How to Effectively Communicate Change in Your Organization?

The only thing that is constant is change, and changes within organizations keep happening from time to time. Effective organization – wide communication during such times becomes the need of the hour as key communication details often get overlooked and missing on these aspects is not a good idea as employees do not feel inclusive, respected, and the organization is not viewed as a really sensitive and thoughtful employer.

A Reasonable Say

OrganizationIn such a scenario helping the employees through the process of change must be utmost priority for each individual who takes care of internal communications. One must stay close to the action and remain alert to feedback, that would prove instrumental in shaping the change, so to speak. This would ensure effectiveness in the delivery of the right outcomes. As opposed to an exclusive organization where decision making trickles top down and sort of forced on employees, in an inclusive organization, on the other hand employees expect to be consulted in advance, as they feel they have a legitimate right to know and have a reasonable say in how such the proposed changes occur if at all it impacts them either directly or indirectly.

Garner Trust

The internal communication experts who design and lead change management initiatives, need to pay attention to Careercertain pointers. They must watch the body language of the recipient in particular, once the message is delivered it has to be demonstrated in action as actions matter a whole lot, just verbal communications are never adequate to garner trust in such circumstances.

Stay Accessible

One must time the change well and demonstrate utmost sensitivity while doing so. Leaders effecting the change must stay accessible during the thick of action and new ways of working must go through test run. And in the midst of it all do not forget to tap tacit knowledge, which exists within the organization. It is really important that leaders are coached about their presence and how they might be perceived while they share information with a group of employees.

Honest Intentions

JobssAny email communication primarily focuses on words, and a change plan using this medium conveys only this much. Using body language can convey a whole lot more, the leader may not fidget or appear to be reading from a script or avoid looking into the eyes people while addressing them. Chances are employees may find it difficult to believe your story in entirety, you need to backup your messages with solid actions otherwise your employees may have reasons to doubt your intentions.

Transparency

Timing your change wisely is the key to successful implementation of change initiatives, it is best to effect a swift change and follow it up with a short note summarizing all of the changes affected after the initiative is accomplished. Consideration and empathy must be displayed whether changes happen upstream or downstream. Staying accessible by keeping options open for drop-in consultation or planned individual or team meetings, helps employees share the way they feel and is indeed the best way to move forward. This shows the leaders in a more transparent and positive light.

Crucial KnowledgeCareer-vs-opportunity

Trial run for the changes need to be carried out beforehand to have reasonable lead time for making course changes. A lot of tacit knowledge can slip between the developing cracks when all attention is focused on change. Crucial knowledge resides in the minds of the employees who are impacted by change, saving this knowledge in a central learning repository would surely help with concerted efforts of retraining as well as upskilling people.

Final Words

Organizations that help employees through the change process tend to benefit in the immediate and the  long term. They constantly need to have center stage presence, in the midst of  action by being alert to employee feedback, so as to shape the impending change and deliver the desired outcomes by optimally using the available communication channels in the best interest of all concerned.

Is Disruptive Learning Crucial to Transformational Career Progress?

Have you been harping on your current skill set for a long time? Well you are most likely to retort back saying you have been on the right career course making satisfactory progress and hitting every target and personal goal of yours.

Step off the Beaten Neural Track

TrackAll of that is entirely correct; however the path you have treaded so far has been in the most parts just incremental rather than being transformational. Are you basking in the glory of adroitly dealing with the vagaries of life, it may appear that you have set your sights really high, at this point everything seems to be quite comfortable. If you take the time and devote some of your energies, upon probing a bit further into the phenomenon, you would get to know that by now with years and years of mental complacency or inertia, the neural pathways in your brain have come to be worn to such an extent, that you have forgotten, when was it the last time, that you stepped off of your beaten neural track.

Incremental Learning

Incremental LearningCome to think of it, when was the last time that you learnt something of significance which was substantial, when you jog your memory, you would be able to recall, it was your college that provided such an opportunity. And we not talking of incremental learning at all as it does not figure anywhere in the reckoning, it happens automatically when one steps out the front door.  We are talking about the sort of learning, where you are standing in front of a task and have a thousand hours of work ahead of you to master the task, which in effect is transformational. The reason for the same is that we are living in potentially disruptive times; an economic slowdown is looming large on the horizon.

