5 Tips for Surviving Wacky Interviews

5 Tips for Surviving Wacky Interviews Anyone can rehearse a few answers to some of the standard frequently asked interview questions, but more and more companies are opting to do things a little differently in order to ensure they hire someone who is a good cultural fit, as well as possessing the required skills. There are plenty of candidates with the right qualifications and experience, but not all of them will suit the company and its crucial to distinguish between them. A  good cultural fit  is for both the employer and employee, as productivity and work satisfaction is higher when the team gel well and the workforce share the same values. Not to mention the cost of a bad hire which may come as a result of hasty hiring decisions. In order to assess how a candidate would perform within the company, they employer may ask them to complete an assignment of sorts, or to take part in a role play, to observe how they approach the task, respond to a scenario and to get a general idea about their personality. These kind of interview techniques are most common among innovative, fast growing companies, particularly in the tech industry. If you have an unconventional interview planned you may be unsure about what the best way to prepare is. Here are a few pointers to help you out. 1. Have an interesting story to tell In this type of interview, the employer wants to build an idea about your personality, so its good to have something to say about yourself that will make you stand out. Chances are they have asked you in for an interview because you have the relevant qualifications but they want to learn a bit more about you as a person. Come equipped with an interesting story to tell about yourself and be prepared to discuss your hobbies and personal interests. A bit of humour never hurts either. You want to come across as someone who gets along with others easily and will fit well into the team, so make sure you are approachable towards your interviewer and show a bit of personality. 2. Control your body language The way you hold yourself can tell a lot about a person. Although nerves can often get the better of us, try your best to come across as confident and self assured, by sitting up straight, maintaining eye contact and avoiding fiddling/fidgeting during your interview. 3. Dont panic if you cant answer a question Its common for the interviewer to ask some slightly out-of-the-box questions in an unconventional interview, so dont get yourself worked up if you dont know how to answer something. Most of the time there wont actually be a definitive right or wrong answer and the interviewer is just looking to learn about about what kind of person you are, so be yourself and answer questions they way you feel best appropriate. 4. Come up with a plan Demonstrate how you can help the business grow. Before attending your interview, make sure that you know their product inside out and have come up with a few ideas that you consider yourself qualified to implement within the company. This could be anything from changing their product, to introducing a new strategy. This shows that you are proactive and will give them an idea about what you can bring to the business. 5. Aim to succeed You want to walk into your interview with the key goal of landing the job and to give yourself the best chance of this you should enter with a positive mindset. If you convince yourself that you are the right person for the job, then it will make it ten times easier to convince the interviewer so. Study the  job spec in detail and take a look at the company website and social media accounts to build an idea of the kind of individual they are looking for and then develop a plan for how you can convey yourself as this individual.

How to Write a Resume

How to Write a ResumeIf you are just starting your job search and are also looking for answers to how to write a resume, this article will give you the information you need. This article will teach you the four steps to writing a professional resume for your new job.When you have found your first job, it is always best to start by starting out on the right foot. Your resume should not be your only tool in getting the job, but it is a must have if you want to stand out from the rest of the competition. This is where your resume steps in and gets things rolling.The first step to how to write a resume is to think about the job description. This is where you put down all the information you can think of about the job. You must also be sure to state what your strengths are as a candidate for the job.The second step is to write about the job in your resume. There are many ways to do this, but you need to stick to one, because your resume will be judged by the information you provide. Also, be sure to show that you have all the necessary qualifications for the job, so that they can understand how to write a resume for you. The most important part is to stick to your topic.The third step in how to write a resume is to add a little more information on your qualifications. There are many ways to do this, but one way is to provide the keywords that the employer will be searching for when looking for the person for the job. Most employers will be looking for the keywords used in a job posting and will use these keywords when hiring the candidate. Your resume must contain the words used in the job posting.The fourth step to how to write a resume is to get down the job duties you will be doing in the job and provide the name of the position you are applying for. You should also provide a brief summary of your previous work experiences. The resume must look professional and well written. The hiring manager will not read this information anyway and they will not be able to see this information unless they have requested it.The last step to how to write a resume is to remember that this is your first time trying to get a job and do not make any mistakes. You need to know what the hiring process is and how to successfully do it. If you know the basics, then the rest will come easily.These are the four steps to how to write a resume. If you follow them correctly, you will have all the information you need to write a resume that can land you the job. If you do not follow them correctly, you may end up wasting your time and will not succeed at getting a job as a candidate.

