly functioning workplace, we have boundaries between ourselves and others in the way we dress, in the way we speak to each other and in the way we behave,” says Smith. “For example, when people come to my house, I hug them as a greeting, but in a workplace setting, I may not hug them. When we talk about grief in the office, we are blurring that boundary. In general, somebody passing away is really part of our personal lives, but it is so important and affects us so deeply that it does come about in our professional lives.”

Here’s how to deal with grief in the workplace, whether you are the mourner, the mourner’s supervisor, or a colleague.

When A Sudden Tragedy Occurs

If your loved one has suddenly passed, contact your immediate supervisor or your human resources department to give them whatever details you know at that point. For instance, “My grandfather has died. The funeral is Tuesday, and I’ll be back in the office again a week from Thursday.”

If the death is of a spouse, child, parent or sibling, who are generally considered immediate family, say, “My spouse passed away, the funeral is Tuesday, I have no idea when I’ll be back in the office, the funeral will be at X, it’s an open ceremony.” The HR person can share this information with your coworkers. Don’t feel like you need to personally send an email to your colleagues to break the news. If you can (though everyone will understand if you don’t manage to), set up an auto-response saying there’s been a death in the family and relaying a colleague’s contact info.

At this point, the HR department will tell your team or department. The company should contact the funeral home to find out what the appropriate observance would be since some religions or cultures may welcome flowers while others may not, or they may want flowers only of a specific color, or any flowers but those of a particular color. If the obituary names a charity, then the company can also make a donation there. Coworkers can also show their support by attending any public mourning events so that the mourner can look back and see the entire place filled with people, says Smith.

Everyone at the company should be careful not to post anything on social media right away. Smith has seen instances in which social media posts were the way that immediate family members found out about the death of their loved ones. For instance, one man who could not be reached by phone found out his father had died when he saw people posting RIP on his father’s Facebook wall.

Companies should also make every effort to be flexible. In 2003 when my childhood friend Julie Suh, a lawyer, was 28 and working at the Justice Department, her brother called her on a Thursday at work to say their mother had died in her sleep after returning from a business trip. Suh had only been working for the government long enough to be eligible for three days of leave. In her sudden grief, she managed to fill out the proper leave slip before leaving the office but said she didn’t know how many days she would use.

The very next day, her supervisors called and asked her how much administrative leave she would take. Suh, who already had Fridays off at the time, took the next Monday as her second day and returned to work the next Tuesday but soon realized she needed to use that third day to help her father. Her supervisors forced her to use a personal or vacation day instead.

“Something broke in me in terms of my interactions with them afterward,” Suh says. “They were very particular rule-following types, so I could see how they were like that even in that moment, but I did feel like that was extreme. From that moment on, I was still a good employee from their perspective, but I never felt like I had to go above and beyond. It was a stupid mistake on their part. One small act of kindness extended to me at that time, I would have been a better worker for them.”

Smith advises that anyone in a similar situation to what Suh experienced can also turn to Human Resources for help.

“We have such a short period of time in our culture we have for grief in the workplace,” says Claire Bidwell Smith, a grief therapist and author of “After This: When Life Is Over Where Do We Go.” “We give people a standard of four or five days to attend to their business, and we expect them to come back and get on with things, but that’s not always realistic.” Grief usually does last longer than that, and can cause anxiety and depression, she says. She advocates that companies allow people up to two weeks off.

When A Loved One Is Diagnosed With A Terminal Illness

If you learn your loved one doesn’t have much time left, you need to at least inform your supervisor, but you may also need to tell others, depending on your role and the corporate culture, says Smith. If you’re a back office coder who doesn’t interact much with anyone else, tell your superior and HR. If you’re a coder who works closely with a whole team of programmers, you should let them know as well.

If you manage 100 people, you may need to announce at the staff meeting, “I have a loved one who has been diagnosed with a terrible disease and the outcome is not going to be good. Here are some people who will be helping me with my workload over the next couple months.”

If you’re not certain who needs to know or not, ask your supervisor.

Any coworkers receiving this news should acknowledge it, even with a simple “I’m so sorry, that’s terrible news.”

“What they should not do is immediately offer up, ‘I had a cousin/neighbor/best friend/uncle who had at the same exact thing,’” says Smith. “You want to acknowledge the person is going through a terrible time and then take your cues from the individual. If the person says, ‘Do you know anybody who had X/Y/Z?’ you could say, ‘Actually, my friend’s uncle had it. Do you want me to find out which doctors and clinics they used?’” But take your cues from the affected person. If he or she doesn’t want to talk about it, respect his or her need for privacy.

As that person needs to spend more time with his or her loved one, whether for medical appointments or to spend time in hospice, coworkers should ask what they can do to lighten that person’s workload, and if they are particularly close, whether that person needs help with meals or any other planning. Bidwell Smith says she’s heard of coworkers offering up their own vacation days or other paid time off to colleagues who may want to spend more time with a dying family member.

Once the loved one passes, the company and department should do follow the same guidelines outlined above for sudden deaths.

When The Mourner Returns To Work

Smith recommends that the mourner go back to the office on a Thursday or Friday to have a shortened workweek and then a break, in order to ease back in.

Colleagues should greet that person and then say, in a deliberate, sincere way, “How are you?” Asking the mourner with an inflection that shows you really want to know how she is opens the door for her to tell you how she is feeling, if she wants to go there.

“If, however, they are suppressing their feelings so they can get through the day with some normalcy, they may say ‘Fine, fine, how are you?” and then you move on,” says Smith.

Reserve the heartfelt “how are you” question for a more private moment. In a more public setting such as meeting, say something like, “Good morning, I just wanted to let you know I’m thinking about you,” so you acknowledge the situation but don’t put them on the spot.

Coworkers who may not naturally run into that person should stop by and say, “I’d love to meet you for lunch. Do you think you’ll be up for it?” Keep reaching out to this person even if he keeps saying no. When he is ready, he’ll join you again.

Above all, say something — anything — no matter how uncomfortable you feel about it.

“Believe it or not, as an etiquette consultant, I’d rather have them say something potentially wrong than not say anything at all,” says Smith. “People are so afraid of saying the wrong thing to the mourner, they err on the side of not saying anything and not acknowledging it in the least, and that is a greater problem,” because it can make the mourner feel even more isolated. (For this reason, she felt that the supervisor for Ellis, the independent contractor whose husband died suddenly, was “absolutely and completely wrong” in having no one say anything. “It would have been better to announce it at the staff meeting and have everyone express condolences when they saw or spoke with the contractor,” says Smith.)

Just a simple “how are you, I’m thinking of you, just wanted let you know I heard what happened” will get the conversation going, she says. If you have a more distant relationship with the person — perhaps you’ve worked together but never gotten lunch together — send a card to the person’s home or leave it on his or her desk and say, “I heard about what happened and wanted you to know you’re in my thoughts and prayers.”

