5 Ways You Can Make Your Company Better

Some of us spend a lot of time thinking about what our company does wrong or considering the areas it needs to improve. We might even complain about employers, but do we spend any time thinking about how we can make things better?

Perhaps we need to paraphrase John F. Kennedy’s famous quote for the workplace: ask not what your company can do for you, ask what you can do for your company.

Here then are five ways we can make our jobs and the companies we work for a little better.

Join a Committee. Most companies create committees to explore solutions to problems or issues that come up. There might be a committee to explore workplace diversity or to develop a recycling program. Contact your Human Resources department to find out more about these initiatives and how you can get involved. Your enthusiastic engagement with your company’s practices will contribute to making it a better place to work.

Welcome new employees. Become one of those employees that new people can turn to for advice. When a new employee starts at your company be sure to welcome them and offer to be of assistance to them in any way possible. Invite them to lunch or to grab a coffee later in the day. A welcoming company is a better company to work for.

Ask questions. Your bosses don’t want to employ robots. Yes, they might want to automate some task where possible, but they do not want to hire “yes” men and women, nor do they want employees that don’t think for themselves. Contribute to making your company better by asking questions, exploring how you can do something better, or how your product can bring better value to your customers.

Learn new skills and apply them to your job. When you and your colleagues increase and develop your knowledge of your field and industry, and apply it to your work, you are making your company better and more effective at its mission. Strive to be a continuous learner while challenging and encouraging your colleagues to expand their thinking. 

Smile. This is the easiest thing you can do to make your company better and so is one of the first things we neglect to do. Greet those you see and work with when you arrive in the morning with a smile and a spirit of gratitude, rather than approaching your workplace with dread. A kind company that fosters a clear sense of mission and gratitude in its employees makes for a better place to work.

4 Ways to Become Essential at Work

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people stay in their job an average of 4.5 years, with the number of years on a job lower for younger workers. These stats suggest you are likely to move on or be forced out of a company several times in your career. Change is unavoidable as companies look to improve processes and save money.

If you want to remain at a company for the longer term, your career strategy should always involve a plan to make yourself essential. 

Of course, there’s no way to ensure that you don’t experience a layoff, but you can take some steps to mitigate the likelihood while helping you land on your feet if a layoff does come.

Here are four ways to become essential at your workplace:

Be curious and learn new skills. Change is a constant in the workplace today and to thrive you need to cultivate your curiosity. Strive to understand your market, the company you work in, and how new ideas and technologies are changing the way people utilize your products or services. Develop the skills necessary to stay ahead and understand how best to apply them to your work.

Become an expert. Use your curiosity and the new skills you’re learning to do your job better than anyone. Become known as the person to seek out for knowledge and training about your position and demonstrate leaderships skills by offering to lead training sessions or mentoring others in your workplace.

Have a good attitude. No one wants to work with a person who complains every day and is difficult to work with. A positive attitude at work will make others want to be around you and collaborate with you, increasing the chances you’ll be asked to be part of new projects that come along. Use your positive attitude to encourage and inspire others.

Be involved. Volunteer to join workplace committees or get involved in other efforts to improve company processes or the overall culture of your workplace. Volunteer to chair the committee or take an active leadership role.

One thing you can be sure of in the work force: things change quickly. So take some time to develop a specific plan to get more involved at work, ensuring that your valuable contributions are noticed and essential to the success of the company.

5 Career Benefits from Journaling

A daily practice of journaling is one habit you might consider adding to your life to see some immediate improvements to your career and work life.

Simply setting aside as little as ten minutes each day to write can help bring a focus and clarity to your life and provide several unexpected dividends.

Here are five ways journaling can benefit your career and enhance your life.

Journaling allows you to process your thoughts and feelings. Writing provides an organized way for you to gain some understanding of the events of the day, and the emotions that accompany them. This can aid you in working through situations or circumstances that contribute to difficult emotions--such as fear, anger, or sadness--and can help provide an honest look at factors contributing to success or failure.

Journaling helps you set your focus for the next day. When you take a few minutes at the end of the day to write you can spend some of that time setting your priorities, listing a few of your major tasks for the next day, and enabling you to be more focused and prepared when you awake the following morning.

Journaling helps you recognize your successes and accomplishments. When you commit to a daily practice of writing you have a record of your accomplishments and can look back over time to acknowledge your successes and appreciate your achievements.  

