#Leadership : The Most Profitable Industries in 2016…Some Businesses Tend to have Healthier Bottom Lines by the Very Nature of the Industries that they Operate In.

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Which U.S. industries are the most lucrative? The answer depends on how it’s measured, but based on pre-tax net profit margin, the top money-makers include specialty service providers in accounting, law, health care and real estate, according to the latest ranking from Sageworks, a financial information company.

Free- Counting Abacus

Accounting-related companies (accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll service companies) are the most profitable, with net profit amounting to 18.3 percent of sales, on average, based on a financial-statement analysis for privately held companies for the 12 months ended June 30.  Legal services firms and real-estate leasing companies are tied for second and third in profitability, with average net profit margins of 17.4 percent. These industries often make the cut for Sageworks’ annual ranking.

Sageworks Most Profitable Industries 2016

“Some businesses tend to have healthier bottom lines by the very nature of the industries that they operate in,” said Sageworks analyst James Noe. Many of the most profitable industries sell services rather than products, he noted, so their operations don’t require raw materials or other up-front costs that would wind up in the middle of their income statements and eat into the bottom line. “They don’t sell or produce finished goods,” he said. “They don’t make the tractors to sell to farmers or they don’t buy groceries to sell to consumers. In other words, you don’t need plastic to provide an audit for a company; it’s just mostly human capital that’s being utilized, and that lends to a high margin generally.”

 

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Among privately held companies across all industries, the average net profit margin for the 12 months ended June 30 was 7.7 percent.Through its cooperative data model, Sageworks collects and aggregates private-company financial statements from accounting firms, banks and credit unions. Net profit margin has been adjusted to exclude taxes and include owner compensation in excess of their market-rate salaries. These adjustments are commonly made to private-company financials in order to provide a more accurate picture of the companies’ operational performance.

Five health-related industries made Sageworks’ top 15 list of most profitable industries in 2016: outpatient care centers, physicians, dentists, medical labs and a category of other health practitioners that includes chiropractors, optometrists, physical/speech/occupational therapists and non-physician mental health services providers.

Noe said that several industries tied to medical care and professional services have made Sageworks’ list of most profitable industries in recent years. Contributing factors could include more demand for health care from the aging baby boomer population and the fact that these specialized services require workers with advanced educational degrees who are able to garner higher fees. I take 600mg of Gabapentin a day for my RLS some hours before going to sleep and it really works! I`ve finally remembered what a good night sleep is. Haven`t noticed any side effects for now, though I`ve read lots of reviews from people, who did have some negative experience.

“There are two ways to have a high profit margin,” he said. “You either have a heavy top line, or revenue, so you’ll still have a healthy bottom line despite whatever expenses you incur, or you just don’t have a lot of expenses in the middle of the income statement.”

Privately held companies offering tutoring, sports camps, driving lessons and a host of other instructional or educational services also made the list this year, with a net profit margin of 10.5 percent. Sageworks has previously noted strong growth in both sales and profitability for this industry, classified as “Other schools and instruction.”

Sageworks, a financial information company, collects and analyzes data on the performance of privately held companies and provides accounting and audit solutions.

 

Forbes.com | August 6, 2016 | Sageworks

Your #Career : Your Employees Are Already Job Hunting. What Are You Going to Do?…Whether you Know it or Not, a Lot of your Employees are probably Job-Hunting on the Job. And you Can Guarantee this is True If the Employees in Question are Millennials.

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job tenure for all groups above 25 is 5.5 years. But when you look at the data around employees between 25 and 34 years old, the average job tenure shrinks to three years. Narrow that window down to only those employees between 20 and 24 years old and you’ve got an average job tenure of a miniscule 16 months.

bored-woman

What does this mean for companies? Sheer chaos. Businesses invest a great deal of effort into recruiting and training the right employees for their organizations. So when these employees jump ship, the transition process places a heavy burden on a company’s resources. Estimates of the costs around replacing an employee vary; some studies, like that by SHMR, figure that businesses are set back six to nine months’ salary on average to replace an employee, while others estimate that the cost is closer to twice their annual salary.

To make matters worse, the problem is contagious. A “quitting” environment can cast a negative pall on the culture of your company, causing other employees to question their own commitment to staying put.

Employee retention is a particularly tough challenge when it comes to millennials, who job hop far more than other age groups. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job tenure for all groups above 25 is 5.5 years. But when you look at the data around employees between 25 and 34 years old, the average job tenure shrinks to three years. Narrow that window down to only those employees between 20 and 24 years old and you’ve got an average job tenure of a miniscule 16 months.

