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Tune In: Podcasts to Help You Build Your Team

This week, I thought I’d share a handful of my favorite podcasts. When you’re working to build a strong team, knowledge is everything. Podcasts are an easy and convenient way to stay informed and inspired. From learning what attracts top talent to strengthening your skills as a leader, podcasts can offer a wealth of tips, advice, and insights. Here are a few I’d recommend:

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review’s podcast, IdeaCast, features some of the top minds in management and business. It isn’t solely focused on hiring, but then again, if you’re leading a team, neither are you. There are many episodes that address specifically recruiting-related topics, like episode 610, “Hiring the Best People”, but you’ll also find a wide variety of information that will help you strengthen the team you already have, making attracting new talent even easier.

Joblogues

I like this podcast because it gives an inside glimpse into what talented young professionals are looking for. It isn’t going to give you specific recruiting tips, but instead, it will help you better understand the candidates you want to hire. This information comes in handy everywhere from creating job descriptions and recruiting messages to designing the interview process. You’ll also hear interesting and inspiring stories from successful professionals around the globe. It’s a great podcast to help you stay up to date and current with your candidate pool.

Hiring on All Cylinders

This podcast is specifically focused on recruiting. They feature top thought leaders, and while some of the interviews delve deep into the specifics of recruiting, they also offer great insights for managers who are ready to bring new hires onto their team, whether they’re leading the recruiting efforts or not. Episodes like “Entelo’s Own Kelly Hale on Employee Referrals” and “On Similarities Between Recruiting & Sales” offer an interesting look into how to hire the best people for the job.

The Nice Guys on Business Podcast

Hosts Doug Sandler and Strickland Bonner warn that their show “is not for the proper, politically correct, or those with a weak constitution”. If you’re okay with the occasional four-letter word and are looking for a valuable podcast that’s also highly entertaining, these are your guys. The foundation of the podcast is about growing your business based on values. They’ll share practical strategies around communication, relationship building, and success. As I mentioned before, building a strong team requires looking internally at the team you have now in addition to looking externally for new talent. This podcast shares valuable insights to help you do both.

Awesome Office

This might be my top recommendation of the five. A few weeks ago, I talked about the importance of office culture in building a great team. This podcast interviews some of today’s best leaders to bring you key insights into what defines a thriving office culture. Expect discussion around things like employee appreciation and the art of hiring. They recently merged with Brand Builder to deliver an equally great podcast, though you can still access all of their original episodes as well.

 

If you’re looking to lead a high-performing team, staying informed is key. These podcasts offer practical and honest perspectives on some of the most important topics when it comes to growing that team. You don’t have to start from the beginning — scroll through their most recent episodes and dive into the one that interests you most. Do you have any podcast recommendations? Share your favorites!

Beat Procrastination, Once and For All

You’ve probably heard the proverb, ‘‘tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week”. And if you’re a busy professional, perhaps it rings true. It’s not typically due to a lack of motivation or drive. Instead, it’s because our lives are demanding, and there are only so many hours in the day. Without strong time-management skills and intentional effort, it can be difficult to stay on top of it all. I’ve always prioritized organization and efficiency, but from time to time, especially when things got particularly hectic, I’d find a tendency to procrastinate creeping in. Here are the strategies I’ve used avoid procrastination and stay in control of how I use and manage my time.

Get organized

The more organized I am, the less likely I am to procrastinate. When I have a solid schedule and an organized to-do list, I find that I accomplish more and am less stressed by the end of the day. Give yourself a framework. Sometimes we push tasks off simply because we have too much going on in our brains. When you have everything written down in front of you (or clearly organized in an app on your smartphone), all those tasks start to feel a bit more real. It will help you know how much you can reasonably expect to accomplish in a day. When you schedule out your week this way, Monday feels a lot less overwhelming, and Friday doesn’t have the frustration of all the things you couldn’t get to.

Identify the smallest actions possible

When creating that schedule and to-do list, I find it most helpful to think small. If I have a larger project and make a note to work on it, it almost always gets pushed to the bottom of my list, with more specific tasks taking the lead. Break those larger tasks and long-term projects into specific actions. When there’s an item on your to-do list you can check off within an hour, there’s often much less resistance to starting it.