Journaling can be a way to recognize the good in your life. Life is busy and many times we rush through life without taking account of the good we experience and the things we can be grateful for. Journaling is a great opportunity to take stock of the good you encounter daily, and enables you to read again regularly as a reminder.

Journaling helps you retain what you’ve learned. When you take the time to write down some insight or knowledge you’ve gained during the day, you are better able to recall it and apply that knowledge later.

   

You don’t have to be a prolific writer to benefit from journaling. Try spending ten to fifteen minutes a day writing and you’ll likely soon recognize some of the advantages to your life and career noted above.

4 Things to Do Once You've Been Promoted

So, you got the big news: all the hard work has paid off and you've been promoted to that job you've been coveting and working toward for months. Now what? This isn't a time to kick back and relax.

Take the following steps to continue your career momentum:

1. Celebrate and be grateful. Yes, you certainly deserve to celebrate your accomplishment. Enjoy that night out with friends and family and be grateful. And then be grateful every day. You'll want to remember the importance of being thankful on those days you question if you really all the responsibility of this new job.

2. Listen and Learn. Begin to listen to others you'll be working with and for. Hear their frustrations in the job, along with the things they enjoy and the processes that are going well. Begin to understand your role and how you can best support those around you, in addition to considering how to best apply your strengths and knowledge to the new position. Learn as much as you can from others and seek to serve those you work with, particularly those who report to you.

3. Find an ally. Often when a promotion occurs it means that at least one other person you'll work closely with was passed over for the job. These can be tricky situations and so it's important to find someone to discuss issues and concerns with. Find an ally and a mentor to help you move through the transition to your new role, especially in those early months when emotions are raw and everyone is still finding there way around the new structure.

4. Give yourself some slack. You'll make mistakes. That is a given. You'll need to learn how to quickly move on from your mistakes, own them responsibly, and learn from them. Learning from mistakes does not mean that you spend hours dwelling on them in an attempt to get things right. A good leader knows that you need to let your decisions go and move on.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Make Your First 90 Days at a New Company Count

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!

• How to Make Your First 90 Days at a New Company Count: "Regardless of your experience, title or level of authority, you have a lot to learn about your new role and organization. Tap into the wisdom of those who’ve been there for a while as well as those who may be somewhat new."

• Got 15 Spare Minutes? Here's How to Make it Count: "You can use small pockets of time to catch up on social media and scan emails, but your ultimate goal should be to help you, your client, or your team move forward."

• 10 Unmistakable Habits of Utterly Authentic People: "Authentic people, on the other hand, are accountable. They understand that they -- and no one else -- are responsible for their own lives, so there’s no point in complaining."

• To Succeed as a First-Time Leader, Relax: "Evidence-based mindfulness strategies, such as meditation and controlled breathing, can empower new managers to navigate challenges including delivering a critical presentation, running a contentious meeting, or making a high-stakes strategic decision."
• Ready for a New Job?: "Although it is more strategic to start with outlining your ideal position, the reality is we all invest an inordinate amount of energy into thinking about what we don't like."

5 Tips to Kickstart a New Job (or give a boost to an old one)

Starting a new job is an exciting time, filled with anxiety and the thrill of moving on to something better in your career.

However, unless you start the job right and instill some good habits, you can easily come to feel dissatisfied about that shiny new position.

In order to prevent that try implementing these tips to get the new job off to a great start. Or they work just as well to make an old job feel new.

1. Arrive 5 minutes early. This allows you to take a few moments to prepare for the day, get focused, and bring your best to the day.

2. Bring a positive attitude. You can control your mood and the attitude you bring to your work. When you bring a positive attitude to the job others will want to work with you, be more inclined to your ideas, and you will enjoy your day more.

3. Be willing to learn. In any job there are new things to learn. Be proactive and learn as much as you can about the position and about the work your new company does. If you've been in a job for awhile learning something new can help reinvigorate you and help increase your enjoyment of your work.

4. Make friends. Developing positive and friendly relationships with your colleagues increasing your well-being and satisfaction on the job. You'll be more likely to enjoy your work if you enjoy the people you work with.

5. Serve with excellence. Changing your perspective on your work and viewing everything you do as an opportunity for service and a chance to do something with excellence will also impact your attitude, appreciation, and enjoyment of your work.

Practicing these five tips can give you a kickstart no matter how long you've been in a job.

