#Leadership : What To Do When People Break Their Promises?… It’s an Old Rule of Life that we Teach People How to Treat Us. It’s Easier to Just Let it Go & Hope They’ll Be More Reliable Next Time. The Problem Is, They Rarely Are.

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But Here’s the Deal: When you Decide Not to Call Someone on their Broken Promise & Ill-Managed Commitment, You’re, Albeit Inadvertently, Being Part of the Problem. The one thing you can count on is to expect more of it. More broken promises. More turning up late. More cut corners. More well worn excuses. More missed deadlines. And more of the stress, frustration and resentment you’d much rather avoid.

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It’s an old rule of life that we teach people how to treat us. Yet often we women, highly attuned to building relationships but reticent to say anything to ruffle them, can struggle when it comes to managing accountability and calling people on broken promises – our friends most of all. It just feels like less stress to say nothing; even to just do it ourselves.
At least in the short term.

But here’s the deal: When you decide not to call someone on their broken promise and ill-managed commitment, you’re, albeit inadvertently, being part of the problem. The one thing you can count on is to expect more of it. More broken promises. More turning up late. More cut corners. More well worn excuses. More missed deadlines. And more of the stress, frustration and resentment you’d much rather avoid.

If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated at someone who’s perpetually slack, or late, or unreliable then you’ll relate to some of the comments above. Many people value their promises cheaply or simply manage their commitments poorly. Others have a hard time holding people to account. It’s easier to just let it go and hope they’ll be more reliable next time.

The Problem is, they Rarely Are.

Turning the tide begins with renewing your commitment to manage every area of your life with integrity. When it comes to your commitments, it’s about honoring your word and then refusing to tolerate any less from others. Having coached many people working in cultures with poor accountability, failing to hold people to account can set off a ripple effect that is far-reaching and costly. It doesn’t just undermine your own integrity, reputation and influence, it impacts all those around you.

 

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If you happen to be working in an organization where promises are treated cheaply, accountability low and punctuality near non-existent, either choose to be the change you want to see in those around or, if that feels totally futile, choose to make an exit plan! Either way, own your choice to stay or go and don’t complain about its trade-offs.

If you are overdue a conversation about accountability, here are seven keys to help you on your way.

1. Decide what you want upfront.

I’ve lost count of times executives have expressed frustration with what was delivered to them only to find that they were never really sure what they wanted to begin with. So before you enter into a commitment, or even consider holding someone accountable, be sure you are really clear in your own mind about what it is you want and how you would define success. How can others know what you want if you don’t?

2. Be specific in clarifying expectations.

Sometimes you can clear up a simple misunderstanding at the outset just by clarifying what it was you expected in the first place. To ensure against the same thing happening again, always make sure people are clear about both what you expect to be done and whenyou expect it to be done. Ambiguity is a recipe for frustration and unmet expectation.

Simply asking, “Do you understand?” is not enough. Get them to paraphrase, summarize or reflect back their understanding so you are sure you are on the same page.

3. Ask for what you do want, rather than what you don’t.

Many peoplehave a tendency to complain about the actions and behaviors they don’t like, when in reality, they haven’t explained the actions and behaviors they want to see.

4. Seek for an explanation before making an accusation.

5. Share the impact of them not keeping their word.

People aren’t always conscious of how their behaviour impacts other people , or even themselves. So you need to be straight with them about how their failure to manage their commitments has impacted you, others and them! Maybe you had to work late to finish what they didn’t. Maybe it affected your entire team and you had to manage the fallout. Maybe you’re just disappointed with them. Maybe you’ll have to think twice before relying on them again. Maybe others will. This isn’t about making them feel bad; it’s just being upfront about the impact so you can make things better in the future.

6. Reset expectations.

Likewise, if someone has let you down, it’s important to renegotiate exactly what it is you want, when you want it and what they are able to deliver. By having the courage to have the conversation, rather than tiptoeing around, you set the stage for greater accountability and less disappointment.

If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. So, as uncomfortable as you may feel, just know that when you do what you know is right and hold people accountable to their word, albeit uncomfortable, everyone—including them— ultimately comes out better off. (Just don’t expect a thank-you card.)

