Carson Tate's Blog, page 6
January 25, 2021
The Lies We Tell Ourselves: What’s Holding you Back from Making Your Job Work for You?
You’ve probably had a conversation with a friend or coworker where they’ve told you they’d really like to take action, but they’re just “too much in their heads.” Or that they’d really like to do something you or someone else has done, but they just don’t know if they could manage it. Many of these conversations stem from the lies that we tell ourselves every day. The biggest four are these: “What if I’m not good enough?” “It didn’t work out last time, there’s no way it will work out now.” “I can control everything if I work hard enough.” “I can’t ask for recognition.”
As Rachel Hollis, New York Times bestselling author would say: Girl.
These lies are stopping you. They’re holding you back. They aren’t letting you be happy in your current job, in your current life. More than that, they aren’t letting you optimize that life. So we’re going to address each one and consider ways that we can really overcome the lies to move forward.
“What if I’m not good enough?”
This is the big one. Let’s start by considering the origin of this lie. It starts when we’re young, with a kid at school making fun of us for not doing as well as they did on a test. Or maybe it starts with a nitpicky parent. And then it festers. You see when we hear this lie extrinsically confirmed for the first time in our lives, it usually comes from someone we care about and trust. And we are usually young. We haven’t developed the skills or the maturity to deal with this lie, so we accept it at face value.
And then, we keep hearing it. We hear it from the college professor who says that “girls tend to struggle in this class” and then again from the boss who says our “ideas are a little derivative” and then again when we’re passed over for a promotion. Over and over again we hear that we aren’t good enough, and eventually, we have no choice but to believe it. Really.
I can’t tell you with one article or one book or two articles or ten books that you are good enough. I can’t make you believe that. What I can do is tell you that there are ways to reinforce to yourself how good you are. Because you are. I’m here to tell you that you are worthy. You are good enough.
And you’re looking for tools. The biggest thing that you can do to reinforce how good you are is to start allowing yourself to recognize it. I have advised clients to come up with one thing they did well that day at every stoplight on the way home from work. This can look different ways though. You could simply sit down and make a list of ten victories every night. You could come up with something you did well today every time you have a negative thought about yourself. Or you could stick with the tried and true stoplight method. Whatever works for you. The point is, you need to recognize how capable you are. That confidence is just about the only thing that really lets you to slam the door on this icky and painful lie the next time it comes knocking on your door.
“It didn’t work out last time, there’s no way it will work out now.”
This lie is the one that I absolutely can’t stand to hear. Okay, so it didn’t work last time. You’re a little older and wiser now than you were then. It’s time to try again.
I get it, sometimes you try and it just seems like there’s no way the issue can be resolved. That is a painful and difficult reality. But you’ve got to keep hoping for something better. You’d be amazed by how much you can do with a glass half full outlook. More than basic optimism though, you need to overcome this lie because it holds you back from even trying, and you can’t let fear hold you back that way.
The best way to overcome this is by trying again. However, since the lie is pretty strongly discouraging you from doing that, my recommendation is to make a pros and cons list. You’ll probably find that the pros are numerous and the cons are that there is a potential that nothing changes. There might be more than one con, but if you distill what you have on that side of the list, you’ll find that that’s all it really says. If the only con is that there’s a chance that nothing changes, you’ve got your answer: you have to try because if you don’t try at all you guarantee missing out on all the pros.
“I can control everything if I work hard enough.”
So you’re juggling two jobs and grad school and raising three kids and maintaining a healthy romantic relationship. You’re looking around and seeing that every other mom at the school seems to be making it work. You’re thinking, I’m just not working hard enough.
You are. And I’m here to tell you, chances are good that they’re feeling that exact same way about you. Here’s the deal: not a single one of us is able to juggle this much seamlessly. Working hard has absolutely nothing to do with it.
When you’re looking for ways to change things up and make your job work for you, make sure you aren’t striving for an ideal that doesn’t even exist. Chances are, your job will work better for you if you accept that there simply aren’t circumstances in which you can control every aspect of your life. We overcome this lie the second we accept our own humanity.
“I can’t ask for recognition.”
This last lie is often the most painful. We feel stuck because even though we know what needs to change, we feel like we’ll lose respect if we seek it.
Here’s the deal: if you tell people exactly what you want, then there’s no guesswork. People will appreciate this. It might feel like you’re being demanding or annoying, but the fact of the matter is that if you know what will make you the most efficient, happiest, and most effective person and employee, then asking for what you need to make those things happen is a true service to your employer. If they can’t see that, then it might be that the best way to make your job work for you is finding a new job. That’s okay too.
Once you’ve overcome these four lies, you’ll be well on your way to owning your job, loving your job, and making your job work for you. Let’s go!