LinkedIns Most Requested Skills (and how to get them.)

LinkedIns Most Requested Skills (and how to get them.) Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'gcrCvp_hSMpcqw7Y6Kf9yg',sig:'DCN3qZlneL-HFW_9PD6gNHP14QPR8LDn60tkNrVqopM=',w:'509px',h:'340px',items:'633710077',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); A great blog post by LinkedIn talks about the most-requested skills in employer job postings. Ive re-posted it here. The post includes links to LinkedIns training courses. (available through a free 30-day trial; you can subscribe by the month after it ends.) It turns out that professionals are  keenly  interested in learning new skills (which makes us deliriously happy). And learning tends to spike in January, as people start the year focused on building new habits. But here’s the challenge: there are at least 50,000 professional skills in the world, according to LinkedIn data. 50,000! If you’re like us, you probably have time to learn a few skills this month. That begs the question: of those 50,000 skills you could potentially learn, which should you learn today to help you stand out all year? To find out, we used exclusive LinkedIn data to determine the skills companies need most in 2019. These are the skills your boss and your boss’s boss find most valuable, but have a hard time finding â€" and the skills that’ll most help you better serve your clients and customers. So consider this post your guide to the skills most worth learning in 2019. The best part? We’ve unlocked  LinkedIn Learning  courses for all of January that teach these skills, so for a limited time you can learn them all for free. The Soft Skills Companies Need Most in 2019 Strengthening a soft skill is one of the best investments you can make in your career, as they never go out of style. Plus, the rise of AI is only making soft skills increasingly important, as they are precisely the type of skills robots can’t automate. That’s why  57% of senior leaders  today say soft skills are more important than hard skills. What are the soft skills companies are looking for most in 2019? They are:      1. Creativity Recommended Courses:  Creativity Bootcamp,  The Five-Step Creative Process,  Creativity: Generate Ideas in Greater Quantity and Quality Why it matters, in one sentence:  While robots are great at optimizing old ideas,  organizations most need creative employees  who can conceive the solutions of tomorrow.        2. Persuasion Recommended Courses:  Persuading Others,  Becoming A Thought Leader,  Advanced Consumer Behavior Why it matters, in one sentence:  Having a great product, a great platform or a great concept is one thing, but the key is persuading people to buy into it.        3. Collaboration Recommended Courses:  Collaboration Principles and Process,  Being an Effective Team Member,  Business Collaboration in the Modern Workplace Why it matters, in one sentence:  As projects grow increasingly more complex and global in the age of AI, effective collaboration only grows more important.        4. Adaptability Recommended Courses:  Strategic Agility,  Developing Adaptable Employees,  Developing Adaptability as a Manager Why it matters, in one sentence:  An adaptable mind is an essential tool for navigating today’s ever-changing world, as yesterday’s solutions won’t solve tomorrow’s problems.        5. Time Management Recommended Courses:  Tony Schwartz on Managing Your Energy for Sustainable High Performance,  Finding Your Time Management Style,  Time Management for Managers Why it matters, in one sentence:  A timeless skill, mastering time management today will serve you the rest of your career. The Hard Skills Companies Need Most in 2019 The skills on this list reflect the impact of our increasingly digital world. Yes, that means a spike in cloud computing and AI, but it also means a spike in improving that digital experience (i.e. UX Design, web development, etc.). Digital is also giving new uses for skills â€"  for example, there’s increased demand for audio production. This was a skill formerly needed for radio production; today, it’s used for producing podcasts and digital ads. Here are the hard skills companies need most in 2019, according to LinkedIn data:        1. Cloud Computing Recommended Courses:  Learning Cloud Computing: Networking,  Learning Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Developers,  AWS for Architects: Advanced Security Why it matters, in one sentence:  As the world rushes toward the cloud, companies are desperately searching for engineers who have the skills to accommodate this demand.        2. Artificial Intelligence Recommended Courses:  Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Neural Networks,  Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Machine Learning,  Machine Learning and AI Foundations: Classification Modeling Why it matters, in one sentence:  Its official â€" the  Age of AI  is here.        3. Analytical Reasoning Recommended Courses:  Making Decisions,  Decision Making Strategies,  Executive Decision Making Why it matters, in one sentence: As they collect more data than ever before, companies are hungry for professionals who can make smart decisions based off of it.        4. People Management Recommended Courses:  Motivating and Engaging Employees,  Managing Team Conflict,  Leading with Purpose Why it matters, in one sentence:  The world has changed from a “command-and-control” model toward leaders who can coach and empower, a difficult skillset few professionals possess.        