When the Chips Are Down

We emphasize taking a giant step at this point in time, and go right ahead and learn something that is entirely new, and could make all the difference between plain survival and thriving potentially. As and when you effect a step change, just ensure you back the same with fundamental learning. To begin with you got to understand this learning is going to add substantial value to your life in ways you would never be able to imagine. A person working in the field of marketing may not benefit from learning how to code, but a course in script-writing and video production could prove to be really helpful. It may not be evident right away but when the chips are down, these additional skills which may appear to be something really extra could help you fight the redundancy that a slimmer marketing department would bring in its wake at some point in time, be reminded of the fact that not using a skill currently does not translate into the same not adding at all to your future worth at some point in time.

The Search for New Skills

Search for New SkillsTaking the future of employment in your particular field in consideration, you would do well to start preparing for the same a decade or more in advance. The search for new skills could well begin with some serious reading, you need to be able to look and predict as accurately as possible where your particular industry and function is likely headed to in the foreseeable decade or so. Try and read some futurists blog by experts to get a fair idea or as close to it as you possibly can get. Make it a point to check out certain presentations that consultancies make and the material that academic institutions put forth. Mind you all of this may sound a tad arduous to comprehend; it is no rocket science either.

Gazing Into the Crystal Ball

Crystal BallGazing too far into the crystal ball is not at all required to be able to tell where the skill gaps would be. Simple and plain efforts are adequate in making progress in this direction. Given the technological advances and digitization of services at the moment, educational technology cannot be left untouched, and you do not have to fret over things at all. Increasing number of ways have cropped up to learn the new emerging skills in a flexible manner without impacting your current activity. Current innovations in educational technology have made it possible to render the materials all the more digestible and learning more personalized at the same time. All you need to do is arrive at a method of learning that fits you like a hand in glove and there is no stopping you from there on.

Final Words

In case you are wondering why you not learnt something significant in a while, it could possibly be the fall out of two probable things, either there was no requirement or something at the back of your mind said the task was way too demanding. Well neither of these turns out to be true, just return to reality and there is nothing stopping you from making further additions to your skill set. So make it a point and ensure the fact you learn something which is radically new by this time in the coming year, for if you don’t you would be left lagging far behind.

What Are the Career Limitations of Emotional Intelligence?

Is emotional intelligence just a buzzword, or is it a valued trait in the hiring world, and how far do you think you would be able to harness it to your advantage. It is a given that highly emotionally intelligent people come across as more successful and it is also true that companies at times bend over backwards to recruit them.

Openness to Experience

Openness to ExperienceIt may be less prominent in the IT field and might be highly sought after in sales and marketing. Personality and EQ are closely connected; hiring managers try and gauge you for essential personality traits like conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion, neuroticism and openness to experience. Hiring managers falter at times in their ability to judge the efficacy of people with high EQ, in managing bigger groups that are beyond personal face time management. It is very difficult to find people who are good both at one to one interaction as well as group interaction.

All the Eggs in One Basket

All the Eggs in One BasketCoined by a psychologist of repute the terms buzzword status has only gained currency, and not relented at all ever since. This is in part because the skills and attributes that it encompasses are in hot demand by discerning employers. As a job seeker you need to exercise caution in this regard as going ahead and prioritizing on emotional intelligence over and above other things is not a sign of prudence to the exclusion of everything else. Age old wisdom cautions you from putting all your eggs in one basket, so do not solely focus on one skill at the expense of others.

Internal Reward

Internal RewardThey do work for a pay, but wages are not the sole reason for their working, they do not need extrinsic motivation or cajoling to complete their work. Their great performance is just a result of the work which they find to be internally rewarding. Money may not necessarily motivate them to a significant extent. Although a higher degree of emotional intelligence is indeed a very strong indicator and predictor of success, its importance in the job market keeps on varying from sector to sector and segment to segment.

 

Power Dynamics
Power DynamicsNormally you find people who are either good at the former or the latter. Emotional intelligence strongly supports empathy, which at times comes across as a poor leadership trait as managing at certain level requires optimal power dynamics for getting projects done. People with high EQ run the risk of turning deft manipulators when the intentions are not great, or being too sensitive to the feelings of others to be able to accomplish significant progress.

