How to help your employees to be more successful - Viewpoint Viewpoint careers advice blog

How to help your employees to be more successful - Viewpoint In my  last blog, I took a look into how the way we think can have a huge influence over how successful we are now and will be in the future. I personally believe that by approaching our work, and all the highs and lows that come along with it, with a mindset of unwavering growth will ultimately make us all more employable, and the businesses we work for more successful, particularly in changing times such as these. Apparently, the topic really struck a chord with many of you and it’s been fascinating to read more about your views and perspectives via the hundreds of comments left. So, for this next blog, I want to dig a little deeper into this topic. Firstly, a quick reminder of what is meant by a growth and a fixed mindset. According to Stanford University Psychologist  Carol Dweck, a growth mindset is all about believing that you can develop your existing skills and abilities with practice and effort. Whereas, a fixed mindset is characterised by an internal belief that your skills and abilities are relatively fixed and unchangeable. In short, if you have a growth mindset, you believe that no matter what level of capability you possess right now, there’s always something new you can learn and become better at. I believe that it has never been more important for us all to do everything we can to ensure that, whenever possible, a mindset of growth is our default mindset. After all, if we fail to keep our self-limiting beliefs in check and are fixed in our mindset, we run the risk of coming to an abrupt standstill in our careers, shutting ourselves off to self-improvement and learning, holding back our business, and all because an internal voice told us that was “The Truth”. Of course, we own our own minds and therefore have ultimate control over how we think and choose to approach those situations we may see as challenging or stretching but I do think that’s only half of the story. We, as employers, have a part to play here too. It’s our job, as employers, to help our employees to change their mindsets Dweck says that we’re all a mixture of a fixed and growth mindset, which is often dependent on the environment we are in. The key word that I want to underline and highlight here is ‘environment’. As leaders of businesses, we are effectively the architects of our employees’ environments. Therefore, whether we realise it or not, we have a huge amount of power over how our people approach their work when they come into the office every day, and the mindset they have towards it. Given we have so much influence, surely, we should be doing everything in our power to help our employees to change the way they think, and ultimately help them to become more successful? And surely, this is now even more important as the evolving world of work around us will undoubtedly throw more and more challenges and curve balls their way? Building a growth mindset culture is more important than ever before We now find ourselves leading businesses in the heart of the digital age â€" an exciting, yet challenging and potentially dangerous place to be, which will only be exaggerated if we aren’t consciously encouraging and facilitating our people to try new things, push themselves out of their comfort zones and ultimately reset their mindsets to one of growth. It’s simple â€" if our people are fixed, our businesses risk being fixed too and that’s not a healthy place to be. That’s why I think it’s more important than ever to help our employees adopt a mindset of growth so our businesses don’t stagnate or become paralysed by fear of change and development. If we succeed in that, we’ll find that they will be more motivated to learn, improve and innovate, thereby helping to boost the skills, agility, creativity, competitiveness of our business in these unpredictable and changing times. ‘Make like Microsoft’ to instil a growth mindset in your staff So, what can we do practically to ensure that more often than not, our employees approach each aspect of their work â€" no matter how challenging it might be â€" with a growth mindset? We can certainly take some inspiration from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft here. The tech giant was slumbering in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but has since seen a considerable resurgence in its fortunes. This is largely thanks to the building of a growth-mindset-centred approach under the leadership of Nadella, ultimately helping Microsoft to  create more than $250 billion in market value, to become the most valuable company in the world for the first time since 2002. Nadella and Microsoft CHRO Kathleen Hogan took inspiration from Dweck in  taking a range of steps to initiate long-term change, from the creation of interactive online modules incorporating rich storytelling and multimedia, to the implementation of conversation guides for managers and daily pulse surveys. Nadella’s ultimate aim here was to turn his workforce of 131,000 employees worldwide from “know-it-alls” into “learn-it-alls” what a great way to put it! You’re probably reading this thinking, “that’s all well and good, but my business isn’t Microsoft”, and I wouldn’t blame you for that. But I believe building a growth mindset culture should be a key priority for all businesses, of all sizes. After all, as a result, your teams are more likely to embrace change as an exciting opportunity to learn, rather than something to shy away from or avoid. And change, as we all know, is something we are only going to see more of. So, having researched the topic and reflected on my own experiences, I’ve plotted out a few things that I think