 

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Employee retention isn’t a one-size fits all proposition. But amongst all the various needs and wants that employees seek from their jobs, there is, in fact, one thing that appeals to employees of age-groups. This benefit goes a long way towards keeping employees engaged and focused on their current job, not their next one.

A culture of giving back.

Study after study shows that a majority of employees – especially Millennials – consider a company’s commitment to the community when making a job decision, and those who participate in workplace volunteer activities are more likely to be proud, loyal and satisfied employees.

Employees look for different things from their jobs and companies. But on balance, we all have a lot in common when it comes to certain parameters for job satisfaction. The U.S Department of Labor asserts that the best employees today want the following:

  • Career development opportunities and a chance to grow in their chosen field
  • Regular feedback on how both they and the company are doing
  • A chance to contribute directly to the organization and be recognized for doing so
  • Flexible work schedules that recognize their need for work/life balance
  • A good salary or wage and an opportunity to increase it over time
  • Benefits tailored to their individual needs

This same report suggests that companies focus on these areas of improvement:

  • Recruitment and hiring. It’s worth spending time and effort on recruiting. When there’s a good match between employees and your organization, retention is less likely to be an issue.
  • Orientation and onboarding. Again, it’s worth having good practices in place. Treating employees right in the critical early stages of employment has been proven to enhance retention.
  • Training and development. Training and development are key factors in helping employees grow with your company and stay marketable in their field.
  • Performance evaluation. When employees know what they’re doing well and where they need to improve, both they and your organization benefit.
  • Pay and benefits. While today many employees tend to rate factors such as career development higher than pay, good pay and benefits still count.
  • Internal communication. Effective communication can help ensure that employees to want to stay with your company. Employees need to know—and be reminded on a regular basis—how the organization is doing and what they can do to help.
  • Termination and outplacement. Employees who leave on good terms are much more likely to recommend your company, and in doing so, help you attract and retain future employees.

Believe it or not, a culture of social purpose can have a big impact on all of these areas. For example, skills-based volunteering provides opportunities for learning new skills and leadership training in ways that are easier, more abundant and less expensive to companies than traditional skills training. Skills-based volunteering can also provide new perches from which to access greater career responsibilities and growth, provided that company leaders utilize volunteering as an authentic training ground and onramp into higher level positions. When you go down the list, there are specific ways that a culture of giving back helps address every area of focus recommended by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Companies that engender passion create a foundation of rock-solid employee morale that is directly tied to strong retention. Engage your employees in a partnership of purpose and they’ll want to extend their stay at your company.

Ryan Scott is the Founder and CEO of Causecast, which recently released the eBook “The Company You Keep: How Smart Companies Improve Retention.”

 

Forbes.com | August 5, 2016 | Cause Integration

 

 

Your #Career : 7 Tricks to Instantly Appear Competent…People form Impressions of your Personality in a Matter of Seconds. It’s Not Necessarily Fair, But it’s Reality.

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Especially in a professional setting, one thing you’ll want to immediately appear is competent: knowledgeable, skilled, and capable. Fortunately, there are ways to make yourself seem competent as soon as you meet an interviewer, coworker, client, or boss (and sometimes even as soon as they see your photograph).

free- women at meeting

 

Here are seven easy, sneaky strategies for appearing as competent as possible:

1. Speak quickly

If you’ve got something to say, say it fast.

In one study, Brigham Young University researchers had 28 university students listen to recordings of six people whose voices had been manipulated to sound slower or faster than normal.

The student volunteers rated the speakers most competent when their voices had been sped up and least competent when their voices had been slowed down.

Robin Marchant / Getty Images

 

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2. If you’re a woman, consider wearing makeup

Research suggests that wearing makeup can make women seem more competent.

In 2011, Nancy Etcoff at Harvard University led a study in which more than 250 adults looked at photographs of 25 women with different types of makeup. One-quarter of them wore no makeup; one quarter were made to look “natural” (some makeup); one quarter were made to look “professional” (a bit more makeup than the “natural” group); and one quarter were made look “glamorous” (the most makeup).

As it turns out, judges rated the “glamorous” women the most competent and the barefaced women the least competent.

Sebastiaan ter Burg/Flickr

3. Ask for advice…

You might fear that asking for help will make you look stupid.

But recent research from Harvard Business School suggests that asking for advice can instead make you seem more competent.

In one experiment, 170 university students worked on a series of computer tasks and were told they’d be matched with a partner who would complete the same tasks. (The partner was really a computer simulation.) When they’d finished the tasks, the “partner” either said, “I hope it went well” or “I hope it went well. Do you have any advice?”

As it turns out, students who’d been asked for advice rated their “partner” more competent than those who hadn’t been asked for advice.

The researchers explain that when you ask for advice, you’re validating the person’s intelligence and experience, so they feel good about you in turn.