7.   Reward the positive and coach the negative.

If you operate out of the mindset that keeping one’s promises shouldn’t be rewarded because it should just be done, you are missing an opportunity to reinforce good behavior. Publicly thank and acknowledge those who consistently manage their commitments with integrity, show punctuality and meet or exceed expectations. Sure, they should just do that anyway, but you will be highlighting for those who don’t that this is what you want to see more of. And for those who aren’t so good in how they manage promises and juggle commitments, take the time to coach them to competency. Everyone wants to do a good job – they just may need some more support and skill in doing it.

Whatever you do, don’t shy away from having the tough conversations.  As I wrote in my new book Brave, like so many of the things you know are good for you to do, holding people accountable requires exiting your comfort zone and engaging in the uncomfortable work of a tough conversation. Emotions can run high and sensitivities deep. It’s why it takes an ounce or three of courage. Sometimes more.

Margie is a keynote speaker & bestselling author. Get her latest book Brave & take the Train The Brave Challenge. 

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Forbes.com | June 18, 2015 | Margie Warrell 

Your #Career : Searching for a Job the Smart Way: How to Use your Mobile Device to Land your Dream Job?…Take Note that Mobile Devices are only Tools to Finding your Career the Best Career Option– It Will Still Require you to Be Extremely Determined & to Showcase your Skillset, & Knowledge in that Specific Field to Land the Job of your Dreams.

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Mobile technology is an essential tool for people nowadays, as it has brought significant benefits with its ability to process requests via a single device. It has the capability to help you find your dream job without the need to leave your home. In fact, a 2014 Glassdoor survey revealed that 9 out of 10 job seekers will maximize their mobile devices for job searches.

JobSearch
As mobile ownership is expected to increase, with the rise of new forms of devices, How can Job Seekers Maximize their Smartphone & Tablet’s Full Potential to Land their Dream Career ? Here are some ways you can use your device for job hunting.

Socially connect with employers
Previously, in order to connect with companies and hiring managers, you would have to attend gatherings or personally appear in their offices to give your resume. With the help of online tools and mobile technology job seekers are able to connect with employers via their devices without having to personally appear somewhere. Based on a study featured on The Undercover Recruiter, 67 percent of job hunters are maximizing Facebook, 45 percent are on Twitter, while 40 percent are using LinkedIn. Likewise, HR personnel are also using these platforms to do background checks on their potential applicants prior to inviting them for an interview. Among the social platforms, LinkedIn is widely known in the enterprise sector as the most common tool in connecting professionals.

 

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Online job interviews
Some employers prefer talking to their selected applicants initially prior to inviting them to their office. Thus, be prepared for an online job interview at all times even when you are away from home. With the help of your mobile device with data connection, you will be able to take an important VOiP (voice over internet protocol) call from hiring managers wherever you go and instantly. We recommend using your smartphones as it comes pre-built with a good microphone, video screen, and speakers. It also comes pre-built with various apps such as the iPhone and Apple’s propriety messaging service. According to a post published by O2, the iPhone 6 comes with a wide screen, 64-bit processing power (ensuring no lag or freezing screen), fast wireless performance, and 1080p HD camera for video calling. There are also other apps that you can install for video conferencing such as Skype, Google Hangout, and ooVoo.

Tip: Apart from the device, you must also prepare yourself for the possible questions to be asked by the employer. Choose as well professional looking clothes, if ever the interviewer prefers video meeting. But, if you are dealing with a slow connection suggest to keep it as a voice call to avoid using more internet.

Searching for applications
With the rise in the usage of mobile devices for job searches, employers are also using mobile devices to find possible applicants. The latest app to garner a lot of recognition is the LinkedIn Job Search application for Android, although the iOS version of the app had actually been available nine months ago. It is said to allow job seekers to search for jobs on specifics such as location, specific keywords, job title and more. Users will also receive notifications whenever a nearby or a specific job title opens up that might interest them.