4 Practices to Implement When Starting a New Job

Starting a new job is an exciting and anxious time, and it provides a great opportunity...

The opportunity to start over and to start fresh.

These new starts in our lives allow us to makes changes to our routines, habits, and attitudes, and to move past any failures or struggles in our previous job.

So, when starting a new position consider implementing the following four practices in order to get your new job off to a great start.

1. Start with gratitude. When you get up every morning and when you arrive at work express gratitude for the job and for the opportunities and benefits it provides for you. This will help you approach your work with a positive and optimistic attitude and help you avoid cynicism and dissatisfaction with your job. You don't have to say anything profound. You can just start your day with a simple statement: I'm grateful for another day and I'm grateful for this job and I look forward to doing my best today.

2. Be social. Meet people throughout the company, don't eat lunch alone, and take a few minutes for a brief conversation around the coffee machine. You'll feel more comfortable in the job and enjoy work more when you come to enjoy those you work with and develop a team of support around you. But be sure to stick with colleagues who are positive and enthusiastic about the work.

3. Learn everything. No one expects you to know everything so be humble and ask a lot of questions. You want to learn as much as you can when you first arrive at a company (and continue that curious desire to learn throughout your career) and no one looks down on you for not knowing something. After all, you are the "new guy". In addition, like the point above, the quicker you learn about the job and the company, the more comfortable you'll feel in your work.

4. Volunteer and be helpful. A great way to meet new people and to learn as much as you can is to volunteer for anything and everything, from special committees and task forces to new projects. Others will view you positively and you'll gain knowledge and confidence in your work.  

5 Rules for (First-time) Managers

You just got that promotion to manager and your team of ten staff members is looking to you for leadership and direction. Now what?

Becoming a people manager for the first time (or any time, really) can be a daunting task, and it's not a job for everyone. However, here are five rules to become an effective manager:

1. Learn everything about the job. Take time to learn all aspects of your job and the work of your employees. You'll be a better advocate for your team and be a better problem-solver when you understand every aspect of your employees tasks.

2. Listen (and Learn) from your employees. Your employees are the experts. Learn from them and make an effort to listen before jumping in with suggestions. Be know as a someone who really hears his or her employees and you'll become a successful manager.

3. Communicate effectively and often. Don't hide in your office or cubicle all day. Be visible, and communicate with your employees often in person and by email. Become a student of effective communication.

4. Admit your mistakes. You will make mistakes and your employees will notice them (and talk about them behind your back). Make an effort to own your mistakes, admit them when appropriate, and correct them. Your team will come to respect you when you can take responsibility for your errors and work to fix them.

5. Praise your employees and put them in position to succeed. People respond well to praise and encouragement and you'll want to make this a regular part of your management style. Find unique and innovation ways to praise and acknowledge good work, but don't ignore the importance of a simple thank you. In addition, put your employees in position to succeed by allowing them to utilize their strengths in their jobs.

Follow these five rules for management and you'll make the transition from first-time manager to experienced supervisor that much easier.

4 Ways to Get the Most Out of an Internship

An internship can play an important role in the career of any college (or even high school) student and there are ways to ensure that you benefit the most from an internship.

Rather than complaining that you don't get to the do the most important tasks in the company, focus on the following four ways to get the most out of your internship:

1. Learn Everything. Don't limit yourself to your job assignments. Ask questions. Lots of questions. And meet new people and ask what they do, and ask them to show you how they do it. Make an effort to get to know the company you work for and to understand its strengths and where it fits in among its competitors. If the company offers training be the first to sign up. Take advantage of any learning opportunities that come your way.

2. Talk to Everyone. In addition to meeting your direct supervisor and her team, get to know any other interns in the company. Make an effort to meet the company vice-president and the CEO, and the janitor, and the receptionist. Remember names and, as mentioned, ask a lot of questions. An internship is a great way to make lasting connections with people in your chosen field.

3. Stay Positive. Smile and interact positively with all the people you're meeting. Take on new assignments enthusiastically and show a genuine interest in those you are working with. You'll enjoy your day more, and you'll leave a lasting impression on others in the office.

4. Get Connected. Be sure to connect with your supervisor, other interns, and anyone else you've worked closely with, or had some meaningful interactions with, on social media channels such as LinkedIn, twitter, or Facebook. When you leave your internship send these connections a brief note of thanks for the support and learning opportunities they provided.