Use time to your advantage

Deadlines can be really useful if you stick to them. For me, this means I need to make them realistic. When you give yourself too many deadlines and too small a timeframe, this strategy can backfire. So, set yourself up for success by identifying a few key tasks that could benefit from being completed by a certain date, and puzzle them into your schedule. That small amount of pressure can create just enough urgency to prevent you from postponing the tasks. Timers are another great strategy. I’ll often use a timer if I have a large project I’m chipping away at or a task with a less-clear endpoint. For example, putting in 45 minutes of time to work on something like a website redesign will ensure that I’m making progress every day, even though I may not complete it for a while.

Get rid of distractions

Think about how you procrastinate. When you put something off, what else are you doing in that time frame? If you have the feeling that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day, check in with possible distractions that are sucking your time. Identify the most common distractions in your day, and make sure that these aren’t taking the place of a more important tasks. It seems obvious, but these distractions can sneakily eat up hours of your day if left unchecked.

Set up rewards

Another simple tip, but one that can be surprisingly useful. This one goes without much explanation, but setting up some rewards for completing tasks, especially those you’re most likely to put off, is a great way to boost your motivation to tackle them.

Find support

As someone who often works from home, I don’t have that office community of fellow workers around me. Whether it’s a friend, family member, coworker, or mentor, making the effort to build a relationship that will help hold you accountable to making progress can be a great way to keep yourself on track.

If you’re still feeling the urge to procrastinate…

Here’s the backup plan. If you’re going to procrastinate, make it advantageous. If you’re going to delay sending those work emails until after lunch, use that time to do something else you know you’re putting off, like tidying up your desk. Sometimes we’re just craving a different type of task, and our energy might be best directed elsewhere. I wouldn’t use this one all the time, but when you can’t help but delay something until later in the day or week, put that time to good use with something else that might have gotten delayed. Sometimes, you’ll find it’s simpler to just finish the original task you were going to put off.

 

Procrastination can become a deep-rooted habit if you allow it to become your norm. That’s why I try to avoid it whenever possible. I do my best work and am most happy when I feel in control of my time. Procrastinating causes me to give up some of that control, and it tends to cause more stress down the line. These strategies have really helped me keep procrastination from sabotaging my other time-management efforts. Does procrastination ever get in your way? What strategies do you use to combat it? I’d love to hear what you think!

Often-Overlooked Qualities Worth Considering in Your New Hires

Especially when you’re interviewing a number of candidates, it’s easy to focus in on experience and achievements. As a manager, you want someone who has something to offer your team and who’s going to contribute to its success. While those specific qualifications are important, there are several qualities that are often undervalued when it comes to selecting the best candidate for your team. Many of these fall under the category of soft skills. I’m not suggesting you prioritize soft skills over the hard skills you know an employee needs to succeed. However, sometimes it can be incredibly beneficial for an employer to give those soft skills more attention. Boil the hard skills down to your essentials. When you’re looking for someone not only to do a job, but also to be a part of a team, paying attention to those soft skills can help you choose the best candidate.

 

Empathy

Empathy is rarely a quality listed on someone’s resume, but it’s absolutely worth considering in a potential hire.  Managers often pay attention to confidence and self-assuredness, and for good reason. These qualities tend to point to someone who can work independently and take initiative. If you’re focused on creating a strong team though, you want to look for whether that person has qualities that will allow them to succeed not only as an individual but also as a part of a team. The ability to understand where others are coming from and consider their perspective when making decisions is a great indicator that someone will maximize the success of your team.

Positivity

While no one is likely to hire a candidate who comes off as rude or unpleasant in their interview, positivity isn’t always taken into account. Did the candidate have a smile, good energy, and make you feel comfortable? When discussing past experiences and outlooks for the future, did they express optimism? Positivity doesn’t mean they’re not grounded or realistic. Someone with a positive disposition can be a great addition to a team because they can motivate and boost morale, and they’re less likely to encounter conflict with those on their team.

Curiosity

Does the candidate have an open mind and a desire to learn? Candidates often feel like they need to know it all to ace an interview. And sometimes, hiring managers make it feel that way. Create some space in your interview to let your candidate tell you about what interests them and what they want to learn more about. Let them show you their desire and willingness to grow in their career. Depending on the position, it’s often much more beneficial to your team to bring on a candidate who is eager to learn than someone who thinks they know everything.