But overall, follow the mourner’s lead to see how much you should ask about it. However, as in the case of terminal illnesses, you still want to avoid bringing up your own loss. “The main thing is not overselling our own story in that person’s tragedy,” says Bidwell Smith. “You may have lost a person in your life, but that person may not be able to take that in. When they’re newly grieving, it’s not the place. You can tell them you’ve lost someone but not go into the whole story.”

If you are the mourner, decide before going back to work how you’d like your coworkers to handle it. Whether in person, by email or through an intermediary, thank coworkers if they came to the funeral or sent flowers or food, and then state your wishes. Whether you say, “I’m going to try not to talk about it at work. It’s still too new and too raw,” or “Every once in a while, I’ll need a hug,” your coworkers will know how to act around you.

If it’s too hard for you to state your needs out loud in person, see if you feel comfortable with Sandberg’s method of using social media to explain what her needs are right now. If you’re Facebook friends with some coworkers, a post there might help you get your feelings across in a general, public way without having to tell people in person or repeat your wishes.

Balancing Grief And Work

Then, there’s the matter of actually needing to get work done while all this is going on.

If you’re working on a project with someone who’s recently suffered a tragedy and have to ask them something related to work, instead of emailing her, stop by her office. If you work in a different location, call her. Begin by acknowledging what happened to her and expressing your condolences. Then mention the project or upcoming work deadline and ask her what tasks she feels ready for.

“Oftentimes, people return to work because they’re ready to have a bit of a distraction,” says Smith. “There’s a point in time where you mourn 24/7 but there’s a point where you simply can’t mourn all the time, so you want to be busy. If I’m going to be at work, I don’t want to be at my desk twiddling my thumbs.”

Supervisors should also keep an eye on the mourner in the following months. If it seems that his grief is interfering with work, Bidwell Smith suggests the supervisor ask the mourner how he is handling the work or whether he needs a therapist, a support group or time off. Have a frank conversation and find out what tasks the mourner feels up for. Potentially look into temporary supplemental help. Even if the mourner seems fine, supervisors should regularly check in with him or her — perhaps every week or every other week in the beginning, and then maybe at monthly intervals. Communication, even if only reserved for these moments, can only help.

Sandberg, in writing about her coworkers’ fear of saying or doing the wrong thing, said, “Speaking openly replaced the fear of doing and saying the wrong thing. One of my favorite cartoons of all time has an elephant in a room answering the phone, saying, ‘It’s the elephant.’ Once I addressed the elephant, we were able to kick him out of the room.”

Laura Shin is the author of the Forbes eBook, The Millennial Game Plan: Career And Money Secrets For Today’s World. Available for Apple iBooks,Amazon Kindle, Nook and Vook.

 

Forbes.com | June 8, 2015 | Laura Shin

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Your #Career: If You’re Not Dropping by Your #Boss’s Office to Chat, You’re Missing Out on a Major Career Opportunity… The Chances of the Corner Office Someday & Promotion Becoming yours Go Way Up If You’ve Got a Dialogue Going with the Person Already in It.

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“You’ve Got to Learn to Take the Time to Get People to Know Who You are, Both Inside & Outside of Work,” Licitra explains. That Means Approaching #Senior Colleagues to Chat.

Everybody agrees that #Networking matters.  It matters for getting #Jobs. It matters for being good at those jobs. It matters for finding mentors, sponsors, and general champions. It matters for getting promotions.

nerdwallet office

But while we can and probably should continue to drink half-priced beers, file business cards, and write follow-up emails, there’s one incredibly simple networking trick that can seriously boost your career — and it’s not necessarily intuitive, especially for women, says Karen Licitra, Corporate Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Johnson & Johnson.

You should schmooze with the senior people in your own organization.  If it sounds simple, that’s because it is simple — but that doesn’t mean it’s always obvious.

“Growing up in the company with my male colleagues,” Licitra recalls, “I would see them in my boss’s office all the time, just going back and forth. And I finally said to my husband, who worked with me, ‘what do you talk about?’ And he said, ‘Well, nothing — I’m just kinda asking him what he thinks about stuff.'”   The thing is, “just kinda asking” matters.

“You’ve got to learn to take the time to get people to know who you are, both inside and outside of work,” Licitra explains. That means approaching senior colleagues to chat.

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“It doesn’t have to be an hour,” she says. “Talk to them for 20 minutes. Say, ‘Hey, I’m interested in your career, I’m interested in what you did and how you got there’ or ‘Here’s a problem I’m dealing with, what do you think? What has your experience taught you?'”

“It gets people to know you — to put a face with a name,” Licitra says. And it’s true: to access new opportunities, you need to be on people’s radars.

Darren HullBosses are just like everyone else: they like to be needed.

So if it’s so important, then why do generally high-achieving women seem to struggle more with this kind of just-popping-by?

Karen Licitra

Karen Licitra.

“We tend to stay in our offices, keep our heads down — we’re trying to be productive,” she suggests. “I think [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”][women] always feel like they have to have a plan, a specific reason to go and talk to somebody.”

That’s been Licitra’s own experience: while her husband was casually swinging by the boss’s office to get his take on stuff, she wasn’t approaching unless she was armed with “a PowerPoint deck and an agenda.”

That attitude is understandable, she says — but it’s also a mistake. For one thing,

“When you can engage your boss in what you’re thinking about, they feel like they’re more part of the team, that they’re helping you,” she says. “And that’s a great way to build trust and relationships.”

The chances of the corner office someday becoming yours go way up if you’ve got a dialogue going with the person already in it.

 

Businessinsider.com | June 6, 2015  |  

 http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-network-in-your-own-office-2015-5#ixzz3cNJ7kTzb

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Your #Career: 21 Things you Should Do on Your First Day of #Work…The First Day at your New #Job May Be Among the Most Memorable — & Perhaps Stressful — of Your #Career.

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“Most of us remember our first days at every job because of the heightened pressure to impress,” says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and author of “Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant; How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job.” “But you can reduce your anxiety by being as meticulous in planning your first day as you were in securing your new position.”

Elevator Conversation

 

David Parnell, a legal consultant, communication coach, and author, says it’s easy, even tempting, to passively ride along with the “human resources tour that usually sets off the first day of employment.” There will be forms to fill out, videos to watch, people to meet, “and generally speaking, no real position-specific responsibilities,” he says. “But taking a passive versus proactive response would be a mistake. The first day sets the tone for the rest of your career with those who you’ll be interacting with.”

Here are 21 things you should do on the first day of your new job:

1. Prepare and ask questions. Mark Strong, a life, career, and executive coach based in New York, says although you should spend much of your first day listening, you can and should ask questions when necessary. “Generally, you’re trying to demonstrate your curiosity and desire to learn,” he says.

Taylor says it’s a good idea to prepare by writing down both practical and general questions about how you can be most successful in the role. “By now you have enough background on the company to integrate more in-depth questions at your orientation meetings,” she says. “Have a list of questions handy for managers you think you might meet. Make sure you also have a contact in HR in case you have very basic inquiries before you start or on your first day.”

 

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2. Prepare an elevator pitch. Get ready to give a 30-second explainer of who you are and where you were before, as many new colleagues will likely ask about your previous place of employment, Taylor says. Be prepared to also describe what you’ll be doing in this new position, since there may be people who have a vague understanding of your role or simply want to strike up a conversation.

