5 Ways to Be More Social at Work (and, yes, you should be)

For some people it can be difficult to be social at work. You just want to go in, get your work done, and get home to your life outside of work.

However, being social at your place of employment can provide important benefits to your current job, such as opportunities for advancement or taking on a new project. It can also benefit you in the future when former coworkers have moved on to new jobs and you are unemployed and looking for
work.

With all that in mind, here are 5 ways to be more social at work:

1. Don't eat lunch alone. Be sure to go to the company cafe (if one exists) or join groups of colleagues heading out for lunch or a quick coffee. A great resource is Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone.

2. Join your companies social media network. Many companies now offer social media sites enabling colleagues to communicate more effectively. Even if your company does not have a platform like this it's likely they are on Facebook or Twitter. You can join the conversation online and stay engaged with colleagues outside of work hours.

3. Join a committee. If your place of employment uses volunteer committees to get things done, such as organizing recycling or planning the holiday party (see below) consider joining one and getting to know colleagues you might not otherwise interact with on a regular basis.

4. Attend company events, holiday party, retirement party, etc. In December be sure to attend the holiday party and go to the company picnic in the summer. You'll often find higher level managers or executives feeling more relaxed and getting to know team members they haven't engaged yet. Use this as an opportunity to get to know others in your company.

5. Be proactive. Don't wait for others. Invite colleagues to grab a coffee or go to a concert on the weekend. It is through frequent and regular interactions with your coworkers that you will develop healthy and beneficial working relationships and, yes, even friendships.

You do need others to succeed in your career and in life. Take some of the steps noted above to develop effective relationships with those you work with.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Alex Morgan's 10 Rules for Success

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, American soccer player and Olympic gold medalist Alex Morgan shares her ten top rules for success, including focusing on what you do best. Watch the video for more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Should You Hire a Life Coach?

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

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• Should You Hire a Life Coach?: "A good coach will help you clear blocks and reach levels of personal commitment and growth you’ve never accessed within yourself."


• Are You Sure You Want to Be a Manager?: "It’s fun to play on a bigger stage.... But new responsibilities always require the surrender of familiar pleasures. Think about your future before you give up the present."


• Dealing with Boredom and Stress at Work: "If you're feeling underwhelmed by your job, ask your superior for more responsibilities. When it comes to stress, know when to ask for help, be it from co-workers or your support network at home."


• 7 Healthy Habits to Maximize Your Productivity: "Fresh air and movement start your body and your brain off on the right foot for the day. You’ll have more energy and a clearer head."


• 2 Rules to Be Successful in Work and Life: "These four things contributed so much to my success and then when I stop doing them, I would lose everything and then have to start from scratch."

6 Qualities of Effective Leaders

Leadership is a highly discussed topic, with many good books published each year on the subject. But for those who don't have time to read all those leadership books we've identified six of the top qualities you should strive to cultivate if you want to be a good and effective leader.

1. Effective leaders listen more than they speak. Leadership is not about making great speeches or
telling everyone else how to get the work done. A great leader spends much of his or her time listening to others in an attempt to better understand both the situation at hand and the people involved.

2. Effective leaders praise others instead of themselves. A good leader knows that others are the key to success and praises the members of his team rather than making himself look good. An effective leader is humble and doesn't waste time trying to impress others by constantly promoting his own "individual" successes. Very few successes are "individual."

3. Effective leaders take responsibility instead of passing blame. When things go wrong, as they inevitably will, great leaders take responsibility and acknowledge the mistakes rather than blaming them on others.

4. Effective leaders serve others. Leaders who focus on others, on the team, and work to serve the needs of the team and of customers will generate greater trust and respect. Leadership is about serving others and serving well.

5. Effective leaders lead by example. A good leader knows that she must do the hard work and not simply expect or demand others to work hard. Effective leaders work hard, demonstrate appropriate work-life balance, and show the appropriate way to communicate and treat clients, co-workers, and customers.

6. Effective leaders never stop learning. A great leader understands that he does not possess all knowledge and continues to learn. He or she is curious about the world and about others and strives to continue to learn more about being a better person and a more effective leader.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: The Morning Routine That Will Make You an Entrepreneurial Rock Star

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, Entrepreneur shares six steps to start your day well and get you focused for success in your career.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Career Questions to Ask Yourself

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 5 Career Questions to Ask Yourself: "You first need to decide what sort of life you want and what role work will play in it. You can then adjust your expectations and needs regarding your career."


• 3 Keys to Being Fully Charged: "It is easier to improve your own happiness — and the well-being of others — when you focus on doing it right now. Taking small, meaningful actions today is the best way to make changes."


• 10 Ways to Become a More Confident Person: "Confidence-building is a virtuous cycle. No one but you is in the driver’s seat. All you have to do is buckle up and try something you've never tried before."


• Purpose is Good for You and for Business: "We believe that if more institutions—from work places to educational systems—were to embed programs and policies into their work that consciously cultivate purpose-directed individuals, we would see more passionate, engaged and flourishing employees."


• 6 Ways Your Significant Other Can Boost Your Career: "It always seems to mean more when your significant other tells you that you are smart, capable and skilled at what you do."