Enthusiasm

Like most soft skills, this one feels rather intangible and isn’t typically found on a resume. It’s much easier to pick up on in the way a candidate speaks, how they describe their past experiences, and what their goals look like for the future. It might be enthusiasm for the work they’re doing or for being a part of your company and team. When you encounter a candidate with excitement and drive, it’s a great sign that they’ll bring that energy to your team.

Passion

Let candidates demonstrate this one for you. Has their experience so far consisted of a punch-in-punch-out job, or have they intentionally found ways to immerse themselves in the work they’re passionate about? Have they taken additional classes, gotten a promotion, reached a goal? Even getting into the books they read or the blogs they follow can give you a glimpse into where their passion lies. Passion is probably the best source of motivation out there. It’s better than money, perks, pressure, and responsibility. It also can be contagious. When you bring someone onto your team who really values the work they’re doing and is excited about it, that attitude can spread to your whole team.

 

 

You don’t have to throw out the skills you usually look for in a candidate. But including these qualities on your list is a great way to find someone who will not only be a good employee himself, but who will also be a productive, motivating, and successful part of a team. What qualities do you look for when considering a new addition to your team? Let us know in the comments.

Creating a To-Do List that Actually Works

I want my to-do list to feel like a useful tool, not a stressful weight. I’m sure most busy professionals can relate — sometimes my to-do list feels out of control. Sitting down to look at a disorganized, poorly-planned to-do list is probably one of the least-inspiring ways to start your day. When I’m not intentional about managing my list, some tasks end up in a state of limbo, floating from week to week, nagging, and never getting my full attention. When I take control of my to-do list though, I see a real difference in my productivity, stress levels, and even my work quality. If you want to hone your focus, accomplish more, and accelerate progress, taking some time to refine your to-do-list strategy can be incredibly useful. Here are a few ways I’ve been able to make the most of mine.

 

Prioritize and simplify

I have a long list that spans weeks and even months, full of both larger projects and simple easy-to-complete tasks. One strategy that I find particularly useful is creating a separate, realistic daily to-do list. Start with the fundamentals — think, pick-up-kids-from-school and make-dinner kind of fundamentals. Those are the bones, the tasks you know you’ll complete. If there’s a paperwork deadline that day or a scheduled call, those go on the list too. Then, look at your week, perhaps that longer to-do list, and identify a few tasks you can reasonably accomplish that day. Maybe it’s making an appointment you’ve delayed scheduling, logging an hour of marketing work, and finishing up a client’s paperwork. This list should feel entirely possible to complete in a day without losing your mind. If you aren’t used to creating a daily to-do list that actually gets completed every day, this can feel like a challenge. It can feel like keeping it realistic means leaving off things you need to do.

But that’s the beauty of this kind of list. It forces you to take a real look at what you can accomplish in a day. Maybe you’ve been overloading yourself. This strategy can help you see where you’re simply asking too much. And really, what’s the point of putting tasks on a list and continuing to move them to the next day? Or, perhaps you feel like you’re running around and not making any progress. This strategy can help keep you focused and on track. By creating a smaller daily list of the priorities, you won’t waste time deliberating which task to start, trying to multitask, or worrying about looming work. You can trust that you’ll have this list to work off of each day, and, if you find yourself with additional time, reach for that longer list and start crossing off things from there.

Form a habit

Habits can be powerful tools if we cultivate them properly. If you want to add a bit more structure, direction, and focus to your days with a strong to-do list, work to form a habit around creating that list. Perhaps you take 10-15 minutes each day before you leave the office or every night before bed to get organized and plan for tomorrow. I also like to look ahead to the week every Sunday and give myself an idea of how my work will spread out over the next seven days. When it becomes a part of your daily routine, you’ll gain a strong sense of what you can expect of yourself.

Eliminate Ambiguity

Your to-do list should contain actionable items — quantifiable tasks you can complete. So, when you want to effectively incorporate working towards larger goals, you should write down only what you can do that day. For example, ‘go for a run at 5pm’, as opposed to ‘get healthy’ or even ‘exercise’. The more specific you make the items on your list, the better.

Experiment

There are many apps out there designed specifically for to-do lists. If you’re on the go and often have your phone in hand, these can be a great option. If you’re more tactile and enjoy the sensation of crossing one item after another off your list, the traditional pen-and-paper option is equally useful. I don’t have a specific recommendation on a medium other than to try out a few, and stick with one that works for you.