***
Ready to learn more about your Productivity Style and productivity best practices that will work for you? Click here for our Productivity Style Assessment.
Take the free Dream Job Assessment and pinpoint exactly where you need to start to make any job your dream job!
***
Carson Tate is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies.
She is the author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style, and just released, Own It. Love It. Make It Work.: How To Make Any Job Your Dream Job. Order your copy HERE! For more information, please visit www.carsontate.com.
References:
Ling, F. Y., Zhang, Z., & Tay, S. Y. (2020). Imposter Syndrome and Gender Stereotypes: Female Facility Managers’ Work Outcomes and Job Situations. Journal of Management in Engineering, 36(5).
The post The Lies We Tell Ourselves: What’s Holding you Back from Making Your Job Work for You? appeared first on Carson Tate.
What Makes a Dream Job – Realizing ‘Dream Job’ is Not a Static Term
It comes up everywhere, from first dates to family cookouts to LinkedIn Ads to interviews: the elusive “dream job.” Chances are good that on some sunny afternoon in the first grade you were asked to draw a picture of what that looked like. Or during your senior year of high school, you were probably given a test that was supposed to “tell you” what your “ideal career” might be. Or maybe you never encountered the concept of a dream job until college, when it seemed that everybody knew their definition for this term except you.
The fact is that a “dream job” is just that: a dream. It’s likely that although you have a concept of what this might look like in your head, your current employment does not perfectly reflect your vision. Certainly, the dream job you laid out on butcher paper in first grade does not look the same as the dream job your test reflected your senior year of high school, and that probably doesn’t even look like the dream job you discovered during your quarter-life crisis in the quad your junior year of college. Chances are good that your dream job has changed four or five times even since then – the dream you had setting out after accepting that diploma is probably different from the one you found sitting at the kitchen table on your 29th birthday or the one you molded after deciding to start a family. It will probably continue to change for the rest of your career, because your dream job is not stagnant.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. What is a dream job?
There are a lot of factors that make up a dream job. Employers tend to attempt to satisfy these factors with Friday ice cream socials during July, bring-your-dog-to-work days, one really great corporate retreat to a timeshare in Arizona every year, or maybe simply an open office floor plan. These are the impersonal, glittery bullet points of the “pro” column when we think about our office space, our coworkers, and our employers, but they probably are not a good reflection of the factors that comprise a dream job.
Rather, our factors might be things like projects we find valuable, one-on-one interactions, or even just clearly defined work hours. Basically, the things that make our dream jobs a dream are the things that include us in the decision making process. You see, we might hate ice cream socials, we might not have a dog, and we might not like Arizona much. But if we are given a say in what is happening, if we feel like we have a genuine relationship with our employment and our employer, we are much more likely to feel like we are living the dream.
This definition of a dream job has a sense of implied flexibility. A recent college graduate probably isn’t going to worry so much if there is no childcare at the office. A new mother almost certainly will. These sorts of points are what make your role in your relationship with your employer so important. You have changing needs and experiences, which means that the things that made your job a dream five years ago might not cut it today.
Take, for instance, Emma Herring. When she entered the job market, she craved the courtroom drama and long hours of litigation. However, she discovered along the way that she also had a passion for project management. She still wanted to be involved in making positive change and helping people in need with her legal expertise, though, so she began to do pro bono work with her litigation skills while also project managing.
After five years in New York City, she realized that the lifestyle was not what she wanted for raising a family, and moved to Charlotte. Her new role was in project management alone, and while she appreciated the lifestyle changes, she felt a lack in her professional life. Using her interpersonal skills, she was able to pivot to become the firm’s first-ever Pro Bono Director, working to unite twenty firms in the Charlotte area around a common goal of creating a model for pro bono service in Charlotte.
Emma’s dream job looked different when she graduated from law school and entered the job market than it did when she started her family. Right out of college, Emma dreamt of being a litigator. Her passions were intellectual rigor and advocacy for her clients. After moving for Charlotte, Emma dreamt of combining her organizational and advocacy skills while also being there to cheer on her kids for Saturday morning soccer games and managing to carve out personal time in which to practice yoga. Her passions were still intellectual rigor and advocacy for her clients, but she had different needs and had had new experiences that prepared her for innovation in the field of pro bono work.
While Emma’s story is interesting, it is not unique. Almost everyone experiences changes in their lives that warrant changes in what constitutes their “dream job.” For some, it’s starting a family. For others, it’s a desire to travel. For still others, it’s a desire to make a long-distance relationship a short distance one. There are countless changes that can lead to a change in your definition of “dream job.”