5 Steps for Rebuilding Your Reputation and Your Career

Your reputation is everything. It defines you and influences how others view you and respond to you. If you do something to harm your work reputation--throw frequent temper tantrums, get drunk at the company picnic, cheat--it can have long-lasting and far-reaching consequences for your career.

How do you rebuild your reputation when you've harmed it in the workplace?

Consider the following 5 steps to begin the rebuilding process.

1. Understand and recognize the problem. The first thing you need to do is recognize and take
responsibility for what happened without blaming others. You alone are responsible for your behavior and actions. You also need to understand the problem. Do you have an anger management issue? Or do you have a drinking problem? Or difficulties responding to authority?

2. Seek help. Once you've identified the problem you need to seek out support and help. This might come in the form of professional therapy, a self-help group, or through a mentoring relationship.

3. Make amends. Seek out those you might have offended or hurt by your behavior and apologize and seek to restore the relationship.

4. Demonstrate humility. It might take some time before you are able to return to the level you were previously at in your career. You might take a pay cut or work in a position with fewer responsibilities. You need to humbly accept the position you now find yourself in and strive to use it to make you more effective and better in your work and career.

5. Do great work. Finally, you must do your very best work and demonstrate excellence in everything you do. Others will respond to the humble way you go about your work and the great job you do. This recognition will begin to turn around your reputation.

It is not easy to rebuild your reputation but with some patience, humility, and hard work, you can restore the successful career you once had.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 5 Rules for a Great Life

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, Brendon Burchard shares the five rules for a great life, starting with having a clear vision for your life.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Figuring Out What to Do With Your Life

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• Figuring Out What to Do With Your Life: "From advertisements that show us what to strive for to our educations that prescribe narrow choices to our moms’ well-meaning advice that reflects her desires more than ours, we’re constantly showered with other people’s visions of success."


• 5 Things Never to Say in a Job Interview: "Let them decide who’s perfect for the job. Don’t say 'I’m exactly the right person for this job!' because it sounds very ignorant and unprofessional."


• How to Create Your Own Marketing Toolkit to Leave With Potential Employers: "When you walk in with a set of actual interview materials, you immediately look professional and prepared. You show your interviewer that you really thought about the meeting and put some effort into gathering your support documentation."


• What a Year of Job Rejections Taught Me About Pitching Myself: "Instead of thinking as a job applicant, I had to think of myself as a product and identify ways to create demand around hiring me."


• 5 Jobs Every Entrepreneur Should Work Before Starting a Business: "Working in sales should be an obvious move for any aspiring entrepreneur, even if it starts as just a telemarketing job."

7 Great Online Resources to Advance Your Career

To develop and advance your career requires you to continually improve, learn new skills, and gain additional knowledge.

There are many web sites and resources online that provide great business and career information to help you remain up-to-date on the latest information and technology and to encourage and inspire your in your career.

Here are 7 sites and online resources worth checking out on a regular basis:

1. Fast Company

2. Monocle magazine

3. Forbes

4. Harvard Business Review

5. Success magazine

6. Huffington Post Career Advice

7. Entrepreneur magazine

What online resources do you recommend?

 

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: The Secret to Handling Rejection

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, from Entrepreneur, Shark Tank star and investor Barbara Corcoran discusses how successful people understand how to "fail well" and deal appropriately with rejection.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How Successful People Manage Stress

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• How Successful People Manage Stress: "I see a lot of people who should be working way harder than they are using stress as an excuse to become unproductive slackers."


• How to Use Facebook to Land a Job: "As a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t show it [to] your grandmother or put it on your résumé, you shouldn’t put it on social media."


• How to Deal with 10 Common Workplace Distractions: "If you are working on an important project and are pressed for time, just shut your cell phone off. Only turn it back on when you truly have time to reply to these messages or just wait until the end of the word day."


• 13 Pearls of Wisdom for a Successful Life: "There's a vast, fantastic world out there. Foster your curiosity, and it will lead you to amazing places."


• 5 Strategy Questions Every Leader Should Make Time For: "Of the various activities and businesses that you have moved into, do they make sense together?"

4 Things to Include on Your Personal Web Site to Advance Your Career

If you don't yet have a personal web site now is the time to create one. You don't have to be a web designer to create a professional looking site with many of the easy to use web site builders available.

A personal web site is a great way to showcase your skills and accomplishments for potential employers, customers, and clients.

When developing your personal site be sure to include the following 4 items:

1. Videos. Post any videos of presentations or lectures you've done at conferences or seminars. Also
include any panel discussions you've been a part of. If you don't have any videos consider creating one specifically for your site. A good quality video can now be done with a fairly small budget.

2. Links. Provide links to any published articles and essays that are available on the internet, along with a brief description of the content of the text.

3. Personal blog. A blog is a great way for others to get to know you on a more personal level and for you to communicate clearly on the subjects you are knowledgeable and passionate about. Your blog provides a forum for you to demonstrate both your personality and your expertise.

4. Photos. Do include photos of yourself but leave off the ones where you're at the beach or the bar. Be sure the photos are professionally done and convey your personality and are consistent with the image you want to project and the skills you offer to potential employers, customers, and clients.

Your web site doesn't have to be complicated but should include the four elements described above to highlight what you have to offer.