Here are some other job listing applications you may want to try out:
1. Indeed Job Search
2. Jobaware
3. Monster
4. Reach
5. JobCompass

Take note that mobile devices are only tools to finding your career the best career option– it will still require you to be extremely determined and to showcase your skillset, and knowledge in that specific field to land the job of your dreams. How do you maximize your mobile devices for job search? If you are in the process of moving to another career, make the transition smooth. Ask our experts today at First Sun Consulting, LLc – Outplacement Services, www.firstsun.com .
Nathalie Johnson is a trusted blogger who covers topics ranging from technology, innovation, marketing, business development and more. She has been assisting various individuals who want to start blogging as a business. Nathalie also can often be found going on a long drive after weeks or months of work with no play.

 

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#Leadership : To Achieve Excellence, Dare To Be Bad…An Appeal that Harvard MBAs are not Used to Hearing: in Order to Achieve #Excellence, you Need the Courage to be Bad.

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People compete against each other on every dimension, and work harder and harder and harder. To break out of that you don’t need any more capability, but you do need enormous courage to say, if I am going to be really good at something, I am going to be bad at something else. If I am going to compete on cost and quality, then someone is going to beat me on speed.

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We all know people who seem able to perform at a higher level than those around them; and we’ve all had moments ourselves where we are firing on all cylinders and everything just seems to work. But how do you achieve that kind of excellence on a consistent basis, day after day?

Harvard Business School Professor Frances Frei has explored that question for years in the retail realm, culminating in her 2012 book, Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business.

This past semester at HBS, the UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management applied those lessons through a new course for MBA students, Why You Should Care: Creating the Conditions for Excellence, co-taught with senior lecturer and venture capital guru Amy Schulman.

Together, they created a course unlike any other at the school, both profoundly practical and intensely personal. “I can’t even express to you how exceptional the experience has been,” says Frei. “I have never received papers like this, ever.”

According to the course description, “CCE explores how to identify and overcome the barriers to personal and professional excellence, barriers that are often counter-intuitive such as a focus on individual achievement.”

The Courage To Be Bad

At the core of Frei’s philosophy is an appeal that Harvard MBAs are not used to hearing: in order to achieve excellence, you need the courage to be bad.

“I’m obsessed with this question of why well-intentioned, energetic people following their own instincts end up being part of the problem,” says Frei. She finds the main obstacle most people face is trying to be good at everything, and therefore not being excellent at anything.

People compete against each other on every dimension, and work harder and harder and harder. To break out of that you don’t need any more capability, but you do need enormous courage to say, if I am going to be really good at something, I am going to be bad at something else. If I am going to compete on cost and quality, then someone is going to beat me on speed.

The next lesson in the course is about collaboration. Once you decide to compete on your own particular area of strength, says Frei, you need to learn how to work with others to complement your weaknesses. That’s where Schulman’s expertise comes in. As a venture partner at $4 billion venture capital firm Polaris Partners, and former executive at Pfizer, Schulman has worked in some 90 countries around the world.

“The key to creating collaborative teams within diverse environments, is to find strategies that increase the metrics of value so that individuals aren’t fighting over a fixed pie,” says Schulman. “When you get people with different objectives, you create more value for everyone.” The sum is greater than the parts, in other words.

Furthermore, in order to make sure such collaborations succeed, it’s important to cultivate the art of communication. “It’s startling how liberating it is to talk about what is actually going on and we can only do that when we risk discussing the undiscussable with grace and care,” says Schulman.

Students were taught to learn their subject matter so thoroughly that they could explain it to a family member with no background in the topic. “Often we don’t need better ideas, we just need to frame them more effectively,” says Frei “To describe something simply, you must really understand it deeply.”

 

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Mixing It Up

The class had just 20 students, tiny by Harvard Business School standards, and unique in that they were a 50-50 mixture from the business school and Harvard Law School. The mixing of business and law students was in part to add diversity of perspective and to take students from both areas out of their comfort zones.

“When you are being intimate in a partially anonymous environment, it’s both strange and liberating,” says Frei.