The fact is, this term should not be stagnant. Can you imagine if the butcher paper illustration of your dream job from 1985 was the job you had today? You might be a space cowboy, a nail polish namer, or simply a tractor now. And if any of that is your dream, by all means, go for it. But the fact is that nearly all of us have changed something about how we perceive a dream job over the course of our lives, and certainly over the course of our careers too. The term is not static because we are not static in our understanding of self or in our understanding of the world around us.
***
Ready to learn more about your Productivity Style and productivity best practices that will work for you? Click here for our Productivity Style Assessment.
Take the free Dream Job Assessment and pinpoint exactly where you need to start to make any job your dream job!
***
Carson Tate is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies.
She is the author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style, and just released, Own It. Love It. Make It Work.: How To Make Any Job Your Dream Job. Order your copy HERE! For more information, please visit www.carsontate.com.
References:
Marchington, M. (2015), Forces shaping EIP in LMEs. Human Resource Management Journal, 25: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12065
The post What Makes a Dream Job – Realizing ‘Dream Job’ is Not a Static Term appeared first on Carson Tate.
What makes a dream job – Recognizing that ‘dream job’ is not a static term
It comes up everywhere, from first dates to family cookouts to LinkedIn Ads to interviews: the elusive “dream job.” Chances are good that on some sunny afternoon in the first grade you were asked to draw a picture of what that looked like. Or during your senior year of high school, you were probably given a test that was supposed to “tell you” what your “ideal career” might be. Or maybe you never encountered the concept of a dream job until college, when it seemed that everybody knew their definition for this term except you.
The fact is that a “dream job” is just that: a dream. It’s likely that although you have a concept of what this might look like in your head, your current employment does not perfectly reflect your vision. Certainly, the dream job you laid out on butcher paper in first grade does not look the same as the dream job your test reflected your senior year of high school, and that probably doesn’t even look like the dream job you discovered during your quarter-life crisis in the quad your junior year of college. Chances are good that your dream job has changed four or five times even since then – the dream you had setting out after accepting that diploma is probably different from the one you found sitting at the kitchen table on your 29th birthday or the one you molded after deciding to start a family. It will probably continue to change for the rest of your career, because your dream job is not stagnant.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. What is a dream job?
There are a lot of factors that make up a dream job. Employers tend to attempt to satisfy these factors with Friday ice cream socials during July, bring-your-dog-to-work days, one really great corporate retreat to a timeshare in Arizona every year, or maybe simply an open office floor plan. These are the impersonal, glittery bullet points of the “pro” column when we think about our office space, our coworkers, and our employers, but they probably are not a good reflection of the factors that comprise a dream job.
Rather, our factors might be things like projects we find valuable, one-on-one interactions, or even just clearly defined work hours. Basically, the things that make our dream jobs a dream are the things that include us in the decision making process. You see, we might hate ice cream socials, we might not have a dog, and we might not like Arizona much. But if we are given a say in what is happening, if we feel like we have a genuine relationship with our employment and our employer, we are much more likely to feel like we are living the dream.
This definition of a dream job has a sense of implied flexibility. A recent college graduate probably isn’t going to worry so much if there is no childcare at the office. A new mother almost certainly will. These sorts of points are what make your role in your relationship with your employer so important. You have changing needs and experiences, which means that the things that made your job a dream five years ago might not cut it today.
Take, for instance, Emma Herring. When she entered the job market, she craved the courtroom drama and long hours of litigation. However, she discovered along the way that she also had a passion for project management. She still wanted to be involved in making positive change and helping people in need with her legal expertise, though, so she began to do pro bono work with her litigation skills while also project managing.
After five years in New York City, she realized that the lifestyle was not what she wanted for raising a family, and moved to Charlotte. Her new role was in project management alone, and while she appreciated the lifestyle changes, she felt a lack in her professional life. Using her interpersonal skills, she was able to pivot to become the firm’s first-ever Pro Bono Director, working to unite twenty firms in the Charlotte area around a common goal of creating a model for pro bono service in Charlotte.
Emma’s dream job looked different when she graduated from law school and entered the job market than it did when she started her family. Right out of college, Emma dreamt of being a litigator. Her passions were intellectual rigor and advocacy for her clients. After moving for Charlotte, Emma dreamt of combining her organizational and advocacy skills while also being there to cheer on her kids for Saturday morning soccer games and managing to carve out personal time in which to practice yoga. Her passions were still intellectual rigor and advocacy for her clients, but she had different needs and had had new experiences that prepared her for innovation in the field of pro bono work.
While Emma’s story is interesting, it is not unique. Almost everyone experiences changes in their lives that warrant changes in what constitutes their “dream job.” For some, it’s starting a family. For others, it’s a desire to travel. For still others, it’s a desire to make a long-distance relationship a short distance one. There are countless changes that can lead to a change in your definition of “dream job.”