5. UX Design Recommended Courses:  UX Foundations: Multidevice Design,  UX Design: 01 Overview,  UX Research for Agile Teams Why it matters, in one sentence:  UX design is the key to making a digital world work for humans.        6. Mobile Application Development Recommended Courses:  React Native Essential Training,  iOS 12 Development Essential Training: 1 Fundamental, UI, and Architecture,  iOS 12 Development Essential Training: 2 Web Content, Views, and Distribution Why it matters, in one sentence:  A skill that’s been in-demand for several years as companies continue to design mobile-first platforms.        7. Video Production Recommended Courses:  Foundations of Video: The Art of Editing,  Video Foundations: Cameras and Shooting,  Web Video for Business: Creating a Web Series Why it matters, in one sentence:  Demand for video production is spiking as video streaming represents 70 percent of all consumer Internet traffic.        8. Sales Leadership Recommended Courses:  Sales Coaching,  Sales Management Foundations,  Sales: Data-Driven Sales Management Why it matters, in one sentence:  Sales is one of those skills that’s always in-demand, and great sales leaders are only becoming harder and harder to find.        9. Translation Recommended Courses:  Communicating Across Cultures,  Developing Cross-Cultural Intelligence,  InDesign: Multilingual Publishing Strategies Why it matters, in one sentence:  We are more connected globally than ever before, with translation skills breaking down one of the last remaining barriers: language.        10. Audio Production Recommended Courses:  Digital Audio Foundations,  Audio Recording Techniques,  Tips Tricks for Modern Producers Why it matters, in one sentence:  Similar to video, there’s been a spike in interest in podcasts and other audio digital formats recently, leading to increased demand for this skill.        11. Natural Language Processing Recommended Courses:  Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Thinking Machines,  Creating Bots with the Microsoft Bot Framework, Part 2,  NLP with Python for Machine Learning Essential Training Why it matters, in one sentence:  The technology behind Alexa and Google Home, everything from our cars to our light bulbs are now becoming voice-activated.        12. Scientific Computing Recommended Courses:  Matlab Essential Training,  Scala Essential Training for Data Science,  Data Science Foundations: Python Scientific Stack Why it matters, in one sentence:  Scientific computing is generally used to solve problems with massive amounts of data to consider â€"  a need as companies continue to collect more and more data.        13. Game Development Recommended Courses:  2D Game Design and Development Essential Training,  Careers in the Game Industry,  C# for Unity Game Development Why it matters, in one sentence:  In yet another sign of providing a better experience for digital users, the demand for those who can develop compelling online games remains strong.        14. Social Media Marketing Recommended Courses:  B2B Foundations: Social Media Marketing,  Marketing on Instagram,  Social Media Marketing: Social CRM Why it matters, in one sentence:  Social media continues to be a popular way to communicate with others digitally, as new platforms disrupt the market.        15. Animation Recommended Courses:  Animation Foundations: Fundamentals,  Animation Foundations: Gesture,  Maya 2018: Bifröst Fluids Why it matters, in one sentence:  No surprise to see animation on the list, considering the surge of video traffic and the increasing prevalence of the GIF.        16. Business Analysis Recommended Courses:  Business Analysis Foundations,  Agile Requirements Foundations,  Learning Digital Business Analysis Why it matters, in one sentence:  Similar to data-driven decision making, more and more companies are relying on analysts to help them guide strategic investments.        17. Journalism Recommended Courses:  Ninja Writing: The Four Levels of Writing Mastery,  Shane Snow on Storytelling,  Editing Mastery: How to Edit Writing to Perfection Why it matters, in one sentence:  Once a dwindling skill, journalism isn’t just for journalists anymore as marketing and content teams alike vie for people who can tell compelling stories.        18. Digital Marketing Recommended Courses:  Marketing Tips,  Brand and Marketing Integration,  Marketing Foundations: Growth Hacking Why it matters, in one sentence:  With the rise of digital, it’s no surprise to see digital marketing as the most in-demand marketing skill on the list.        19. Industrial Design Recommended Courses:  Industrial Design Foundations,  Design Foundations: Prototyping and Manufacturing,  Product Design: From Sketch to CAD Why it matters, in one sentence:  The demand for those who can design something that is both practical and eloquent will never go away.        20. Competitive Strategies Recommended Courses:  Developing a Competitive Strategy,  Business Development Foundations: Researching Market and Customer Needs,  Business Development Foundations Why it matters, in one sentence:  Virtually all companies are facing increased competition, with organizations starved for people who can help them stay abreast and ahead of their competitors.        