The atmosphere allowed for an unusual amount of introspection and reflection on the cases they discussed. Schulman recalled robust discussion between HLS and HBS students about ethics and values, where each group revealed its biases towards the other profession. “What was striking to me was the ability the students had to challenge their own assumptions, and discuss truisms in a respectful but confrontational manner,” says Schulman.

That soul-searching carried on to the individual projects students created as an expression of their own individual philosophy of excellence. Frei and Schulman encouraged students to develop their own personal view of what it means to care, and what happens when they don’t. One student put together a storyboard expressing her own personal credo through the characters of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Another wrote a personal essay about her struggles to overcome the stereotype of being the “Shy Asian Girl.” Another student, who came from a retail background, wrote an open letter to clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch about why “It’s Time To Care Again.” And one student made a Choose Your Own Adventure computer game about making the right choices in a workplace environment. (When Frei played the game, “I ended up getting fired.”)

One of the most moving projects in the class, she says, came from a law student who had spent time working with the human rights commission of the war-torn African country where he was raised. He systematically used the course material to criticize hypocrisy at the commission-as well as criticize himself for not having high enough standards. “I started to think that if things were being done in a certain fashion at the commission…there was no need to ‘rock the boat,’” he wrote. “I tolerated more than I should have.” The student ended his essay with some concrete suggestions on how to reform the commission.

“They each came up with their own point of view, and got incredible feedback from each other,” says Frei of the students and their projects. That was difficult for some of the students, who found the lack of concrete guidance frustrating at times. But Frei says that freedom was necessary for each to develop their own definition of what excellence means.

One of the last lessons of the course was around change. From her service experience, Frei learned that making small changes are often more trouble than their worth-but in order to make big, meaningful changes, you often have to change at a pace faster than an organization is comfortable with.

By taking students out of their comfort zones and helping them examine their own personal values in this course, Frei and Schulman hope they have changed them for the better.

Michael Blanding is a senior writer for Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.

 

Forbes.com | June 17, 2015 |  HBS Working Knowledge

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Your #Career: How To Stay Upbeat When Your Job Search Pulls You Down…If You’re Out of #Work Right Now, you’ll Know Staying Positive in Your Job Hunt Can be Easier Said than Done. If You’ve Been Out of Work Over 6 Months, Even More so.

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Repeated Rejections can Take a Toll. But as Challenging as It Can Be to Stay Positive When You’re Out of Work, it’s ultimately in your power to do just that. Here are 8 Practical Ways to help you use the extra time on your hands in a way that not only helps you emerge from it better off, but to one day be glad you had it. Besides, Potential #Employers will be More Attracted to People Who have Proven their Ability to Stay Positive & Confident Despite a Setback/Job Loss.

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Try as You May Want to Sugarcoat It, Losing your #Job is Hard. And whether it had Everything to Do with your #Performance, or Nothing at All, it can be a Real Kick to Both your Self-Confidence as much as to your Bank Account.

If You’re Out of #Work Right Now, you’ll Know Staying Positive in Your Job Hunt Can be Easier Said than Done. If you’ve been out of work over 6 months, even more so. Repeated Rejections can Take a Toll. But as Challenging as It Can Be to Stay Positive When You’re Out of Work, it’s ultimately in your power to do just that. Here are 8 Practical Ways to help you use the extra time on your hands in a way that not only helps you emerge from it better off, but to one day be glad you had it. Besides, Potential #Employers will be More Attracted to People Who have Proven their Ability to Stay Positive & Confident Despite a Setback/Job Loss.

1. Never be defined by your job status. Ever.

It’s the first question people will often ask you at a party, “So, what do you do?” Saying you are out of work can lead to an awkward silence. But here’s the deal, who you are is not your job. Nor your salary. Or title. Or car. Or any of the stuff that props up our ego and sense of importance. So while losing your job can be a very personal experience, don’t take it too personally. Who you are is not what you do. Never was. Never will be.

Psychologist Marty Seligman found that the biggest determinant between those who succeed after setbacks of any kind is how they interpret them. As I wrote in Stop Playing Safe, people who interpret losing their job as a sign of personal failure are less likely to ‘get back on the horse’ in their job hunt than those who interpret it as an unfortunate circumstance that provided a valuable opportunity to grow in self-awareness, re-evaluate priorities and build resilience.