Final Words

So it turns out that emotional intelligence is good enough for simple emotions but when it comes to the complex dynamics playing out in the workplace, where a skilled manager has to manage multilateral relationships, especially with global teams, complex intelligence is called for. To thrive in the future workforce we need to make an educated guess as best we can and bet on the best of the constants.

A Wider Perspective on Diversity Driven Developments in the Modern Workplace

Have you ever spared a thought that we need to give each other space, where we can grow and be ourselves and exercise our diversity. Well when we give space to each other we benefit by receiving lot of beautiful things in return, such as fresh ideas and perspectives, dignity, openness, healing, joy and inclusion. This holds true in all walks of life not just the workplace.

Embrace the Differences

DifferencesWhen talking of the work culture it is really important that organizations actively embrace the differences and welcome all employees with open arms irrespective of cast, creed, color or gender. The acceptance of diversity as well as inclusion at the workplace leverages the commitment, passion and the innovation of each and every individual.

The Early Days

In the early days, the composition of the workforce was black and white. Diversity was restricted to just race and gender. Today the work environment places a lot of significance on encouraging the recognition of different voices, no matter where they come from. In the Indian subcontinent, it all started with gender diversity, and has moved on to encompass cultural and generational diversity, as well as the inclusion of the differently able work persons.

The Latent Potential

The Latent PotentialThe sea change in the understanding of the organizations has been brought about by the understanding that the diversity in workforce brings with it a melange of tangible advantages in the form of skill-sets, talents and thinking as well. Organizations have prudently adopted tactful and effective leadership that is geared towards diversity and inclusion and leverages the latent potential of a diverse set of employees.

Talk in Broader Terms

Given the import it really becomes imperative to understand the term diversity, talking in broader terms, diversity is an aspect of the workplace, which drives respect, and appreciates distinctive identities. It may manifest itself as gender, age, ethnicity, national origin, education, disability, gender-orientation and religion.

Exterior Differences

Mind you diversity is just more than exterior differences, in effect it is about better acceptance as well as better understanding of the diverse perspectives that myriad work experiences, lifestyles and cultures bring to the fore. Inclusion is all about respecting, valuing and of course supporting employees by exclusively focusing on their needs.

A Conducive Work Environment

work environmentIn effect and in all earnestness it is all about offering a conducive work environment for each and every person to be able realize and achieve their full potential. Organizations must be alert to their cultures and practices that effectively promote diversity and inclusion.

Forms of Individual Expressions

The concept of diversity is not a static one, it is constantly evolving and changing, having embraced inclusion in its fold, it has moved on to include other forms of individual expressions be it religious practices, or gender orientations.

Diversity and Inclusion

In the present day concept, diversity and inclusion have expanded in scope and extent to include various thinking styles and working styles, personality traits, functional specialties, and educational background.

Visual Identity

Visual IdentityOrganizations need to address beyond the visual identity of race, age, gender, and disability by focusing on differences in beliefs, attitudes, values and  culture so as to score high on the corporate equality index or similar measuring tools wherever available and applicable.

Empower the Voices

When organizations empower the voices of people from diverse and divergent thinking styles, different personalities with different perspectives and thinking styles, this results in enhanced innovativeness, creativity, better strategic outputs and superior performance.

Diversity and Inclusion

With the practice of diversity and inclusion to such an extent, organizations are better poised to connect with a wide range of customer groups, and also a wider range of markets. For today’s organizations, hiring and maintaining a diverse workforce is not just diversity for diversity’s sake, it is all about leveraging the diversity to be able to motivate the employees to perform still better and do an exemplary work for which they are naturally proud of.

Final Words

All of this comes with a better understanding of the diverse cultural backgrounds, cultural competence needs to be developed by dedicating adequate time to learn about the different religions, cultures, races and backgrounds that are represented by the employees. The concepts of diversity and inclusion are in a nascent stage and a better understanding can be arrived at only with a marked change in perspective.

How to Future Proof Your Career with Skills That Matter?