all business leaders can do to help their employees to move from a fixed to a growth mindset, no matter what their role or position might be. Be a role model for growth:  Even leaders at the top of their game struggle to approach every single task with a mindset of growth, they’d be lying if they said they didn’t. But as I said earlier, as leaders you are the architects of your employee’s environments the environments that help them grow their growth mindset part of that environment is the people around them, including you. So, first and foremost, you must be a role model and demonstrate you have a growth mindset wherever possible. Are you practising all of the good habits I told you about in my  first blog, such as consistently choosing challenging tasks over safer ones, making a conscious effort to dedicate the time and effort needed get better, and opening yourself up to opportunities to learn? Change your business’s view of, and response to failure:  Your employees need to be ‘given permission’ to fail â€" in other words, to be told that it’s not only OK to fail, but that risk-taking, failure and learning are actively celebrated end embraced in your organisation. In as much as failure should be understood and accepted as a key driver of innovation and growth in your business, it should also be recognised as an important opportunity for personal growth and learning. So, observe your own reactions to your employees’ failures â€" do you respond negatively to them or even gloss over them, or do you productively and positively assess them and help your team to learn from them? Do your employees feel able to take risks and experiment? Or do they fear being judged or treated harshly if they make a mistake or something doesn’t go quite to plan? It’s also important, as  Heidi Grant, Director of Research Development at NLI says, to share these of mistakes and learning across your teams. The aim here is to take steps to embed a sense of psychological safety within your culture, and as  Dweck says, give your people permission to grow through learning. And learning requires trying, and trying implies unexpected outcomes and occasional failure. Help your employees to work through problems:  Part of building this sense of psychological safety is operating an open-door policy where you can particularly when a member of your team might be faced with a problem or challenge they’re feeling daunted or overwhelmed by. Spend ten short minutes chatting the issue through, supporting them to plot out the logical next steps. Appreciate the process they are going through, show interest in it, ask them questions and encourage them to persevere to find a solution. As a result of that single ten-minute exchange, you’ll be able to demonstrate to that person that you that are genuinely committed to their growth, and have confidence and belief in their ability to find a resolution. They’ll in turn feel encouraged and empowered to overcome future challenges, all the time learning and growing. Remind your employees of how much they’ve already learnt and developed:  Is there a particular skill that one of your employees didn’t have last year that they have now? Is it in an area they have previously struggled with? Yes? Then don’t hesitate to remind them. Another way you could do this is when discussing projects with your team, talk through the progress you’ve made to date, and where you want to be in X months’ time. Nurturing a growth mindset isn’t just about encouraging your workers to look forward â€" it’s also about making them realise how far they’ve come. After all, once they have a greater awareness of just how much progress they’ve made in driving a project forward (and learning along the way), they’ll feel more confident and empowered to continue pushing forward. They’ll also feel even more motivated by knowing that you see their potential and have belief in them to do just that. And whatever you do, don’t just keep this kind of positive, forward-looking reinforcement for an annual performance appraisal. Make these conversations about progress and skills development part of your regular, day-to-day conversations. By doing so, you’re signalling that your team’s personal development is important to you, and is key to the wider team’s success â€" which leads me to my next point… Emphasise your interest in personal growth, not just company growth:  It might seem like common sense, but your employees will be more motivated and inspired to change if they feel that you genuinely care about their personal career ambitions and progression, instead of solely being interested in their skills as a driver of growth and profit. For instance,  writing for Inc., author and CEO John Eades, talks of how he encourages staff to start their own podcast to cover vital topics around organisational health, explaining that the task of hosting the show required them to invest in their own personal growth, and gave them a license to do so. I think this is hugely powerful, as it feels sincere and isn’t directly linked to driving company performance in the eyes of employees. I’d also recommend that you assign your people stretch assignments, those which you know will challenge and push themselves out of their comfort zones, whilst supporting them along the way. It’s also important to realise that people with a growth mindset are active learners of others, they seek out opportunities to develop and grow, so encourage your people to learn from others, rather than feel threatened by them. Essentially, you have the power to orchestrate opportunities in which your people can grow in a way that feels meaningful to them, all the time demonstrating that their personal growth is genuinely important to the business. So, it’s time for you to exercise