Schedule

Including time frames on your to-do list is a great way to stay on track and accountable. I like to keep them lose, with some room for those unexpected things that are bound to pop up. For me, the real key to a great to-do list is keeping it realistic. If my list is this heavy piece of paper that I dread looking at, chances are I won’t. If I want my list to support my work and propel me forward, I need to feel like it actually fits with my daily life.

Include something fun

“Fun” could be something social, something relaxing, something creative — basically, I’m suggesting you include at least one thing you want to do, not have to do, on your list. If you’re already feeling challenged to cut your workload into a realistic daily list, this suggestion may get an eye roll. But hear me out. Keeping a healthy-work life balance is essential; and making time to do things you enjoy will ultimately help you to be more productive, efficient, and engaged in the work you do have to do. Utilize your to-do list to help you keep the balance.

 

These are a few of the strategies that have helped me to take control of my to-do list and use it to maximize my productivity and success. How do you make your to-do list work for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Hiring? How to Find the Right Fit

If you’re committed to building a strong team, you probably already know that qualifications and experience, while important, aren’t everything. I think of them as a foundation, sometimes even an adaptable one. If qualifications and experience are the foundation, what makes up the building? I like to think of it as synergy.

If my goal is to build a strong team, I don’t want to consider a candidate’s potential in a vacuum. Their success and contribution to the office largely depend on them becoming a real part of the team. When you place this emphasis on fit — how their personality, work style, and attitude will mesh with your existing team — you’ll make it easier to find that candidate who is qualified and who will strengthen the team.

Traditional hiring approaches largely focus on qualifications and leave the rest to surface-level, uninspired questions. If you want to find someone who will jump on board and help the team to thrive, you have to break out of that mold. Here are a few ways you can delve into a candidate’s potential to benefit the team:

Get out of the conference room

One of the best ways to start an interview is to break out of the traditional setting. We all know that overly-formal feeling of sitting in a conference room waiting for the interviewer. It can make candidates feel nervous and guarded, making it challenging for you to get a real sense of who they are. Instead, try starting out with a tour of the building or property. Getting into a slightly less-formal setting can help put candidates at ease so you can get a feel for how they engage in everyday life.

Let candidates shadow

Again, don’t be afraid to break out of the typical format. If you’ve found a couple of candidates who have made the top of your list, set up shadow interviews where they can come into the office, interact with team members, and engage in the office dynamic. Though these do require a bit more of the candidate’s time, they can help you and your team determine if there’s a sense of cooperation and connection.

Don’t follow the script

Just as physically changing up the interview process can help you arrive at the best candidate, so can changing the dialogue. There are some questions you hear in almost every interview — what are your strengths and weaknesses, and what’s a major challenge you’ve overcome?. I’m not saying these are bad questions. By all means, if these answers help you to understand a candidate, ask them. I’m suggesting that you also incorporate some less-expected questions into the mix, ones that ask the candidate to think on their feet and abandon their script. These really depend on the vibe of your team. Does your team have a good sense of humor? Is creativity important? What do they love about the office culture? When you know your current team, you can ask questions that point to some of their defining characteristics.

Set up peer interviews

You’ve reviewed the qualifications, and your conversations have gone well — what else can do you? Sometimes, the best way to get a sense of fit is to take a backseat. If you’re considering how this person will mesh with your current team, it makes sense to let those team members in on the evaluation. In addition to getting multiple perspectives, letting a candidate talk to someone in a similar role, as opposed to a manager, can lessen the pressure and allow them to relax and be more themselves.

Do your research

Lastly, those references you asked for — call them, and have some questions ready that go beyond work quality and experience. If you want to know what type of person a candidate is and how they work as a team, a past employer can give you some helpful insight if you ask the right questions.

 

Synergy is about things coming together and making something greater than the sum of their parts. If you want to build a thriving team, you need to make sure those individual members can work together in a way that produces quality work and a quality culture. Put that extra effort into the hiring process to go beneath the surface with candidates, and you’ll set yourself up for a successful hire.

Keeping the Balance

The work-life balance, that is. I know the phrase gets a lot of buzz, but as a busy professional (and a busy human), I think it deserves attention. I think this idea resonates with so many of us because we know what a delicate and sometimes difficult balance it can be to maintain. We want to excel, and we want to excel everywhere. We want success at work, a happy family, meaningful friendships, a healthy body, engaging hobbies — the list goes on. I find that when the balance is off, all areas tend to become more challenging, and the imbalance worsens.