Elevator Conversation MKTGInsider/YouTubeKnow your “pitch.”

3. Show up early, but enter the building on time. Get there at least 15 minutes early, suggests Teri Hockett, chief executive of What’s For Work?, a career site for women. “If you haven’t done the commute before, practice it a couple of times during rush hour a week before so that you’re at least somewhat prepared for the unknown.” But wait at a nearby coffee shop until the time your new boss or HR asked you to arrive.

4. Figure out the social landscape. Two of the more important factors in succeeding at a job are to not only get along with your co-workers, but also to associate with the right ones, Parnell explains. “In any sizeable work environment you will find cliques, and some mesh better with management than others. If you want to eventually move up in the ranks with your new employer, you’ll need to associate with the right crowd.”

He says it’s also essential that you begin to determine the office politics on day one. “Power is an interesting, quite important, and sometimes elusive thing in the work environment,” he says. “Certainly it is vital to understand the articulated positional hierarchy in your organization — who answers to who. This should be as easy as reading your co-worker’s titles. However, because power can manifest in so many different ways, it is imperative to understand who actually answers to who.”

5. Relax. While you’re being strategic, also remember to relax on your first day so that you can optimize your productivity. “Make sure you’re well rested, prepared, and have every reason to be on time. This is a visible milestone, and you want to be at your best,” Taylor says.

6. Smile. “It may have taken awhile to reach this point, after searching, interviewing, and landing the job, so don’t forget to be happy and enjoy the moment,” Hockett says.

Strong agrees, saying: “We all know that first impressions matter. Smile when you meet new people, and shake their hands. Introduce yourself to everyone, and make it clear how happy and eager you are to be there. Your co-workers will remember.”

7. Look and play the part. When in doubt, take the conservative approach in how you dress and what you say and do. Be as professional as you were in the interview process.

Hockett suggests you determine the dress code in advance so that you don’t look out of place on your first day. “This is important because sometimes the way we dress can turn people off to approaching us, or it sends the wrong message.” Ideally, you want to blend in and make others and yourself comfortable. If you’re not sure what the dress code is, call the HR department and ask.

businessman texting phoneFlickr / Dave CollierDress the part.

8. Don’t be shy. Say “Hi” and introduce yourself to everyone you can.

9. Talk to as many people as possible. One of the most invaluable insights you can get in the beginning is how the department operates from the perspective of your peers. If you establish that you’re friendly and approachable early on, you will start on the right foot in establishing trust.

10. Befriend at least one colleague. Go a step further and try to make a friend on Day 1. “Beyond generally talking to peers and getting the lay of the land, it’s always a good to connect with a fellow team member or two on your first day, even if it’s just for 10 minutes,” says Taylor. “Beginning a new job can be stressful at any level, and this practice can be very grounding, accelerating your ability to get up to speed faster in a foreign atmosphere.”

Let your colleague(s) know that you’re available to lend a helping hand. A little goodwill goes a long way. The positive energy and team spirit you exude will be contagious, and the best time to share that is early on, versus later, when you need people.

11. Don’t try too hard. The urge to impress can take you off-track, so remember that you’re already hired — you don’t have to wow your new colleagues, Taylor says. It’s every new employee’s dream to hear that people noted how brilliant and personable they are, or how they seem to “get” the company so quickly. But that can be a lot of wasted energy; you’ll impress naturally — and more so once you understand the ropes.

12. Don’t turn down lunch. “If you’re offered to go have lunch with your new boss and coworkers, go,” Hockett says. “It’s important to show that you’re ready to mingle with your new team — so save the packed lunch for another day.”

lunchGareth Williams/flickrEnjoy lunch with your new boss.

13. Listen and observe. The best thing anyone can do in the first few days of a new job is “listen, listen, and listen,” Strong says. “It’s not time to have a strong opinion. Be friendly, meet people, smile, and listen.”

This is a prime opportunity to hear about the goals your boss and others have for the company, the department, and top projects. It’s your chance to grasp the big picture, as well as the priorities. “Be prepared to take lots of notes,” Taylor suggests.

14. Project high energy. You will be observed more in your early days from an external standpoint, Taylor says. Your attitude and work ethic are most visible now, as no one has had a chance to evaluate your work skills just yet. Everyone wants to work with enthusiastic, upbeat people — so let them know that this is exactly what they can expect.

15. Learn the professional rules. On your first day, your employer will have a description of your responsibilities — either written or verbal. This is what you should do to be successful at your job. “With that being said, there is usually a gap between what you should do, and what actually happens,” Parnell says. “This is important because while you shouldn’t neglect any articulated duties, there may be more that are implicitly expected of you. It is usually best to find this out sooner rather than later.”

16. Put your cell phone on silent. You need to be 100% present at work, especially on the first day.

17. Show interest in everyone, and the company. You’ll likely be introduced to many people, and while they may make the first attempt to learn a little about you, make an effort to find out about them and their role. It’s not just flattering, it will help you do your job better, Taylor says.

6079019906_5187c49bb7_bFlickr/VFS Digital DesignLearn what everyone does.

18. Pay attention to your body language. Your body language makes up the majority of your communication in the workplace. Assess what you’re communicating to better understand how others may perceive you, and make any necessary adjustments.

19. Be available to your boss. “This might sound obvious at face value, but on your first day of work, you’ll likely be pulled in a thousand directions,” says Taylor. You want to make sure you’re accessible to your new boss first and foremost on your this day, despite all the administrative distractions.

“This is an important first impression you don’t want to discount,” she adds. “Companies are not always as organized as they’d like when onboarding staff. You can easily get caught up with an HR professional, various managers or coworkers — or with a special assignment that keeps you from being available to the person who matters most.” On your first day of work, check in with your manager throughout the day.

20. Be yourself. “Think of ways to be relaxed and project yourself as who you are,” Taylor says. “It’s stressful to try to be someone else, so why bother? You want some consistency in who you are on day one and day 31. If you have the jitters, pretend you’re meeting people at a business mixer or in the comfort of your own home, and that these are all friends getting to know each other. That’s not far from the truth; you’ll be working closely with them and enjoy building the relationship, so why not start now?”

21. Leave with a good attitude. The last thing to remember is that while the first day at a new job is very important, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself if it doesn’t go flawlessly. “You might look back on your performance on day one and second-guess yourself,” Taylor says. “Yes, you should prepare and try to do your best, but remember that if you try to accomplish too much, you may get overwhelmed. Know that there’s always tomorrow.”

Businessinsider.com | June 4, 2015  |  

http://www.businessinsider.com/things-to-do-on-the-first-day-of-work-2015-6#ixzz3c7VXrdUL

#Leadership: #Managing #Millennials: 6 Musts for #CEOs Who Want to Get Ahead…Their Older #Employees – are Frustrated by this New Class of #Worker, Who They Perceive as Being Entitled, Disloyal, & Non-Conformist.