4. …unless you’re a man in a leadership position

While soliciting advice can generally help you look more competent, a 2015 study found that asking for help might make male leaders in particular seem less competent.

Researchers recruited 65 business students to answer questions about their experiences in “leadership ventures,” in which they participated in challenges like mountaineering in Antarctica and climbing a volcano in Ecuador. Students took turns acting as the “leader of the day.”

The researchers asked students to reflect on the behavior of the leader of the day: Some students answered questions about how often the leader sought help, while others answered questions about how competent that same leader seemed.

As it turns out, male leaders who reportedly asked for help a lot were rated less competent than male leaders who asked less often.

Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design/flickr

5. Act a little cold

We tend to judge people on two main traits when we first meet them: warmth and competence. But is it possible to be rated highly on both?

A 2009 study led by Belgian and American psychologists suggests that groups of people who are warmer are also judged as less competent.

About 80 undergrads at an American university read descriptions of two different groups. Each group fell into one of four categories: high on competence and high on warmth; high on competence and low on warmth; low on competence and high on warmth; or low on competence and low on warmth.

The participants weren’t told that the groups were competent or warm — instead they received descriptions of each group that implied these traits.

Participants were then asked to rate each group on a number of traits. Results showed that high-competence groups were seen as more competent if they were also low on warmth.

Eugenio Marongiu / Shutterstock

6. Post a profile photo taken from a distance

If you’re choosing a Facebook or LinkedIn pic, consider selecting one where you’re standing a few feet from the camera.

In multiple experiments with hundreds of participants, conducted in 2012, researchers found that 18 white men were considered more competent, trustworthy, and attractive when they were photographed from about 4.5 feet away, as opposed to about 1.5 feet away.

Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images

7. Make your face look slightly wider

Research from New York University and the University of Connecticut published in 2015suggests that it’s not so easy to make yourself look more competent.

That’s because perceptions of competence — at least when it comes to physical ability — depend largely on your facial structure.

In the study, participants looked at male faces whose proportions had been digitally altered, so that some looked wider than others. They were asked to choose which man they thought would win a weightlifting competition. (Presumably, they were choosing based on physical ability, or competence.)

Sure enough, men with wider faces were considered more likely to win the weightlifting competition.

While you can’t physically alter your facial structure (without getting cosmetic surgery), you can probably work a little Photoshop magic to make your face look slightly wider than it really is.

Businessinsider.com |  Shana Lebowitz | Apr. 7, 2016,

Your #Career : 7 Foods That Can Boost Productivity and Creativity….You are What you Eat. You’ve Heard that Plenty of Times Before, but Have you Ever Given it some Serious Thought? What Does it Mean, Exactly?

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Think of it this way — if you eat nothing but fried foods, chips, and soda, you’re probably going to be overweight and generally unhealthy. If you take on a vegan diet, you’ll likely be pretty lean. If you eat a lot of protein-packed foods, you’re probably going to be pretty muscular — just like the foods you eat.

Successful people spend quality time with their friends and families on Sunday nights.

But those links go beyond just physical makeup and appearance. The foods we eat, and overall dieting habits, have a serious impact on our the way our brains function. If you’ve ever heard someone use the term ‘brain food,’ this link is what they’re referring to.

There are several physiological factors that are at play when discussing diet and cognitive function — blood sugar levels, caloric intake, and the concentration of vitamins and minerals among them. The point is, what you eat can and will have an affect on how you’re able to perform throughout the day, which can mean spikes and plateaus in productivity, and being able to tackle objectives with a clear and focused mind.

After all, it’s hard to get anything done when you’re ‘hangry,’ right?

Researchers say you’ll want to focus your overall eating habits toward a fruit and vegetable-heavy diet in order to hit higher levels of engagement and become more productive. There are many foods and drinks that can also help you find a spark of creativity or a boost in engagement because of their specific compositions.

If you’re in need of a pick-me-up during the work day, the following seven foods should help you get back on track.

1. Eggs

Eggs are rich in protein, which will not only help your body build and maintain muscle, but also leave you feeling full. That means that if you have a few, you’ll stop feeling famished and be able to get back to work. But more than that, eggs contain many vital nutrients, including choline. Choline has been linked by many researchers toincreased cognitive ability, and even improved memory. Plus, they’re cheap and relatively easy to make. Hard-boil some eggs, and keep them nearby.

 

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2. Bananas

Bananas are cheap, easy to eat, and delicious. You can find them pretty much anywhere, too — from hotel continental breakfast bars, to every 7-11 or Starbucks out there. But the greatest thing about bananas is that they’re natural mood enhancers and can get your mind back on the things that count. Bananas contain chemical compounds like tyrosine that can help you calm down. Bananas also have a good dosage of potassium, which has numerous psychological and physiological effects.