Have you had your share of ups and downs with the job market, well it can get scary at times. Now this is a difficult situation to be in, not quite a pleasant one at that, you must be wondering by now, what is the remedy to all of this, it goes without saying that you need to go ahead and equip yourself with skills that stand the test of time and certainly increase the odds of staying employed.

A Steady Paycheck

PaycheckThe key is to go ahead, find out and develop those future – proofed skills which would ensure a steady paycheck no matter how bad the situation turns out to be. To begin with you may focus on the market driven skills, try and dive into the minds of the most discerning employers.

Stay Ahead of the Curve

Again it pays to pick up certain skills, that can surely boost profits or reduce the costs. You may also consider making  the most of technology while you embrace your humane strengths at the same time. The job market is going to become all the more competitive in due course of time, so you need  to stay ahead of the curve.

The Human Brain

You would do well to learn how to use technology more efficiently than you are using it today. This learning Human Braincomprises of when and of course how to use a tool more effectively, you must not undermine the biggest and best tool of all the human brain, you may leverage on it to apply creative problem solving skills as and when required as it is only possible by a human and not just any machine.

Avoid Falling Into a Productivity Hole

You can rise above your peers as well as your colleagues by automating tasks at your end that would leave you with more time and energy to come up with great ideas as they are indeed scarce. Towards this end you need to analyse your time assets and time debts and balance them optimally so as to avoid falling into a productivity hole.

Time Assets and Time Debts

Time Assets and Time DebtsTime assets are essentially those actions or the choices that you make today which would save you substantial amount of time in the coming future. Time debts on the other hand are those actions or choices that you make today that are going to cost you additional time in near or distant future.

A Classic Example

Software makes a classic example of a time asset as it is written once, however it can be run multiple times, this essentially means you just make an upfront investment in terms of time but reap a rich payoff each and every day afterwards.

Payback Time

Payback TimeEmail on the other hand comes across as a classic example of time debt, sending an email means you are committing to replying late and this creates a small debt that you have to pay invariably at a later time so create more time assets than debts, working on your extended mind tools would help you accomplish these goals.

Intuition and Creativity

Intuition and CreativityComputers are far superior in more ways than one and when we combine the processing power of the computer with the intuition and creativity of the human mind, what we get is a superbly winning combination.

Human-computer Combination

The human-computer combinations are really valuable in the job market. The future is going to demand more of this ability, though to a greater extent, as it is only superior technology that enablers us to do things that our brains are unable to do.

Enhance Powers of Cognition

As a matter of fact we have always used various tools that enhance our powers of cognition be it printed books, telephones or faxes, these were the extended mind tools of the past.

Final Words

Talking of the future jobs, computers and mobile devices and specialized software residing on them are the definitive tools in the coming time. In order to ensure the continuity of your employment and in your very best interest, you would need to master them and any emerging technologies completely and thoroughly to come out with flying colours, no matter what the external circumstances happen to be at any given point in time.

How Mindfulness Improves Workplace Performance?

Mindfulness simply means paying attention in a certain manner, on purpose, in the present moment, that too non-judgmentally, there is nothing esoteric about it. You go about your workday doing things the usual way, by default as you are a creature of habit.

A Calming Experience

A Calming ExperienceHowever when you really pay attention to what you are doing at the moment rather than just glossing over things, and start approaching things in a particular way you would have a calming and contend experience, that would certainly augment your workplace performance.

You No Longer Exist

Imagine a situation, where in the middle of a conversation, a person whips up his cell phone, and starts talking to the person on the other end, all of a sudden you no longer exist or someone checking the mail in the midst of a conversation. Chances are you would feel insulted when ever you come across such a rude behavior, well what lies at the root of such a behavior, is it absentmindedness, well the person has focused his or her energies on the phone and the email and is no longer mindful of your presence.

How Mindfulness Works

You begin by learning how to pay attention. Being mindful is a state of mind and may seem to be a very obvious How Mindfulness Worksconcept, however it is not practiced as widely as it should be. Have you ever wondered how mindfulness works.

Present in the Moment

Present in the MomentThis situation underscores the significance of being mindful in your day to day life, and also at your workplace to enhance your performance. As a natural corollary being more mindful means being more aware of what’s really going on. It also means being simply present in the moment, and paying attention. You would be amazed to know that something as simple as this would significantly increase employee engagement.