21. Customer Service Systems Recommended Courses:  Handling Abusive Customers,  Customer Service in Your First Retail Job,  Building Rapport with Customers Why it matters, in one sentence:  In a world where one bad experience can lead to a tweet the whole world sees, consistent customer service is increasingly paramount.        22. Software Testing Recommended Courses:  Test Automation Foundations,  Behavior-Driven Development,  Scripting for Testers Why it matters, in one sentence:  New softwares are hitting the market at record-numbers â€" requiring more and more people who can ensure they actually work.        23. Data Science Recommended Courses:  Data Analytics for Pricing Analysts in Excel,  Data Science Tools of the Trade: First Steps,  Data Science Foundations: Data Engineering Why it matters, in one sentence:  An in-demand skill for the past several years, there is still a strong need for those who can make sense of a magnitude of data.        24. Computer Graphics Recommended Courses:  Learning OpenGL,  AutoCAD Mechanical Essential Training,  AutoCAD: Advanced 3D Modeling Why it matters, in one sentence:  As a sizeable part of our digital world goes from 2D to 3D, companies are looking for people who can foster that transition.        25. Corporate Communications Recommended Courses:  Crisis Communication,  Writing a Press Release,  Public Relations Foundations: Media Training Why it matters, in one sentence:  With social media, local mistakes can lead to global outrages, requiring people who can manage difficult situations. Methodology: “The skills companies need most was determined by looking at skills that are in high demand relative to their supply. Demand is measured by identifying the skills listed on the LinkedIn profiles of people who are getting hired at the highest rates. Only cities with 100,000 LinkedIn members were included.

Developing Worthiness of Equality - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Developing Worthiness of Equality - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Entrepreneurs, in their first ten years of business, usually feel some type of inadequacy. From a sales perspective, meetings or partnering are not about being equally matched in experience. Instead, the matter is about what we each bring to the table that your prospective client needs, wants and deeply desires. Sometimes all that is required is an idea and vision of what is possible, and then bring in “the experts” to help you bring it to life. As your idea is heard, excitement is seen. As conversation develops, you may recognize a need for a committee to bring the idea to fruition. And you just might know the perfect fit among your connections. “Recognizing versus critiquing” the talent in each person will bring together a synergistic team that is able to seemingly move mountains. However, to feel more secure, there are ways to easily develop seemingly professional equality by following these simple steps. 1. Research your prospective partners prior to meeting. The more you know going into a meeting, and understand how to relate what you learned to your reason for meeting, the greater will be your credibility. 2. Lead with questions. Upon beginning the business portion of your meeting, ask what caught the person’s attention to agree to meet. As the conversation develops, continue with questions to clarify everything being shared with you. Delve more deeply to fully understand what they themselves are trying to achieve. It’s important to know the answer so that you may develop additional reasons as to why it would be a good idea to work together. 3. Admit what you don’t know. When you say, “I’d like to learn more about…” many will take you under their wing to explain the information you are missing. The phrase puts a human face on you, and the honesty directs others on how to more easily work together. This goes to developing trust as well as your relationship. 4. Offer connections. Upon recognizing an interest in you and your idea, ask what the other party needs to move forward including people they would like to meet. Following up in an expedient manner further builds your relationship and credibility. Seeing you are willing to put yourself out to help the more experienced person will put you on an equal playing field. Over time, personal experience becomes yours. In the meantime, those more experienced than you will have kindly taught you how to advance quickly through the learning curve. And by following the above steps, you will have developed your personal team. Doing this repeatedly, to find the best qualified and matched people to join your team, will bring life to your project and vision. It’s the collaborative effort that will inject momentum in seeing your vision become reality. Looking back, you will realize that while you didn’t have the same level of capability upfront, you had the brilliance to take the initiative of bringing the right people together to achieve your vision. This is brilliance on an entirely different level, and one that brings about the Smooth Sale.

