blogs.vault.com/ Mon, 29 April 2019 15:32:00 Mon, 29 April 2019 15:32:00 Leah Thomas via Fairygodboss /blog/workplace-issues/6-hard-lessons-successful-professionals-learn-by-35/#detailed_comment Most professionals who've hit major success milestones before the age of 35 have made it a point to learn the below six lessons. And if you, too, are able to learn them now as opposed to later, you'll find that they'll yield some pretty impressive results. 1. It’s okay to ask for advice. Sometimes we let our fear of looking unprepared or ill-informed keep us from asking for help. But the secret is out: more often than not, everyone else also has no idea what they're doing. So don't be afraid to ask for advice in the workplace. Search for a person you admire and ask for help. 2. Dedicate a certain amount of your week to alone time. You're constantly doing things for others: your partner, your children, your siblings, and your boss. You deserve some “me” time. Dedicate a specific time during the week (or each day) to do what you want to do. If it becomes part of your routine, you're more likely to actually follow through and do it. Go for a run, go for a walk, practice yoga, listen to music, have dinner with a group of friends, catch up on your favorite show, order take-out and give yourself a facial, etc. Do only what you want to do. It will reenergize you. 3. Never stop learning. Some people believe learning ends with school, which is just not true. It's important to continue to learn and grow. And this happens in all aspects of your life, not just at work. Never let your craving for knowledge die. And don’t be afraid to learn from others. They've gone through experiences you have not, which always brings results in you learning new lessons. 4. Leave your comfort zone. While it can be easy and stress-free to stick to your normal activities, there's nothing like the feeling of doing something new and scary for the first time. Allow yourself to be uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable brings the growth and change that keeps your work and life exciting. And you’ll never know if you'll like something until you try it, or how far you can go until you push yourself. 5. If you feel stuck in a rut, it's up to you to get out. Everyone has a bad day at work every once in a while, but if your bad days are outweighing the good, don’t force yourself to stay. If you're no longer feeling challenged, and you’ve lost that passion that brought you into the office every day to begin with, find that former passion elsewhere. 6. You can’t please everyone. This is a lesson you might have to remind yourself of frequently in life. It can be human nature to try to make everyone around you happier, especially in the workplace, but that is just not possible. The most you can do is try your hardest, give your full effort to tasks, and be nice to those with whom you interact. Everything else is beyond your control. A version of this post previously appeared on  Fairygodboss , the largest career community that helps women get the inside scoop on pay, corporate culture, benefits, and work flexibility. Founded in 2015, Fairygodboss offers company ratings, job listings, discussion boards, and career advice. /blog/workplace-issues/6-hard-lessons-successful-professionals-learn-by-35/ /blog/workplace-issues/6-hard-lessons-successful-professionals-learn-by-35/ Mon, 29 April 2019 15:32:00 /blog/workplace-issues/3-things-youre-doing-wrong-when-giving-performance-feedback-to-your-team/#detailed_comment It's commonly though that, when giving performance reviews, all you have to do is point out employees’ mistakes so they can fix them. However, this is exactly what you shouldn't do, according to Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, co-authors of the new book Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World .  Recently, Buckingham (head of people and performance research at the ADP Research Institute) and Goodall (senior vice president of leadership and team intelligence at Cisco Systems) published an article in the Harvard Business Review about the right and wrong ways to give performance reviews; they were also the subjects of a related HBR podcast . Culled from that article (“The Feedback Fallacy”) and podcast (“What Managers Get Wrong About Feedback”), here are three things you’re likely doing wrong when reviewing the performance of your team.  1. Focusing on mistakes, not successes.   Buckingham and Goodall say this is the most glaring error that leaders make when giving performance feedback. According to B. & G., at best, pointing out mistakes leads to a mistake-free employee, and mistake-free “isn’t the same as great, and it’s not the same as excellent.” They add, “Excellence is also not the opposite of failure … Eradicating depression will get you no closer to joy. Divorce is mute on the topic of happy marriage. Exit interviews with employees who leave tell you nothing about why others stay. If you study failure, you’ll learn a lot about failure but nothing about how to achieve excellence. Excellence has its own pattern.”  Instead of mistakes, B. & G. recommend focusing on what employees are doing well, when they’ve performed successfully. This is not to make them feel better but to let them know when they’re on their own unique path to success. Ideally, the goal of feedback should not be a “tidy adherence to a procedure agreed upon in advance,” but rather “people contributing their own unique and growing talents to a common good, when that good is ever-evolving.”  To further illustrate this point, B. & G. point to legendary Dallas Cowboy Head Coach Tom Landry. Before the Cowboys were “America’s Team” and a two-time Super Bowl Champion, they were a terrible team (they went winless in Landry’s first season). Supposedly, part of the turnaround that Landry led had to do with how he reviewed his team’s performance. Instead of reviewing where each player went wrong—the missed tackles, missed kicks, dropped passes, fumbles, interceptions—he created a personal highlight reel for each player only including his successful plays. Landry believed there were an infinite number of ways to do something wrong but just a fixed number of doing something right.  