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So, What Do you Do if you’re a #CEO looking to Grow your #Business in a World where Generation Y is Taking Over? When you Look at it through that Lens, the Question Simply Becomes One of Commitment. Are you committed to your long-held beliefs about what’s right and wrong in the workplace? Or are you committed to progress, innovation, and the power of an idea?

 

The millennial generation (born 1980-2000) is the most educated and tech savvy generation in history, and it also appears to be the most controversial.  Many companies – and their older employees – are frustrated by this new class of worker, who they perceive as being entitled, disloyal, and non-conformist.

workaholics-2

…But in light of the recession we lived through, is it really so surprising that we aren’t interested in using our education to man the copy machine or brew coffee?

We got a rough deal early on.

Private sector job creation slowed to a crawl right around the time we started pouring out of our pricey colleges, and more Baby Boomers than ever have been holding on to the existing jobs.

Where did that leave us? Those of us who were able to find work quickly learned that the corporate bottom line mattered more than employee well being, and many of us were unceremoniously tossed out when the recession hit. The rest of us rode the waves of uncertainty and unemployment, adrift for months or years, learning how to take care of ourselves… Even living with our parents.

It was a humbling experience that won’t soon be forgotten.

The costly college degrees that were supposed to grant us VIP access to the American Dream? They turned out to be general admission tickets to the nosebleed seats. And the companies that were supposed to chase, cherish, and reward our talents forever? Forget it – loyalty was too expensive.

Unfortunately for fearful employers, it doesn’t matter how strongly they disagree with our beliefs and values: Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce in the next ten years.

Many companies are starting to comprehend the significance of this, making structural and behavioral workforce changes that were unheard of even a few years ago. Others are dragging their feet, refusing to accept the strength of the tide they’re up against.
So, what do you do if you’re a CEO looking to grow your business in a world where Generation Y is taking over?
I’ve presented to countless companies on the topic, and the truth of the matter is it’s all about understanding the generational divide and bridging it with a few key ingredients:

CEO Tip #1: Keep the communication lines open, welcome ideas from everyone, and work around the table – not up the ladder.

Baby Boomers are known for their strict adherence to hierarchy and harmony, whereas Gen Y really likes the “team” approach – to just about everything. We get frustrated when we’re denied access to the CEO, because we grew up with the message that success isn’t determined by experience, it’s determined by powerful ideas and the willingness to act on them. The leaders we look up to are the ones who believe in actualizing big ideas efficiently and collaboratively.

 

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CEO Tip #2: Build a culture that focuses on results, not hours. Set standards for the results you seek, and if your employees get their work done, let them leave. This not only inspires the employee to keep producing stellar results, it sets an example that will motivate the rest of your team… And it’ll improve retention.

Work is where the wi-fi is, and companies that want to compete in the new workforce need to understand the importance of flexibility with Gen Y. Whereas Baby Boomers equate hard work with long hours, our mastery of technology and multitasking enables us to get more done in less time, wherever and whenever. For that reason, we aren’t interested in “set” hours. If we can get more done, faster, value us and don’t punish us by having to sit in a cubicle with boredom and recycled air after a job well done.

CEO Tip #3: Don’t hide the ball when it comes to compensating your team. Employees who perform well know they can do so elsewhere, so reward them… Or expect them to network their way into a new job.

We are about all about compensating merit, not longevity or hierarchy. When the oldest guy on the team makes the most and contributes the least, you’re telling us that performance doesn’t matter. We won’t stay in your company if you don’t promote us when it’s deserved. The 3% raise won’t work for the employee who is giving more than 100% of themselves.

If you want to keep us, pay us – it’s simple math. But to be clear, we don’t care about the money as much as the principle of getting paid for what we are worth. Our generation is $1 trillion in debt for earning those degrees we use in your office each and every day, so it should come as no surprise that we want financial recognition.

CEO Tip #4: Open your eyes to the enticement power of benefits. If you can’t give raises, give more vacation time (and flexibility, see #2).

A recent poll of graduates revealed that 44% would leave their current job if their benefits were cut, and 20% would quit if their perks were being cut. Key among those is time off – whether it’s vacation days, or giving us a day off for a job well done, these bonuses go a long way with Millennials. This gets back to the idea of flexibility: We are willing to work our butts off for you, but having time outside of the office is a much greater incentive for hard work than knowing that the only reward in our future is just another day in the cubicle.

CEO Tip #5: Make sure your employees understand their purpose in your company and lay out what the future looks like for them if they join your team.

Millennials work for a purpose, not a paycheck. In some cases, this means the employee is looking for meaning in the job itself; in other cases, the employee is looking for meaning in the context of what he or she will learn and take from the experience. For us, the promise of professional development is worth its weight in gold: According to one study, 65% of Millennials reported that it was the most important factor in staying in their current job. We want to grow as people, and will stay loyal to companies who support our interests and potential.

CEO Tip #6: Give your employees frequent feedback and let them know their hard work is making a difference.

Judge away if you like, but our generation is a big fan of the gold star sticker. It’s not because we’re needy; it’s because we care about our contribution  to the company and want to improve when needed. We were raised with more feedback and encouragement than our older counterparts, and social media has made us more aware of the availability of instantaneous feedback. In short, biannual performance reviews aren’t going to cut it. Why should we wait six months to find out we’re screwing up when you can shoot us an email and the problem will be resolved in a day? We don’t want to be micromanaged, but touching base with us frequently makes us feel valued, and gives us the motivational fuel to keep hustling.

I was recently called in to coach a top law firm in attracting and retaining Millennials. Most of the executives I met with were excited about the opportunity, but some of the older people seemed disgruntled by my suggestions.

“I busted my butt to get where I am,” one aging gentleman sniffed. “I think it’s pretty ridiculous that we’re going to make our hiring practices more Millennial-friendly just because that’s what they’re used to.”

… And I get it, I really do.

It’s not about relegating CEOs to the sidelines and letting Millennials steamroll their way into the corner office, and it’s not about bending to entitlement or handing out favors. It’s about tapping into this incredibly powerful generation’s core strengths and cracking open the universe of what will be possible for businesses in the future.

After all, we are the leaders of the future. The data doesn’t lie.

When you look at it through that lens, the question simply becomes one of commitment. Are you committed to your long-held beliefs about what’s right and wrong in the workplace? Or are you committed to progress, innovation, and the power of an idea?

Those who are coming around to the latter are finding out that “Millennial” is a mindset, not an age.  And if you don’t care about it, we don’t care about you.

 

#Strategy: What about Your #Company? JPMorgan Chase Ends Company Voicemail. “We Realized that Hardly Anyone Uses Voicemail Anymore.”

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According to the Associated Press, the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase, has ended voicemail services for about half of its 136,000 consumer bank employees.  “We realized that hardly anyone uses voicemail anymore, because we are carrying something in our pockets that get texts, e-mail or a phone call to you,” said consumer and community banking division chief Gordon Smith.

As many companies are relying less on phone calls and more on email, instant messages, and chat apps like Slack to communicate internally, voicemail that is tied to a desk phone seems woefully inefficient. While I use my landline at work to make calls to people outside of the office—never to coworkers—I have not checked my voicemail in almost a year, partly because I can’t figure out which combination of buttons will grant me access to it. Many of my colleagues have also admitted to never checking their voicemail inboxes.

