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Cosmic Coaching Centre
Resume and Career Services Blog
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There are hundreds of reasons why people like some jobs more than others. Some enjoy the daily challenges, some respect their supervisors, and others, enjoy the benefits. Each of these are specific career values that everyone holds. Some employees have a long list of important values and others have just a few critical values that they look for. According to a recent SNBC study, 35% of workers say that coming to work and feeling that their job is meaningful is the main reason that they are happy at work. Good pay, opportunities to advance, autonomy and coworkers that value their work are the other values that were mentioned in the study.
Companies also have a set of core values that are important to them. Some businesses promise to provide a diverse and highly collaborative work environment, while others encourage self-reliance and provide competitive compensation. Finding a company that shares the same values as you can make your work more fulfilling and can launch your career in a positive trajectory. As you search for a job, make a list of 5–10 career values that are important to you and look for companies that share those values. Here are some ways to find company career values:
When you find a job with a company that prioritizes the values that are important to you, you will feel happier at work and give more effort in the office. Consider looking into the values of the companies you apply for as you send resumes and applications to companies. Finding a company that is the right fit can not only help you find a good job, it can help you find a career that will be exciting and fulfilling.
Is it important for teams to hold regular meetings? Well, definitely yes! Meetings matter not just to make sure the job gets done. They also serve as a great means of communication among team members, who need to have a clear understanding of the activities and needs of the team. Meetings also allow for creative brainstorming and group innovation. It is also through team meetings that work skills are developed, interpersonal relationships are deepened, and team morale is boosted.
When team meetings are considered useless or nonproductive by its members, there will certainly be a negative impact on how workers perform in their respective jobs. Thus, it is of utmost importance that team meetings be planned well and conducted systematically and with purpose.
Aside from the obvious points about being prepared, on time, and making sure everyone is involved, there are other things that can help make your next team meetings productive and effective. Here’s what you should do:
Why is the team having a meeting anyway? Is it because it’s a requirement? Or you have a specific reason for holding the meeting? Before you even plan a meeting, you’ve got to figure out what the purpose of the meeting is. You have to make it something that your members will look forward to, and not something they think is just a waste of their time.
Meeting your team several times a week can leave you holding meaningless team meetings. It is always better to have fewer but more meaningful meetings with your members. If certain issues arise, check if they can be addressed through one on one conversations or email messages perhaps. Meeting less frequently will increase the chances of your team meetings becoming more purposeful and useful.
The success of any team meeting pretty much depends on its agenda. It is important that your agenda be specific so that participants will know what to expect from the meeting. A vague agenda can cause members to be uninterested in the meeting. Be sure also that you distribute the agenda ahead of time to allow members to make the necessary preparations for it.
There is a difference between facilitating a meeting and chairing a meeting. You’ve got to figure out what your role will be. Knowing how you should run the meeting will give you a clear idea of how you should start the meeting, how the meeting should run and how it’s supposed to end.
There will always be a way your team meetings can improve. But you will never know how to improve it unless you ask your team members for feedback. It would be of great help to you if you could know what they think and how they feel about your team meetings.
If you’re not used to holding meetings with a group of people, it is recommended that you work with a mentor. Perhaps your company offers executive coaching programs you could join. This will be a great opportunity for you to learn from the more experienced individuals in the organization.
If there’s one thing a hardworking manager still needs to do in order to get to the next level in his or her career, it will be to know how to turn management skills into leadership skills. Managers are the ones expected to make important decisions that will boost employee productivity, and thus, having great leadership skills is an absolute must.
In today’s business world, companies are opting to retain and offer promotions only to their managers who have outstanding management skills and demonstrate qualities of a good leader. The good thing is that while some people are born great leaders, leadership skills can be learned and developed, but only if you know where to put your efforts into.
The key to becoming an effective leader is to understand that leadership is all about bringing people together for the fulfillment of one goal. You, as a manager, not only have authority and power, but a great responsibility to lead your subordinates so they may contribute to the growth of your organization.
Checking in on a regular basis leads to better communication. You don’t have to hold general meetings to do this. Short staff meetings scheduled regularly and implementing an open-door management policy can help you establish clear lines of communication with your staff. You would also learn a lot about how to improve your products or services by soliciting feedback from your clients or customers.
It takes a lot of practice and determination to become a good listener. And when you become one, you will see how positive its effects are to your people. Employees appreciate managers who know how to listen to them. Customers can also see your sincerity in offering great service.
Take time to know what your predecessors did in the past. You can apply what worked for them, and avoid those that didn’t. The past is always a good source of knowledge, especially for those managers who don’t have much experience yet.
It is always a good idea to get your people involved in the decision-making process, especially if the decision to be made relates to them. All you need to do is encourage them to be creative and to share their ideas. You may even give rewards to acknowledge their success.