Things to Consider About IT Resume Examples

Things to Consider About IT Resume ExamplesThere are many different career fairs, for example, that you may have attended in the past and maybe even attended, to get an opportunity to present your career, it should be pretty obvious to any employer that if you've attended more than one, then it's probably time to start keeping up with your resume examples, right? Of course, how you do this depends on the industry that you're seeking a new job within.If you want to use your IT career as a guide, then by all means, do so. However, if you're looking for a specific role within this industry, there are a few things you'll need to keep in mind when searching for examples of your own resume.First of all, it's important to make sure that your IT resume is accurate and up to date. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go back and rewrite it, however. Using examples of your own resume can be helpful here, as you can ensure that each section has been highlighted properly organized.Most employers will be interested in certain sections, while others won't. Your resume shouldn't make you appear incompetent, because it doesn't, but instead, it should showcase your professional skills and achievements. Before the application is even finished, you should get these details from a good professional IT resume example.Another thing to consider is the inclusion of your employment background check. If you're applying for a job within this field, then it's almost mandatory, because every company will want to make sure that you're not a threat to their staff or to themselves.The last thing to think about is how many times you've gone through your resume examples and attempted to make changes or edit things. When you're applying for a new position, there's no room for errors, because you need to demonstrate to your employer that you can put together and present a solid, professional resume that will stand out above all others.Keep in mind that some employers don't care as much about resume examples as you do, which can leave you in a bind. If you have a job that requires you to present an alternative resume, then you should do the same, using your IT resume examples.It doesn't really matter if you're looking for a job within this industry or trying to find a job within this industry. There are a lot of employment fairs in addition to the IT career fairs, so you have plenty of opportunities to find those IT resume examples you need.

What I Learned From Google About Great Teams

What I Learned From Google About Great Teams My husband and I hosted his high school girls’ basketball team for a team dinner on Monday â€" the one that takes place every year just before the annual international schools tournament. For each of the last 10 years, the team has had 2-3 talented players who led the team to top standings. In contrast, this year’s crop was simply a group of great kids, none of whom expected to continue in the sport at a higher level. This team has surprised my husband â€" in a positive way. He told me that this was the most positive team he has coached in all his years with the high school. Listening to their chatter over dinner, I heard the girls say things like, “We each know our role on the team, and how we contribute. It’s not like in our other sports where it feels like the coach just had to pick an 11th person to fill a slot and that happened to be me.” “I believe in you, and you deserve to believe in yourself more than you do. That would really help the team too if you were more confident. You’re definitely good enough.” “Coach, I know you yell at us only because you want us to be better and you know we can do it!” Then someone said to the team captain, “You’re a better leader now â€" and you haven’t yelled at us once in the last three games!”, and everyone laughed, including the team captain. Clearly, these girls felt at home with each other, despite coming from different backgrounds and belonging to different groups at school. Great teams are “better when we’re together” From a pretty humble start, the team has gelled into something greater than the sum of its individual parts and will be a contender for the top 3 at the tournament. If you and I are lucky, we get to be part of a team like that â€" where we’re better together than we are individually. But so often, we see teams that underperform our expectations â€" the proverbial “team” of all-stars that gets outdone by a group that’s less talented, but who come together to form a true high performing team. So, how do you create a team that is greater than the sum of its parts? What Google knows about great teams, and why we should care I was recently reading Charles Duhigg’s New York Times article about Google’s study of teams and came across some interesting conclusions on what makes them tick, and why some teams outperform others. With collaboration becoming the norm, even for people who consider themselves independent contributors, there’s a real benefit to becoming a great team leader as well as team member. For the organization, cracking the code on high performance teams means getting more things done and winning in the marketplace. (You can bet that Google isn’t studying teams as part of a navel gazing exercise.) And on a personal level, being able to lead teams that produce great results can turbocharge your career, while simply being part of the team that achieves great outcomes carries with it a positive halo effect. Plus, it’s exciting to be part of a winning effort! It’s how you treat each other that matters The