 

What’s tipping the scale?

If you’re feeling maxed out, imbalanced, and overwhelmed, you have to stop and check in. Sometimes, part of the problem is not seeing the scale, not seeing the big picture. We think it’s about the day-to-day — our manager’s unscheduled meeting, the last-minute project that came up, the 9pm text from a client; but the stress and frustration we’re feeling is often a sign that we’re out of balance. For me, the first step to correcting an imbalance is to acknowledge it, identify where it’s coming from, define what balance looks like to me, and work from there. When you pinpoint which areas are weighing you down, you can adjust from there.

 

Set boundaries

When you have an idea of what balance looks like for you, you can set clear boundaries to help you maintain it. I don’t work a typical 9-5, so for me, that common guideline of working hours isn’t all that helpful. For those of us who work remotely, it can be even more challenging to draw the line between work and personal life. I think the key with boundaries is taking the time to find the ones that work for you. I find that setting specific hours where I don’t check email or tackle work to-dos is helpful. Instead of leaving it up to chance, I know when I need to disconnect. This is true with days off and vacations as well. With clear delineation, it’s easier to be fully present in non-work time, knowing that’s where my focus should be going. Then when I return to work, I feel recharged and ready to dive in.

 

Get Organized

Disorganization is the enemy of time management, both in and out of work. In relation to a work-life balance, I think one of the most important organizational strategies is a strong schedule that includes both work and personal commitments. I like a schedule broken up by the hour to give me a sense of how things will fit together and what my day will look like. When you know what balance looks like to you, your schedule can be a visual reminder of when you’re getting off track.

 

Say No

Here’s where that schedule really comes in handy. Many of us want to say yes — to that new project, an additional client, a spontaneous networking event. With an organized schedule, it becomes so much easier to respond in a way that supports balance. If your work schedule has some windows to accommodate it, great. When you have back-to-back meetings followed by a soccer game and family dinner, saying no is how you can maintain a balance. Saying “I don’t have space in my schedule for that” can feel like “I’m not focused on excelling at work”. If you change your perspective, saying no can feel like “I’m committed to keeping the balance”.

 

Boost productivity

It would be great if we could keep our work schedules just full enough and still grow our businesses and careers. For many of us, that doesn’t feel like the case. When you’ve set the boundaries you need for balance and still want to fit more into the workday, look to strategies to increase productivity. There are countless blogs and podcasts devoted to this topic. By seeking out ways to maximize our time at work, we can slowly create more space in our schedules. Luckily, committing to a healthy work-life balance is a great strategy to boost productivity. When we give ourselves the chance to be fully present in non-work activities, we let our brains recharge. When we return to work, we tend to be more efficient and focused than when we never fully disconnect.

 

 

It’s not about perfection. We can’t let our desire for balance become just another place we need to excel. A work-life balance isn’t a stationary place we arrive at and never leave. It’s in flux. The idea is to be more intentional about how we manage our time. When we’re aware of the balance (or imbalance) in our work and personal lives and have tools to bring it back to equilibrium, we set ourselves up for success. What does a work-life balance look like for you, and how do you work to maintain it? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Why Building a Strong Brand Can Help You Build a Strong Team

You want top candidates knocking at your door, acing the interview process, and sticking around as high-performing employees. So, what does your brand have to do with this? A lot. At its foundation, your brand is the perception that you create for your company. When it comes to attracting and appealing to top talent, that brand speaks for you. It’s answering candidates’ questions about your company — who you are, how successful you are, what you stand for, and most importantly, if they want to work for you. If you’re looking to improve your recruiting efforts and find the high-performing employees out there to join your team, look to your brand.

 

It helps candidates find you

Wouldn’t it be ideal if your inbox was full of messages from experienced, talented, and successful people dying to work for your company? With the amount of competition around, it’s a rare scenario. While strengthening your brand may not immediately send these message flooding it, it will, over time, help great candidates to find you. When you strengthen your brand, you strengthen the visibility of your company. It takes time for a brand to gain credibility, but as that credibility grows, so does the brand’s power to attract strong candidates.

