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Category : workplace culture

Home/Archive by Category "workplace culture" (Page 3)

The Workplace Dress Code: A Series on Business Formal, Business Casual and More

26 November 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture No comment

“You are how you dress” sounds a little harsh when it comes to workplace attire, but the truth is how you present yourself at work will influence the way you’re treated and the way people perceive you.

The variables can be difficult to navigate. And the task becomes even more complicated when you throw in things like the proverbial casual Friday and other events where dress codes change.

Part of the problem with dress codes is that every company interprets the terms differently. For instance, heading to work at Apple means putting on an Apple t-shirt and the rest is up to you. A reporter may have to dress in slacks, a dress shirt and tie at one paper while being allowed to sport jeans and a polo in a different newsroom.

We’re going to spend the next two posts unraveling the world of workplace dress codes, relying on the opinions and insights of popular HR and business websites.

Dress Code: The Definition

Dress codes can be like speeding laws. Some people approach them as rigid while others see them as suggestions rather than decrees. Given the non-confrontational manner of most workers today, you can see how the meaning of dress codes can become fuzzy when employees and managers fail to enforce the rules.

We’re going to go with human-resources website The Balance’s definition of dress code:

“A dress code is a set of standards that companies develop to help provide their employees with guidance about what is appropriate to wear to work. The formality of the workplace dress code is normally determined by the number of interactions employees have with customers or clients.”

formal-2We like the aspect of customer interaction here, because we agree with the notion that clients dictate dress code. Let’s use Starbucks as an example. People go there for coffee and food and an employee’s clothing rarely influences whether a customer wants to buy a product. And, the product is relatively inexpensive as most items can be had for less than $5.

On the other hand, if you’re handling multi-million dollar mutual funds pitched to C-level workers, shorts, a polo shirt and a green apron would be embarrassingly out of place. Suits –tailored, designer suits – are a must, as are great shoes, a nice watch and a stylish tie.

Particularly in sales environments, dress codes will be tailored to the client. One wrong color or accessory could lose a huge sale so the details are important.

“Depending on the organization, the dress code may be written in great detail, or, in the case of a casual dress code, very little detail is necessary,” The Balance’s Susan Heathfield wrote. “Over the years, employees have seen a shift towards a more casual dress standard, even in industries that were previously very formal.”

Heathfield does well to point out the shift to a more casual workplace; startups with insanely high valuations are packed with twentysomethings wearing jeans and t-shirts.

And that brings us to our next section, the two types of dress codes.

The Two Main Dress Code Options: Formal and Casual

Every workplace you encounter will have some form of a dress code, and that code will usually follow two schools of thought: business formal or business casual.

Business Formal

Business formal attire is the classic suit-and-tie you’re probably envisioning. In a sample dress code document, The Balance talks about some of the classic guidelines you should include in formal dress-code policy.

“Business attire for men includes suits, sports jackets and pants that are typical of business formal attire at work,” their sample document says. “For women, business attire includes pant and skirt suits and sports jackets appropriate to a formal business attire environment.”

formal-1Again, each company has flexibility with the level of detail in these dress codes. In high-level sales positions, there could be specific rules about the type of suit and tie you wear, or perhaps the type of watch you wear.

Either way, the goal here is to present the company as professional, intelligent and meticulous; dressing accordingly can reinforce your organization’s strengths and focus.

Each employee has the freedom to navigate the dress code within the parameters the company sets forth.

For example, Canada’s McMaster University points out that the darker the suit, the more formal. As for the dress shirt or blouse beneath, white, blue and beige are go-to, “safe” colors. Here are some other solid strategies:

  • Women’s jackets should range between ¾ length or short sleeve, depending on the season.
  • Crop pant suits are okay, but shouldn’t be worn during an interview
  • Men should avoid bold colors or patters in dress shirts.
  • In a three-piece suit, always match the vest’s material and color with the jacket and slacks.

Read Our Next Post for Business Casual Guidelines…

In the second part of our series on workplace dress codes, we’ll talk about the guidelines for business casual. We’ll learn why your dress code affects more than your customers’ first impressions; it can create a clash between the company’s desired direction and its culture.

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Motivation and Inspiration: Is There a Difference?

28 September 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture No comment

In our hyper meme-ified world, there’s rarely a motivational or inspirational saying that doesn’t end up in our Facebook feed. Here’s a sampling of some of the classics:

  • To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will.
  • Nothing worth having comes easy.
  • Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
  • Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.

You might even have some of these sayings framed on your wall with the accompanying photo of an eagle soaring across a cloud-smattered sky. And we don’t blame you. After fighting your way through morning traffic, spilling coffee on your new tie and realizing you forgot your phone, you need a little inspiration. Or is it motivation?

While the concepts of inspiration and motivation might seem interchangeable, the two words have very distinct meanings. That meaning may not be important to the average person, but understanding the nuances between the two words isn’t just about semantics; it’s about understanding the relationship between what you want to accomplish and how you get your team to accomplish it.

Motivation is Something That Comes from Within

Have you ever met someone who was truly motivated? What did you notice about them? One thing probably stood out to you – their seemingly endless well of determination and belief in their goals. Both of those factors come from within a person. You look inward to find the idea catalyst to drive your outward life.