that power. Be consistent with all of the above:  As I touched on above and in my  previous blog, no one ever has a growth mindset in every area all of the time, or even keeps it permanently once they have it. That’s why it’s so crucial to constantly revisit and reinforce all of the above to preserve and facilitate a mindset of growth throughout your organisation, now and in the future. The worrying truth is that if most of the time your people have a fixed rather than a growth mindset, then your business risks being fixed too. If your people aren’t growing, then neither is your organisation. Strangely I haven’t seen many strategic plans outlining corporate stagnation, so is enough effort going into the cultural strategy to avoid that actually becoming the case? Maybe not, and if that’s the case, you run the risk of failing to have the necessary ingredients to challenge, problem-solve and innovate in the ways that are so fundamental in both today’s and tomorrow’s world of work. You can find more workplace advice and insight from  Hays CEO, Alistair Cox, below: This important mindset will make you more successful Is your team addicted to work? Why you need to start hiring people who are ‘better’ than you What do you do outside of your 9-5? Think your job is meaningless? Think again

Netflix, Etsy and Adobe The best companies for the working dad

Netflix, Etsy and Adobe The best organizations for the working father Netflix, Etsy and Adobe The best organizations for the working father Child rearing site Fatherly released its rundown of 50 Best Places to Work for New Dads in 2017, a yearly positioning of organizations that are the most obliging for men who have kids.The website examined and positioned some huge U.S. organizations dependent on six territories in which fathers are requesting acceptable strategies: adaptable time arrangements, parental help programs, paid leave, representative help programs, youngster care advantages and contributions, and ward care.Here are a few features of the rundown and what the organizations offered to get there.The top organization for working fathers: NetflixJust like on the 2016 rundown, the universally adored marathon watching stage scooped the top spot again this year-Netflix.Coming in at number one, the organization brags up to an incredible 52 weeks (read: an entire year) of paid paternity leave (hourly representatives get a liberal 16). Guardians can decide to come in or not work during that time pretty much however they see fit and still get paid.But as Fatherly later called attention to, despite the fact that the organization likewise offers boundless get-away days, time off doesn't imply that loosen is energized. Unexpectedly, the organization sounds exceptionally competitive.As CNBC detailed in 2016, … inside, Netflix representatives compare working there to playing on a professional athletics group: If your effect isn't satisfactory, you show signs of improvement player.Coming in second for working fathers: EtsyWith its base camp in Brooklyn, New York, online business site Etsy came in runner up. Representatives looking for parental leave can take preferred position of a sexual orientation daze 26 weeks of downtime. The organization likewise has guardians' rooms highlighting Etsy fine art and a nursery on the rooftop in New York.But it would seem that you don't need to be a parent to exploit Etsy's offerings.Business Insider announced in 2015 that for laborers, both breakfast and lunch are f ree, there's a breathing room that permits snoozing, they can take practice classes nearby, and hounds are welcome.Let's investigate the organizations that made the keep going two spaces on the rundown - which means they're still really useful for working dads.AdobeComputer programming organization Adobe offers a month of paid paternity leave, up to $5,000 in appropriation costs, adaptable hours, the Welcome Back program permits chiefs and laborers to make an elective work course of action for as long as 120 days after a worker takes an all-encompassing leave of a quarter of a year or more, and more.Software engineer Edward Kandrot has allegedly worked for Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Facebook and Apple.He differentiated the organization societies of Facebook and Adobe in a meeting, lauding Adobe's self-improvement programs.… Adobe was about individual development. They have fourteen days of classes for every year they urge you to take from an immense index of helpful classifications like compromise, profession arranging or about the most recent advancements, Kandrot told CNBC.Fannie MaeFannie Mae completed the list. Fatherly insinuated the budgetary discussions that have encircled the organization previously, yet called attention to that the home loan underwriter gives four weeks of paid paternity leave, nearby childcare, a needy consideration repayment program in the event that you can't take your youngster along, and the Flexible Work Arrangement program.Dads shuffle work-family struggle tooThere's probably going to be more interest for adaptable approaches for working guardians in light of the fact that there is likewise an expanding measure of weight for men to keep up demands at work and home.The Center for American Progress detailed in 2015 that… the National Study of the Changing Workforce-a 30-year long examination from the Families and Work Institute-found that somewhere in the range of 1977 and 2008, the level of moms in double worker couples who a nnounced work-family strife developed somewhat from 41 percent to 47 percent, while the level of fathers who revealed work-family strife became fundamentally more from 35 percent to 60 percent.Those are the sorts of numbers hardly any organizations can bear to overlook.