Landry’s focus, B. & G. point out, wasn’t on praise but learning. According to B. & G., “His instincts told him that each person would improve his performance most if he could see, in slow motion, what his own personal version of excellence looked like.”  2. Saying "good job." Telling employees they’re doing a “good job” is about as useful as pointing out their mistakes, according to B. & G. Using vague praise like this doesn’t give them a concrete idea of where they went right or when they were on the path to success. So, instead of (or in addition to) saying "good job," explain in detail what that good job entailed, getting as specific as you can. And what will help you do this is giving feedback in real-time. B. & G. recommend “describing what you experienced when [an employee's] moment of excellence caught your attention.”  For example, say that you and someone on your staff who works in sales had a conference call with a client. And during that call, this salesperson made some excellent points that seemed to land well with the client. As soon as you get off the call, tell the salesperson exactly what they said that landed well. In addition, if the way in which what was said also impressed you, pass that along too. Again, the reason to get specific is not to make an employee feel good but to give her an idea of when she’s on the right track and how exactly she’s performing well. That way, she can replicate that success and build on it. According to B. & G., studies show that weaknesses don’t turn into strengths, but strengths can be made stronger.  Of course, there’s a time and place for not-so-rosy feedback. But how you go about giving critical feedback is crucial. “In the example of communication skills,” according to B. & G., “you can always say: here’s where I lost you. You can’t say: speak like this, even if it’s removing a liability.” In other words, get specific; it’s the only way to help your team member. A “good job” and a “poor job” will amount to the same thing: no progress.  A final note on this point (and maybe something to commit to memory): B. & G. recommend that managers “stop thinking of ‘good job’ as the end of the conversation and start thinking of it as the beginning of a conversation … the beauty is what comes after that.”  3. Not speaking about your own perception. B. & G. strongly believe that most numerical performance reviews are ineffective and inaccurate, filled with human error. And so, once-a-year and 360-degree performance reviews that include various ratings and figures, judging employees in various categories, are, at best, useless, and, at worst, killing productivity and squashing success.  Here’s B. & G. on why these types of reviews are problematic: “Study after study [shows] that people don’t have the objectivity to hold in their heads a stable definition of an abstract quality, such as  business acumen  or  assertiveness ,  and then accurately evaluate someone else on it. Our evaluations are deeply colored by our own understanding of what we’re rating others on, our own sense of what good looks like for a particular competency, our harshness or leniency as raters, and our own inherent and unconscious biases.”  And so, the way to fight against this inability, leniency, and bias—and the only way to get at the truth of someone’s performance—is to focus on your personal experience and reaction to someone’s work. This was alluded to above in the conference call example, and here’s B. & G. expanding on it: "While simple praise isn’t a bad thing, you are by no means the authority on what objectively good performance is, and instinctively [an employee] knows this … There’s nothing more believable and more authoritative than sharing what you saw from her and how it made you feel. Use phrases such as ‘This is how that came across for me,’ or ‘This is what that made me think,’ or even just ‘Did you see what you did there?’ Those are your reactions—they are your truth—and when you relay them in specific detail, you aren’t judging or rating or fixing her; you’re simply reflecting to her the unique ‘dent’ she just made in the world, as seen through your eyes.”  B. & G. note that the reason this type of feedback lands so well with employees is because it’s not a judgment and doesn’t have a number attached to it. Which, they say, makes it “at once more humble and more powerful.”  As for what B. & G. recommend companies do when it comes to improving their performance review systems, above all else B. & G. urge leaders not to ignore their employees. B. & G. strongly support frequent feedback, as opposed to the old once-a-year performance review system. And they’re optimistic that reviews are moving in the right direction, saying that the “constant always-on sort of feedback movement we’re in the middle of now is trying to fix [the old system] by giving people more ongoing attention.” /blog/workplace-issues/3-things-youre-doing-wrong-when-giving-performance-feedback-to-your-team/ /blog/workplace-issues/3-things-youre-doing-wrong-when-giving-performance-feedback-to-your-team/ Thu, 25 April 2019 15:59:00 Brad Wayland /blog/workplace-issues/how-to-create-a-healthy-work-life-balance-as-a-remote-employee/#detailed_comment Working from home or remotely can be pretty fantastic. There’s little to no commute to worry about. Coworkers don’t distract you from your tasks. And you have the freedom to listen to your favorite songs, wear your favorite clothes, and kick your feet up even as you do your job. On the other hand, working remotely can be taxing. There’s no reason to go outside, and there are no colleagues or supervisors to keep you focused or provide you with some much-needed human contact. If you’re not careful, there’s only one way this ends: burnout. The good news is that because I’m so familiar with burnout—because I’m so familiar with the havoc that a poor work-life balance can wreak on a remote worker’s life—I know exactly what you need to do to avoid it. 1. Keep Your Office and Living Quarters Separate Your environment has a huge influence on how you think and feel. Take clutter, for example. It’s been proven time and again that even when you aren’t directly aware of it, disorganized surroundings can cause stress, shame, and distraction . They can kill your productivity just as surely as your mood.  