This past August, the world converged on Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The men’s marathon took place on the final day of competition. Galen Rupp, Jared Ward and Meb Keflezighi represented the United States in the race.

Keflezighi had won silver several Olympics ago and was the only runner in the group with a medal. The day was rainy and wet. The runners took off and after a few miles it was obvious that something was off about the normally steady Keflezighi.

About halfway through the race he threw up, and then he did it six more times. Somehow, he finished the race in 33rd place. Rupp won bronze and Ward finished sixth.

As Keflezighi approached the finish line, he slipped and fell on the wet road. Before standing back up, he pounded out a few push-ups, got to his feet and crossed the finish line amid the cheers of a boisterous crowd.

After the race, the veteran runner explained what happened.

“About halfway through, I threw up. I think I did it seven times during the race. But you know what? There are no excuses. This is the best of the best,” he said.

Meb’s race was the perfect example of motivation instead of inspiration. He wasn’t looking to something outside himself to push him to the finish. He didn’t wait for another runner to come and console him in order to get to the finish line.

He knew the stakes of the race, he knew his body’s limits and he knew he had to finish the race at all costs. That is a prime example of motivation. His strength came from within.

Think about that in relation to your workplace. Sometimes reward systems are great for motivating employees, but in our current workplace environment, employees tend to value space – breathing room to build relationships, let their creativity flow and gain a certain level of meaning and significance from what they’re doing.

In 2009, TED Talk speaker Dan Pink gave an excellent presentation on the science and sociology behind motivation:

Inspiration is Something That Comes from Outside Oneself

There’s a scene in Ron Howard’s epic movie Cinderella Man where the protagonist, tough-as-nails New Jersey boxer Jim Braddock, is fighting his way to a title bout when he meets his match in a younger, stronger boxer.

In the middle of the bout, his opponent unleashes a monstrous right that catches Braddock flush on the face. The crowd rises up in shock; they can’t believe Braddock is going to fall to the mat.

A strange thing happens, though. Braddock doesn’t fall, although his mouthpiece tumbles across the floor and comes to rest amid the chaos.

The grisly fighter has flashbacks to the effects of the Great Depression: his hungry kids, an empty milk rack, and, finally, the image of an empty house after his wife is forced to send their kids to a relative’s house because the Braddocks can’t afford to pay their electricity bill.

Here’s the clip:

This is a classic example of inspiration – Braddock looked to his family’s worst times to push him to stay on his feet, keep fighting and earn a paycheck. The bout went on and, as history has it, Braddock won and continued on his journey to become the heavyweight champion.

Conclusions: Why Traditional Methods Need to Be Changed

Earlier we mentioned that today’s workforce is more concerned about value and significance than ever before. In many cases, trying traditional methods of motivation and inspiration don’t work like they did a decade or two ago.

In fact, you could even make the case that incentive programs are archaic in the sense that they’re used as motivational tools when they’re actually, by definition, inspirational tools. They’re an outside force that spurs on the individual or team.

So, take a moment to think about what your employees really need from you. How can you inspire them to greatness? In many cases, sharing your own personal battles with success and leadership can be a huge help. Transparency is of great value these days; respect is earned through relationship, not through reverence.

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Summer Reading List – Three Must-read Business Books for the Summer

15 September 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture No comment

booksWhile it is almost the end of summer, it’s never too late to start catching up on a good read. Most people tend to stick to the usual genres: romance, suspense, cops and robbers or classical works.

We’re going to take a look at some business-minded books, however, the kind of stuff that’s interesting to read and highly applicable to your work life.

These books are aimed at identifying gaps in workflow management between teams as well as individuals, while also encouraging workers to identify their strengths and weaknesses to help improve their personal development and overall work environment.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, Patrick Lencioni

Learning your team’s dynamic is essential to building a cohesive and productive unit. However, it usually takes time to figure out what makes each person tick as well as what will motivate them to perform at their full potential.

The question then becomes, “What methods or best practices are available to help determine how to overcome dysfunction.”

Written as a business fable, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, aims to address why teams become dysfunctional as well as how to acknowledge flaws and inadequacies in order to create a purposeful work environment.

Lencioni establishes that there are five main “dysfunctions” that lead to an unproductive group dynamic:

  • Absence of trust
  • Fear of conflict
  • Lack of commitment
  • Avoidance of accountability
  • Inattention to results of the collective

Lencioni explains that when teams strive to understand and accept their inadequacies they can conquer any internal or external strife they may face.

Now, Discover Your Strengths: How to Develop Your Talents and Those of the People You Manage, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton

Figuring out where your talents lie can be a difficult task, to say the least. However, there are some great tools out there to help people and companies identify what their aptitudes are and how to best utilize them.

Discover Your Strengths is a Hall of Famer among books in this genre. The authors’ main goal is to help each person discover their strengths through an online or written test.

In contrast to The Five Dysfunctions of a Teams, Buckingham and Clifton encourage their readers to focus primarily on the strengths one has rather than struggle to conquer one’s own weaknesses.

Buckingham and Clifton argue that when group members focus on their strengths, they can position themselves into roles and tasks they know they would be well-suited for.

In essence, the desired end result would be developing desired attributes in each member to improve overall team efficiency while also minimizing employee turnover.