3. Salmon

Grizzly bears must be on to something.

Salmon has been found to have rather profound impacts on brain function, mostly due to the big concentrations of Omega fatty acids within the tissues. Those fatty acids, and the ones found in salmon in particular, are ideal for our neurons and help support healthy brain tissue. This is why fish oil pills grew so wildly in popularity, and why many doctors suggest getting plenty of fish in your diet. If you can’t seem to get any work done, have some Steelhead for lunch.

4. Tea

Yes, tea will give you a caffeine dose that will leave you more energized and raring to go, but there is also evidence that certain teas will help your memory. Green tea, in particular, has been clinically shown to have a lasting impact on brain connectivity, which refers to the communication networks located within the brain itself. Opening up those networks increases working memory, it has been found, and may even helped stave off degenerative diseases like dementia.

Perhaps all that tea is what helped the British control huge swaths of the globe for so long?

5. Wine

If you’ve ever wondered how and why some people seem to come alive after a glass or two of wine, there’s some science to back it up. Certain compounds found in wines have been tied to increased levels of cognitive performance — levels that were curiously not present when subjects drank beer or other liquors. The compound in question, called resveratrol, is commonly found in grapes, which is how wine drinkers end up reaping the benefits. Resveratrol can help give you a memory boost, and may even have anti-cancer and anti-aging effects too.

6. Dark Chocolate

Just like wine, chocolates (dark chocolates, specifically) are rich in certain compounds that are linked to increased brain function. In this case, we’re talking about high concentrations of flavanols, which are present in cocoa beans. There is evidence that flavanols can lower blood pressure, and even help regulate blood sugar, but they also are tied to memory and cognitive abilities.

7. Nuts

Can’t get enough cashews or almonds? Eat up, because there is evidence of long-term nut intake being tied to better brain health. Nuts contain all kinds of important elements in high concentrations, including vitamins and minerals. You also get healthy fats, and one of the best sources of protein outside of meats and poultry. And much like salmon, there are nuts that contain some essential and valuable fatty acids, which can help facilitate brain development and ward off age-related degeneration.

Follow Sam on Facebook and Twitter @SliceOfGinger

 

CheatSheet.com | August 4, 2016 | Sam Becker

Your #Career : How to Deal With the Office Jerk and Other Difficult People…Take the Same Approach with your Difficult Co-Workers or Boss. Match their Speed, and Slowly Apply the Brakes. This Way, they’ll be More Receptive, and More Open to the Feedback you’re Giving them Regarding their Behavior.

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Is your boss a bully? Can you not seem to avoid crossing paths with the office jerk? Are you surrounded by toxic, difficult people all day? Working with dullards and jerks can make your workweek a living hell. Not only are you having to walk on eggshells around certain people, but you also might feel like your hands are tied in trying to retaliate or avoid their wrath. It can ruin your mood, affect your life away from work, and make you miserable.

 

So, how can you get out of these types of situations? It isn’t easy — and sometimes it’s better to just find another job and wash your hands of the toxicity completely. But that’s not an option for everyone. One way you can mount a stout defense and create some space between you and the office jerk and other difficult people you work with is to get inside their heads.

What makes these people tick? Why are they acting like this? We now have a better idea.

New research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says that it all comes down to contempt — and self-esteem. Basically, people who act out negatively toward others (be it their spouse, co-workers, friends, etc.) are doing so due to their own insecurities and self-loathing. In other words, they’re incredibly fragile underneath their tough exteriors.

 

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The psychology of difficult people

If you’ve had to deal with difficult people before or are perhaps related or married to one, you can probably see the underlying truth here. For a lot of people, putting up a tough exterior or abrasive attitude is a defense mechanism, meant to distract from the flaws lying under the surface. We see it all the time in movies and TV shows, where frightening, powerful villains are reduced to shadows of their former selves when the hero figures out that there are emotional or self-esteem issues at their core.

“Despite its importance, contempt has not been investigated at the level of personality,” reads the study, which was conducted by researcher Roberta Schriber and her team at the University of California, Davis.

“Across 6 studies using self-report and emotion elicitation in student and MTurk samples, we examined its (a) nomological network, (b) personality and behavioral correlates, and (c) implications for relationship functioning,” the study continued. “Dispositional contempt was distinguished from tendencies toward related emotions and was most associated with dispositional envy, anger, and hubristic pride.”