Resume Writing Remedial Course

Resume Writing Remedial CourseA career change is never easy, but it does not mean that a resume writing remedial course can not be helpful. Most people assume that the only way to deal with a job change is to take a leave of absence from their current job. This does not always work out well.Some successful people have done the best when faced with this situation. They have taken a considerable amount of time off their job and prepared to work at a new company. The result was an increase in earnings and a promotion within their current organization. They took advantage of this opportunity by enrolling in a resume writing remedial course.What can you expect from a resume writing remedial course? As stated above, there are some simple steps that can be undertaken. These simple steps include taking a break from work for an extended period of time, writing your resume from scratch, evaluating the task that needs to be completed, selecting appropriate samples and of course the most importa nt part, editing.Once the basic steps have been put into action, a person can expect to go through a curriculum that can help him or her prepare for the resumes that will be necessary in the resume writing remedial course. In this case, the curriculum may be provided as an online program or it may be more focused on written application than actual employment.In either case, the individual needs to make sure that he or she completes all the requirements for each step. One can do this by studying for an exam. This way, he or she can ensure that they know the required information and will need to know it before they get started.There are also other steps in resume writing that one needs to understand. This includes tasks such as applying for positions that are available. This is important becauseif the individual knows that he or she has done the right things in advance, then there will be no chance for second guessing once the process begins.In summary, it is important to realize that the job search is not just a job of resume writing. It involves getting educated on your current position, making sure that you take the proper steps to secure a new position, educating yourself on resume writing, and much more.Career change is rarely a pleasant experience. However, if it is handled properly, it will lead to a much happier outcome. Taking the proper steps in resume writing, education and application can help a person to maintain a positive attitude throughout the transition.