Emotional Exhaustion

How come being more mindful make you much more happier and all the  more Emotionalproductive at work. When leaders are mindful, a cascading effect is observed in the form of enhanced employee well being as well as performance. When a leader is more mindful, it immediately leads to a significant lowering of the emotional exhaustion that an employee experiences. Having more mindful leaders in the workplace is directly associated with employees having a better work-life balance, as well as overall job satisfaction.

Tangible Benefits

So much so for the salutary effects of mindfulness at the workplace, another noticeable fall out is that employees are more friendly with their co-workers, and as a result they are able to help the team much more. Having more autonomy and better connection is also needed for mindfulness to be really fruitful, ensure the necessary freedom at the workplace. In addition to the above there are other tangible benefits like improved decision making as a result of being mindful.

Chaotic Work Environment

Work EnvironmentJust practicing as little as fifteen minutes of meditation results in increased mindfulness, and such people have a much lower tendency to think in terms of sunken costs. Think of the chaotic work environment of a restaurant, mindfulness works wonders here as well, even at times when workers are not fully engaged for some reason or the other.

Sunk Cost Fallacy

It helps one focus better on tasks, that in turn brings extraordinary results. When you work with focus and
Job Performancemindfulness you will find that it alleviates the ill effects of sunk cost fallacy, this essentially is the bias that we have to continue treading the wrong path just because we have already invested time and energy in it, something of a bad movie, that you finish anyway just because you have already spent an hour or so.

Increased Job Performance

It leads to better focus and increased job performance, while workplace engagement increases feelings of happiness
and positivity, mindfulness on the other hand results in better cognitive skills, and attention span, enabling employees to juggle multiple things at once.

Final Words

Again undivided focus and attention is of utmost importance as half of the adult minds are not at all focussed during a typical day, resulting in a dip in performance, and worse when their minds wander they are all the more unhappy, so mindfulness finds applications in all spheres of life and needs to be incorporated earnestly in the right measure.

How to Get in the Zone and Boost Productivity at Work?

Have you ever experienced “the flow” while working, it is indeed a surreal experience, time comes to a stand still and you are at your productive best. Each and every thing that you do flows beautifully.

Energized Focus

In the heart of your hearts, you have that magical feeling of being content with your output and the glow on your face is a testimony to this state. Talking of positive psychology, this state of seamless flow, also referred to as the zone is a mental state of being and operating, wherein the person performing a given activity is fully immersed in a feeling of highly energized focus, complete involvement, deriving utmost pleasure and enjoyment during the process of the activity.

Magical Feeling

Being completely absorbed in what one is doing is what characterizes flow in essence. This magical feeling is referred to as flow. By now you must have gone through your share of intensive reading on how to boost your productivity at the workplace, however if you truly want to understand the real secret of productivity, you would definitely need to understand what flow is in effect.

The Yerkes-Dodson Law

The Yerkes-Dodson Law has empirically investigated the relation between enthusiasm and performance, it postulates that performance increases with physical or mental stimulation but up-to a certain point only. When the levels of stimulation become too high, performance starts degrading.

Perfect Point

If we have a graphical representation of the phenomenon we would invariably observe a curvilinear depiction, that would come across as an inverted U shaped curve which increases initially and then goes on to decrease with higher levels of enthusiasm. You may adopt various ways and means that enable you to hit that perfect point when a task you are performing at the moment happens to be neither too challenging nor too boring.

Tricky Business

To strike that particular perfect spot is indeed a tricky business. To begin with you would never be able to reach that mental point of enthusiasm, if you do not love what you do, do not enjoy your current work, which brings us to the assumption that finding something you are passionate about is the key to taste lasting fulfillment and success.

Day to Day Life

Essentially it boils down to flow being the secret to everlasting happiness. One must also note that flow is not just restricted to the world of work, it can surely and effectively be applied to other areas of our life with equal aplomb. Matter of factly speaking the secret to a happy life lies in incorporating the flow into our day to day lives.

Maintain the Flow

Learning to get as well as maintain the flow is of paramount importance and for this you need to find the right environment, that enables you to produce your best output. The right time of the day has a significant role to play as well, it is the special time when you are at your productive best. Finally it is of utmost importance that you remove all sorts of distractions that come in your way of getting into a flow be it the cell phone, the TV, extra programs or tabs on your computer.