The fact is, this term should not be stagnant. Can you imagine if the butcher paper illustration of your dream job from 1985 was the job you had today? You might be a space cowboy, a nail polish namer, or simply a tractor now. And if any of that is your dream, by all means, go for it. But the fact is that nearly all of us have changed something about how we perceive a dream job over the course of our lives, and certainly over the course of our careers too. The term is not static because we are not static in our understanding of self or in our understanding of the world around us.
***
Ready to learn more about your Productivity Style and productivity best practices that will work for you? Click here for our Productivity Style Assessment.
Take the free Dream Job Assessment and pinpoint exactly where you need to start to make any job your dream job!
***
Carson Tate is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies.
She is the author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style, and just released, Own It. Love It. Make It Work.: How To Make Any Job Your Dream Job. Order your copy HERE! For more information, please visit www.carsontate.com.
References:
Marchington, M. (2015), Forces shaping EIP in LMEs. Human Resource Management Journal, 25: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12065
The post What makes a dream job – Recognizing that ‘dream job’ is not a static term appeared first on Carson Tate.
January 19, 2021
4 Surprising Things That Will Make You Happier at Work
Do you suffer from the “Sunday night scaries” and dread Monday mornings? Or hit snooze on your alarm so many times you lose count because you don’t want to get out of bed and go to work? Or do you count down the days until the weekend or your next vacation?
You are not alone. Sixty-six percent of the United States workforce is disengaged according to Gallup’s 2018 State of the American workplace report.
In our executive coaching practice we routinely coach people who are part of the disengaged sixty-six percent. And, we show them the path to be happier, engaged and more fulfilled at work.
So, before you give up on your own engagement and happiness at work, let’s explore the four things that will make you happier at work.
The 4 Things That Will Make You Happier at Work
There are four things that you can do that will make you happier at work:
Routinize tasks.Embrace challenging or stretch assignments that leverage your strengths.Turn off your new email notification alarms.Say yes.Let’s explore each of these four things so you can find your happiness and engagement at work.
Routinize TasksConventional thinking says that routines are boring. So, how can something boring make you happier? Well, it’s not the routine tasks that make you happier, it is the time you gain when you routinize your tasks. Time you can spend on professional projects that energize and excite you. Time you can spend with family and friends. Time you can spend on your personal interests.
When you develop routines for the tasks you do the most frequently, they embed in your brain and create a pattern. As a result, you spend less time and attention on those tasks.
Consider routinizing the following tasks:
Email correspondenceCheck email on a schedule. For example, morning, mid-morning, after lunch, afternoon and the end of the day.Many of the messages you send and respond to each day are the same or very similar. Use templates and signatures to routinize and standardize your responses.Electronic and physical filingSet a routine to file on the same day each week, month or quarter.Wardrobe and meal choicesFor example, when Barack Obama was President, he limited his wardrobe options and had pre-set menu options. This enabled him to use his time and energy on higher-value decisions.Embrace challenging or stretch assignments that leverage your strengths.That overwhelming project, the promotion that would require you to learn a new market segment or the opportunity to transfer to your firm’s London office could all be considered challenging or stretch assignments. And, each of these is can be fraught anxiety, not happiness.
However, it is in these challenging or stretch assignments that we most often experience flow. Flow is the optimal state between too much stress and boredom. Dr. Martin Seligman, a psychologist, asserts that the flow state is one of the three main drivers of human happiness. When it gets too easy or too comfortable, you’re probably not in the flow.
So, what aspects of your work are too easy? Where have you become too comfortable in your role? How can you challenge yourself and create an opportunity to learn and grow? Go with the flow to find your happiness.
Turn off your new email notification alarm.Incessant interruptions, 24/7 accessibility and constantly reacting to someone else’s agenda does not lead to happiness at work. Turn off your new email notification alarm. It’s the notification that alerts you to a new email message with a sound, cursor movement on your screen, and/or a pop-up preview of the email message.
When you turn off your new email notification alarm two things happen. First, you take back control. Research has shown that autonomy and control over what you work on and how you complete your work contributes to happiness. Second, you focus your attention on your priorities. Your inbox is nothing more than everyone else’s to do list for you. It might or might not be aligned to your goals and priorities.
Turn off your new email notification alarm and reclaim your happiness.
Say yes.How often have you been told that to be happier, you need more boundaries or to say no more often? The opposite it true. To be happier at work you need to say yes more often.
However, there is a caveat. When you say yes, say yes with your full heart and mind. For me, I think of this type of yes as a “HELL YES!” This is a yes that energizes and excites you. It is a passionate, expansive yes.