 

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JPMorgan employees who interact with customers will still have voicemail, the AP reports, but the bank is ditching voicemail for many departments, including IT.

Do you still use voicemail at work? Tell us in the comments below.

 

FastCompany.com | June 3, 2015  |  

#Strategy: Here’s How the ‘Self-Management’ System that #Zappos is Using Actually Works… Online Retailer Zappos Began a Transition to “#Holacracy” in 2013, Deciding to Ditch #Manager Roles & Job Titles in Favor of “#Self-Management.

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“I suspect we’re going to see More & More Companies Moving this Way, in the Same way We’ve Seen more Companies Moving to Embrace Agility,” he says. “Look at Companies in the ’50s vs Today.  They’re Radically Different.  I think this is the direction it’s going.” – author, Brian Robertson

 

Online retailer Zappos began a transition to “#Holacracy” in 2013, deciding to ditch #manager roles and job titles in favor of “#self-management.”  The alternative management system was created in 2007 by a software developer who says more than 300 companies worldwide have adopted it, including Twitter cofounder Ev Williams’ company Medium and the cash automation company Arca.

holacracy

Amazon-owned Zappos, which has more than 1,000 employees, is by far the largest company to try operating as a #Holacracy.

But what exactly is it, and how does it work? Using the new book, “Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World” by the system’s creator, we break it down.

It’s meant to be agile and adaptable

#Holacracy is the brainchild of Brian Robertson, a former programmer and entrepreneur turned management guru.

As he was growing the software company he started in 2001, Robertson tells Business Insider, he realized the management-hierarchy system wasn’t agile or adaptable. “It was crushing the ability in people to actually contribute and use their gifts,” he says.

He studied as much self-management theory as he could, and developed his own approach, Holacracy, in 2007. He left his software company in 2010 to found HolacracyOne, a company that provides tools and coaching to companies that adopt its management principles.

The system derives its name from “holarchy,” a term coined by the writer Arthur Koestler in his 1967 philosophical psychology book, “The Ghost in the Machine.” It refers to a collection of holons, which simultaneously function as parts and wholes, like organs in a body.

 

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Circles replace the pyramidal hierarchy

The term “self-management” can be misleading, Robertson says, since it suggests a sort of anarchy of individuals. Instead, he calls it “distributed authority.” An organization operating as a Holacracy isn’t perfectly flat, but it takes powers traditionally reserved for executives and managers and spreads them to all employees.

holacracy graphic 2HolacracyOne

General components

Anchor circle: Typically comprises the board.

General company circle (GCC): Typically comprises the traditional executive leadership of the company. It is the only sub-circle in the anchor circle.

Sub-circle: Dedicated to particular functions of a company, like marketing and production. The circle a sub-circle exists in is known as its super-circle.

Roles: An element of a traditional job broken down into a task. A marketing circle, for example, can contain roles like social media, advertising, web marketing, and brand development. Every role comes with agreed-upon accountabilities.

If a role’s responsibilities become too much for just one person to take care of, then it can expand into a new sub-circle with its own roles.

It’s important to note that a role is not representative of a person — a single employee can have many roles, and roles are always subject to change.

glass frogGlassFrog.comHolacracyOne offers GlassFrog software that allows employees to monitor the layout of the entire organization.

Special roles

If a circle has a sub-circle, then they must be connected by the roles of Lead Link and Representative (Rep) Link. Both links attend the governance and operations meetings (described later) of both circles.

Lead link: Mandatory sub-circle role that is appointed by the super-circle. It is responsible for determining the circle’s overall purpose, priorities, and strategies; assigning employees to roles, monitoring their performance, and reassigning roles for better fit; allocating the circle’s resources; and defining the circle’s metrics.

While they can assign work and determine strategy, they are intended to be stewards of the roles they’re responsible for, not the people taking the roles. If disagreements arise among circle members, the ultimate resolution is left for the next scheduled operations meeting, but the lead link can make judgment calls regarding what is expected of each role’s adopter.

“It is not the lead link’s job to direct the team, or to take care of all the tensions felt by those in the circle,” Robertson says. “As a lead link, you are not managing the people; you are representing the circle as a whole and its purpose within the broader environment of the organization.”

Rep link: Mandatory sub-circle role that is elected by the members of its sub-circle. Whereas the lead link represents the purpose and direction of a sub-circle to its super-circle, the rep link is responsible for determining problems or frustrations the sub-circle has with the super-circle and resolving them. The rep link is also responsible for reporting the sub-circle’s health to the super-circle.

Cross link: Optional role responsible for connecting its circle to either a parallel one or a circle that is far removed from it in purpose but still important to its mission. Robertson advises that only advanced holarchies use cross links, but says that a cross link (or links) between the anchor circle (the board) and the GCC (the company) can be quite useful.

Facilitator: Mandatory role for every circle, elected by members of its circle. Leads meetings.

Secretary: Mandatory role for every circle, elected by members of its circle. Keeps records of meetings.

There are structured meetings

Holacracy makes use of two highly structured meetings and one that is more open to interpretation. Robertson says the formality of the meetings is meant to streamline the decision-making process rather than add layers onto it. His intentions are to reduce the number of small daily interactions regarding decisions and eliminate time-sucking meetings with low yield.

holacracy graphicHolacracyOneStructured meetings are essential for adapting to change, addressing problems, and assigning work.

Governance Meetings

Frequency: Typically monthly

Purpose: To refine a circle’s operating structure (i.e. creating, amending, or removing roles, policies, or sub-circles; electing a facilitator, secretary, and rep link)

Process:

1. Check-in Round: “One at a time, each participant has space to call out distractions and orient to the meeting.”

2. Administrative Concerns: “Quickly address any logistical matters, such as time allotted for the meeting and any planned breaks.”

3. Agenda Building: “Participants add agenda items, using just one or two words per item. Each agenda represents one tension to process. Facilitator captures them in a list.”

4. Process Each Item Using the Integrative Decision-Making Process: “Each agenda item is addressed, one at a time, using the Integrative Decision-Making Process,” which is a system that allows the proposer to speak uninterrupted and others to weigh in, one at a time.

5. Closing Round: “Once the agenda is complete or the meeting is nearing its scheduled end, the facilitator gives each person space to share a closing reflection about the meeting.”

Tactical Meetings

Frequency: Typically weekly

Purpose: To get each circle member on the same page and to address any problems hampering progress

Process:

1. Check-in Round: Each person has an uninterrupted chance to mention anything on their mind.

2. Checklist Review: Facilitator reads aloud a checklist for each of the roles, which the person in question responds to either with “check” or “no check.”

3. Metrics Review: Each role responsible for a data report shares a brief on it.

4. Progress Updates: The facilitator reads aloud each project, asking, “Any updates?” The project lead either says “no updates” or gives a brief explanation.