Final Words

Getting into the flow is indeed such an incredibly hard thing to do, count yourself fortunate as and when you are able to attain that state, and when you are literally flowing it makes eminent sense to harness that power in its entirety, try and stay in that state for as long as practically possible and reap bountiful rewards.

If You Want to Be Successful, You Need to Be Relevant

Did you ever ask yourself this all important question, what are the secret ingredients that go into the making of an exceptionally successful career? Is your answer on the expected lines, a bit of hard work and some luck thrown in.

Important Elements

Important ElementsHopefully you studied hard and did all the proper things, made the right noises, you may expect to succeed and accomplish your aim with élan. Just ensure that you succeed in your endeavor by ticking all the right boxes. No doubt, all of these are really important elements of success.

Caught Your Fancy

Kalaripayattu the ancient martial arts was extremely popular in the olden days, subsequently faded into oblivion with the passage of time, and was followed by a resurgence in public interest, in sync with global interest in martial arts, somehow caught your fancy.

Opportunity Knocks Your Doors

Opportunity Knocks Your DoorsJust visualize you are a teen growing up in the backwaters of Kerala, coming from an impoverished background looking for ways to survive the coming 24 hours. You might never ever imagine, not even in your wildest dreams, that opportunity can knock your doors by the fist, coming from a distant past.

Incredulous

By using your self-taught skills, you are able to provide an outlet for other youthful people. It is rather incredulous to come to the belief that an ancient martial art form would provide economic opportunities in the hinterland.

Cult Status

A host of national and international movies reinstated the cult status it enjoyed in the golden past. By appreciating the art form, you have found a means of generating your own income, by training others, competing and assisting in the production of action sequences in movies.

Go Beyond the Usual

Go-Beyond-the-UsualHowever you need to go beyond the usual, and consider additional factors as well, which in turn would go ahead and create the perfect conditions for sustainable realization of your goals. Success has got to be unique as far as you are concerned.

Instant Gratification

One has to be curious, must never adopt shortcuts, success has to be honest by all means or else it is going to be short-lived. Although these days instant gratification is the king, cutting corners in your efforts to attain success is not going to help.

The Definition of Success

The-Definition-of-SuccessFollowing your passion has redefined the definition of success for you. You have found your very own version of accomplishing your personal goals. This in turn has strengthened the belief that in this dynamic and changing world, being relevant is the equivalent of being successful.

Final Words

We got to base our actions on integrity, and a robust framework of consistent principles. It is an established fact that individuals as well as businesses who act with integrity and authencity are the ones who are the outliers in their respective industries.

They certainly go on to outlast the organizations that shriek their responsibilities in building ethical businesses. The bard William Shakespeare is often quoted saying “no legacy is as rich as honesty”. This in effect defines true success.

What Are the Various Competitive Advantages of Working in Different Industries?

Job seekers often find themselves at the receiving end of persuasive advice, doled out to them from time to time and a recurring one happens to be about specializing in a given field in order to bag plum positions.

Diverse Skill Set

Diverse Skill SetThis is indeed great advice, what it omits is the fact that working in many different industries can be a big plus. When you have a varied job experience behind you, it is quite natural for you to have a diverse skill set as well and this in itself renders you more valuable to your employer.

Pool of Talent

This comes across more prominently in areas where the available pool of talent has a really narrow area of expertise. Having broad working experience, benefits not just the employers it benefits the employee as well, it helps the employee to go ahead and evaluate a prospective workplace with a keen eye.

Career Path

Career PathYoung and inexperienced employees are prone to hopping jobs at the onset of their career as they are undecided on the career path they want to take. Their situation can be mitigated by working in diverse industries, and getting first hand insight of what these jobs entail and their unique requirements, rather than exploring only a handful of them.

Real World Experience

The most important off shoot is they are able to get real world experience of varied sets of industries. Not to miss the all important additional perk that an employee is able to give himself or herself a raise by taking a significantly higher paying job rather than going ahead and coaxing the same from the current employer, which gets next to impossible at times.