When you say yes, you know what you’re saying no to. You embrace the power of choice. You own your ability to choose the direction of your day and life. You are a victor in your life.
Say yes today and embrace the power of choice. See if that doesn’t make you smile.
Routinize your tasks and save hours each week. Embrace a challenging or stretch assignment and stay in the flow. Turn off the new email notification alarm and eliminate distractions that don’t align with your goals and priorities. Say yes and embrace your ability to choose the direction of your day and life.
You don’t have to dread Monday mornings, nor live for your weekends. You can be happier and more engaged at work.
Ready to explore an employee engagement program for your organization ?
Let’s talk. Schedule a 20-minute call to discuss your needs and determine whether an employee engagement program is the right fit for your business.
***
Ready to learn more about your Productivity Style and productivity best practices that will work for you? Click here for our Productivity Style Assessment.
Take the free Dream Job Assessment and pinpoint exactly where you need to start to make any job your dream job!
***
Carson Tate is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies.
She is the author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style, and just released, Own It. Love It. Make It Work.: How To Make Any Job Your Dream Job. Order your copy HERE! For more information, please visit www.carsontate.com.
References:
Soucek, R., & Moser, K. (2010). Coping with information overload in email communication: Evaluation of a training intervention. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6).
The post 4 Surprising Things That Will Make You Happier at Work appeared first on Carson Tate.
Work From Home Like a Pro
While the number of Americans who work from home has tripled during the past 15 years, over these past few weeks, millions more now telecommute. The coronavirus has drastically changed life around the globe as people isolate themselves in order to slow the pandemic. Remote work is one of those changes as Google, Amazon, Facebook, JPMorgan, and even the federal government have requested that non-essential employees stay home.
Remote work has always been a trade-off. It’s important to recognize the pros and cons.
Pros:
More flexibility. It’s easier to walk your dog and pick up your child in between home-based conference calls.No commute. With the average commute in the U.S. at 27 minutes one-way, that’s almost an hour added to your day!Cons:
Some people who work from home are lonely without the comradery of office life.Loss of creativity. In person collaboration is often where great ideas arise.How to Successfully Work From HomeAt first, your company’s mandate that you work from home may seem like a lucky break. Pajamas all day long! Freedom from that over-chatty colleague! In fact, remote work demands a deliberate action plan to avoid complacency, boredom, and distraction. In order to successfully work from home, begin each day with these five questions:
What are my goals for the day?How many hours will I work? What are those hours?When/how often should I check in with my manager?What are my possible distractions and how will I handle them?When can I take breaks?Accountability is key, so write down your answers daily as you become accustomed to your new at-home role.
Key Strategies:Get dressed. “Don’t underestimate the power of putting on clothes suitable for public viewing. It makes you feel human [and] confident and helps draw the line between being at work and being at home,” says career coach Heather Yurovsky. Designate your work hours and hold yourself accountable to them. You may have more flexibility at home, but if you hold yourself to a schedule you will support your daily productivity goals. “The biggest difference between working from home and working in the office is that you are in charge of your environment and have to treat yourself like an employee,” Yurovsky says. Communicate often with your team. Just because you are home alone, online collaboration with colleagues leads to creativity and solution-finding. Platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Slack, Outlook, Google Hangouts, and TalkDesk will help you collaborate with your team.Communicate often with your staff. For managers, have frequent check-ins so employees feel involved. Joe Hirsh, a leadership and communication expert, recommends that managers “carve out meeting time to hear from each employee about something funny or frustrating happening at home, in an effort to humanize the virtual workplace.” Turn off your notifications. Social media and the constant news cycle are your telecommute enemies.Take breaks. There’s a difference between a break to get some air and lost time and energy due to distracting housework. Breaks are healthy; laundry is a distraction.A Home Office to Support Your GoalsThe space you designate as your office should feel as separate from your home life as possible. Even if you live in a small apartment, set up a card table in a corner or allocate one half of the dining room your “office” to help you maintain focus.
Your ability to control your environment is one of the advantages of remote work. Here are some home office optimization strategies:
Natural light can keep your mind alert.A comfortable chair will dissuade you from leaving your desk to pursue non-work tasks.Control your noise level – work in silence if that’s what you prefer or rock out to energizing jams.Studies show color choice can impact productivity. White, grey, and beige promote sluggishness. Blue, green, and yellow are linked to higher productivity.Declutter often. When the piles start to pile up, be brutal – recycle and let go.Remote Work is a LuxuryThis pandemic has brought difficult social realities to light. Workers who telecommute tend to be wealthier and better educated. But much of the U.S. labor force – especially those who work in healthcare, retail, delivery, restaurants, and childcare– do not have the ability to work from home, and either lose their jobs or risk their health to keep them.