You get to define who you are – not your job or a company’s decision whether or not to employ you. Don’t take it as a personal rejection against you. It may well be due to economic forces far beyond your control that you found yourself out of a job.

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2. Up The Ante On Self-Care

Being out of work can create even ore stress than being in it and being stressed lowers your immune system making you more susceptible to all sorts of ills and ailments. So while there is never a good time to be sick, when you are in the job market (and your health insurance premium has increased because of that), it is a really lousy time to get sick. So make your health and wellbeing – body, mind and spirit -your top priority as it will affect all your other efforts.

Take time every day to do something that lifts your spirit, strengthens your body and that keeps your mind sharp. While there are some things that are outside your control, eating well, getting a good nights’ sleep and strengthening that body of yours are not.

3. Treat Your Job Search Like A Job

If there’s one thing that most people in full time jobs complain about, it’s not having enough time to do everything else they want to do outside the office. Now that you have time on your hands, don’t treat it cheaply and waste the extra hours you have on your hands. Get up as you usually would and make looking for a job your new job. Schedule time every day to do things that move you forward toward that goal, whether directly (by sending off an application, polishing your resume or making follow up phone calls) or indirectly by gaining skills that will make you a more attractive candidate. Keep a written log of jobs you’ve applied for and leads you need to follow up on. Write down at the beginning of every week what you want to accomplish each day that week, and then each day prioritize the tasks to ensure they get done. In short, get organized and make the most of each and every day! Your hours are no less precious just because you’re not being paid for them.

4. Work Your Network

Most jobs are never advertised and nothing beats a personal recommendation. So the more people who know that you are looking for a new job, the more people who can help you land one. Most people really do want to help, but they need to know how they can help. Don’t let fear of losing face or being judged get in the way of reaching out, asking for help and making specific requests of people. You can’t overestimate the power of social networks when it comes to building your career, growing your business or finding new work opportunities.

5. Upgrade Your Skillset

The top ten jobs today didn’t exist a decade ago. Likewise the skills that got you a job a decade ago, may simply be insufficient to land you a job in today’s increasingly global job market place. So be proactive in learning new skills and getting up to date on new trends whether in social media, internet marketing, consumer behavior, software and technology. You never know what will set you apart from others so be sure you aren’t complacent in relying on what got you your last job to get you your next one. As I wrote in my latest book Brave: 50 Everyday Acts of Courage to Thrive in Work, Love and Life, focus on what you can do rather than on what you can’t.

6. Don’t Be Too Proud

Personal and professional pride can be a good thing, but sometimes it can override our better judgment and keep us from being smart in our decisions. Sometimes opportunity can come in disguise, like in a job offer for a position that you are overqualified for or pays less than what you earned before. Don’t let your pride trip you up from something that could lead to bigger and better things and pay the bills in the interim!

Likewise, you may need to adjust your budget as it’s often hard to know how long it will be until you’re back earning money. Just because you may feel you shouldn’t have to cancel your cable account or annual ski trip doesn’t mean it’s not the smart thing to do. Again, don’t let your ego and need to ‘keep up appearances’ get in the way of being responsible and doing what will ultimately leave you better off.

There is always opportunity in adversity. Always. But those who find the opportunity will be those who are out there looking for it, persevering in the face of rejections and doing the preparation they need to do so that when opportunity arises, they are ready to seize it!

Forbes.com | June 17, 2015 | Margie Warrell 

Your #Career: The 10 Best #Jobs for #Millennials Right Now… To Help you Decide What to Do Next Or, if You’re a Recent Grad just Joining the #Workforce, to Guide you in the Right Direction.

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According to research from Pew, there are Approximately 75 Million #Millennials — those between the ages of 18 and 34 — in the US right now. This Group is Known for a Lot of Things. One of them: Job Hopping.  So, there’s a good chance that if you’re a millennial reading this, you’re on the hunt for a new gig.

millennials at work

Consider these professions.