In that same vein, if you don’t clearly separate your workspace and your leisure space, you’re going to constantly be thinking of the former—even when you’re actively engaged in the latter. You need to dedicate an area of your home, however small, to serve as an office. Ideally, this should be an entire room.  If you don’t have space for that, you can get creative. Buy some portable wall dividers. Get a small desk or table that you only take out when it’s time to work. You can even take things a step further and use separate devices for work and personal time—or just have separate logins.  The important thing is that you establish an association. If you’re in your office, you’re working. If you have your work desk out, you’re working. And it should go without saying that, in both cases, take great pains to keep things organized. Because, again: clutter.   2. Establish Clear Working Hours   Something I see a lot of telecommuters struggling with—especially those that are self-employed—is the ability to say “no.” They seem to operate on the belief that they need to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That isn’t healthy.  If you’re a remote, full-time employee, you should work when everyone at the office is working. For the self-employed, figure out the hours when you’re most productive. In both cases, that’s your window. That’s when you’re at your desk, when you’re available to respond to work emails or accept incoming requests. Anything that comes up outside these pre-established hours can very likely wait until later. And when the clock runs out, your workday is finished. Stop what you’re doing. It’s time to relax.  Sure, there will be situations where you need to put in a bit of overtime. These can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Most of the time, however, there’s something to be said for learning the word “no.”  To help you better keep to your hours, I’d advise setting an alarm. Once that goes off, shut off your work devices, mute any work notifications, and relax. Give your personal number out sparingly to clients and supervisors for when there’s an emergency and they have to reach you.  Otherwise, just remember that the world isn’t going to burn down simply because you took some time off.   3. Take Care of Your Mind and Body You wouldn’t expect a car to run without a well-maintained engine, gas, and regular oil changes. Yet for some reason, plenty of remote employees are perfectly fine with sacrificing sleep, food, and physical health in the interest of their career. I have one word for anyone doing that: stop.   Your body is a machine like any other, and your mind relies on your body to function. If you don’t take proper care of both, you’ll be less productive at best. At worst, you might end up with some serious health problems.   Find some exercise you enjoy doing, and do it regularly. Practice meditation. Start doing meal prep instead of constantly ordering in. And don’t ever sacrifice sleep just to get a few more hours in at the office.  Fitness, diet, and sleep habits aside, the level of social isolation that often comes with self-employment isn’t healthy for anyone. Even the most extreme introverts need to see a friendly face every once in a while. For that reason, I strongly recommend pursuing a few hobbies that get you out of the house.Join a club. Start going for runs. Even just visiting the coffee shop every day to sit and drink some tea can go a long way towards staving off cabin fever.  A final note   Working from home is pretty awesome, but it can seem akin to a prison sentence if you let it. The key is to establish healthy boundaries. To actively separate your career from your personal life, and ensure your home remainsa home rather than becoming another office. Brad Wayland is the Chief Strategy Officer at  BlueCotton , a site with high-quality, easy-to-design custom t-shirts. /blog/workplace-issues/how-to-create-a-healthy-work-life-balance-as-a-remote-employee/ /blog/workplace-issues/how-to-create-a-healthy-work-life-balance-as-a-remote-employee/ Tue, 23 April 2019 09:29:00 Heather Taylor via Fairygodboss /blog/workplace-issues/3-lunch-break-routines-that-boost-productivity/#detailed_comment Arianna Huffington enjoys eating breakfast foods for lunch. Oprah Winfrey always tries to have lunch in her garden—and will only eat food found in her garden. Michelle Obama likes to pack her own lunches and watches viral videos during her meals. Routines—whether they’re of the morning, lunch, or commute variety—are unique for every worker. We may brush routines off because, well, they're routines, and so seem quite ordinary. However, simple routines, especially lunch break routines, can contribute to your overall productivity and success. So if you need to spice up yours, take a cue from one of these three lunch break routines. 1. Read while eating, then brainstorm. Taylor Mack is the owner of two online businesses including an online bookstore called SilverFire Books. She works from home but sticks to the same schedule she had when she worked a full-time job. Mack carves out at least 30 minutes each day to read, and usually does her reading as she eats. This is a win-win approach for Mack, no matter how busy she gets. “This allows my brain to reset and helps me re-focus for the rest of the day," she says. "Eating re-energizes me and gets my ideas flowing. I love to brainstorm new blog posts or marketing strategies while I eat!” 2. Eat, then move (or move, then eat). Take a break to eat, then get moving afterwards (or vice versa). This is how Mary Jo Fasan—CEO and founder of Jo Chicago Communications—recommends making the most out of a lunch breaj. Use pockets of time in a 60-minute lunch break to go for a bike ride, or spend some time in a yoga studio to beat the afternoon slump. “Taking an afternoon break to move reduces stress, clears your mind, and leaves you with an energy boost perfect for sparking creativity,” Fasan says. “There’s no roadblock a little sweat-sesh can’t solve!” 