The Leadership Challenge: How To Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, James Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner

In The Leadership Challenge, authors James Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner aim to train leaders to use a hybrid of both The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and StrengthsFinder.

To accomplish this, they encourage their readers to develop their “practices of leadership.” They advise leaders to lead by example, develop a core vision everyone can work toward and inspire members to think creatively to solve problems.

Part of this process includes a StrengthsFinder-style quiz called the Leadership Practices Inventory, which helps assess a leader’s strengths, weaknesses and efficiencies.

Kouzes and Posner also urge leaders to build a system of confidence in their subordinates that lets them come into their own without micro-managing them.

The leadership gurus believe that high quality leaders must be taught to lead with humility and honesty, rather than rely solely on natural talents.

Wrapping It Up: How These Books Can Transform Your Team

In short, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, StrengthsFinder and The Leadership Challenge all seek to answer the question of how to minimize dysfunction in the workplace, improve productivity and morale.

At the same time, they probe what makes an efficient, respectable leader who is willing to think outside the box to better his employees and company without compromising their convictions.

Personal development and work culture go hand in hand. As summer comes to an end, take stock of where you have been and where you need to go as a company.

This introspection will help your company or workforce better manage the day-to-day stress as well as encourage all team members to strive to better themselves, no matter what weaknesses or talents they exhibit.

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Three Lessons Learned from Successful Business Leaders

29 August 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture No comment

success

What does it take to succeed?

It’s a question that has the power to captivate just about anybody, whether it be a small business leader, an up-and-coming employee or an Olympic athlete.

Thankfully, we live in a time where information abounds. Small- and big-business leaders are generous with their time, in many cases, and are willing to talk with major publications, blogs and websites to share their story.

We found that while many success stories are inspiring in a rock-star kind of way, there tend to be some pretty serious lessons that underpin all the glamour of big paydays and huge buyouts.

These lessons are like the pumps, belts and tubes under the hood of a car. They don’t look particularly cool and you rarely see them, but they’re what make the vehicle go.

This month we sifted through numerous articles and posts to dig up some of these lessons.

Lesson #1: Big Decisions Require Patience, Not Haste

Growth is huge for startups. Investors want to know how many clients or downloads you have. Reporters want to know how much capital you raised in your last round. Customers want to see social media hype.

When growth is the focus, patience tends to take a back seat to innovation and release deadlines. However, when it comes to the big decisions, don’t be afraid to take a day or two to ponder decisions you don’t feel comfortable making.

mountains

Chet Kapoor, CEO of Apigee, a San Francisco-based API management company, said learning to hit the pause button on a big decision is an essential part of his business philosophy.

“Making important decisions – a defining responsibility of any leader – sometimes requires patience,” he said in a 2015 interview with Fast Company. “If I’m not comfortable with a big decision, I wait a day or two.”

During that time, he said, he gives the decision “the gift of time.” He doesn’t use the extra days to do more research, collect and analyze data or review the positives and negatives of the decision.

“Often, with a little time and patience, the decision will manifest itself clearly,” he said.

Lesson #2: Trust Your Team

When you’re used to running the show – having all the answers, solving all the problems, etc. – your initial instinct is not to let your team work out the issues your product or campaign is facing.

That philosophy may work in specific situations, but if you’re the source of all solutions and answers, you’ll quickly find that your power is limited. But having limitations isn’t a bad thing, said Yee Lee, a startup guru whose recent projects include lending startup Vouch.

His words offer a sharp sting to those of us who’ve become self-reliant.

“It is much harder, but more empowering for your team, to hold your tongue on your own ideas and keep asking questions until your team comes up with the answers themselves,” he said.

two women

Part of trusting your team is making sure you hire trustworthy people. In a 2015 article for Business Insider, contributor Jayson DeMers talked about trustworthiness.

“The first step is to hire trustworthy people – people who are honest, open and self-motivated enough to work for the good of the company,” he said. “But beyond that, it’s your responsibility to create a culture and an atmosphere that encourages both honesty and co-dependence.”

It’s normal for us to struggle with this concept of co-dependence and honesty, but if our manager-employee interactions are viewed in the context of relationship, then “honesty” and “co-dependence” begin to make a lot of sense.

And, as many a wizened platitude attest, relationships are pretty difficult to maintain without trust.

Lesson #3: Keep Calm and Carry On

There’s a scene in the NBC classic The Office where fomenter Dwight Schrute throws a cigarette in a trash can full of paper and lighter fluid in order to test the office’s ability to respond to a fire.

Michael Scott, the hapless boss, responds by saying, “Everybody stay calm.” He repeats the phrase once more, then his tone changes and he screams, “Everybody stay the (bleep) calm!”

Minutes later, Scott abandons all hope as he yells, “Okay, we’re trapped. Everyone for himself!” Chaos ensues.

It’s a hilarious example, no doubt, but it points to the power of a leader to dictate the way his or her team responds to unexpected moments.

Lauren Asilis, president of travel company Travelwise, said part of her company’s success has come through her recognition that steady nerves lead well.

“Although you have to trust people, you must be prepared to expect any kind of negative situation and keep calm and focused on your goal,” Asilis said in an interview with Success.com.