single biggest conclusion from the Google study is that success as a team has little to do with who is on the team and instead, it’s how the group behaves and treats each other that matters. This is all about group norms â€" the unwritten rules of behavior, the types of conduct that are accepted (or not), and the way team members allow each other to interact in the normal course. Ultimately, group norms determine the culture and who we are as a team and as an organization. That’s why this finding is so powerful â€" these often subtle, invisible ways of interacting and relating are actually the drivers of our success and enjoyment at work. and the degree to which there is “psychological safety” To get the most from your team, the key is to create “psychological safety”. That means an environment where team members can express themselves without fear of ridicule or punishment. I don’t know about you, but I definitely do better, more creative work when I feel comfortable sharing ideas, making suggestions, and asking a “dumb” question. By the way, I’ve also found that those “dumb” or “naive” questions can sometimes transform the entire discussion. That doesn’t mean avoiding all negative feedback or having to pretend you agree with what others propose. It’s about making it okay to take the risk of looking dumb and knowing people “have your back”. Two keys to creating psychological safety According to Google’s findings, the two most important aspects of creating psychological safety revolve around communication and empathy. On the communication front, Google discovered it was about “equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking.” That is, it’s important for everyone to have an equal amount of air time. “As long as everyone got a chance to talk, the team did well. But if only one person or a small group spoke all the time, the collective intelligence declined.” So if there’s a clique of “cool kids” who dominate the discussion, engineer a shift in the dialogue to hear from the quieter people. And if you’re a “motor-mouth” boss, stop talking so much. Which leads to the related finding that listening is also critical to this communication point. (Yes, listening is a crucial communication skill!) And when it comes to empathy, this isn’t just about being “touchy feely”. The Google team called it “showing sensitivity to the feelings and needs of other team members”. It’s essentially about figuring out how someone else feels “based on their tone of voice, their expressions and other nonverbal cues.” It’s also about sharing personal stories and forming human bonds. All of this is about fulfilling the basic human desire to be seen, heard, understood, and respected. To what extent are you letting your teammates know that you see, hear, understand, and respect them? What can you do to improve team success? Of course, it all comes down to what we can do. The actions you can take to make yours a great team that delivers outstanding success. Out of the many great takeaways from Charles Duhigg’s article, here are four that I think are particularly worthy of your focus, especially as a team leader, and my take on them. 1. Establish positive group norms In particular, establish norms on communication and empathy. Keep in mind that group norms can override individual behavior, so make it work in your favor. For example, someone who generally is a complainer on his own can behave in a constructive way to conform to the group norm. On the other hand, people who wouldn’t harm another on their own might well do so under the influence of the group. For example, instances of mob violence. And I’m also reminded of the classic novel, The Lord of the Flies where a band of boys get out of hand. As a leader, what behaviors are you currently tolerating that could harm the group’s success? 2. Establish clear goals Teams succeed best when the mission is clear, and that means focusing on goals for the process, not just the desired result. When you tell people to hit a particular market share or sales target, that’s great, but it’s not totally in their control. And when you couple it with additional goals on process, such as making a certain quantity of calls or developing new product ideas, those can be milestones for people to hit that will ultimately generate the desired results. Is your team clear on the overarching set of goals, and do these include milestones that are in your team’s control (and not just the end result)? 3. Establish a culture of dependability When you get the team to value and model the behavior of doing what they say they will do, then you no longer have to be the enforcer all the time. You can save your chips for when you need to use them, and the team will do a fine job of holding each other accountable. To what extent are you, as the leader, modelling the behavior of dependability? 4. Encourage people to forge real connections Something powerful happens when people get to know each other. They find common ground, common goals, common interests. It starts with understanding where others are coming from, then seeing their potential, and finding ways to help them realize that potential. In my husband’s team, through the course of the season, the girls came to see what their teammates could do. They encouraged each other on, and often saw potential where the teammate herself did not. What was so cool was that they were able to help bring out the best in each other, and come up with a successful team â€" both on and off of the court. What are you doing to help your team forge connections? Whether you’re the leader or one of the team members, here are 5 additional things you can do. 5. Talk about it In the case of my husband’s basketball team, he got results from simply talking about the article with his team. The girls picked up on the listening and empathizing points, and implemented them immediately. And by the way, they also talk about issues to get them out in the open in a constructive way so they can be resolved. When you bring interesting articles and topics to the team, it can introduce a level of thinking and discussion that enhances the performance of the group as a whole. What’s the last time you shared something interesting and positive that could help the group? 