3. Sketch (or do some other crafty activity) while eating outside. Katie Schmidt is the owner and lead designer of Passion Lilie, an ethical clothing boutique. Unlike others that may decide to work straight through lunch, Schmidt uses her break to take time away from the job—and to use that time in a productive and creative manner. Once Schmidt is ready to break for lunch, she shifts her mind over to creative work. Schmidt takes her lunches outdoors where she can enjoy the weather and draw inspiration from nature. Towards the end of the lunch break, she takes the time to brainstorm new ideas, seek out surrounding inspiration, and sketch new designs. She’ll also jot down new work or design ideas that come to her during this time. Most of all, Schmidt uses her lunch hour to focus on herself. It may sound a bit obvious, but think about it: when was the last time you focused just on yourself during the workday? “Time away helps me clear my head and bring a fresh perspective to the table," she says. "Some of my best ideas come to me when I’m not on the clock!” A version of this post previously appeared on  Fairygodboss , the largest career community that helps women get the inside scoop on pay, corporate culture, benefits, and work flexibility. Founded in 2015, Fairygodboss offers company ratings, job listings, discussion boards, and career advice. /blog/workplace-issues/3-lunch-break-routines-that-boost-productivity/ /blog/workplace-issues/3-lunch-break-routines-that-boost-productivity/ Mon, 22 April 2019 15:20:00 /blog/workplace-issues/5-self-sabotaging-habits-to-break-your-first-day-on-the-job/#detailed_comment We all have our bad habits—recurring behaviors or unshakeable thoughts that creep into our daily routines and interactions with others. If we’re lucky, these habits simply present minor nuisances that we need to navigate throughout our day-to-day. At worst, our bad habits become stumbling blocks that get in the way of our own progress. They can interfere with our goals, our social interactions, and even growth in our careers. Self-sabotaging is when a bad habit interferes with your long-term goals, creating problems for yourself that threaten to derail you. Self-sabotaging behavior can manifest in virtually any aspect of your life, but it can be particularly damaging to your job. When you self-sabotage at work, you risk impeding your success and ability to do your job. This is especially true for people starting a new job, where it’s important to make a strong first impression and learn everything you need to do your job right. Bad habits are hard to break, but putting in the effort and perseverance can make all the difference. Here are five self-sabotaging habits you should try breaking from the outset before they hinder you at your new job. Being afraid to ask questions. Nobody likes to come across like they’re asking too many questions. But there’s truth to that old phrase you heard in school: “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.” Being afraid to ask questions leaves you ill-informed and unprepared. Maybe you’re shy, or maybe you want to impress your new coworkers by presenting yourself as a fast learner. But what’s the best way to learn something quickly? By asking questions. When you’re being trained on the functions of your new job, nobody expects you to already know everything. Even if you’re qualified for the role (and remember: you are, if you got the job), there will be gaps in your knowledge. The people training you expect you to have questions. If anything, asking those questions leaves the best impression by demonstrating curiosity, a desire to learn, and an appreciation for the complexity of the role. If you ever feel too afraid to ask a question, first ask yourself, “is this something I can figure out on my own?” “How much more prepared will I be if I have this information?” Remember that your coworkers are there to help you thrive—in many cases, your success is for the betterment of the team. And if something feels too easy, and you’re embarrassed to ask for clarification, remember that the person training you has been in your position. The only reason it seems to come easily to them is because they’ve been through that same training. Second-guessing everything you do. It’s normal, especially when you’re new, to think twice before hitting “send” on an email or marking a task as complete. In fact, it’s helpful to take a few extra moments to review your work during the learning process. But many self-saboteurs are almost afraid to have confidence in anything they do. They doubt every word choice in an email or decision on a project to the point that it hinders their performance. They can’t speak for their work with confidence. They may even find themselves becoming the bottleneck in the workflow as their productivity slows while holding onto work they’re not ready to let go of. Learning to stop second-guessing yourself requires a willingness to trust your work to speak for itself. It’s a habit you break over time and with experience, as you get the hang of things and build faith in yourself. In the beginning, it might help to have somebody take a look at something before you send it off—either a peer or a manager. If it passes their inspection, chances are you don’t have to question what you’ve done. If they have feedback, at least you can trust that it came from an objective source as opposed to your own second-guessing. Being a perfectionist. There’s been a recent reevaluation of the emphasis our culture places on perfection, with many experts agreeing that perfectionism is actually a destructive mindset . We measure our success and our talents, both on the job and in our personal lives, against standards of perfection that are virtually impossible to meet. This can lead to self-doubt and lower self-esteem, among