To help you decide what to do next — or, if you’re a recent grad just joining the workforce, to guide you in the right direction — jobs site CareerCast has put together a list of the best jobs for millennials.

To compile the list, CareerCast looked at salary and growth outlook data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Advertising account executive

Advertising account executive

Annual median salary: $115,750

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 12%

Education required: A bachelor’s degree is required for most advertising management positions.

 

Civil engineer

Civil engineer

Annual median salary: $79,340

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 20%

Education required: A bachelor’s degree in civil engineering or civil engineering technology. They typically need a graduate degree and licensure for promotion to senior positions.

 

 

Computer systems analyst
Computer systems analyst

Annual median salary: $79,680

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 25%

Education required: A bachelor’s degree in a computer or information science field is common, although not always a requirement.

 

Data scientist
Data scientist
NOAA’s National Ocean Service
Annual median salary: $124,149

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 15%

Education required: Most jobs require a Ph.D. in computer science or a related field; in the federal government, a bachelor’s degree may be sufficient.

 

Financial planner
Financial planner

Annual median salary: $67,520

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 27%

Education required: A bachelor’s degree.

 

Market research analyst
Market research analyst

Annual median salary: $60,300

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 32%

Education required: Most market research analysts need at least a bachelor’s degree; top positions often require a master’s.

 

Physical therapist
Physical therapist

Annual median salary: $79,860

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 36%

Education required: A Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree; all states require physical therapists to be licensed.

 

Social media manager
Social media manager

Annual median salary: $ 46,169

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 13%

Education required: A bachelor’s degree is required for most marketing management positions.

 

Software engineer
Software engineer

Annual median salary: $ 93,350

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 22%

Education required: A bachelor’s degree in computer science is typically required.

 

Statistician
Statistician

Annual median salary: $75,560

Projected growth outlook (by 2022): 27%

Education required: Typically need a graduate degree in statistics or mathematics.

 

www.businessinsider.com/best-jobs-for-millennials-2015-6?op=1#ixzz3dM233J5X

#Leadership: Toxic #Boss? How Successful People Overcome Them…7 of the Most Common Types of Bad Bosses & the Strategies that #SuccessfulPeople Employ to Work Effectively with Them.

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Bad Bosses Contaminate the #Workplace. Some do so obliviously, while others smugly Manipulate their #Employees, using them as instruments of their own success.  Regardless of their methods, bad bosses cause irrevocable damage to their companies and employees by hindering performance and creating unnecessary stress.  The stress your boss causes is bad for your health. Multiple studieshave found that working for a bad boss increases your chance of having a heart attack by as much as 50%.

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Have you ever seen the movie Office Space? Don't be that guy.

Have you ever seen the movie Office Space? Don’t be that guy.

Even more troubling is the number of bad bosses out there. Gallup research found that 60% of Government Workers are Miserable because of Bad Bosses. In another study 69% of U.S. workers compared bosses with too much power to toddlers with too much power.

The comparisons don’t stop there. Significant percentages of U.S. workers describe their bosses as follows:

  • Self-oriented (60%)
  • Stubborn (49%)
  • Overly demanding (43%)
  • Impulsive (41%)
  • Interruptive (39%)

Most bosses aren’t surprised by these statistics. A DDI study found that 64% of managers admit that they need to work on their management skills. When asked where they should focus their efforts, managers overwhelmingly say, “Bringing in the numbers”; yet, they are most often fired for poor people skills.

TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control. One of their greatest gifts is the ability to neutralize toxic people—even those they report to. This is no easy task. It requires a great deal of emotional intelligence, a skill that top performers rely on.

While the best option when you have a bad boss is to seek other employment, this isn’t always possible.

Successful people know how to make the most of a bad situation. A bad boss doesn’t deter them because they understand that success is simply the product of how well you can play the hand you’ve been dealt. When that “hand” is a bad boss, successful people identify the type of bad boss they are working for and then use this information to neutralize their boss’ behavior.

What follows are 7 of the Most Common Types of Bad Bosses & the Strategies that #SuccessfulPeople Employ to Work Effectively with Them.