Women especially are affected by this reality: according to Yana Rodgers, an economist at Rutgers University, service sectors like education “involve direct contact with people, which cannot be done at home.”
If you or your staff have the luxury to work from home, consider how to support those who cannot.
***
Ready to learn more about your Productivity Style and productivity best practices that will work for you? Click here for our Productivity Style Assessment.
Take the free Dream Job Assessment and pinpoint exactly where you need to start to make any job your dream job!
***
Carson Tate is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies.
She is the author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style, and just released, Own It. Love It. Make It Work.: How To Make Any Job Your Dream Job. Order your copy HERE! For more information, please visit www.carsontate.com.
References:
Thompson, D. (2020, December 14). The Coronavirus Is Creating a Huge, Stressful Experiment in Working From Home. Retrieved January 08, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc...
Borsellino, R. (2020, August 24). 7 Essential Tips for Working From Home During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Retrieved January 08, 2021, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/corona...
McKeever, V. (2020, March 06). The coronavirus could actually make working from home more commonplace. Retrieved January 08, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/the-c...
Keshner, A. (2020, March 07). Apple is the latest company asking staff to work from home as the coronavirus spreads – but most workers don’t have that luxury. Retrieved January 08, 2021, from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the...
The post Work From Home Like a Pro appeared first on Carson Tate.
December 7, 2020
How Your Business Can Best Prepare for the Coronavirus
By Carson Tate on March 10, 2020
As financial markets reel upon news of the pandemic, you as a leader can respond to the spread of the coronavirus with calm rationality. “Giving a sense of calm is important if there is an outbreak,” said John Beattie, whose consultancy analyzes companies’ ability to handle an outbreak of infectious disease. “Employees should feel like they’re in good hands with management and that managers are concerned about them.”
Even if your business is in a region with no current cases of the virus, the time to plan for it is now. According to Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness”.
Preparation will go far to avoid miscommunication and disruption for both your staff and clients.
Priority #1: Health and Safety
The first priority should be the health and safety of your firm’s staff. Communicate the following pillars of health during this pandemic:
1) Remain at home if you have respiratory symptoms or a fever.
2) Cough into tissues or your elbow.
3) Wash your hands often for 20 seconds with soap.
4) Don’t touch your face.
This is also a good time to focus on office hygiene: stock up on sanitizer and disinfectant supplies. Encourage your employees to wipe down high traffic areas such as door knobs, copiers, water fountains, keyboards, and printers.
We are social creatures, but limit interpersonal contact at this time in order to stay healthy. Compared to a high-five, a handshake spreads nearly twice as many bacteria. Some companies have urged staff to forego handshakes in lieu of an elbow or fist-bump greeting – or a simple “hello”.
Update Your Remote Work Policy
The medical community encourages “social distancing,” so employees who can work remotely should do so. “The great companies of the world will start policies for employees to work from home,” says CBS News contributor Dr. David Agus. Twitter, Amazon, and other large companies now encourage telecommuting.
Here, clear communication is key. Who can work from home effectively? As a leader, what are your expectations? “A lot of managers believe that if someone is home they’re just watching, ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ all day,” said Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at Wharton. “What that forces you, as a manager, is to think about what do we really want you to do this week, how are we going to see that, how are we going to check in.” Be sure to establish your expectations around technology use at home. Will your company provide the technology for remote work? Or, should employees use their personal computers?
During this pandemic, don’t penalize workers if they are not at their desks when they are sick or if they can’t get to work due to interrupted public transit or school closings. Some companies have a culture of pride of showing up at the office no matter what. This is not the time for that. As a leader, “Don’t put people in a position where they are worried about their paycheck or income, because that may drive people to go out when they are sick, which won’t be good for them or the community.” said Danielle Ompad, an associate professor of epidemiology at the New York University School of Global Public Health.
Reality check: if there are members of your staff who are healthy and crucial for your business to run, they may be required to come in. If possible, offer staggered commute times for these individuals in order to limit the number of people in the same space at any one time.
Business Travel Strategies
Many firms have curtailed business travel, especially to countries such as China and Italy. Large industry events such as the Mobile World Congress in Spain and the London Book Fair have been cancelled.
Are upcoming conferences in your field cancelled or will they carry on in spite of contagion fears? If the latter, offer your team the option to forego an event with large crowds.
As your company implements its guidelines around business travel, turn to technology to ease disruption. Tools like Zoom, Skype, and Slack can help your team communicate and collaborate, even from disparate time zones. Train employees on these tools, as well as video conferencing technology, as soon as possible in order to iron out any kinks.