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Four TED Talks Every Employee Should Watch

22 July 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture No comment

The TED network of thinkers and speakers has become a powerful international movement inspiring individuals to think deeply and challenge themselves.

But for all the lofty ideas thrown around at TED conferences and satellite meetings, the talks have a surprisingly practical aspect to them.

What does that mean for the average employee who feels stuck, limited or ingrained in an unconquerable rut? Hope.

Idealistic as it sounds, just one faint glimmer of greatness can rekindle our motivation. And that’s exactly what some of the best TED talks do.

We’ve compiled a list of four TED talks we think everyone should watch. The idea is not just for you to be entertained, but to be challenged by these insightful speakers.

Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation

For the longest time, employee incentive programs, cash bonuses, raises and promotions were the ways that management motivated their employees to work hard and produce results. They’re still a popular method of lighting a fire within their employees.

However, as Dan Pink points out, the modern worker isn’t the same as his or her counterpart from decades past; something deeper is going on. Because of this, Pink believes that employers should start looking differently at motivation, going beyond tangible rewards and unearthing the power of themes like autonomy, passion and value.

Elizabeth Gilbert: Your Elusive Creative Genius

We often think that “creative genius” is, first, not us; but we also go on to think of the typical brilliant artist as a transcendent person who has this amazing level of perspective in whatever they do. They are, we think, exactly what it means to be a genius.

Isn’t it interesting, though, that we see many of these outstanding artists lead tormented lives? Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, explores the notion of the tormented artist and gets us thinking about genius not as an entity in us, but as an identity in us with whom we dialogue, wrestle and converse.

It’s a heady concept, but for writers, designers and other art-related fields, it’s an enlightening concept that can cut down on our creative angst.

Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret to Better Work

We’ve got happiness all wrong. You see, most of us think that if we just work harder and get promoted we’ll reach a state of contentment that will make the grind worth it.

But, Achor says, what if we flip that mentality around? What if happiness is actually what makes us work harder and get promoted?

As Dan Pink says, “Achor argues that, actually, happiness inspires us to be more productive”.”

The matter of happiness gets down to perception, Achor says in his talk.

“We’re finding it’s not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality,” he said.

In a practical scenario, Achor points out that a recent study of hired applicants revealed that 25 percent of their job success was based on their IQ. The other 75 percent? Optimism levels.

Nigel Marsh: How to Make Work-Life Balance Work

“Work-life balance” seems like a mythical standard, doesn’t it?

We always hear the phrase tossed around more as a punch line than anything else. And since our smartphones are always within reach, it really is difficult to disconnect from what’s happening in the office.

But, as you probably know from your own experience, the more your work takes over your home life, the less like “home” your house or apartment actually feels. And that’s where Nigel Marsh comes in.

This is one of the first things he says during his brief, 10-minute presentation:

“The trouble is, so many people talk so much rubbish about work-life balance,” he said. “All the discussions about flexi-time or dress-down Fridays or paternity leave only serve to mask the core issue, which is that certain job and career choices are fundamentally incompatible with being meaningfully engaged on a day-to-day basis with a young family.”

If you’ve been longing for some balance in your life, this talk by Marsh may be the ticket to the equilibrium you’ve been seeking.

 

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Making Life Easy: Three Project Management/Productivity Apps You Need to Try for the Sake of Your Team

5 July 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture No comment

Every manager’s dream is to have an office that runs like a well-oiled machine.

But offices have changed over the past decade, haven’t they? While in-house teams still exist and are the core of most businesses, more and more organizations are hiring freelancers to handle a significant share of the workload.

On top of that, certain positions like programming allow employees to work from home part of the time. Where does that leave the average office these days? In the middle of an organizational mess, if they aren’t deliberate about keeping communication clear and fluid.

Thankfully, startups and established companies have recognized this need. The app market is teeming with organizational apps that, as the old saying goes, put everyone on the same page.

Basecamp

Basecamp is one of the original productivity software companies. They’ve been in business for 12 years and, according to their website, they’ve had more than 100,000 companies sign up for their services. They claim to provide the world’s best project management software, which makes sense considering how long they’ve been in business.

slackTheir platform is available through a web browser and as an Android or Apple app. Currently, Basecamp’s Android app gets 3.9 stars from 401 reviews in the Google Play store.

Some of the most recent reviews of the app highlight how Basecamp is fluid and simple. One commenter said, “My team uses it every day to manage all kinds of projects.”

A 2015 PC Mag review of Basecamp echoed the “simple” advantage, but also noted that Basecamp can be too simple at times.

“The service remains simple to use and quick to set up, but it’s not nearly as robust as other online project management solutions,” PC Mag wrote, giving Basecamp 3 (the most current version) a rating of 3.5 out of 5.

Design-wise, Basecamp falls a little short. Their tan color scheme is a little outdated, but it’s a reflection of the basic nature of the software: straightforward, easy-to-use and popular with a wide variety of companies.

Basecamp fees: $29 per month for your in-house team, $79 per month to work with clients, $3,000 per year for a 2TB enterprise solution. There is also a free version.