 

It catches candidates’ attention

Who wouldn’t want to work for a successful, well-respected company who treats its employees well? Your brand can communicate all of that. Even if your brand hasn’t reached the status of Apple or Google, it can still massively support your recruiting efforts. Think about it — you reach out to a great candidate. If you’ve built a top-notch brand, they probably already know who your company is, the general opinion of it in the business realm, and its overall vibe. If your brand is still growing, and they don’t know much about you, the first thing he or she is likely to do is a quick google search. If they find a clean, professional logo, a modern website, an active presence on social-media platforms, and cohesive content, there’s a good chance you’ll grab their interest. If, on the other hand, they find an outdated website, lack of information, disorganized visuals, and no clear message — well, you probably get the picture.

 

It increases desirability

Your brand says a great deal about your company, both externally and internally. The exterior image that your brand conveys includes the company’s mission, goals, values, and level of success, to name a few. The interior image speaks to the office culture, how well employees are treated, benefits, and incentives. A weak brand fails to communicate these important characteristics. A well-designed brand, however, knows how to package all of this information in a concise yet clear package. Recruiting shouldn’t feel like begging talented people to work for you. Instead, it should feel like a connection where both parties could benefit.

 

It engages employees

Your brand factors into the company culture in a cyclical way, where the brand strengthens the culture and the culture strengthens the brand. A strong brand tends to give employees a greater sense of pride in their work. It helps them to feel more invested in the company and more motivated in their work. Invested, motivated employees — that’s the goal, right? Building a strong team isn’t just about bringing high-performing individuals in. It’s also about keeping them around as loyal and successful members of your team. When employees are happy and thriving in a successful company culture, that contributes to the company’s brand, making it more appealing to candidates considering joining the team.

 

Especially in the digital world we live in today, your company’s brand has significant power. When it comes to attracting great candidates and retaining talented employees, a strong brand can lay a foundation for success. Though recruiting efforts can sometimes feel like a separate field of focus, they’re intricately connected with all other aspects of the company. When you work to build a great brand, you’re also working to bring in the best people to support your company’s goals.

Multitasking: Time-Management Friend or Enemy?

If you’re reading this, perhaps you’re looking for ways to become more efficient, to work smarter, and to better manage your time. If any of these goals apply to you, improving your time-management skills is possible if you get intentional with how you utilize your time. Consider some of the busiest people you know — the ones who have a frantic energy about them, seem a bit disorganized, and rush around in a state of stress and exhaustion. It’s not necessarily true that these people have more work than your more put-together acquaintances. In fact, it’s more likely that they simply don’t have the time-management skills to efficiently tackle their to-do list. Chances are, these people rely on multitasking to get through their days. Whether you’re an on-the-go parent trying to meet endless demands or a busy professional wanting to grow your business, multitasking can be a tempting strategy to accomplish all that you need to; but is it actually helping you cross items off your list, or is it slowing your progress and creating more work? Read on for some insights on how multitasking affects your ability to effectively manage your time.

 

Multitasking or task switching?

Distinguishing between the two is key. True multitasking means you’re effectively working on multiple tasks at once. Task switching, as the name implies, means you’re jumping between tasks hoping to finish them all. It probably comes as no surprise that task switching is attributed to lower productivity levels and lower-quality work. When you catch yourself combining tasks, ask yourself if you’re multitasking or task switching. If you find you’re unable to actively work on the activities at hand at the same time, choose one to complete before picking up the others. When we confuse task switching for multitasking and utilize it as a strategy to manage our time, we reduce our efficiency and drag out tasks that could be completed faster individually.

 

What do the activities require?

If the tasks at hand are more complex, cognitive tasks, chances are that combining them isn’t effective. If they require different skills, however, it might be possible to save yourself some time and tackle both at once. For example, daily exercise is a great activity to prioritize, and it requires much more physical attention than mental. That leaves you with some cognitive energy to spare. Listening to an audiobook or podcast while on a walk or run is a great way to fit in your exercise and some additional learning in a single block of time. When you want to effectively multitask, look for tasks that require different things. Your morning commute, if on public transportation, could be a great time to organize your schedule or read a book. If you find yourself on a lengthy hold during your workday, tidying up your desk area or catching up on emails can help you utilize that time.

 

Are you being intentional?