As a leader, your people look up to you and even get inspiration from you. Thus, you should always focus on the positive, so that they may do the same.
Climbing up the corporate ladder is every manager’s dream, but this can turn into reality if they learn what it takes not just to be a manager, but a true leader. Taking part on executive coaching programs is an important step if you’re looking to acquire and develop the skills that will make you an effective leader.
Full time workers spend many hours of each day and a huge part of their lives in the workplace, so it matters to them how they feel about the work they do. For managers, it is equally important to keep their employees engaged in whatever the company does. If workers are disengaged, there is a huge possibility that they will look for other opportunities. What’s worse, their attitude can have a negative effect on the productivity of the entire team.
Good leaders acknowledge the fact that employee engagement is a huge asset to the organization, and that implementing a solid engagement strategy is a priority. Here’s what you should do to keep your employees engaged and productive:
Get to know your people better by asking and learning about what they love doing. This will help you build better relationships with your employees, which has a direct effect on their motivation and engagement. Also, demonstrate even in the smallest and simplest ways that their happiness and wellbeing matter to you.
Effective managers pay attention to their employees’ career advancement by providing them with the training they need. By making sure they have the skills to complete their tasks properly, you are giving them motivation to achieve their goals, and this can lead to a higher level of engagement. Managers should realize that employees feel more engaged when they have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and roles in the organization.
Getting some sort of recognition from a manager is an important motivator for workers, which also promotes productivity and positive behavior.
To be an effective manager, you have to make employee recognition easy and visible to your employees. It does not have to include money or expensive things; in fact, even a ‘nice job’ or ‘thank you’ can go a long way in making your employees feel good about themselves.
Teamwork is the result of trust and openness between employees and managers. When employees are made to feel that they are an important part of a team in the company, they become more enthusiastic about their jobs.
You can encourage teamwork by acknowledging the efforts of those employees who offer their help to others, and creating channels in which workers can recognize one another’s efforts. When trust is formed between employees, they become more engaged and obviously happy with the relationships they have with their coworkers.
Employee surveys are conducted to determine if there are changes in the organization that employees wish to have. Thus, any executive coaching professional would always emphasize the importance of acting on employees’ feedback. If they don’t see any changes in the way business is run in the company, they will feel like their voices are unheard and ignored. Indeed, lack of action on the side of the management can significantly reduce employee engagement and productivity.
As a middle manager, the entire organization expects you to get everything done. This is a huge responsibility you have, and thus you have to make sure you are ‘influential’ enough to lead the charge. While this can be extremely challenging, there are things you can do to create an environment that will help you and your company succeed.
A good manager is one who does not only delegate tasks and responsibilities to employees; a good manager also guides and supports them so they may be better at what they do. The only way you could help them perform their job better is to show them that you have knowledge of what they do. It becomes so much easier for employees to give you respect when they see you as an expert. You don’t have to do their work for them, of course, but you have to make an effort to share what you know so they may grow professionally.
If your responsibilities as a middle manager haven’t changed over the years, and you do the same things over and over again, there is a possibility that what you’re doing is no longer in line with your company’s current strategy. You can’t just sit there and wait to be informed of the organization’s new strategy. Be proactive in getting as much information as you need, and verify with your boss if how you’re running things actually helps the company achieve its goals. If it is, then go ahead and share it with your staff, and if not, rectify your action plan so it would be in line with the overall strategy of the company.
It is important that your department has clear priorities and that these priorities are communicated well among the employees. Each of your workers must have their own goals, and they should understand the importance of achieving both individual and group goals. Make sure that you regularly meet with your employees so you can be up-to-date with their progress, and if changes in the team are inevitable, you can make them on a timely manner.
Good leaders have the ability to make people follow and respect them, not by imposing anything to their people, but by listening to them and supporting them. As a middle manager, having this reputation will get you noticed and even considered for a promotion. You’ve got to learn to NOT be arrogant, be diplomatic, and be a solution provider.
The more you communicate with all the people you work with, the more they will see, hear and follow you. By making use of any available means of communication with your boss, other middle managers, and employees, you are showing that you are a proactive leader who places importance on sharing what you already know and what you have learned from others.
As they say, good leaders are born. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to develop the management skills that you already have. Working with an executive coaching professional would also help you enhance such skills to become an effective and successful middle manager.
It’s time to set your intentions for 2015. Here are 20 fabulous tips from some of the world’s best career experts to assist you in taking control of your career and making this year your best year ever.
Whether you are at the start of your career, mid way through your career, or at the tail end of your career, vow to make this year your most successful year ever.
If you are interested in hearing more from each and every one of the above career experts, join us for the 2015 Catapult Your Career Success Summit:
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