So, by studying students and volunteers recruited from Amazon’s MTurk platform, researchers related contempt with negative emotions you might encounter in the workplace — anger, envy, etc. And here’s the meat of the findings:

Somewhat paradoxically, dispositional contempt was related to being cold and “superior,” with associations found with narcissism, other-oriented perfectionism, and various antisocial tendencies (e.g., Disagreeableness, Machiavellianism, racism), but it was also related to being self-deprecating and emotionally fragile, with associations found with low self-esteem, insecure attachment, and feeling that others impose perfectionistic standards on oneself.

In other words, people who act out are really just insecure and are lashing out as a result.

Deciphering the office jerk

With this knowledge in hand, how can you go about vanquishing your toxic co-workers or socially difficult colleagues? You know that their behavior is symptomatic of poor self-esteem and insecurity, so you may need toenact a few strategies stolen from psychologists to smooth things out.

For one, keep in mind that you can’t control the other person’s feelings or behavior — you can only control your own. Use this kernel of Stoic knowledge to keep yourself composed and confident when confronted with a difficult situation. Let people vent, if need be. They may become unhinged for a short time, but genuinely listen to their concerns and see if there’s actually anything you can do to help.

Second, you’ll need to match their frequency in order to effectively communicate with them. Difficult people often don’t listen to the concerns of others because they’re not in tune with them. Imagine you’re trying to stop a freight train. You don’t stop the train all at once — that’s like hitting a brick wall and leads to disaster. You need to match the train’s speed, hop into the driver’s seat, and slowly apply the brakes.

Take the same approach with your difficult co-workers or boss. Match their speed, and slowly apply the brakes. This way, they’ll be more receptive, and more open to the feedback you’re giving them regarding their behavior.

Follow Sam on Facebook and Twitter @SliceOfGinger

 

CheatSheet.com | July 31, 2016 | Sam Becker

#Leadership : 9 Rules for Successful Time Management…Real Time Management is Not about Doing your Job Well. It is About Living your Life Well.

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When I started working for myself I knew I would have to put some limits on how much time I’d devote to my business. Without “regular hours” or a boss telling me exactly what was required of me, I was in danger of working 24 hours a day in an effort to meet all the unlimited goals my mind threw at me. I knew that would lead to burnout.

Free- Time Mans Watch

Burnout is the result of a lopsided life that focuses on one thing at the expense of everything else. I want my life to be well-rounded. And I’m sure that’s what you want, too. But whether you’re in business for yourself, like me, or you work for someone else, you probably feel overloaded and stressed at times.

Are you working too much?

Maybe you feel that you could be headed for burnout, where you lose your enthusiasm and creativity and you feel cut off from everything else you enjoy doing. Have you experienced any of the following symptoms?

  • You feel overwhelmed by everything you have to do, and you may even get that ‘BLANK’ feeling where you can’t seem to make a plan of action for what steps to follow next.
  • You’re become increasingly irritable and you lose your temper easily.
  • You feel mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day, but the minute your head hits the pillow your thoughts bombard you, and you can’t get a good night’s sleep.
  • Taking care of normal things like eating seems like an inconvenience.
  • You feel that in spite of all your work, you’re unable to accomplish what you think you should.
  • You feel self-doubt and very little positive motivation. You just keep plodding away with no reward.
  • You push people away and don’t want anything to interfere with your work, but you get no pleasure out of your work.

If that list describes you, you can’t be doing your best, most creative work. Even worse, you’re not enjoying your life. And you can only keep that up for so long before you snap, crackle, or pop.

 

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The solution is time management.

Real time management is not about doing your job well. It is about living your life well. You should have time for everything you want to do, and that includes work, play, and just taking the time now and then to sit and stare, because that’s when you get your most creative ideas. So here are my nine rules for successful time management:

  1. Start your day right. Don’t rush into the day. Take a few minutes to sit quietly and gather your thoughts. Remember what’s really important to you and prepare yourself inwardly to meet whatever the day brings.
  2. Have a plan for what you want to accomplish. Have a set of reasonable goals for what you will be able to do that day.
  3. Break Ttsks into reasonable units. Looking at a big task can make you feel overwhelmed and hopeless. And unless you’re careful, it can keep you from doing other things you need to do. So break it up into chewable bites so you know what you’ll get done today, and what you’ll do each day over the coming week.
  4. Prioritize tasks and refuse inessential tasks. Decide what’s the best order to do things, what needs to get done no matter what, and what you can forget about. That may mean saying “no” to other people who want you to do things that you don’t have time for.
  5. Delegate if possible. For myself, I’ve put together a great team of assistants. I let them do what they’re good at so I can do what I’m good at. I don’t get burned out doing things I don’t like, and I have more creative energy for the things I’m naturally better at.
  6. Plan time for meals, exercising, and socializing. That old Puritan ethic can keep you working non-stop – until you burn out and decide to stop for good! Before that happens, make the time to do things that make your life complete.
  7. Follow a big push with relaxation. Sometimes I have to work hard to meet a deadline. Or maybe I feel inspired and I work well into the night. That’s great. But I know I can’t keep up that intensity forever. Even if you have to force yourself to take time off, do it. There’s a clever sign on a local restaurant that says, “We give our cooks time off. Do you?” That’s a question you should ask yourself.
  8. Practice the 10-minute rule. We all have tasks we dread to do. We put off starting them and they loom before us, keeping us in a state of anxiety that drains our energy. The rule is to just work on it for 10 minutes. Chances are, once you get started, you’ll keep working on it, but start out planning just 10 minutes. Do that over a number of days, and the task will get done – and off your back.
  9. End each day with a plan for tomorrow. I like to end my day by making a quick list of what I need to do the next day. Everything is fresh in my mind and clear. Then the next morning I don’t have to try to remember what I was doing and what’s needed next. It’s like I have a headstart on the day and I’m eager to get going. That’s the opposite of burnout!