other negative consequences. Nobody’s saying that paying attention to detail or wanting to take pride in your work is a bad thing. These traits can help you succeed in your new job. But striving for perfection is an unrealistic goal, and holding yourself to those standards can leave you feeling anxious, inadequate, and yes, make you second guess yourself. Do the best you can. Understand that mistakes are occasionally made, and embrace criticism so you can learn (perfections often take constructive criticism personally). Don’t beat yourself up if your work isn’t perfect, because nobody else’s is either, and try to be more mindful of your strengths and weaknesses to turn them into opportunities. Gossiping. Of all the bad habits on this list, this one might seem like the most obvious, but for people who participate in gossip, it can be hard to even realize when you’re doing it. Office gossip is almost unavoidable, but for new hires in particular, it’s important to avoid adding fuel to the fire whenever possible. Of course you want to be able to engage in pleasant conversation with your coworkers, and you certainly can, but entering into gossip doesn’t reflect too well on you. When you gossip, you portray yourself as somebody who can’t be trusted—someone who enjoys drama and is all too quick to instigate it. Add to that the fact that when your coworkers are talking about interoffice politics or drama, you may end up commenting on situations where you don’t know the full story. This can rub people the wrong way and burn bridges. Again, not everyone who gossips realizes they’re doing it—many people feel like they’re just participating in normal conversation. If you’re in a situation where somebody is talking about something else in the office, ask yourself, “could what they’re saying be construed as hurtful or disparaging?” “Does this situation concern me?” “Am I hearing a lot of ‘don’t tell so-and-so I said this, but …’?” When in doubt, keep your two cents to yourself. Giving in to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is an unrelenting fear that you don’t belong where you are. Perhaps you think you’re unqualified for your position, or that you got the job by mistake. More than just self-doubt or second-guessing, a person with imposter syndrome believes they’re inadequate, and lives in constant anxiety that they’re about to be exposed as a “fraud.” Imposter syndrome can have crippling emotional effects, causing you to talk negatively to yourself and fall into a pattern of behavior that interferes with your work. According to Psychology Today , imposter syndrome prevents people from “ internalizing their accomplishments .” While actual imposter syndrome is a psychological term, many of us struggle with the same sense of inadequacy and inability to recognize our own successes. When this happens, it’s important to take a step back and focus on the value you bring to your team. Whether that means sitting down and forcing yourself to write down every accomplishment and contribution you’ve made, it’s important to focus on each victory as an affirmation that you belong where you are. Allow yourself to take credit for your successes, and remind yourself that you wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t do the job. Make an effort to stop comparing yourself to other coworkers, and be proactive about developing your “weaknesses”—try to see them as opportunities as opposed to negatives. /blog/workplace-issues/5-self-sabotaging-habits-to-break-your-first-day-on-the-job/ /blog/workplace-issues/5-self-sabotaging-habits-to-break-your-first-day-on-the-job/ Mon, 22 April 2019 13:29:00 /blog/workplace-issues/3-rules-for-writing-important-work-emails/#detailed_comment All work emails are not created equally. Some you dash off in all lower case w/o a care if you abbreviate words or mistakenly include "their" for "there" or "it's" for "its." While others you need to take your time to write, capitalizing the first letter of each sentence, using paragraph breaks, including proper punctuation, ensuring your spelling and grammar are impeccable, and striking the perfect tone. As for these latter emails, here are my essential rules for crafting high-quality important work emails. 1. Read your email aloud. This is a trick that writers have employed for centuries in order to get their prose just so. And it's a trick that you should employ when writing important work emails. The reason why it's so effective is it allows you to detect problems in your writing that you might not otherwise have noticed. Reading aloud gives you a different perspective, allowing you to see (hear) your writing differently. Chances are, reading aloud will not only highlight mistakes you haven't seen but also highlight ways you can improve your email. Reading aloud also offers particular insight into the tone of your writing. When you read your email aloud, you'll be hearing it not unlike your recipient is hearing it (inside their own head) when they read it for the first time. This is important because when writing and sending important work emails, your email's effectiveness will be judged on what you write as well as how you write. That said, it's not always possible in a cubicle/open-plan world to read aloud every important email. So, if you're unable to take your email outside (in a draft folder on your phone, say) or into an empty conference room, try reading aloud in your head. Maybe mouth the words, too. Remember, writing is musical. There's a sound to each vowel, each consonant, each word and phrase, and these sounds all play a big part in how your writing is perceived. 