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Check the CDC website each day to receive updates regarding the coronavirus. To conquer fear and confusion, ensure there is a way to communicate with all your employees no matter their location. The Edelman Trust Barometer has found that people trust their employers more than other social messengers – over business in general, government, media and NGOs by 20-point margins.
No matter what happens with the coronavirus, your preparation for any eventuality is a useful exercise for the future. It proves that your steady leadership will steer your firm through this crisis and beyond.
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Ready explore how we can help your business prepare for a pandemic?
Let’s talk. Schedule a 20-minute call to discuss your needs and determine whether a consulting program is right for you or your company.
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Carson serves as a consultant to executives at Fortune 500 companies. The author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style , her views have been included in Bloomberg Businessweek, Fast Company, Forbes, Harvard Business Review blog, and The New York Times.
References:
Smith, A., J.D. (2020, March 18). As Coronavirus Spreads, Prepare Infectious-Disease Plans. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtool...
Americans are warned coronavirus spread is not a matter of if, but when. (2020, March 01). Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/coronavirus-outbreak-death-toll-infections-latest-news-updates-2020-02-25/
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December 2, 2020
The Worker’s Dilemma: How to Avoid Mental Exhaustion to Stay Competitive and Creative
By Carson Tate on May 5, 2020
In a highly competitive world, innovation, creativity, and your business’s ability to differentiate itself through its ideas and products are essential for continued growth and profitability. As a worker today, a current pandemic, information overload, 24/7 connectivity, constant interruptions from wherever you’re working, and email and text communication lead to overwhelming anxiety. All of this anxiety highjacks your time and mental resources resulting in scarcity. And when you experience scarcity of any kind—time or mental—you become absorbed by it. Your mind orients automatically toward an unfilled need.
The problem with mental scarcity is that it creates its own trap. It further perpetuates scarcity and reduces all components of our mental bandwidth—we are less insightful and less forward thinking; we have less mind to give to the dreaming about that next breakthrough idea—which are essential components of innovation.
If you want to support and nurture innovation in your work, it is time to start thinking about how to reduce mental scarcity and increase your mental bandwidth.
Here are three simple, yet powerful, ways to start.
DEVELOP ROUTINES FOR REGULAR TASKS
Develop a routine for common tasks so that your brain can automatically repeat it with minimal input by you. Once the routine is established, it is interpreted by your brain as a pattern. These patterns, through frequent use, become hardwired into your brain. And the more you use a pattern, the less attention you will need to pay to doing this task. Thus, freeing up mental bandwidth for ideation.
Consider developing routines for the following:
Phone callsOpening documentsFiling and saving documentsSorting and processing mail
AUTOMATE EMAIL PROCESSING
A lot of the work you do is virtual – over email, text or perhaps a project management app. Email processing consumes significant amounts of time and mental capacity. Reduce the time and mental drain by automating frequent email responses, by automating email follow up, by automating the prioritization of incoming messages, and by automatically filing reference materials.
Automate frequent email responses. Use a free text expander software app like FastFox for PC or Text Expander for Mac, or a more robust program like Witty Parrott. These will work in any program, including your email platform, and allow you to insert commonly used text with just a keyboard shortcut or by dragging and dropping text. No longer will you waste your mental energy thinking about what to say, nor precious time typing out a response: you will reply automatically within seconds.
Automate your email follow up. Automate your follow up by setting up and using the “waiting for” rule. Here’s how it works: when you send an email where you need a response from the recipient, cc yourself on that email. That email will then be automatically saved in a folder you have designated for all of your follow ups. As new messages are automatically added to this folder, the numeral indicating how many messages are in the folder will become bold. No longer will you spend time searching through sent messages or trying to remember if you have followed up on your open requests.
Automate the prioritization of incoming messages. The most important mental processes, such as prioritizing, often take the most effort and are energy intensive. Let your email program automatically prioritize incoming messages. Color code your incoming message by sender priority. For example, you might color code your manager red, your top clients in green and turn the messages where you are cc-ed to light gray. So, when you open your inbox, you can quickly scan them for the most urgent messages, those from your manager or key clients.
Automate the filing of reference materials. Automatically file all of your reference materials, trade publications, and industry news by writing a rule. For example, you might write a rule to file all of your trade publications in a folder named “Trade Publication Reading”. Now, when you open your inbox, it will only contain email messages that require action by you and you won’t waste precious time or mental energy sorting through messages you can read at a later date.
CULTIVATE JOY
Don’t forget the freedom of thought, time, and space that comes from working freelance. Great insights occur more frequently the more relaxed and happy you are. Take time during the workday to do something totally unrelated to work that brings you joy, makes you laugh, or just makes you smile. Spend some time on YouTube watching funny videos, call a friend, take a walk, or read for pure pleasure. It does not matter what it is as long as it brings you delight.