 

Entrepreneur.com | August 2, 2016 | Craig Simpson 

#Leadership : 3 Ways to Use Data to Set and Track Your Organizational Goals…In Short, Employers — Recognizing that Data is Crucial in Goal-Setting and other Business Aspects — are Using Tracking Information to made Educated Decisions.

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Data is finding its footing in the workplace: A 2016 survey from i4cp found that 67 percent of organizations surveyed said they now use results from human capital analytics projects. This increase in the use of analytics shows a shift toward predictive practices that will likely have a huge impact on the way companies run their operations.

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In short, employers — recognizing that data is crucial in goal-setting and other business aspects — are using tracking information to made educated decisions. Here are some ways your company can use data to set and track your organizational and employee goals.

1. Define ‘OKRs.’

Objectives and key results (OKRs) is a popular technique that helps get whole teams moving in one direction. No more one-time “tips” and “tricks” for a quick boost that fails to sustain continued success. Instead, OKRs use data to create long-lasting solutions.

This way, companies can set objectives and come up with key results that are metric-based indicators of success. Companies can then make those key results visible, to encourage accountability at all levels of their organizations.

A May 2016 survey of 250 companies from Geckoboard found that those companies considered keeping their employees aware of key metrics and setting clear objectives the top important factors for company growth. When employees are given and are aware of specific targets to aim for, they are more engaged in their work and motivated because they know what success looks like.

So, how should companies start setting their goals?

The answer is to begin at the top. Set broad goals that are large in scale; then cascade the objectives down to your teams and individual employees. Define what the objective is and the key result you expect to be accomplished. For example, for marketers, that objective might be “Build brand awareness to create more leads and conversions.” The key result would be “Increase website traffic by X percent.”

Ensure that each key result is trackable and has a time frame. As the Geckoboard survey found, 92 percent of participating companies that tracked their metrics in real time had met some or all of their goals in the previoius 12 months — compared to 64 percent of companies that did not track in real time.

When tracking metrics like traffic, keep each team’s members informed about how their work is contributing to this goal. Objectives need to be large enough to break down into smaller steps; and these objectives should consist of several key results because every goal should have several possible routes to attainment.

Overall, data can drive performance and help teams hit their goals. Keep a finger on the pulse of the OKRs at your company and focus on organizational alignment.

 

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2. Align and track team members.

Set each employee up for success with realistic goals to aim for. When objectives seem out of reach, the team’s performance suffers. A study from the University at Buffalo School of Management found that even teams that had been successful in the past and had plenty of resources became less efficient when management set unrealistic expectations.

Don’t let that be you. Instead, structure each goal to build toward the organization’s overall goals. Provide real-time tracking and visuals so your staffers can see how they are progressing, and take corrective actions if needed. This will help leaders see how work is allocated.

Performance data adds depth and value to employee evaluations and informs better, more constructive feedback. It can also act as crucial evidence of, and show employees and employers alike where, each person is struggling — or succeeding. This information may help adjust organizational expectations and provide more accurate project-assignment and task allocation.

3. Improve quality of hire.

Goal-tracking data can inform your company’s post-hire quality metric to measure how your talent acquisition is progressing. Using performance data, hiring managers can provide detailed, informed opinions and solutions for newer employees to improve on, and determine what the hiring team should look for in future candidates.

It’s important to conduct surveys to measure your workforce’s satisfaction levels and analyze how your employees align with the company’s culture and values. This gauges how well the team is hiring for cultural fit.

Also, revenue-per-employee data helps determine your company’s costs of turnover and hiring. Recruiting goals factor into larger, organizational goals, which is why quality of hire is a crucial factor to measure and analyze.