Asana

If Basecamp is the bare-bones version of project management focused on substance over style, Asana is the sleeker, sexier counterpart in the project management narrative. Asana was founded in 2008 and officially launched in 2011 by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.

asana

Like Basecamp, you can access Asana through your web browser or through their Android and Apple apps. Asana gets a 4.1 rating in the Google Play store.

One reviewer pointed out the design side of Asana, saying, “I love the UI of this app, such a pleasure to the eyes.”

Our experience with Asana is in line with that reviewer’s sentiments. Visually, it’s light years ahead of basecamp. The platform’s browser app achieves a clean look by hiding specific details about a project until you click on that project. In this sense, Asana feels a little more orderly than Basecamp, where there are checklists galore that result in a somewhat busy screen.

Asana’s emphasis on the user experience won the company PC Mag’s Editors’ Choice award. The publication gave the project management tool 4.5 stars.

According to the review, Asana boasts “a thoughtful and attractive design, fluid interactive elements, and generous team-member allotment in its free version.”

These features put it “among the most powerful productivity apps on the market.”

Asana fees: Free for up to 15 users on one team or $8.33 per member per month for unlimited use of features by an unlimited number of people.

Slack

Slack is the newcomer to the big three of project management apps with an August 2013 release. Their claim to fame? The team that manages the Mars Curiosity Rover is one of their clients.

Slack employs browser and app functionality just like Asana and Basecamp. One of the great features about the platform is that it integrates Google Drive and Dropbox, two of the most popular cloud storage services on the market. These integrations are native, unlike Basecamp, where you have to install a plugin in order to sync with Google Drive.

asana

Reviewers on Slack’s Google Play page gave the project management tool 4.4 stars, with one reviewer noting how easy it is to share files through Google docs, to switch between team members during communication and to share emojis.

PC Mag gave Slack the Editor’s Choice award like they did for Asana. The star rating? 4.0, just half a star behind Asana.

We believe that Slack got a lower score than Asana because it’s more difficult to learn than its two counterparts. Reviewers on Google Play and the PC Mag reviewer noted that the platform isn’t very intuitive.

“Make no mistake, Slack takes some learning, with an adjustment period of hours if you’re lucky, or in my case, a few weeks,” reviewer Jill Duffy wrote.

And there’s one more thing: Slack is ideal as a way to communicate with your teammates (it has streams and messaging kind of like Facebook) but it doesn’t have the project-management capabilities of an Asana or Basecamp.

As Duffy wrote, if you think your current project management system provides sufficient communication tools, you probably don’t need Slack.

Our impressions? Slack is the newest app in the growing world of project management and project communication tools. Don’t mistake it as a pure management platform; consider it a powerful communication platform with tremendous tools for refining and organization the information you see about your project team.

Slack Fees: Free, $8 for their Standard package and $15 per month for their Plus package. An enterprise solution will be available later this year.

Wrapping It Up: An Overview

If you’re looking for a time-tested product used by millions of people, then Basecamp is probably the best fit for you. They’ve been in business for 12 years, have a long list of plug-ins you can use to enhance your project management tools and their interface is simple.

However, if Basecamp’s bland design isn’t quite your style, Asana is an excellent option. Though it doesn’t have the same size customer base and is considerably newer than Basecamp, it has received high marks for ease-of-use and clean design.

However, let’s say you’re set on the project management side but you’re looking for a tool that can keep communication between team members focused, streamlined and fun. If that describes your situation, Slack is a great tool.

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Four Ways You Can Build Better Relationships With Your Colleagues

21 May 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture No comment

happy hourSay what you want about the importance of choosing the right office furniture for your company. Even the best chairs and desks can’t curb the effects of bad relationships.

Employees can tolerate Spartan office accommodations, but bad blood and conflict between colleagues are stressors that can push people away from their work. And it’s not just bad relationships. Gossip perpetuates the pain, distance or frustration an employee may be experiencing.

 

Here’s the good news: Bad relationships don’t have to remain that way. We’ve compiled a list of four tips to help you improve your workplace relationships. These tried-and-true bits of wisdom are a solid foundation for boosting morale. We are, after all, relational beings, right?

A little courtesy goes a long way

For most of us, office relationships are mostly limited to a quick “hello.” Even if we ask “How’s it going?” we don’t’ really expect a genuine response. We expect a reply like “Good, you?”

We’re not saying you need to become the nonstop chit-chatter of the office; nobody likes the person who can’t keep quiet. But we are suggesting, as Tech Republic writer Scott Matteson said in a 2013 article, that you should make an effort to connect with your coworkers.

“Make eye contact and refer to people by name,” Matteson wrote. “This is the oil that keeps the engine of cooperation running smoothly.”

As you know, courtesy is more than just polite conversation and eye contact. One place where a courteous gesture is often lacking is the coffee pot. Either the pot is empty or half-full of stale coffee. And if it’s not one of those two, the pot itself is coated in residue from dozens of brew cycles.

A simple refill or pot cleaning benefits your coffee cravings, but it’s also a nice gesture for your colleagues.

Share the glory

We all hope our bosses see our hard work and reward it; nothing wrong with that. But when we start taking credit for team efforts, our relationships can sour quicker than you can imagine.

Doing so gets at the heart of what most of us want from others: appreciation. We’ve all been in those positions where we work extra hours, solve problems under our own initiative and produce work that’s above and beyond what was expected of us.

