Today I Bought US News Because Im In It

Today I Bought US News Because Im In It A full page its pretty cool. The article is the same one that was posted online a few weeks ago (you can see it here). The picture, which is pretty big, is the result of about two hours of picture-taking in Santa Rosa (where I grew up). It isnt the picture that I would have picked for me, as I think it makes me look like a weirdo-chump, but hey, Im happy with what I got! And the photographer didnt have much to work with ?? Anyway, thank YOU a gazillion for your support this is another awesome part of JibberJobber history! Oh yeah, its the edition dated May 12, on page 55. Today I Bought US News Because Im In It A full page its pretty cool. The article is the same one that was posted online a few weeks ago (you can see it here). The picture, which is pretty big, is the result of about two hours of picture-taking in Santa Rosa (where I grew up). It isnt the picture that I would have picked for me, as I think it makes me look like a weirdo-chump, but hey, Im happy with what I got! And the photographer didnt have much to work with ?? Anyway, thank YOU a gazillion for your support this is another awesome part of JibberJobber history! Oh yeah, its the edition dated May 12, on page 55.

5 Things You Should Do To Revive a Toxic Work Culture

5 Things You Should Do To Revive a Toxic Work Culture Are your employees tired? Discouraged? Burnt out? If the answer is yes, you may have a toxic culture at work. Thats a problem.   Unhappy workers are less productive, make more mistakes, and are more likely to seek employment elsewhere. Work Culture exists on multiple levels. It isnt just behaviors. Its also an infrastructure of beliefs and values. To create real and lasting change, your business must tackle cultural issues on both levels. You must act quickly to improve a negative work environment before productivity lags and employees abandon ship. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you turn-around a toxic work culture. Identify Problem Behaviors Every company is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for repairing a damaged work culture. The first step is always to examine your businesss culture to identify your specific challenges. Start by taking a critical look around you. Before you can change for the better, you have to face these uncomfortable truths head-on. Here are some common problems: Gossiping and/or social cliques Aggressive bullying behavior Poor communication and unclear expectations Dictatorial management techniques that dont embrace employee feedback Excessive absenteeism, illness or fatigue Favoritism and imbalanced working conditions (discriminatory policies/wage gaps) Workaholic behavior that sacrifices healthy work/life balance Unrealistic workloads or deadlines Little (or strained interaction) between employees or employees and management Unsafe or morally questionable working conditions You probably wont find all of these; and, you may find problems we havent listed. Whatever problems you find take note. Those issues will inform your plan to rescue your work culture. Evaluate the Underlying Support Network A toxic culture cant take root without a fertile environment, and its symptoms can’t survive without a supportive infrastructure. So, its time to dig deeper. What shared values and actions are helping to support those behaviors? Examine your companys leadership and their values. Then work your way from the top of the ladder to the bottom looking for issues like: Discriminatory beliefs Treating employees as assets, not people Information guarding (poor communication/unclear expectations) Aggressive or hostile leadership styles Belief that employees are lazy, stupid and/or expendable Resentment of Authority Contrariness Lack of accountability Lack of appreciation for (or recognition of) good work All of these are problematic and set the foundation to build a negative work culture. Plan Your Repair Strategy With a clear understanding of the illness, you can now strategize your treatment plan. And remember change is