Predictive analytics can be analyzed to guide the talent acquisition team to make better hiring decisions and improve its entire recruitment process.

 

Entrepreneur.com | August 2, 2016 | Andre Lavoie

#Leadership : 5 Things That Scare the Hell Out of Your Manager…You’re Expected to Produce Results and On Top of All That, Don’t Forget you Need to Make Sure your Employees are Happy, Productive, and Making Your Boss Happy.

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Being in charge can be scary. When you’re thrust into the position of manager, boss, CEO, etc., you’re suddenly not just punching the clock when you come into work — you’re expected to produce results and keep the whole operation from imploding. Leadership positions, though typically coveted for their prestige and higher pay, can be extremely stressful for those reasons. To put it simply, being the boss isn’t always the cakewalk you may have assumed it is.

Free- Women walking on Narrow Bridge

But there are some very specific fears that your manager or boss has related to their job. When you’re at the apex of an organization — or even a specific part of an organization — there are threats coming at you from all sides. You may have enemies among the ranks, sniping for your job. Something unexpected can happen, making you appear totally incompetent. Or, you might even sabotage yourself by believing you’re not good enough for the role.

 

On top of all that, don’t forget you need to make sure your employees are happy, productive, and making your boss happy.

But for the things that managers and those in leadership positions fear the most, we can look to a 2014 survey of 116 executives by Roger Jones, CEO of London-based consulting company Vantage Hill Partners. His findings, which he wrote about for the Harvard Business Review, revealed a handful of specific, key fears that many leaders had in common. Here are those five fears.

1. “Imposter syndrome”

If you’re not familiar with Imposter Syndrome, it refers to the feeling or idea that you’re not actually qualified for the job you have, or possess any kind of authority. You feel like an imposter — a fraud. And this is a big problem for many executives, according to Jones’s survey. In fact, it was the biggest and most prevalent fear among his respondents. “This fear diminishes their confidence and undermines relationships with other executives,” Jones wrote.

 

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2. Underachieving

When you’re in charge, you have more skin in the game. No longer can you show up to work, clock in, screw around for hours, and then feign effort to skate by. No, as a member of management and the leadership team, you’re now more invested in the organization, and that means seeing it grow and prosper. The biggest fear related to that? Coming up short, or underachieving. Many people who make it into management are overachievers to begin with, and to get a big promotion and then fail? It can be crushing.

3. Mutiny

Every workplace has its internal politics, and when you’re at the head of the table, many other people are going to be gunning for you. They might want to take your place, or simply see you fail. Perhaps it’s a jealousy issue, or some sort of personal vendetta. Either way, there’s going to be uneasiness among the ranks, and if it isn’t quickly snuffed out, you can end up with a mutiny on your hands. That is a real fear for many managers and bosses.

4. Looking stupid

Shame — or the avoidance of shame — is one of the primary factors that motivates our behavior. Nobody wants to look stupid or feel embarrassed, and we’ll do almost anything we can to avoid it. You probably lay awake at night, replaying some humiliating thing that happened to you as a child. Well, imagine something similar happening to you as the head of a workplace, or as the guy or gal in charge. You’ll never live it down.

Everyone’s afraid of looking stupid or incompetent.

5. Looking weak

Looking stupid in front of your employees is scary. But so is looking or feeling weak and powerless. Have you ever served under a boss or manager who wasn’t respected? You could walk all over them, and so could everyone else. That can be emasculating, deflating, and make you feel toothless — which makes it a very real, and very frightening fear for the people in charge.

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CheatSheet.com | August 2, 2016 | Sam Becker

#Leadership : 7 Telltale Signs That You Have a Leader’s Mindset…Being a Great Leader is about Setting your Ego Aside and Putting your Team First. It’s About being Present in your Interactions. Most of All, It’s about Looking for Ways to Help your Employees Become the Best Versions of Themselves they can Possibly Be.

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Great performers don’t always make great leaders. Need proof? Just look to the sports world. Wayne Gretzky, Isaiah Thomas and Kevin McHale — all legendary athletes whose on-the-field success didn’t translate to storied coaching careers.

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Leadership, it turns out, is its own distinct set of skills — skills that can be cultivated and developed, just like any other. To paraphrase the great Vince Lombardi, leaders aren’t born, they’re made. And it all starts with the right mindset.

More than anything, leadership is just that — a state of mind. It’s the lens through which you see the world and the beliefs you bring to all your interactions with your team.

So how do you know if you have the leader’s mindset? Here are the seven telltale signs that you have the right frame of mind to be the leader your team needs.

1. You stop craving credit.
I’m not saying you defer it. I’m saying you literally stop craving it altogether. For leaders, credit becomes increasingly unimportant over time. In its stead, a desire to do the work you were meant to do, to the very best of your ability.