5. Agenda Building: Each person has a chance to raise a tension, represented only by one or two words.

6. Triage Issues: Facilitator gives each person with a tension a chance to explain their issue and discuss it with other members. Facilitator determines what next steps need to be taken to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

7. Closing Round: Each person has an uninterrupted chance to share a closing reflection about the meeting.

Strategy Meetings

Frequency: Typically every six months

Purpose: To review the circle’s overall progress and develop long-term goals

Process:

There is no mandated structure, but Robertson says the meetings should last around four or more hours, and can fit into the following skeleton.

1. Check-in Round

2. Orientation

3. Retrospective

4. Strategy Generation

5. Unpack the Strategy

6. Closing Round

It’s like an operating system

brian robertsonInventor Brian Robertson.

Robertson says the best way to understand Holacracy is as an operating system, meaning that it doesn’t come pre-loaded with all the software needed to run a business.

Holacracy provides, he explains, “a set of core rules for defining, evolving, and enacting your business processes over time,” but it doesn’t account for basics like “compensation and performance management systems, financial control/budgeting processes, and hiring and interviewing processes.”

He likens these processes to “apps” for the Holacracy operating system, and wants Holacracy users to share their apps on HolacracyOne’s website.

Zappos, for example, is still figuring out how compensation will work for the company. It is currently experimenting with HolacracyOne’s Badge-based Comp App, which assigns skills, talents, and capacities to badges, which have monetary value.

It takes a long time to start working

The initial transition at any company is always “painful and uncomfortable,” Robertson says, since people of all experience levels need to learn an entirely new way of doing their jobs.

holacracyAmazonRobertson’s new book is a guide to understanding his management system.

It’s why every company, whether a new startup of a few people or established company of over 1,000 employees, is advised to bring in a certified Holacracy coach to teach the system.

Robertson says that while he hasn’t collected data on it, he’s found that it takes around three months for most employees to get the hang of Holacracy. It may take longer, or it may never happen at all.

For a company the size of Zappos, Robertson predicts that it will take at least a few years for it to move past the clumsy learning stage and into the desired streamlined, accelerated phase where Holacracy feels natural.

Robertson doesn’t think Holacracy is for every company, but he thinks its distributed authority is an approach many more companies will be adopting in the near-future.

“I suspect we’re going to see more and more companies moving this way, in the same way we’ve seen more companies moving to embrace agility,” he says. “Look at companies in the ’50s versus today. They’re radically different. I think this is the direction it’s going.”

For more details, you can check out Robertson’s book, “Holacracy,” and read the official constitution every participating company adopts.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

 

Businessinsider.com | June 3, 2015  | 

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-zappos-self-management-system-holacracy-works-2015-6#ixzz3c1rkjZhv

#Leadership: Are You Emotionally Intelligent? Here’s How To Know For Sure… #EmotionalIntelligence affects How We Manage Behavior, Navigate Social Complexities, & Make Personal Decisions to Achieve Positive Results.

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Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as being the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. The connection is so strong that 90% of top performers have high emotional intelligence.

When emotional intelligence (EQ) first appeared to the masses, it served as the missing link in a peculiar finding: people with average IQs outperform those with the highest IQs 70% of the time. This anomaly threw a massive wrench into the broadly held assumption that IQ was the sole source of success.

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Develop an Effective Knowledge Transfer System

90% of top performers have high emotional intelligence.

Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as being the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. The connection is so strong that 90% of top performers have high emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is the “something” in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions to achieve positive results.

Despite the significance of EQ, its intangible nature makes it very difficult to know how much you have and what you can do to improve if you’re lacking. You can always take a scientifically validated test, such as the one that comes with the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 book.

Unfortunately, quality (scientifically valid) EQ tests aren’t free. So, I’ve analyzed the data from the million-plus people TalentSmart has tested in order to identify the behaviors that are the hallmarks of a high EQ. What follows are sure signs that you have a high EQ.

You Have A Robust Emotional Vocabulary

All people experience emotions, but it is a select few who can accurately identify them as they occur. Our research shows that only 36% of people can do this, which is problematic because unlabeled emotions often go misunderstood, which leads to irrational choices and counterproductive actions.

People with high EQs master their emotions because they understand them, and they use an extensive vocabulary of feelings to do so. While many people might describe themselves as simply feeling “bad,” emotionally intelligent people can pinpoint whether they feel “irritable,” “frustrated,” “downtrodden,” or “anxious.” The more specific your word choice, the better insight you have into exactly how you are feeling, what caused it, and what you should do about it.

 

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You’re Curious About People

It doesn’t matter if they’re introverted or extroverted, emotionally intelligent people are curious about everyone around them. This curiosity is the product of empathy, one of the most significant gateways to a high EQ. The more you care about other people and what they’re going through, the more curiosity you’re going to have about them.

You Embrace Change

Emotionally intelligent people are flexible and are constantly adapting. They know that fear of change is paralyzing and a major threat to their success and happiness. They look for change that is lurking just around the corner, and they form a plan of action should these changes occur.

You Know Your Strengths And Weaknesses

Emotionally intelligent people don’t just understand emotions; they know what they’re good at and what they’re terrible at. They also know who pushes their buttons and the environments (both situations and people) that enable them to succeed.

Having a high EQ means you know your strengths and you know how to lean into them and use them to your full advantage while keeping your weaknesses from holding you back.

You’re A Good Judge Of Character

Much of emotional intelligence comes down to social awareness; the ability to read other people, know what they’re about, and understand what they’re going through. Over time, this skill makes you an exceptional judge of character.

People are no mystery to you. You know what they’re all about and understand their motivations, even those that lie hidden beneath the surface.

You Are Difficult To Offend

If you have a firm grasp of whom you are, it’s difficult for someone to say or do something that gets your goat. Emotionally intelligent people are self-confident and open-minded, which creates a pretty thick skin. You may even poke fun at yourself or let other people make jokes about you because you are able to mentally draw the line between humor and degradation.

You Know How To Say No (To Yourself And Others)

Emotional intelligence means knowing how to exert self-control. You delay gratification, and you avoid impulsive action. Research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression.

Saying no is indeed a major self-control challenge for many people. “No” is a powerful word that you should not be afraid to wield. When it’s time to say no, emotionally intelligent people avoid phrases such as “I don’t think I can” or “I’m not certain.” Saying no to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them.

You Let Go Of Mistakes

Emotionally intelligent people distance themselves from their mistakes, but do so without forgetting them. By keeping their mistakes at a safe distance, yet still handy enough to refer to, they are able to adapt and adjust for future success.

It takes refined self-awareness to walk this tightrope between dwelling and remembering. Dwelling too long on your mistakes makes you anxious and gun shy, while forgetting about them completely makes you bound to repeat them. The key to balance lies in your ability to transform failures into nuggets of improvement. This creates the tendency to get right back up every time you fall down.

You Give And Expect Nothing In Return

When someone gives you something spontaneously, without expecting anything in return, this leaves a powerful impression. For example, you might have an interesting conversation with someone about a book, and when you see them again a month later, you show up with the book in hand. Emotionally intelligent people build strong relationships because they are constantly thinking about others.