Liberate Yourself With a Career Pivot

Free Yourself With a Career Pivot Free Yourself With a Career Pivot The idea of taking a stab at one organization for a long time until the retirement party and the gold watch is currently an antiquated legend. Individuals don't remain in one vocation for their whole lives any longer. Every once in a while, we as a whole need to shake it up, or hazard missing the ways we truly need to follow. I consider my to be as an impressionist painting. Separately, each brushstroke appears to be random to the others, yet saw from a separation, the apparently ambiguous pieces make a gem that no single method could achieve. From Yellow Brick Road to the Road Less Taken Throughout my working life, I have been a researcher, a legal advisor, a store director, and a business person. The excursion between my job as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer to originator and CEO of a web based life SaaS organization and administrator of a speculation firm may appear to be tangled - and I'll concede, abandoning law wanted to hop from a yellow block street onto an unknown soil way from the start. Be that as it may, each move I've made en route has drawn me nearer to new and energizing livelihoods, and at last, to profound, continuing occupation fulfillment. In the event that I had stayed in one situation as opposed to following the calling of the following, I may have gotten more cash-flow, however I likewise would have spent extended periods of time, days, and years working for another person's advantage to the detriment of my own. Deciding to make a turn isn't profession self destruction. In the event that anything, the turns in my vocation have made me a superior expert and a more joyful individual. Individuals who change vocations (and the majority of us do) once in a while lament leaving the unremarkable drudgery of employments that they no longer relate to and discover hard to come back to consistently. Actually, as per one investigation, more than half of all specialists reviewed would pick various vocations in the event that they could begin once more, and just 20 percent were cheerful in their present jobs. Choosing to change professions can be terrifying, yet past that first act of pure trust anticipates unlimited chance. To make sense of in case you're prepared for a lifelong rotate, ask yourself these five inquiries: Is a check the main explanation I work? A few people consider professions to be a way to appreciate life outside of the workplace, yet then burn through a large portion of their waking hours at work. For my situation, by the age of 30, I was making the sort of cash many could just dream of by accomplishing work that many would esteem mentally testing and fulfilling - and I was completely exhausted. I had lost my motivation. In case you're hopeless a large portion of the day, approach yourself what it would take for you to lead a general more joyful life. Do I have a security net? As such, what are the genuine dangers of making a move? On the off chance that you will likely basically keep bouncing to professions while never getting great at anything, at that point you really are taking on significant hazard. With each turn, I was at an apex point - with no place to go yet up, I had a sense of security to make a sidelong move into another calling. This may sound strange, however on the off chance that you are as of now at the pinnacle, at that point you can for the most part come back to it later, if need be. Do you have what it takes and experience to help yourself should your first rotate come up short? Striking out all alone is stimulating, yet ensure you have attractive abilities you can swear by if fundamental. Am I monetarily prepared to rotate? Get a firm comprehension of your monetary circumstance to know how much hazard you can stand to take. Rotating vocations may mean beginning at a pay than you recently delighted in, which frequently implies making money related penances. Ensure you can deal with that change, and be clear about to what extent your assets will last. There is nothing amiss with wagering on yourself, yet set your cutoff points and stick to them. In what manner will this influence my family? Except if you are single and childless, this choice isn't yours alone to make. In the event that you have a family, include them in your choice to turn and discuss transparently with them all through the procedure. Regardless of whether the physical qualities of the change are insignificant (i.e., area, drive, schools), the enthusiastic components cause significant damage. Stress, vulnerability, and a general absence of accessibility are a few (however not the entirety) of the genuine expenses of rolling out an improvement. I have a great spouse and four stunning young men all younger than nine. I made a point to talk transparently with my family - including my kids - and let them be a piece of the arrangement. Realizing I had their full help helped massively when I hit the unavoidable valleys and made arriving at the pinnacles substantially more agreeable. Is the grass extremely greener, or have I just not seen winter yet? It's anything but difficult to romanticize a lifelong switch, so be as intelligent and target as you can about the choice. Imagine you're doing the examination for another person's benefit, and afterward check whether you would prescribe making the transition to that individual. At the point when you do choose to do a switch, set yourself up for progress by meeting with individuals in your new field, building connections, and posing loads of inquiries. On the off chance that your rotate is to a new position, get a firm proposal before plunging into the obscure, and attempt to leave your present job at a high cash point (e.g., after a reward or commission check) to be fit as a fiddle heading into the change. Furthermore, don't cut off ties. Plainly convey your aims to leave face to face. No one can really tell when you may require a future reference from a customer or partner. Separating Advice At whatever point I start another endeavor, I record my objectives and explanations behind creation the change, and I keep that report close by for consolation on the hard days. Try not to think back - continually returning to the past denies you of time you could spend putting resources into your future. In particular, attempt to appreciate the ride as much as the result. You need to be as shrewd about the execution as you are about due persistence to make the whole experience fulfilling, freeing, and instructive. Pause for a minute to praise your valiance, and afterward hurl yourself completely into your energizing new vocation. Afif Khoury is a sequential business person who is right now the organizer and CEO of SOCi, an honor winning internet based life showcasing and content disclosure SaaS stage.