Don’t let mental scarcity rob you of your next big, bold, breakthrough idea. Support and nurture your creativity and impact by increasing your mental bandwidth, developing routines for regular tasks, automating email processing and cultivating joy.
What’s possible if…you shifted your thinking to “what impact can I make today?’ instead of “How much can I get done today?” Remember – you’re in the driver’s seat of your time, energy, attention, mental capacity – and impact.
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Ready to learn more about your Productivity Style and productivity best practices that will work for you? Click here for our Productivity Style Assessment.
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Carson serves as a consultant to executives at Fortune 500 companies. The author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style, her views have been included in Bloomberg Businessweek, Fast Company, Forbes, Harvard Business Review blog, and The New York Times.
References:
Fishman, M. (2018). The Road to Wellness: Engagement Strategies to Help Radiologists Achieve Joy at Work. RSNA, 38(6). doi:https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.114...
Seidler, A., Thinschmidt, M., Deckert, S. et al. The role of psychosocial working conditions on burnout and its core component emotional exhaustion – a systematic review. J Occup Med Toxicol 9, 10 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1745-6673-9-10
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Now is the Time to Make Work WORK for You
By Carson Tate on October 29, 2020
*This article was originally published in the McGraw-Hill Business Blog on October 14, 2020.
Work has fundamentally and radically changed. Now is the time to rethink the framework of your relationship with your employer. It is a social contract and both parties are responsible for the vitality of the relationship. Identify what you require now to be professionally fulfilled, engaged and happy at work. And, define the meaning in your work.
Rethink the framework of the employer-employee relationship.
The employer-employee relationship is a social contract. And, as a social contract it can be described in terms of social exchange theory, which proposes that social behavior is the result of an exchange process. It is about give-and-take or balance and reciprocity.
Social exchange suggests that it is the valuing of the benefits and the costs of a relationship that determines whether we chose to continue a social association. The exact same thing happens in your relationship with your employer.
In healthy relationships, both parties evaluate the benefits and costs of the relationship.
Clarify what you need to be gratified and fulfilled at work. Then invite your manager to participate in a thoughtful conversation about how to create a mutually beneficial way to work that supports both of you in achieving your goals.
Determine what you require now to be professionally fulfilled, engaged and happy at work.
It is time to stop waiting, hoping or praying for your employer to fix how and why you work. Change starts with you. However, you must know what you want and need to be more fulfilled, stimulated and joyful at work.
Define your recognition, job design, and career development wants and needs by answering the questions below.
RecognitionHow do you want to receive affirmation, recognition and praise in a virtual environment when you can’t get a “great job” as you walk past your manager’s office on your way to the breakroom?Do you want a thank you via email, public praise on a team call or time with your manager brainstorming a new approach to deal with your challenging client?Job DesignDo you need more flexibility in your schedule because your children are learning at home or you are caring for a parent or relative?How can you leverage your strengths to create the flexibility you need?Can you explore an alternative work schedule? For example, your workday might begin early, pause mid-day and then resume in the late afternoon or evening.Career DevelopmentWhat are your career goals?Can you use the time you used to spend commuting to and from work to develop or refine a skill to set you apart from your peers or advance in your career?Can you take an online course, attend a virtual conference or conduct an informational interview with a thought leader in your industry?
Define the meaning in your work.
Meaning is not controlled by what happens in your life. It is made by your interpretation of the events in your life. Meaning is what you bring to the table. It is uniquely yours. No one can define it for you. The value and importance of your work is defined by you.
To identify the value in your work, think about the context of work in your life. For example, work is a paycheck, or it’s a higher calling or it’s a form of creative expression. You can find your worth in your work through your interactions with other people by being on a team united around a common purpose or expressing common values and beliefs. Substance can be found in the context or nature of the work, the tasks you perform, the organization’s mission or commitment to the environment, sustainability or community service.
This is a new world of work. Now is the time to shape your work so that it works for you.
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Ready to learn more about your Productivity Style and productivity best practices that will work for you? Click here for our Productivity Style Assessment.
Take the free Dream Job Assessment and pinpoint exactly where you need to start to make any job your dream job!
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Carson Tate is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies.
She is the author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style, and just released, Own It. Love It. Make It Work.: How To Make Any Job Your Dream Job. Order your copy HERE ! For more information, please visit www.carsontate.com .
References:
Littlefield, C. (2020, October 19). How to Give and Receive Compliments at Work. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://hbr.org/2019/10/how-to-give-a...
Niederkorn, A. (2020, June 19). How to Create Your Own Position at Work. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to...
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June 5, 2020
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July 16, 2019
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