In this situation, the last thing you want is a supervisor or team leader taking all the credit. When that happens, your work is cheapened and disrespected.

So, when you have a chance to elevate the work of your colleagues rather than cheapen it, take advantage of the opportunity.

As Kelly Services wrote in a recent article about coworker interactions, “it’s fair to share credit with others who’ve worked on a project with you or who assist you in other ways. Plus, when people feel respected, it helps create better working relationships in the future.”

Focus on clear communication

Have you ever been in one of those meetings where the person leading seems totally unprepared, and what was supposed to be an on-point, 10-minute briefing turns into a 30-minute whirlwind of rabbit trails and wandering thoughts?

Like most people, you probably hated the fact you were wasting time in a meeting rather than working on projects at your desk. Here’s the question: How would you make the meeting go faster?

Our guess is that you’d be more prepared and definitely more focused. And you’re right.

Kelly Services highlights this when they talked about communication in a recent post.

“If you’re going to a meeting or have to give a presentation,” they said. “Note your points and arguments ahead of time and review them shortly before the event.”

Also, think about who you’re talking to when you lead a meeting or have a one-on-one. Personality types (introvert/extrovert) as well as if they’re creative or analytical should influence how you craft what you’re going to say.

Knowing when not to talk shop

As employers look for new ways to build a better team mentality and morale, encouraging employees to mingle outside of work has become more popular.

Company-sponsored events at a pre-determined location or a spontaneous happy hour get-together are two ways employees can build stronger relationships.

The catch here is that it’s pretty tough not to talk about work when you’re hanging out with people from work. But if relationships need to get stronger, complaining about new policies or bad bosses during happy hour isn’t really going to cut it.

Getting around this is as simple as barring work talk from an event. But be savvy here – you don’t want to act like a dictator trying to quash complaints and criticism. You want to create an environment where team members can express their personality in a way that reveals more of who they are outside of work.

Forbes contributor Nicole Liloia put it this way: “Making friends with your co-workers and spending time with them outside of work can also lead to better relationships in the workplace.”

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How to Boost Office Productivity with These 5 Tips

27 January 2016Mark Canavarroworkplace culture, workplace distractions, workplace privacy No comment

productivityEvery office is looking to boost productivity. While there are a whole host of tips and tricks for kicking the afternoon lull, boosting morale and energy, and throwing employee out-put into high gear, sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective.

Here are five tips that can boost your office productivity – and do it immediately.

  1. Set Break Times in Stone

As the first tip, this one seems the most contradictory – taking breaks means time away from projects, cutting into productivity, right? The exact opposite is actually true. The human mind wasn’t designed to operate like a machine, especially not in our early days as a species, so when it finds itself stuck with routine tasks or a huge flow of work, it begins to regress into shut-down mode. This saves energy for that surprise tiger you might see when you go out hunting and gathering later. So the shorter breaks are and the more they’re skipped, the more employees’ minds will start powering down and losing focus on their projects, in fact cutting into productivity.

  1. Cut the Fluff

The greatest key to productivity is focus: an employee’s ability to focus on a project, and management’s ability to focus the tasks they’re assigning to their workers. Often times businesses are strict on work hours, meetings, and the freedom an employee has on a project – with the aim to make all progress clear and tracked. However, to truly encourage productivity, being flexible is the key. This means avoiding meetings when a simple email would suffice to get the information across, being less strict with an employee’s working hours and their ability to work from home, and especially changing the level of creativity allowed within the working force. It’s important to evaluate even the longest of working traditions and think to yourself “does this cut into productivity?” Even if that weekly meeting has been set in stone for years, it may be time to put it away in favor of a more flexible and focused approach.

  1. Make it Personal

When the word “productivity” comes around, it’s usually associated with a bunch of numbers and graphs, as if workers are Terminator-style robots with all the programmable features and none of the awesome superpowers. However, that’s just not the case. People work harder and produce better results when they’re personally motivated to see something accomplished, and by feeding this personalized drive, you’ll find employees willing to go the extra mile and focusing harder during work hours. Make them a part of the project, and give them a reason to actually care.

  1. Get Collaborative

They say two heads are better than one, and after working on something for a long time, it’s easy to get tunnel vision on the entire project. Either the final result won’t be as great as you hoped, or you’ll end up lagging behind while trying to rethink the entire process. By encouraging employees to reach out, you can cut through the fog and get tasks handled much more efficiently, not just boosting productivity, but improving the quality you deliver.

  • Actually Work Together

Four hands are also better than two – by working with others on big tasks and on small, work can be divided and conquered faster than before. Even better than that, by having several people on the job, you’re benefitting from several different specialties and strengths. When you find yourself loathing a certain part of a project, you can pass this off to someone who thrives in that area, allowing you to concentrate on something you’re good at – and most importantly, something that doesn’t make you want to stab your eye out. This boosts your mood and allows you to work with more focus.

  1. Keep Things Organized

It may seem obvious that keeping things organized leads to productivity, but most people look past the real value it has to offer. If you’re a more creative but scatterbrained kind of worker, you’ll be lost and confused in the clutter of your desk or schedule, not only missing vital deadlines, but even focusing on the wrong projects. For more on-point workers, your drive to get things organized last minute can lead to valuable time being wasted, bleeding into your productivity levels.