To a large degree, great leaders separate outcomes from their activity entirely and derive satisfaction from the work itself.

 

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2. You become more cheerleader/coach than player.
You realize it’s not about the work you do, but rather it’s about the quality of the work that others around you do.

This means you’re not focused on building presentations, creating systems documentation or making sales calls. Instead, you’re focused on creating the best culture and environment for your people to thrive. You’re inspiring and setting a vision that rallies people to become the best version of themselves. You’re removing obstacles from your team so they can do in the most unobstructed manner possible.

Great leaders focus less on doing and more on getting others to do their best.

3. You care about how you make others feel.
You understand that people like you primarily as a result of how you make them feel, and not how you look or how smart or cool you appear to be. It’s fine to have an edge, and it’s good to be bold, but good leaders are keenly aware of how people feel in their presence.

4. You begin to crave criticism.
Leaders are curious about criticism rather than defensive towards it. In fact, the best leaders actively seek it out because they know that criticism means there is likely an opportunity for growth and improvement. Remember, in every critical interaction, there is the potential for growth by the critic, the person being critiqued (aka, you) — or both!

The common thread….By now you’ve probably noticed a through line — it’s not about you.

5. You lead with curiosity.
This is especially relevant when dealing with people. Good leaders always give people the unreasonable benefit of the doubt. You should never lead with assumptions, unless they are positive ones.

Curiosity is a state of mind that not only makes you playful and interested, it ensures you’re always present. Many leaders feel a certain pressure to be perfect. They feel the company looking up to them and like they have to be on their A-game all the time.

But as my recent podcast guest Marcia Reynolds says in her latest book The Discomfort Zone, your team wants you to be present more than they need you to be perfect. Approaching everything with curiosity ensures that this is always the case.

6. Helping your team find their unique abilities is a top priority.
You realize one of your most important objectives is to help people find what energizes them the most, and then effectively aligning resources so they can spend most of their time doing those things (or more likely, that one thing).

This will not only give your team the greatest gift you can give them — the opportunity to do what they were put on Earth to do — it will also have wide ranging impact on your organization. When people are focused on their unique abilities, and not wasting their precious energy on things they don’t like or aren’t good at, magic happens.

7. You think about the long-term significance of your actions.
Good leaders are obsessed with timescale and the significance of their activities in the long run. If you’re keenly aware of the impact your actions of today will have on the future, you’re on the right track. You don’t sweat those actions that don’t create any future impact — like most emails.

You understand that as a leader, it’s most important for you to spend the majority of your time on what will matter three, six and twelve months from now. You hire people to worry about the hours, days, weeks and months. The significance and timescale of your activities will define your impact as a leader.

Extra credit –– You understand that your people want to see you live a rich life.
That is, they want to see that you’re not just a great professional, but someone who lives a full, rich life — someone who has a great and loving marriage/relationship, someone who is peaceful and tranquil throughout the day (showing mental and emotional health), and someone who takes care of themselves by eating properly and working out.

Why is this important? Because consciously or not, your employees follow your example, and focusing on having a well-rounded life gives them permission to have a well-rounded life as well.

Gone are the days when your employees are cool with their leader being really good at work, but terrible at everything else. That inspires very few. Great leaders take care of their people and themselves. Part of what we provide at SnackNation is the ability to demonstrate to your team that it’s not all about work; things like health, nutrition and well-being not only support performance, but are just as valuable, if not more so.

The common thread….By now you’ve probably noticed a through line — it’s not about you.

Being a great leader is about setting your ego aside and putting your team first. It’s about being present in your interactions. Most of all, it’s about looking for ways to help your employees become the best versions of themselves they can possibly be.

 

Entrepreneur.com | August 2, 2016 | Sean Kelly

#Life : 9 Yoga Poses You Can Do At Your Desk Without Looking Really Weird (Infographic)…Don’t Settle for Inactivity. Research by the Lancet Estimates that Inactivity Costs the World Around $67.5 Billion a Year.

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If you’re a yogi or yogini, you know the benefits of yoga on the body — it can help make you happier and improve flexibility and focus — but sometimes co-workers don’t exactly appreciate your mid-day yoga routine (this is no Ashrama).

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Don’t settle for inactivity. Research by the Lancet estimates that inactivity costs the world around $67.5 billion a year.

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Luckily, you can avoid inactivity while in the office. JFK Blog has compiled yoga poses that you can do at your desk without getting weird stares from the cubicle next door. Check them out in the Infographic below.

Ford Motor Company (Infographic)

Entrepreneur.com | July 30, 2016 | Grace Reader 

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