hard. Dont try to fix everything at once. Prioritize. Tackle the problem behaviors that have the biggest impact first, and smaller issues will likely begin to right themselves. Here are some strategic antidotes to many of the most common workplace problems: Listen to Your Employees Hear their grievances, validate their experiences and make the changes necessary to address their issues. This can come in the form of one-on-one conversations, a town hall meeting with HR, or simple blind surveys. Listen, validate, and work together to find solutions. Assign Realistic Workloads and Deadlines This means taking the time to learn what your employees actually do. What are they responsible for and how long do those tasks take? Remember that there are only 60 minutes in every hour and assign tasks accordingly. Communicate Transparently Employees cant do their jobs well without understanding the context. Having the information to do ones job reduces confusion and frustration, making employees happier and more efficient. Hold weekly meetings, send frequent memos or a company newsletter. Share the information they need to know. Acknowledge Work Well Done A study by the Boston Consulting Group reports appreciation for your work as the most important factor to job happiness. Find ways to show appreciation. Tell employees what they’re doing well theyll feel appreciated (and be more likely to continue doing it). Build a supportive environment by sharing employee successes and make positive encouragement a group activity. Treat All Employees By the Same Rules- Playing favorites breeds resentment. Examine your company policies do they unfairly benefit one group over others? Be open to feedback; employees may see problems that you dont. Then even the playing field and require all employees to follow the rules. Foster Emotional Intelligence â€" The BCG Study we mentioned included good relationships with colleagues and superiors among the top 5 elements leading to job satisfaction. Banish bullying, disrespect and dismissive behavior. Prioritize emotional intelligence. Provide resources to help employees expand their EQ. Improved emotional intelligence can cure a number of ills. While these are all great suggestions for every company, be mindful of your businesss challenges and choose your action items accordingly. Implement Your Plan John Kotter of Kotter International asserts that leaders are catalysts for workplace change. If you’re in charge, you have a powerful platform for motivating change. But, be prepared to live the changes you want to see if you want anyone to take those changes seriously. Making change easy, rewarding and socially acceptable are key to success. Humans have a strong drive to be a part of the group. Normalize the behaviors you seek by asking the social influencers in your business to promote those behaviors, too. Make it easy for your employees to implement positive changes by removing barriers to success. This, again, will require that you listen to your employees to know what those barriers are. Finally, help your employees see how the changes youre proposing will reward them with a more positive workplace. Reflect and Adapt Give your new policies and practices time to take root. Change won’t happen overnight. After a few months, take stock. What has changed? What hasnt? Meet with those influencers you enlisted to help with your implementation. Reflect on how things have gone. Different perspectives can offer useful insight. Assess your progress and adapt your efforts as needed. Keep the lines of communication open. Cultural change is a big undertaking; but well worth the effort. Perseverance will lead you to success. This guest post was authored by Ross Kimbarovsky Ross Kimbarovsky is founder and CEO at crowdspring and Startup Foundry.   In 2007, Ross left a successful 13-year career as a trial lawyer to pursue his dream of founding a technology company by founding crowdspring â€" one of the world’s leading marketplaces for crowdsourced logo design, web design, graphic design, product design, and company naming services.