  • Get a To-Do List.

We all have a list of things we want to accomplish, but the means of actually doing so can quickly escape us when the internet and all its sweet, understanding cat videos call to us. To turn this tip into an actual game plan, you have to chart out your daily tasks in detail. Organize them based on importance, so that if you miss any, at least the important things are covered. Organize them based on time, because the more brain-intensive tasks might feel like waterboarding during the afternoon lull. And finally, base them on your level of interest – if you absolutely hate a project, handle it first, and then reward yourself with some email-writing; or on the flipside, try the email-writing first to build up the courage to keep going.

  • Keep Your Workspace Tidy.

They say geniuses have the messiest desks – however, their skill lies not with their mind but with their ability to not get distracted by the clutter. The rest of us aren’t so lucky; a messy desk will make it difficult to find the tools and objects you need to take on work, and the few minutes spent hunting them down will quickly find you lagging behind in productivity. In addition to this, while most wars are fought and won in the situation room, your battle of getting-things-done is mostly fought in your mind. A cluttered workspace will make you feel cluttered and bogged down, while a tidy area boosts motivation to get stuff accomplished.

By including these tips and tricks in the way you approach the office, you can create a working environment that is focused on just that – working at its full potential.

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3 Ways Cubicle Panel Extenders Save You Money

13 January 2016Mark Canavarrocubicle extenders, workplace culture, workplace distractions, workplace privacy No comment

With the modern age making entrepreneurship in fashion and greater profits for existing businesses more attainable, a problem quickly arises: office space. Privacy can lead to focus for employees, which can lead to greater productivity and finally greater results, and that calls for a cubicle that helps this concentration. However, investing in so many cubicles can quickly feel like shooting yourself in the foot – saving money and making profits is the name of the game, right?

With cubicle panel extenders, you can get the best of both worlds: a customized cubicle that fits your needs and size – and more importantly – one that fits your price tag. Here are three ways that these panel extenders can actually save you money in the long-run and in the short-run, making them the best choice for a new business or an already roaring company:

  1. Save Money By Saving Time

Every business knows that saving money isn’t just about cutting on prices and finding deals – it’s about conserving the time and effort your employees are spending on tasks. This applies to ensuring productivity is kept up and small delays don’t lead to a missed deadline. Cubicle panel extenders offer this same advantage by offering privacy and focus to your employees, allowing them to focus on their work and not the distraction of a water-cooler conversation or nearby clients conversing on a separate project. The savings don’t just stop there – the very way they’re built is designed to save time, and inherently, save you money.

  • Less Time Spent on Installation

Whether you’re a handyman who can install the most difficult of objects in a matter of seconds, or you’re the less crafty type who struggles with installing a light bulb, the cubicle panel extenders are designed with ease and efficiency in mind. If you’re remodeling your office space and find privacy as a key to success, you can find yourself in a jam for time with traditional cubicles that can take as much as a day to put in place. However, the extenders are as simple as a few moments of your time, an Allen wrench, and a handful of screws, allowing you to transform your office without cutting into your deadlines.

  • Less Time Spent Readjusting

Success is about innovation, and that may mean redesigning your office space again in the near future. With normal cubicles, you’d find yourself in the same bind all over again, with the need to disassemble, move, and reassemble the spaces over the course of a day – if not many days. These extenders offer the same speed the first time as they do in the last, and readjusting the angle or moving them entirely can be done in a matter of minutes, saving you valuable time and money with it.

  1. Save Money By Saving Space

When success comes knocking at your door, it comes with a handful of problems to join it. As your business expands, this means hiring more employees and purchasing more equipment to handle the workload, and while your company may be growing, it doesn’t mean your office building is. To avoid tight workspaces that result in more headaches and frustration than productivity, arranging cubicles in the most economical and efficiency way is the answer. The more people you can fit in a room, the less rent you’ll pay on a larger building, and the more productivity you can achieve through collaboration. Cubicle panel extenders it all in one.

  • More Compact and Flexible

Traditional cubicles keep to a very strict size and level of flexibility, making your dreams of a pillow-fort style office space hard to come by. Cubicle panel extenders, on the flipside, offer a level of flexibility and creativity, allowing you to extend them as far as you’d like or angle them in certain directions to keep from irritating your co-workers in tight spaces. With their compact size making it easy to match up several to achieve a certain angle or only reach so far, you can create the cubicle space you want in a shape that suits the greater good of the office.

  1. Save Money By Spending Less

Of course the greatest money-saving advantage is the simplest – cubicle panel extenders can literally save you money. This is accomplished not only by their more reasonable price range and compact size, making it possible to buy fewer to suit your needs, but in greater ways.

  • They Come with Everything You Need

Some cubicle walls require an array of different tools and pieces to come together, with special adjusters, drills, and even unique screws stacking on the price tag in addition to its expected cost. Cubicle panel extenders are made for the future, with efficiency and ease in mind, and they accomplish this by coming entirely self-contained. Each features an Allen wrench with the packaging, all the screws needed, and no specialized parts that you have to search out last minute, making it possible for you to account the cost and then trust it.