2. Imagine you're the recipient. Building on #1 above, when you read and re-read your important work emails before sending them, make sure, at least once, to read them as though you're on the receiving end. That is, put yourself in the position of the person you're sending the email to, and read it like you're that person. Try to imagine how that person will perceive your email. Like reading your email aloud, a benefit of playing the part of recipient is you'll be able to detect the tone of your email. Does it come across as too formal, too informal, too business-like, too friendly? Of course, before you can adjust your email accordingly once you detect its tone, you'll need to know the tone you're going for. So, ask yourself this question as you write, re-read, and edit. Another benefit of acting as recipient is you'll read your email more slowly, allowing you to detect other issues in your writing that you might have overlooked. Typically, when we're re-reading and editing a piece of our own writing, we tend to read quickly and skim, often missing obvious mistakes. So, reading your important email as if for the first time forces you to slow down so you can find mistakes, or just find places where your message can be improved. 3. Be positive before negative but quickly get to the point. Say you have to email someone to tell them they didn't get the job. Or you have to email a coworker to tell them to take another crack at that report, that it's not quite what you were looking for. In both instances, it can be helpful for you, and for the recipient, if you begin your email on a positive note. So, first tell the job candidate that they were a strong candidate, that their candidacy was seriously considered, that they were liked by many people on staff. Then get into the meat of the email: that unfortunately, you're unable to offer them the position. Likewise, with your coworker, first point out the parts of the report that were done well before getting into the part about their having to start over. The reason to start on a positive note is not necessarily to soften the blow that's coming in your email (though that does have that effect) but to create a more honest, truthful email. The truth is the recipient of your email was a solid candidate and will be a great employee, albeit somewhere else at this time. And the truth is your coworker did a decent job in some areas of the report but the report needs to be improved or altered. (Note that you don't want to lie here; if it's untrue that there are positive points, don't be afraid to simply get to the meat of your email). Further, as you might have noticed yourself, it's much easier to digest negative news or criticism if it's preceded by positive news or feedback. Otherwise, all a recipient hears is the negative news; the positive news that follows gets drowned out by the negative news or criticism. And thus, the truth of your email is somewhat tainted. That said, it's important not to sugarcoat your email. While it can be a good thing to start with positivity, don't overdo it. Include one or two sentences at most before you get into the meat of your email, otherwise you'll risk sounding insincere. And, perhaps above all else, you never want an important email to come across as insincere. /blog/workplace-issues/3-rules-for-writing-important-work-emails/ /blog/workplace-issues/3-rules-for-writing-important-work-emails/ Tue, 16 April 2019 15:47:00 Taylor Tobin via Fairygodboss /blog/workplace-issues/5-subtle-signs-youre-a-problem-employee/#detailed_comment The phrase “problem employee" typically conjures negative traits such as an outright defiance to managers, poor job performance, and a glaring lack of reliability. However, a problem employee isn’t always a blatant disaster. Sometimes, more subtle negative behaviors can turn a once-promising worker into a manager’s worst nightmare. If you're wondering whether you might fall into this dubious category, these five signs could indicate your standing as a problem employee, or one in the making. 1. You have trouble finding past managers willing to serve as references for you. Generally, high-performing managers and supervisors eagerly accept the opportunity to provide references for excellent employees when those people are ready to move on. So if you’re getting ready to apply for a new role and find that multiple managers from your past can’t (or won’t) be references for you, that may suggest that you didn’t make as positive an impression on those bosses as you previously believed. 2. You can’t think of a single boss you’ve liked. Think back on the last several bosses you’ve had. Can you honestly say that you liked (or, at least, enjoyed working for) any of them? If the answer is a resounding “no,” it’s worth looking at the relationships you formed with these people and considering whether your distaste relates to those people in particular, or to the concept of authority in general. 3. You do exactly what’s required of you, and never anything more. Of course, being a good employee doesn’t require logging excessive hours and performing work tasks that far surpass your job description. However, if, when asked to help with a project that isn’t technically your responsibility, your immediate reaction resembles, “That’s not my job,” it becomes difficult for your boss and coworkers to view you as a team player. 4. You’re very invested in office gossip. Office gossip occurs in the majority of workplaces, and when it’s kept to a minimum and involves fairly innocuous topics, it rarely causes a problem. But if you make it your mission to hunt down and collect the latest rumors about your coworkers and then proceed to spread them like wildfire, you’re contributing to a toxic environment that reflects poorly on your professional value. 