6. Model the behavior This is a great strategy when you’re not the leader and want to change the way things are done. As my former colleague, Vinay Jayaram, said on our recent webinar, on the Hidden Secrets To Your Career Success, just keep conducting yourself in the way you would like to see everyone behave. Over time, they are likely to come around. And if they don’t, then maybe it’s time to consider joining a different team. 7. Always come from a positive place When people know that you have the team’s best interests at heart, they will take your feedback and words in the right way. And when someone knows that you’re trying to get the best out of them for the benefit of the team, they’re more likely to take and act on the constructive feedback you give. 8. Don’t be mean Beyond coming from a positive place, it’s important to make sure you’re not being mean (as in hurtful). Team dynamics expert, Steve Shenbaum, has a term “with love and grace” which my husband has adopted for his team. Everything is said “with love and grace”. If another team member says something to you with a anger or sarcasm, it’s okay to remind them by asking, “is that with love and grace?”. 9. Make amends when needed In the end, we all make mistakes. No one is perfect. And I’m certainly not. When I find myself in a position of having acted against a positive group norm, such as blaming someone for something beyond their control or losing my temper at an innocent person, it’s time to go and set things straight. Apologize when it’s called for. Preserving trust and relationship is far more important to success â€" both yours and the team’s â€" than your ego. But note that if you find yourself frequently needing to apologize, then it’s probably time to work on your ability to self-manage in the moment. Three questions worth thinking about We live in an age where it takes a team to deliver the bottom line results, not just a series of individuals handing off their bits to another individual. Now, more than ever, it literally pays to become a great team leader and an even better team member. That’s why these three questions are worth thinking about. What’s the answer when you and your teammates ask each other, “are we being good teammates?” When you’re the team leader, what are you doing to set your team up to succeed? Whatever your role, how can you help to create an environment where everyone can do their very best work? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Death to job titles at Quicken Loans - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Death to job titles at Quicken Loans - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Matt Cardwell used to be the Web Marketing Director at Quicken Loans. Not any more. He came across a post of mine called Who cares about your job title tell me what you DO! and was inspired to kill of all the traditional job titles. He explained it further in an email to employees: If you are concerned about someone not recognizing how important you are because you no longer have a standard title, then here?s your chance to create a title for yourself that will convey exactly how important you are. And because you are creating it, it will be all yours. No one else will have that title. Think of the conversations your new title will start with complete strangers. Think of the opportunities it can create for you in terms of expressing who you are, not what someone CALLS you. But what if I don?t like my description in three months ?? you ask? What if what I do CHANGES? Well, then you can change your description. It?s that simple. No one ever stays the same ? we are all growing ? so let your ?title? do the same when it?s time. Here?s your chance. You have until the end of the day to let us all know who you are. Have fun, be creative, be humorous, but above all, be real and true. Remember, this will be on your e-mail signature, so please be aware of that. I can?t wait to see what all of you come up with. DEATH TO TITLES! So what titles did people come up with? Well, as I said, Matt is no longer the Web Marketing Director. Hes now the Idea Salesman, Energy Focuser and People Unleasher. Some other new titles are: Royal Storyteller Propaganda Minister Supreme Challenger of the Status Quo Wicked Web Site Innovator Innovation Maven and Revenue Raiser Mastermind of Possibilities, Visual Linguist, and Czar of the High Fiber Revolution Art Juggler Flasher Idea Launcher Conceptologist Head Brother In Charge of Chat Reality Check Provider Sentence-smoother-outer with an Ad Girl twist Pixelardo da Vinci Woo-hooooo!! I know the whole choose-your-own-wacky-job-title things has been done before, most notably during the dotcom days, but I still love it. And I still marvel at the fun, creative titles people come up with. Death to business titles, indeed! A great big thank you to Kelly LaVaute for blogging about this! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related