  • No Need to Invest in New Cubicles

As your business grows and more space is needed, maybe you decide to go the simpler route and upgrade to a larger office building – but the costs don’t end there. Now you’re in dire need of more cubicles to accommodate new employees and collaborative projects. How can you manage all of it without racking up the price tag? Cubicle panel extenders allow you to use the traditional cubicles you already have and make them larger, at a significantly lesser cost. Now you can create that awesome hacker-style desk space with a wrapping panel making your area larger, all without the price tag you’d have to hack a bank to afford.

The simple concepts are often the best, and when your office space is looking for a change, it’s time to focus on what works at the right price tag. In the end, these extenders can do more than make office life easier: they can save you mo

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4 Industries Where Office Privacy is Vital

16 December 2015Mark Canavarronoisy office, open office design, privacy screens, workplace aesthetics, workplace culture, workplace distractions, workplace privacy No comment

office privacyMore and more offices are making the switch from traditional cubicles to a more open-spaced layout, designed to create a space that encourages energy, productivity, and especially the sharing of information for the best collaboration. However, this advantage also comes with a disadvantage – a huge loss in privacy. For some industries, office privacy is not that great a concern, yet there are still many industries that rely on discretion as their bread and butter, not only for completing their work but retaining their credibility as businesses that can be trusted.

Here are four industries where office privacy is still incredibly vital.

1. The Health Industry

Anyone who’s gone to the hospital and been forced to wear one of those nightgowns with the open back understands that privacy in the health care arena is hard to come by. However, jokes aside, when the technical aspect comes into play within the offices of the doctors themselves, the technicians, the scientists, and so on, privacy between offices and between cubicles is absolutely key, considering the information they have on hand and the amount of people who could suffer if it was wrongly unveiled.

  • Identity theft.

The health care industry has more information on us than our own mothers, with access to not only our immediate contact information, names, ages, and so forth, but in some cases more sensitive legal information that could result in a horrible case of identity theft if revealed. Privacy within the office through privacy panels, personal offices, specialized computers meant to combat those “over the shoulder readers,” and other tactics ensure that only those with explicit permission and clearances can review the information, preventing a new employee, an intern, or even a long-time worker having a bad day from doing something unwise with the information.

  • Embarrassment and loss of trust.

While your name and mother’s maiden name is certainly personal information, what can be more personal than your health records themselves? In the health care industry, patients trust a certain level of confidentiality which allows them to be open about the state of their health. If you knew you were risking a few new interns joking about your rather embarrassing disease that night at the bar, you would be far less likely to trust the medical profession in the future. This logic is why office privacy is crucial in the health industry, as privacy for personal reasons is just as important as for legal reasons.

2. The Financial Industry

A title with no short limitation, the financial industry such as banking, stock brokerage, and even online retail stores are under no small amount of pressure to keep that private information private. While an office does allow for greater collaboration, ensuring that the working space is kept enclosed and private is a top priority, with the aim to ensure that the vital and even personally dangerous information they have access to doesn’t result in ruin.

  • Identify theft or financial ruin.

Just as with the health industry, the loss of personal information can lead to others taking your identity and running from the hills, sparing only the time to land some serious blows against your credibility, your financial stability, and more. Entrusting your personal information and especially your cash to an industry requires a certain amount of trust, with the confidence that such a relationship results in profits rather than financial ruin. By accidentally sharing a few numbers, a few names, or even allowing a passing employee without clearance to glance at a screen, people could be at risk of losing their entire livelihood. With this in mind, many of the businesses within this industry have taken great pains to ensure that privacy panels, enclosed cubical, personal offices, and more are set in place to ensure they can benefit others rather than stand as a massive risk.

3. Law Enforcement

Anyone who’s watched a daytime soap opera is familiar with what happens if a member of the law enforcement, or the government for that matter, leaks a vital piece of information. Not only does it weaken their evidence, but it discredits the individuals themselves and can result in slanderous claims against innocent people. This extends far beyond catching criminals and into all elements of law enforcement, where they are privy to vital information about several people that they themselves, and especially those they’re close to, may not know. With this in mind, office privacy can be the difference between a system that works for the benefit of others, and one that leads to huge lawsuits, a loss in reputation, and damaged lives.

4. Cloud Storage

You may think that the cloud is the exact opposite of an industry in need of office privacy, since the purpose of the cloud is to share information and make it readily accessible by others. On the contrary, cloud computing and storage is home to more information than any of the previous industries combined. In fact, many of those industries turn to cloud’s online sharing and storage as a means for managing their business. This makes it clear that the cloud’s ability to give access only to the right people, and to dodge potential information leaks, is vital.

There are many facets to cloud computing, each requiring a team of experts to manage it. However, cyber terrorism is on the rise and there is nothing a few hackers would like better than to stumble upon a random office conversation, finding a few key words that lead them to unlock that sensitive information. With that in mind, cloud storage, and both the businesses and the techs who manage it, are in true need of office privacy at its best.

Collaboration and sharing truly is what makes the world go round, but when it comes to the sensitive information we’d rather keep to ourselves, and the industries we trust to keep it for us, implementing a certain degree of office privacy is the only thing standing between disaster and a well-working machine.

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