You Don’t Hold Grudges

The negative emotions that come with holding onto a grudge are actually a stress response. Just thinking about the event sends your body into fight-or-flight mode, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. When the threat is imminent, this reaction is essential to your survival, but when the threat is ancient history, holding onto that stress wreaks havoc on your body and can have devastating health consequences over time.

In fact, researchers at Emory University have shown that holding onto stress contributes to high blood pressure and heart disease. Holding onto a grudge means you’re holding onto stress, and emotionally intelligent people know to avoid this at all costs. Letting go of a grudge not only makes you feel better now but can also improve your health.

You Neutralize Toxic People

Dealing with difficult people is frustrating and exhausting for most. High EQ individuals control their interactions with toxic people by keeping their feelings in check. When they need to confront a toxic person, they approach the situation rationally. They identify their own emotions and don’t allow anger or frustration to fuel the chaos. They also consider the difficult person’s standpoint and are able to find solutions and common ground. Even when things completely derail, emotionally intelligent people are able to take the toxic person with a grain of salt to avoid letting him or her bring them down.

You Don’t Seek Perfection

Emotionally intelligent people won’t set perfection as their target because they know that it doesn’t exist. Human beings, by our very nature, are fallible. When perfection is your goal, you’re always left with a nagging sense of failure that makes you want to give up or reduce your effort. You end up spending your time lamenting what you failed to accomplish and what you should have done differently instead of moving forward, excited about what you’ve achieved and what you will accomplish in the future.

You Appreciate What You Have

Taking time to contemplate what you’re grateful for isn’t merely the right thing to do; it also improves your mood because it reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23%. Research conducted at the University of California, Davis, found that people who worked daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experienced improved mood, energy, and physical well-being. It’s likely that lower levels of cortisol played a major role in this.

You Disconnect

Taking regular time off the grid is a sign of a high EQ because it helps you to keep your stress under control and to live in the moment. When you make yourself available to your work 24/7, you expose yourself to a constant barrage of stressors. Forcing yourself offline and even—gulp!—turning off your phone gives your body and mind a break.

Studies have shown that something as simple as an e-mail break can lower stress levels. Technology enables constant communication and the expectation that you should be available 24/7. It is extremely difficult to enjoy a stress-free moment outside of work when an e-mail that will change your train of thought and get you thinking (read: stressing) about work can drop onto your phone at any moment.

You Limit Your Caffeine Intake

Drinking excessive amounts of caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline, and adrenaline is the source of the fight-or-flight response. The fight-or-flight mechanism sidesteps rational thinking in favor of a faster response to ensure survival. This is great when a bear is chasing you, but not so great when you’re responding to a curt e-mail. When caffeine puts your brain and body into this hyper-aroused state of stress, your emotions overrun your behavior. Caffeine’s long half-life ensures you stay this way as it takes its sweet time working its way out of your body. High-EQ individuals know that caffeine is trouble, and they don’t let it get the better of them.

You Get Enough Sleep

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of sleep to increasing your emotional intelligence and managing your stress levels. When you sleep, your brain literally recharges, shuffling through the day’s memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams) so that you wake up alert and clearheaded. High-EQ individuals know that their self-control, attention, and memory are all reduced when they don’t get enough—or the right kind—of sleep. So, they make sleep a top priority.

You Stop Negative Self-Talk in Its Tracks

The more you ruminate on negative thoughts, the more power you give them. Most of our negative thoughts are just that—thoughts, not facts. When it feels like something always or never happens, this is just your brain’s natural tendency to perceive threats (inflating the frequency or severity of an event). Emotionally intelligent people separate their thoughts from the facts in order to escape the cycle of negativity and move toward a positive, new outlook.

You Won’t Let Anyone Limit Your Joy

When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from the opinions of other people, you are no longer the master of your own happiness. When emotionally intelligent people feel good about something that they’ve done, they won’t let anyone’s opinions or snide remarks take that away from them. While it’s impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don’t have to compare yourself to others, and you can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt. That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within.

Bringing It All Together

Do you think you have a high EQ? Please share your thoughts in the comments section as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

Travis co-wrote the bestselling book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and co-foundedTalentSmart, the world’s #1 provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving 75% of Fortune 500 Companies.

Forbes.com | June 2, 2015 | Travis Bradberry 

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Your #Career: 7 Tips for Mastering the Fine Art of Following Up…If you Want to Build a Strong #Network of Professional Contacts, You Must Master the fine Art of Follow Up.

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#Networking Events plant the seeds of a professional relationship, but it’s up to you to show your commitment, trustworthiness and competence as you patiently cultivate the relationship. Eventually, your commitment and credibility will lead to a growth in your popularity.

Relationships take time to grow. The Supremes understood this well when they sang, “You can’t hurry love/No, you just have to wait.” As with friendships, business relationships need time to flourish.

cool office working laptops couch

Connect on #LinkedIn

You have to attend more than one networking event to create the kind of rapport that will produce new business opportunities. A bond and trust must form before someone will feel comfortable enough to recommend you and your business to others.

Networking events provide an introduction to new professional connections.

They plant the seeds of a professional relationship, but it’s up to you to show your commitment, trustworthiness and competence as you patiently cultivate the relationship. Eventually, your commitment and credibility will lead to a growth in your popularity.

If you want to build a strong network of professional contacts, you must master the fine art of follow up. After a networking event, use these tips to stay in touch with new connections.

1. Follow up immediately.

Don’t wait a week or longer to make the first contact. Your new connection may vaguely remember you, but the impact of your meeting will have dramatically diminished. Instead, reach out the next day with a short email. Say something like, “It was a pleasure speaking with you at yesterday’s event. I’d love to meet for coffee next week if you’re available.”

Related: How to Be Remarkable at Following Up

2. Take notes.

Immediately following a networking event or cocktail party, write notes about the people you spoke to and what you talked about. Include superficial details that may help jog your memory, such as what they were wearing or what they looked like. Use the business cards you collected to connect names to faces.

 

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3. Connect on LinkedIn.

No other social media platform has the same professional reputation as LinkedIn. When you send your request to connect, remind the person who you are and how you met. If possible, mention something you talked about such as, “I enjoyed learning about your passion for golf and how I can improve my golf swing. I’ll put your tips to good use this weekend.”

Related: The Two Strategies for Networking on LinkedIn — And Why They Matter

4. Use your calendar.

After your initial follow up, set a reminder in your calendar to follow up again in a few weeks. Reconnect with clients, colleagues and customers on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Call, send an email, send links of interest, or mail a handwritten note. Holiday cards are also a personal way to create a lasting impression.

5. Keep it short.

Your communications don’t need to be lengthy. Keep your messages short and to the point. You could write something like, “Just a note to say I was thinking of you today. I hope business is going well. Let’s get together for Italian food next time you’re in town.”

Related: Maximize the Impact of Handwritten Notes With These 6 Tips

6. Host an event.

A casual happy hour or dinner party can be a great way to entertain and build rapport. Invite clients and colleagues you think will get along or be able to do business together. When you generously help others connect, you’ll create new business opportunities for yourself as well.