Excellent Work Place

Work EnvironmentThis experience equips you with a far better ability to appreciate a pleasant boss and an excellent work place, with good salary and additional benefits. You would easily and quickly recognize an organization in which you find some or all of the aspects to be sub par.

A Broader Experience

Besides obtaining a broader experience, one is able to make comparisons of what they like and dislike about various aspects related to a given career path. Coming across various workplaces leaves you with a rich body of experience as to what is good, or average about a workplace.

A Veritable Goldmine

Veritable GoldmineWith a diverse workplace history behind, you are in a better position to target your transferable skills, to a still broader range of potential future employers. It helps to tie different bits of your job history so that they fit different job openings, varied skills are an added advantage. Come to think of it your previous workplace experience can be a veritable goldmine of information, to any new employer.

Best Work Practices

work practice This holds especially true when you are making a move to a smaller company from a larger one. Come to think of it, your knowledge regarding the best work practices, may bring the new employer a wealth of information that might have cost your previous employer a lot in monetary terms as consultancy fees.

Final Words

Highlighting superior quality experiences gained from working in various departments in larger organizations is indeed a great idea as it stands you in good stead, especially in the context of smaller firms. Refrain from blurting out certain things, like mentioning consultancy costs borne by previous employers.

It would belittle the present employer and may hurt your career progression, however do not shy from underlining  the expertise obtained by working at great places and do make a mention as to how the same can be applied to the present workplace for success despite the smaller size of the organization.

Do You Consider Yourself a Hard Working and Successful Professional?

What is the professional culture you find yourself working in at the moment, is it in consonance with international working norms. How many hours do you clock each week, is that constant or varies on an ongoing basis.

Professional Life

Professional-LifeHave you ever paused to ask yourself how is stress impacting your professional as well as personal life, if the impact is negative, to what extent. Do you avail all your paid holidays each year, or just half of them or even less.

Work Ethic

What is your opinion about taking pride in work ethic. Oftentimes when people consider themselves hard working they are under a lot of duress caused by an ever increasing workload. So many questions with no satisfactory answers.

Nuggets of Wisdom

Nuggets of WisdomThe time is right to delve into nuggets of wisdom doled out by workplace psychologists and career experts with regards to managing motivation levels as well as productivity habits. Do you consider yourself to be the hardest working person or are obsessed with work all the time.

 

Plausible Answers

In order to know the plausible answers you need to ask probing questions that actively challenge you and lead you to understand your habits. Just think over it, if you possibly could do less work and spend more time relaxing, you should be already doing that by now.

Smart Work

Smart-WorkConsider if you are defining productivity in the right manner, and whether you are working hard or smart, are you possibly spending your time the way you deem fit. Can you go ahead and intentionally unplug from work as and when you wish to do so.

Get Into the Zone

Let us look at things objectively, when you are working 9 to 5 each day, you get into the zone, get things done and feel genuinely good about the same, falling into a rhythm is quite nice, but have you ever really tried to find out why you are doing this.

Idea of Productivity

Do you carry an overarching idea of productivity, and lastly are you working way too much. In the event you answered all or most of the questions affirmatively, it is quite possible that you are putting a whole lot of things at stake.

Quality Time

Quality TimeThe quality time you spend with people you care about, your own personal health and happiness and of course all the adventures that life outside the office has in store for you. Just ensure that your passion for work is not causing damage to people whose lives revolve around you.

Step Back and Evaluate

It is time to step back and evaluate. How can you possibly find out whether you are going overboard with your work, can you recognize the signs of a burnout, the best bet is to slow down and listen perceptibly to what other parts that make you up are doing.

Motivated Employee

motivated employeeTo be a motivated employee is really great, but there’s much more to you. You need to retrace your steps every now and then in order to be able to move forward. Take a look at the way you are working.

Running on a Treadmill

Do take the thinking time, if you are unable to do so you would find yourself running on a treadmill, not at your pace, but on someone else’s pace and no wonder success and contentment would elude you.

Final Words

It is really important to move forward on your own terms. As it is, you have to be competitive in this overworked society, without your effort backfiring on you. An, unhappy, stressed and burnt out employee is not going to be of help for anyone let alone the boss. Never work against yourself, always work for yourself and you would do great service to all concerned.