5. When you make a mistake, you seek someone else to blame rather than accepting responsibility. Everyone makes the occasional misstep at work, and reasonable managers know that to err is human. The way that you handle your mistake often says more about you as an employee than the mistake itself. Therefore, when your boss asks you about a mistake you’ve made and you immediately scramble for a scapegoat to blame, rather than accepting responsibility and sharing a plan for rectifying the error, it will likely lead your supervisor to question your judgment as well as your trustworthiness. A version of this post previously appeared on  Fairygodboss , the largest career community that helps women get the inside scoop on pay, corporate culture, benefits, and work flexibility. Founded in 2015, Fairygodboss offers company ratings, job listings, discussion boards, and career advice. /blog/workplace-issues/5-subtle-signs-youre-a-problem-employee/ /blog/workplace-issues/5-subtle-signs-youre-a-problem-employee/ Mon, 15 April 2019 15:33:00 /blog/workplace-issues/10-awesome-spotify-playlists-to-listen-to-at-work/#detailed_comment Everyone works differently—some people can’t get anything done unless it’s quiet, while others prefer the white noise of a coffee shop or busy office. Plenty of us are music folk—be it to drown out unwelcome noise or just to give us a little something to groove to through a long afternoon. So we’ve collected some of the best playlists on Spotify to listen to at work or while you study. Classical Essentials You knew this was coming. Mozart won’t actually make you smarter (not in any significant way, at least), but classical music is complex enough to be interesting while usually quiet enough that it doesn’t pull focus away from your work. Film & TV Favorites I actually like this playlist better than its classical cousin—maybe because I know more of the songs. Movie scores are often relatively nonintrusive but always entertaining. Think of it as the common man’s classical. Binaural Beats: Focus Full disclosure: I don’t care for brainwave entrainment (binaural beats or its buddy, isochronic tones). I’m so used to music that I find it distracting since there’s no musical pattern. But some people out there swear that brainwave entrainment has changed their work habits. So give it a shot, see if you like it! Swagger If you dig a groovy bassline and more than a touch of Americana, then “Swagger” is definitely for you. Steady rhythms are great for focus—deviation from the beat you expect can be majorly distracting, and while the songs on this list are relatively straightforward, they’re pretty dang good. Instrumental Pop Covers If a song holds up when you strip it down to a simple piano or acoustic guitar solo, it’s probably an awesome song. This playlist takes all the hits and brings them down to something more relaxing than when you pump up the jams in your car. Video Game Masterpieces Okay, hear me out. Video game music is actually designed to make you focus —that’s how they keep you playing. It’s not all chip-tune stuff anymore, either (the beep-boop music you associate with games from the olden times)—think more along the lines of grand, sweeping scores. And maybe some chip-tune. 80s Smash Hits I mean … duh, right? Nothing pumps you up quite like '80s pop tunes. If Whitney Houston and Wham! don't perk you up enough to get you through a grueling data-entry session, then I have no idea how to help you. Low-Fi Beats If you’re looking for something a little chiller, but by no means lacking in style, check out these hip-hop-inspired tracks. They’re perfect for bobbing along to, and by and large lack any vocal parts you might find distracting. Brain Food Another chill playlist, though this one leans more towards the electronica side of things. I personally can’t get enough synths and drum machines, so these instrumentals are my go-to when I need to get stuff done ASAP. Feel Good Friday Exactly what it says on the tin—all your favorite jams in one spot, from the new stuff to the throwbacks. Try not to sing your way through your Friday afternoon. /blog/workplace-issues/10-awesome-spotify-playlists-to-listen-to-at-work/ /blog/workplace-issues/10-awesome-spotify-playlists-to-listen-to-at-work/ Tue, 09 April 2019 15:13:00 Cassandra Pratt via Fairygodboss /blog/workplace-issues/3-tips-for-telling-your-boss-youre-bored/#detailed_comment More than half of employees are looking for new jobs , and "not being challenged" is a top reason people leave their jobs. But before you go looking for a new position, consider speaking to your current manager first. Maybe he or she isn't aware that you're no longer engaged at work, and maybe you could alter your position to make it more attractive. That said, before you walk up to your boss to say that you’re bored, take some time to plan out the conversation. It’s an important topic, and deserves extra thought to ensure you can clearly explain your position and your solution. Here are three important steps to take. 1. Evaluate what you do on a daily basis. Identify the most boring and repetitious aspects of your position. Then identify your strengths . You can ask a coworker to also identify your top strengths to give you an outside perspective. Are their aspects of what you do that a more junior person may view as a challenge? This may free up your time to work on something new. 2. Identify what you want. Is it a new challenge, with increased opportunity for learning a new skill or learning a different area of the business? Do you feel that the role you’re in now is a mismatch for your skills? Are you looking for an immediate or future promotion? 3. Come up with solutions. Yes, multiple solutions; at a minimum, two. You want this to be a constructive conversation. If you come to the table with only one solution, it could be viewed as an ultimatum. By providing multiple solutions, you’re able to direct the conversation and show that you’re open to a variety of possibilities and you’re willing to work towards the best outcome for you and the team. Keep the conversation positive. By providing solutions and staying positive you’ll be viewed as a problem solver rather than someone who just doesn’t like their job. If you’re looking for more responsibilities: identify potential projects or improvement areas for your team that you could lead. Think about what you’d like to gain from the experiences as well. What new skill or perspective will you gain? How will that help your career now and in the future? If you’re looking for a promotion : identify opportunities within your company that you think you’re a good fit for based on your strengths. Don’t just invent a new job; create a framework to build on what you’ve done and explain a positive outcome that will be created for the team based on this opportunity. Schedule the conversation: Set