7. Send congratulatory notes.

If you read an article about someone you know who has received an award or promotion, send a note to congratulate him. Include a clipping of the article and say something such as, “Congratulations on the award! I thought you might appreciate an extra copy of your honorable mention. Best wishes for continued success!”

Related: Surprising Networking Tricks You’re Not Using

Read the original article on Entrepreneur. Copyright 2015. Follow Entrepreneur on Twitter.

 

Businessinsider.com | June 1, 2015 | JACQUELINE WHITMORE, ENTREPRENEUR
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245793?ctp=BizDev&src=Syndication&msc=Feedly#ixzz3bq5aPnZ7

#Leadership: 16 Things #Successful People Do on Monday Mornings…Most Successful People are Keenly Aware of the Typical Monday-Morning #Workplace Dynamic of Unanticipated Events, Overflow of Communications, & General Chaos

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Most successful people are keenly aware of the typical Monday-morning workplace dynamic of unanticipated events, overflow of communications, and general chaos. “But after weathering hundreds of them, they realize they must gain control and stay upbeat,” Taylor explains. “They take extra steps to compensate for this busy time of the week, and apply their best #management skills to ensure that the day unfolds as smoothly as possible.”

Monday mornings are the most critical time of the workweek — they set the stage for the day and week ahead.  “Because you’ve stepped away for a couple days, these back-to-work mornings are the most memorable for the rest of the week,” says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of “Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job.”

Running Runners California Muscular Man Jogging Barefoot Sneakers

One thing successful people do Monday morning: They wake up early and exercise.

“They influence your mindset in a positive or negative way, depending on what actions you decide to take,” Taylor says.

Most successful people are keenly aware of the typical Monday-morning workplace dynamic of unanticipated events, overflow of communications, and general chaos. “But after weathering hundreds of them, they realize they must gain control and stay upbeat,” Taylor explains. “They take extra steps to compensate for this busy time of the week, and apply their best management skills to ensure that the day unfolds as smoothly as possible.”

Here are 16 things successful people do on Monday mornings:

1. They wake up early. Successful people go to sleep at a decent hour on Sunday night, get a good night’s sleep, and wake up early Monday morning.

“When the alarm goes off and the voice tells you that you went to bed far too late to get up this early, or that five more minutes won’t hurt, DON’T LISTEN!” writes Ciara Conlon for Lifehack. “When you are in charge of the inner voice, there will be no stopping you.”

2. They exercise. Working out gets your circulation going and helps you stay alert, putting you at an advantage for a productive week ahead. “You’ll get your endorphin rush, which will help your mood, too,” Taylor says.

 

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3. They eat a healthy breakfast. On Monday morning, you want to handle everything you have control over. Eating breakfast is one of those things. “You don’t want to be staring at the clock, awaiting lunch time as your stomach growls at morning meetings,” she says.

breakfastTella Chen/flickr

4. They arrive early. Do not succumb to the snooze button. “Commutes are bad on Monday, so beat the odds,” Taylor says. Plus, getting in earlier than others will help make Monday morning seem more like the afternoon because you’ll have had a chance to breathe before responding to the barrage of people and issues. “Being an early bird will give you some wiggle room for the unexpected at work, not to mention any important personal matters that may arise,” she says.

5. They clear their desk and desktop. “Hopefully you already did this before you left on Friday. But if you didn’t, get this out of the way, or you might add to Monday stresses in a sea of disorganization,” Taylor says. Organize and prioritize your files. Put aside unimportant paperwork and keep critical files easily accessible. You want to be prepared when you, your boss, or colleagues need something at the last minute.

6. They carve out time for unexpected projects and tasks. Successful individuals expect the unexpected on Monday, she says. “Your boss, team members, or staff may have remembered some loose ends over the weekend, so you’re wise to build in some extra down time on Monday morning.”

7. They greet their team and boss. This is important to do first thing every morning to keep morale high, but on Monday it’s particularly valuable, as your team needs a special boost. “Ideally, you’ll spend an few extra minutes with your colleagues on Monday mornings. It reinforces a sense of purpose and community for everyone, including you,” Taylor explains.

boss workplaceUniversity of Exeter/Flickr

8. They update their to-do list and goals. “Get yourself current on priorities and tasks,” Taylor suggests. Then set five to eight goals for the week.

“Accomplished professionals have several goals in mind for the day and week,” she says. “They know that if all goals aren’t achieved, they can take pride in accomplishing most of them, and there’s next week to achieve additional objectives.”

9. They visualize the week’s successes. By envisioning the positive outcomes of various projects at hand, you can work backward and determine the necessary steps to get your desired results.

10. They screen emails for urgent requests. You can sink into email oblivion if you don’t scan your inbox for urgency, Taylor says. “Star emails that are priorities and think quality, not quantity.”

11. They tackle the tough challenges first. The least desirable but critical projects are easy to put off, but your energy is stronger in the morning, so that’s the ideal time to confront the most difficult assignments.

12. They make an extra effort to smile. “It might be the last thing on your mind, but overcompensating for the pressure cooker morning will help you get through it,” she says. You may well stand out in the crowd, but your smile will likely be contagious, helping both you and team members relax.

Office smile happyFlickr/Highways Agency

13. They add a “blanket of humanity” to their emails. It’s tempting to power through all your emails in the most efficient way on Monday mornings. But before you hit send, read them over to ensure that they’re friendly and clear. “Put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. It’s relatively easy to appear curt when you’re in a hurry, along with the impersonal nature of emails and texts. You want to mitigate false starts and misinterpretations,” Taylor says. One way to do this: Start the email by saying “Hi” and “I hope you had a great weekend.”

14. They’re able to say no. “On Monday mornings there will be many distractions — from people, to emails, to calls, meetings, offers for meeting in the break room, and so forth,” Taylor explains. “Successful people can diplomatically and politely say no to colleagues by offering to engage at a later time.”

If your boss needs you, that is clearly an exception. However, if you have crucial calls to make or meetings to attend, give your boss the heads-up. “It’s stressful to be a people pleaser, particularly on Monday mornings. Generally, no one ends up being pleased, as you can’t do your best work with conflicting priorities.”

15. They stay focused. Successful people don’t dwell on any challenging events that occurred over the weekend, or other frivolous thoughts. “Compartmentalize by putting them in a separate ‘box’ as you start your week,” she says.

16. They remember that there is Tuesday. “In all the chaos it’s easy to believe that the world will cave if you don’t solve all Monday’s problems on Monday,” she says. “But when the dust settles at the end of the day, you may realize that certain tasks could have waited.” Sometimes you obtain more information over time that enhances your decision-making. Or you may find that certain problems you’re pondering will resolve themselves.

Monday morning can challenge even the most industrious, successful business leaders. “But if you compensate for all the anticipated distraction and intensity by remembering to focus, plan, and stay calm, you won’t relive Monday all over again on Tuesday,” Taylor says.

 

Businessinsider.com | June 1, 2015  |  

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-successful-people-do-on-monday-mornings-2015-6#ixzz3bpAKjepb