Look for tasks that may work well with multitasking so that you know ahead of time which ones to combine. Pack a book for your morning commute, download a podcast when you know need to tidy up your office, and have an audiobook ready for a trip to the gym. When you prepare to work on multiple things at once, you make sure that you’re combing things that work well together. It also helps you avoid slipping into multitasking when you’re working on things that should get your full attention. When multitasking becomes a habit, it’s too easy to employ it when single-tasking would be more effective. Don’t let multitasking be your fall-back. Evidence shows that with more complex tasks, it’s simply not effective. Instead of it being your default, take control of when and how you utilize this tactic so that it supports efficiency.

 

Are you prepared?

Another great way to make multitasking work for you is to look at your day in very small increments of time and identify where time may be wasted. If you have a meeting with a client at a local cafe, there’s a chance they may run late. If you’ve blocked off an hour to meet with your manager, there’s a chance you’ll be out in 45 minutes. Whatever the case, when you’re prepared to seize these blocks of time and utilize them, you can maximize your time. The key is preparation. Even though these instances may be unexpected, if you’re prepared to fill them, you won’t waste valuable time waiting around.

 

 

Like most things, the effectiveness of multitasking isn’t black and white. Understanding when it’s useful and when it’s detrimental all comes down to when and how you use it. While multitasking tends to get a bad rap in general, if you’re intentional about this strategy, it can be a beneficial tool. If you’re looking to improve your time-management skills, first check in with how you multitask now. If it’s a go-to habit, it may be time to bring in some other strategies instead. If you’re avoiding it like the plague, you may be missing opportunities to increase efficiency. Though not a constant friend or enemy, when you find the balance, occasional intentional multitasking can be a great time-management acquaintance.

 

 

Building Your Team: 6 Tips to Strengthen Office Culture

When candidates are considering your company, it’s not just titles and numbers they’re interested in. Top candidates may receive multiple job offers and have several options to choose from. For many candidates, they’re looking to the culture within the office to determine if they’d be happy there day to day and to see if they’d be joining a group in which they can thrive. In addition to directly appealing to prospective new hires, a positive office culture also contributes to more efficient onboarding of new employees. When current team members feel happy and satisfied in their positions, it tends to be easier for new hires to settle in. If you want to build a successful team, direct some focus internally and assess the office culture that exists among your team members. Whether your office needs a culture overhaul or just a few improvements, read on for some tips to create an office culture that will attract top candidates and support a strong team.

 

Define Your Values

Every company is different, and each one has a unique culture. In many ways, office culture stems from your company’s core values. The clearer you’ve articulated these values, the stronger your culture can be. Do teamwork, collaboration, and innovation top the list of company values? Or, perhaps things like advancement, growth, and independence better define your company’s internal workings. When you’re clear about those foundational values, it’s easier for employees and candidates to understand the attitude and tone within the office, and it allows the culture to develop from there.

 

Embrace Flexibility

For many employees, flexibility is one of the most appealing aspects of company culture. Again, the approach that your company has when it comes to flexibility will likely come from its core values, and it can look different from office to office. Whether it’s offering different summer hours, a more adaptable schedule, the ability to work remotely, or opportunities to move within the company, a company whose culture supports some flexibility for its employees is often very attractive to candidates and employees.

 

Show Appreciation

This one can really set the tone for an office. When an office culture is one where progress is noted, and achievements are celebrated, employees tend to feel more fulfilled by their work and more invested in the success of the company. Conversely, feeling under-appreciated is a reason that many employees leave their company. For candidates considering joining your team, knowing that their work will be valued and appreciated is an attractive quality.

 

Foster Connection

If you tune into the likes and interests of your employees, it’s easy to create the right opportunities for connection. If your team is full of young professionals who enjoy a night out, an after-work social hour at a local bar may be a way for employees to get to know each other better. If your team is particularly active, a small group hike or similar activity can be a great way for employees to bond. The idea here is to facilitate connection. Take the time to plan events that employees will enjoy, and the company will benefit from the connections made there. For candidates who anticipate spending a significant amount of time in the office, feeling connected to their coworkers can be an important element.

 

Offer Incentives and Perks

A company culture that rewards its employees and treats them well is a highly-attractive quality to candidates and a motivating reason for them to join a new office. Whether it’s catered lunches, beer on tap, occasional giveaways, or exclusive discounts, a company that values the happiness of its employees tends to be rewarded by invested employees who deliver top-quality performance.