aside 45 minutes to an hour. Know that the conversation might need a second meeting after you’ve presented your insights. Be open and honest: Be transparent in both what bores you currently and what challenges lie ahead. Don’t try to sugar coat or hide any potential obstacle you may face. You want to build trust with the conversation. There is always a learning curve with new opportunities. Make it a long-term plan, not a quick fix: If you’re looking to walk out of the first meeting with a well-defined new career path, you will probably be disappointed. Think of this as a leap forward in enhancing your career with your company. A quick fix won’t provide lasting challenges or results. You want to create a plan that will grow with you in the future. That needs a regular assessment to ensure it stays aligned with your goals and the company’s goals. A final note The CEO at a prior company told me one of his biggest frustrations was when a high performer would come to him to resign without ever having a conversation like the one above. It’s impossible to read people’s minds, and managers and leaders want to know when someone is willing to take on more responsibility. Before you give up on your company and become part of the 51 percent looking for new jobs, give your boss an opportunity to meet the challenge. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised by the outcome, and, if not, you’ll know you gave it your best. A version of this post previously appeared on  Fairygodboss , the largest career community that helps women get the inside scoop on pay, corporate culture, benefits, and work flexibility. Founded in 2015, Fairygodboss offers company ratings, job listings, discussion boards, and career advice. /blog/workplace-issues/3-tips-for-telling-your-boss-youre-bored/ /blog/workplace-issues/3-tips-for-telling-your-boss-youre-bored/ Mon, 08 April 2019 15:28:00 Smith Willas /blog/workplace-issues/7-ways-to-fight-workplace-stress/#detailed_comment Today, a vast number of professionals face stress in the workplace. As a result, their health is at serious risk, not to mention their productivity. Factors that can cause workplace stress include: low salaries, excess workload, few opportunities for growth, lack of engagement, lack of social support, little control over job-related decisions, and unclear performance expectations. Whatever the cause might be, it’s important to combat workplace stress , or else you’ll eventually fall ill and your work performance will suffer.  To help you prevent that from happening, here are several steps you can take to minimize workplace stress.  1. Identify stressors   First, determine which circumstances create the most stress and how you react to them. To accomplish this, record your feelings, thoughts, and any other information about the atmosphere at work. Taking notes will help you identify stressors so you can eventually respond to them in a healthier manner.  2. Develop healthy habits   Make healthy choices—get rid of the alcohol, smoking, and processed food. Get a lot of exercise and meditate regularly. With a meditation practice, you’ll have more control over your body and mind, and you’ll stay calmer under pressure. Also, spending time with family members, having sound sleep at night, and carving out time for hobbies can help you fight stress and bring more calm into your life.  3. Reward yourself   Reward yourself even for small achievements. This will make you feel good about yourself and, in turn, will reduce your stress level. One way to do this is by presenting yourself with personalized stickers  when you achieve something at work or in your personal life. The stickers are a great way to remind you of your accomplishments, helping to keep you in a positive mindset and motivated.  4. Create boundaries   In a digital world, it’s too easy to be available for 24/7. As a result, you need to set boundaries in your professional (and personal) life. Leave your work issues at the office when you head home. Avoid answering calls during dinner. Stay away from devices when you’re with your family members. And strictly say no to the devices at bedtime.  5. Talk to your boss   Your health directly affects your productivity at work. Being less productive can trigger your chance of losing out on a raise or promotion; it can even get you fired. So, don’t be afraid to talk to your seniors, supervisors, or boss about the issues you’re having at work. Talk about your work atmosphere, incentive plan, salary increments, or promotion—whatever is directly linked to your work and productivity. By talking to seniors or your boss, you’ll get clearer about the issues affecting your work, and this will help you get rid of a lot of workplace stress.  6. Organize your workspace   Are you a naturally disorganized person? If so, try to change your nature—gradually. Getting organized can greatly reduce your stress at work, but you won’t change your nature overnight. First, take stock of your desk, office, or workspace. Then try to organize it better. Once you’ve done that, attempt to keep it organized. Eventually, you’ll see that you'll be able to quickly find things when you need them, making you more efficient, thus reducing some of your stress.  7. Get support   Sometimes you might find that you need outside help to combat stress. If so, don’t be afraid to go to friends or colleagues to ask for support. It’s likely that your firm has an employee assistance program. Through that, you can access stress management resources like an online counselor or mental health professional. With access to these resources, you’ll likely be able to decrease your stress level, as well as create a plan to fight stress in the future.  Smith Willas is a freelance writer, blogger, and digital media journalist. He has a management degree in Supply Chain & Operations Management and Marketing and boasts a wide-ranging background in digital media. You can follow him on  Twitter . /blog/workplace-issues/7-ways-to-fight-workplace-stress/ /blog/workplace-issues/7-ways-to-fight-workplace-stress/ Thu, 04 April 2019 16:06:00