Monday Motivation Take a Vacation!

Monday Motivation Take a Vacation! Happy Monday!  I am excited for the week because I am headed home to Minnesota for a vacation.  Have you had a Summer vacation yet? If not, plan one today!  I get so many questions about whether or not to take time off as a new employee or how to ask a boss for a vacation.  Honestly, just do it.  I have seen so many people work their butts off with no vacation and get majorly burnt out.  You dont want to do this.  Vacations can actually make you more productive and excited to come back to work.  I know I have been guilty of not taking enough vacation and losing leave hours, not good.  There is something about thinking that no one else can do your job as good as you and what if something important comes up.  Today, I encourage you to say, oh well and take that time off!  Even if you dont have an amazing vacation planned, a Friday here and a Friday there can really rejuvenate you.  Trust me!  You will be thanking me later! Here are your career links to start your week off right! On the Same Page: Influencing Commitment on a Team by Women Grow Business How to Change Your Life One Habit at a Time by She Takes on the World How Self-Compassion Makes You A Better Leader by The Glass Hammer Quick Lunch Fix: Salad in a Jar by Levo League How To Communicate Well in a Virtual World by Women For Hire  â€œIf we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.” â€" John Maxwell

5 Steps to A Mindful Working Day

5 Steps to A Mindful Working Day The practice of mindfulness can have a strong positive impact in our daily life. As we look to develop health-giving habits, we often turn our attention to the obvious things: exercise, diet, a good sleeping pattern. And all of these things are good. But what I want to propose is that the practice of day-to-day mindfulness is also an activity that can offer tremendous benefits. What is Mindfulness Anyway? Mindfulness is generally defined as non-judgemental present moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, body and environment.1 It’s as simple as that. To be mindful simply means to be fully-present to whatever’s happening. Whether you’re making a cup of tea, working on a computer or driving a car, mindfulness is being fully aware of what you’re doing. The question that usually follows this definition is, “Why all the fuss?” How can something as simple as just being present have a significant effect on our lives? Whilst mindfulness has been scientifically shown to have a variety of positive psychological and physiological benefits, there are also many changes that we can immediately notice in our own experience. Sharon Salzberg, in her book Real Happiness at Work explains the positive dimension of cultivating awareness: “it can have a beneficial effect whatever we’re encountering at work. It helps us to appreciate easy and joyous times more by reminding us to recognize and focus on them. It helps in times of stress to give us greater resiliency so that we are not overwhelmed by difficulty. And it helps in ordinary, repetitious, routine times, too, so that we have a more acute sense of awareness and connection than we otherwise might.”2 Mindfulness urges us towards a fuller realization of the richness inherent in the present moment. Equally, it provides a means of stepping out of the stress-inducing worry and rumination that is so common. All of the following little activities will help foster feelings of connectedness and fulfillment throughout the day.  1.  Start the Day Well Our morning routine symbolises the commitment we make approach our day in a particular way. Will we be engaged and fully attentive or thrown to and fro by endless rumination and stress. If we cultivate good morning habits we can set ourselves up for the rest of the day. These can be simple things like carefully making the bed, brushing our teeth with full attention or sitting down to eat a healthy breakfast.  2.  Make Some Breathing Space Take a few minutes to try a simple breathing exercise. “Coherent breathing” is a technique that has been developed by Drs. Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg. It is useful for alleviating feelings of stress and anxiety alongside fostering more awareness in the moment. It involves lengthening each in and out breath by a count of five, which is the optimal breathing rate for most people. Start with a count of three and build from there: Breathing in, two, three Breathing out, two, three Breathing in, two, three, four Breathing out, two, three, four Breathing in, two, three, four, five Breathing out, two, three, four, five 3. Eat Mindfully “Mindful eating” is another phrase that’s becoming more well-known. Before you begin your lunch or dinner, pause for a moment and bring your attention into the present moment.  Savour each mouthful.  4.  One Small Act of Compassion Acting with compassion achieves two things. Not only do we feel better about ourselves whilst contributing to the happiness of somebody else, it also helps us become more aware of how we interact with others. 5. Set A Technology Curfew Set aside thirty minutes without any television, laptops, phones or ipads before you go to bed tonight. Just be with your thoughts and feelings. References (1)  http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition (2)  Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness at Work, p229

What to Put on a Writing Resume

What to Put on a Writing ResumeWhat to put on a writing resume? A writing resume is one of the most important parts of your job search. It can be one of the first steps in getting a job, and it must include information that can help you land the job you're looking for.Writing resumes should be done well. You don't want to come off as someone who didn't do their research, or worse, someone who doesn't know how to write at all. Here are some tips for what to put on a writing resume. Start by making sure that your resume is grammatically correct.To make sure that the resume you write is technically correct, check for errors that could go into the grammar. Also, you want to make sure that the resume is free of spelling and punctuation mistakes. Those are the two main things that will get your application tossed.When writing your resume, use proper grammar. When it comes to writing resumes, you have to make sure that you make it sound professional. Make sure that the letter has good flow, is professional and doesn't sound like a high school student wrote it.Now that you know what to put on a writing resume, it's time to talk about what not to put on it. You don't want to go overboard with your resume, especially if it's your first one. For one thing, it might leave an impression on the hiring manager that you're just there to fill in jobs.Do your best to have a well-written resume that will show off your writing skills. This is something that you should do, even if it's not your strong suit. It will help to have an experience that will show your writing skills.One other thing to keep from putting on your resume are personal details such as your age, marital status and number of children. Don't think that by not putting them on your resume, you'll be able to come off as somebody who is a low-life. Everyone knows that employers like to see people who are full of themselves. So make sure that you have proof of your achievements, and don't leave them out.If you follow t he tips above, you should have no problem putting together a good, unique and professional writing resume. Be sure to find a professional resume writer if you're not sure about how to do this yourself. Good luck with your job search!

Resume Secrets to Get More Career Opportunities, Job Offers and even a Higher Salary!