 

Mentors

When facilitating connections between coworkers, ensure that upper-level and senior employees are included as well. When mentorship is encouraged, new hires can receive the guidance and inspiration they need to be an asset to their team. Having the opportunity to learn and grow in their careers is important to many candidates, and mentorship is a great opportunity for them to receive personalized support and inspiration to excel.

 

 

When you’re looking to expand your team, focusing on office culture is a great place to start. The benefits are twofold. It can help your company stand out from the rest to top talent looking to join a new team. In addition, the clearer and more positive an office’s culture is, the happier its current employees are and the better-quality work they produce. The success that comes as a result of employee satisfaction is also a highly-appealing quality to candidates. More and more, people are valuing the quality of their work life over their salary alone. To build the best team, foster an office culture that prioritizes the happiness of its employees.

5 Tips for Time-Management Success

With only so many hours in a day, it’s no surprise that busy professionals are often on the lookout for better ways to manage their time. With the typical 40+-hour workweek being challenged by ideas of working smarter, not harder (or longer), time-management skills are taking the forefront. When you know how to manage your time well, you’re in control. Whether your time-management skills are in need of an overhaul, or you’re simply looking for a few tips to improve, read on for some strategies to maximize your time:

 

Define your goals

If you want to boost your time-management skills, start by looking at the big picture. While we tend to look for simple hacks or quick fixes to better utilize our time, sometimes taking a step back is the most effective strategy. When you take the time to reflect on your goals, both long- and short-term, you help to clarify your direction. Are you striving for a promotion? Would you like to improve your networking skills? Do you want to build your brand? When we define the direction we want to move in, we establish a framework for managing our time. With that foundation in place, you’ll be able to better determine where to focus your energy, and you’ll give yourself a powerful source of motivation to make the most of your time.

 

Prioritize your actions

Managing your time well means knowing which task needs your attention now, how long to spend on them, and when to move on to the next. Don’t just rely on memory and mental notes to keep you organized. Instead, systematically organize your to-do list, labeling each item according to its priority. Which tasks are non-negotiable for the day, meaning they’re urgent and important enough to make the top of your list? Which tasks are less important and have a looser timeframe, but still shouldn’t be indefinitely procrastinated? Implementing a clear system to prioritize your to-dos will keep you from wasting time transitioning between tasks, help you to know when you can take on more work and when you’re maxed out, and allow you to work through your tasks in the most efficient way possible.

 

Plan your day

Time-blocking is a great strategy to give yourself a visual overview of your day. It’s a simple action that can yield powerful results if you plan realistically and commit to following your schedule. Designate chunks of time for different activities, allowing for some transition time and unexpected interruptions. Without a clear plan, it’s easy to get off track, give into distractions, and wonder where the day went. When you have an easy-to-follow schedule, you won’t waste time between tasks and won’t over work in one area at the expense of others. Instead, you’ll feel more balanced and in control of your days. When you combine this planning ahead with the above tip of prioritizing, you’ll set yourself up for maximum success.

 

Log your time

Commit to even one week of logging your time in small increments throughout the day for increased accountability and valuable insights into how you use (and lose) time. When you reflect back on your log, you’ll see where time is being wasted and where it could be better utilized. For example, you might identify that your 30-minute commute is a great time to listen to an informative podcast. You might notice an afternoon drop in energy that could be combated with a short break to recharge. When you practice logging your time regularly, your days will become more streamlined as you spot places for improvement.

 

Identify your distractions

This one may seem like the most obvious. Of course, distractions are probably the biggest threat to great time-management practices. Unfortunately, simply saying that you’ll avoid them likely isn’t enough to weed them out. Logging your time is a great way to catch even the subtlest distractions, but simply reflecting on your day can usually help you see where distractions are coming from. When you identify them specifically as distractions, you hold yourself more accountable for not engaging in them and for setting clear boundaries around your time.

 

 

 

Though any one of these tips can give your time-management skills a boost, combining them will get you the best results. When you know your goals, you can better prioritize your tasks. When your tasks are clearly prioritized, you can better create your schedule. With a solid plan for the day, you can track where you’re most efficient and where you’re losing time. Finally, when you have a sense of how you’re spending your time, you can identify and eliminate the distractions that get in your way. Give these tips a try to start taking control of your time and maximizing every day.