Resume Secrets to Get More Career Opportunities, Job Offers and even a Higher Salary! Resume Secrets to Get More Career Opportunities, Job Offers and even a Higher Salary! Resume Secrets to Get More Career Opportunities, Job Offers and even a Higher Salary! July 8, 2011 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas 1 Comment The biggest challenge in todays tough job market is how to stand out from competition and put yourself in high demand with hiring managers. Your resume can do a lot more than land you a job interview. It can also position you as the TOP candidate going into interviews, and even help you get a higher starting salary which could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your career. So what does a great resume look like? As a leading career coach, I help professionals and executives reinvent themselves and transition into a new career every day.   Below are five (5) of my resume secrets to help you get you more career opportunities, more job interviews and even a higher salary! Feature the right key words. Key words are those skills listed as the job requirements in the job postings. Key words are different for every job so you need to look closely at the job description. Read every skill, qualification and requirement listed in the job posting. Those are the key words that youll want to showcase throughout your resume. I always like to list key words using a bullet format in bold fonts towards the top of the resume. This way, the hiring manager will see your key strengths within seconds of picking up your resume. **BONUS tip: Repeat key words throughout the experience section of your resume to show that you have a history, or pattern, of building those skills. Show results. This is the single biggest difference in making your resume stand out from all the other thousands of resumes. So many professionals make the mistake of focusing on responsibilities on their resume when they need to instead be focusing on RESULTS. In other words, how did you add value to your previous organizations? Quantify each of your career highlights in terms of dollars, percentages, or numbers. For example, lets say that youre in sales and youve brought in an average of 10 new clients per month, and an average of $10,000 per client. Thats 120 clients a year, and if youve been doing that for the past 3 years, thats 360 new clients! So one of your career highlights should be, Gained approximately 360 new clients which generated $360,000 in new revenue in three years. **BONUS tip: Quantify each of your accomplishments for every job that you list in the Experience section. Highlight leadership and teamwork. Hiring managers look for candidates who are strong leaders, AND strong team contributors. Someone who can lead, as well as be led. Highlight your leadership skills and what the results were with the projects, programs and teams that youve led. If youre light in leadership experience, then highlight any leadership responsibilities you may have had in professional organizations, sports leagues, church, or extra-curricular activities. Also, list projects in which you were a strong team member in terms of what your role was, and what the team accomplished. **BONUS tip: Use strong verbs such as: Initiated, orchestrated, implemented and led. Be specific and clear. Dont waste your resume space (or the hiring managers time) by using filler words or vague overarching comments like, received awards for various contributions, or launched several products. List the specific awards you received, or the names of the products youve launched. By doing so, youll be giving your resume substance and credibility. Dont worry if its a product nobodys heard about or is difficult to explain on your resume. You want the hiring manager to be curious about you. Thats why they have interviews so they can get more information about your qualifications. **BONUS tip: Be brief. Be specific. Provide enough information that will leave hiring managers wanting more. Relevant, targeted and customized. Employers dont have time to read about every single skill and job that youve ever had. They just want to know, Are you qualified to do their job? Customize your resume to go for the job and company you want. A hiring manager will notice you so much more if your resume is specifically targeted to that position for which you are applying. **BONUS tip: Only include those jobs, skills, and successes that will help you get your next job. And finally How confident are you that your resume is going to stand out from your competition? Invest in having your resume professionally critiqued. Getting personalized recommendations from a resume expert could not only get you more high quality job interviews, but also more career opportunities and even a higher starting salary! If youd like me to create a fabulous, professional resume for you, check out my resume web page. - Sherri Thomas is President of Career Coaching 360, an international speaker, and author of Career Smart 5 Steps to a Powerful Personal Brand on AMAZONs TOP 10 LIST for personal branding books! Career Coaching 360 (www.CareerCoaching360.com) provides career planning, management coaching, and leadership development support to help professionals change careers quickly and easily. To learn how you can reinvent your career quickly and easily, visit Career Coaching 360s website for resume help, interviewing support, and personal career coaching packages.

Happy Hour is 9 to 5 e-book is free in Portuguese - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Happy Hour is 9 to 5 e-book is free in Portuguese - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Click here to get the book. I recently spoke in Portugal at the amazing Talks 2.0 conference on Happiness and Creativity in the Workplace. At the event I announced that I would release the Portuguese translation of my first book Happy Hour is 9 to 5 as a free e-book. Consider this my tiny contribution to workplace happiness and economic recovery in Portugal. So here it is its a completely free and unprotected pdf which you may copy and send to as many people as you like. Click here to get the book. Feel free to copy it far and wide: Send it to everyone you know who is sad, frustrated or unhappy at work. Send it to every manager whod like to help create a happier and more successful workplace. Send it to any politicians you know, so that they can help create better conditions for workplace happiness. Send it to any journalists you know so they can help spread the message. Im releasing it under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. This means that you may not change the e-book or make money off of it. Apart from that, go wild :o) Happy reading and please let me know how you like it in a comment here. 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