1. The Inappropriate Buddy

This is the boss who’s too friendly, and not in the fun, team-building sort of way. He is constantly inviting you to hang out outside of work and engages in unnecessary office gossip. He uses his influence to make friends at the expense of his work. He chooses favorites and creates divisions among employees, who become frustrated by the imbalance in attention and respect. He can’t make tough decisions involving employees or even fire those who need to be fired (unless he doesn’t like them). His office quickly becomes The Office.

How to neutralize an inappropriate buddy: The most important thing to do with this type of boss is to learn to set firm boundaries. Don’t allow his position to intimidate you. By consciously and proactively establishing a boundary, you can take control of the situation. For example, you can remain friendly with your boss throughout the day but still not be afraid to say no to drinks after work. The difficult part here is maintaining consistency with your boundaries, even if your boss is persistent. By distancing yourself from his behaviors that you deem inappropriate, you will still be able to succeed and even have a healthy relationship with your boss.

It’s important you don’t put up unnecessary boundaries that stop you from being seen as friendly (ideally, a friend). Instead of trying to change the crowd-pleaser and force him to be something he’s not, having him see you as an ally will put you in a stronger position than you could have anticipated.

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2. The Micromanager

This is the boss who makes you feel as if you are under constant surveillance. She thought your handwriting could use improvement, so she waited until you left work at 7:00 p.m. to throw away your pencils and replace them with the .9 lead mechanical pencils that have the “proper grip.” She has even handed back your 20-page report because you used a binder clip instead of a staple. The micromanager pays too much attention to small details, and her constant hovering makes employees feel discouraged, frustrated and even uncomfortable.

How to neutralize a micromanager: Successful people appeal to micromanagers by proving themselves to be flexible, competent, and disciplined while staying in constant communication. A micromanager is naturally drawn to the employee who produces work the way she envisions. The challenge with the micromanager is grasping the “envisioned way.” To do this, try asking specific questions about your project, check in frequently, and look for trends in the micromanager’s feedback.

Of course, this will not always work. Some micromanagers will never stop searching for something to over-analyze and micromanage. When this is the case, you must learn to derive your sense of satisfaction from within. Don’t allow your boss’ obsession with details to create feelings of inadequacy as this will only lead to further stress and underperformance. Remember, a good report without a staple is still a good report. Despite your boss’ fixation on detail, she appreciates your work; she just doesn’t know how to show it.

3. The Tyrant

The tyrant resorts to Machiavellian tactics and constantly makes decisions that feed his ego. His primary concern is maintaining power, and he will coerce and intimidate others to do so. The tyrant thinks of his employees as a criminal gang aboard his ship. He classifies people in his mind and treats them accordingly: High achievers who challenge his thinking are treated as mutinous. Those who support their achievements with gestures of loyalty find themselves in the position of first mate. Those who perform poorly are stuck cleaning the latrines and swabbing the decks.

How to neutralize a tyrant: A painful but effective strategy with the tyrant is to present your ideas in a way that allows him to take partial credit. The tyrant can then maintain his ego without having to shut down your idea. Always be quick to give him some credit, even though he is unlikely to reciprocate, because this will inevitably put you on his good side. Also, to survive a tyrant, you must choose your battles wisely. If you practice self-awareness and manage your emotions, you can rationally choose which battles are worth fighting and which ones you should just let go. This way, you won’t find yourself on latrine duty.

4. The Incompetent

This boss was promoted hastily or hired haphazardly and holds a position that is beyond her capabilities. Most likely, she is not completely incompetent, but she has people who report to her that have been at the company a lot longer and have information and skills that she lacks.

How to neutralize an incompetent: If you find yourself frustrated with this type of boss, it is likely because you have experience that she lacks. It is important to swallow your pride and share your experience and knowledge, without rubbing it in her face. Share the information that this boss needs to grow into her role, and you’ll become her ally and confidant.

5. The Robot

In the mind of the robot, you are employee number 72 with a production yield of 84% and experience level 91. This boss makes decisions based on the numbers, and when he’s forced to reach a conclusion without the proper data, he self-destructs. He makes little or no effort to connect with his employees, and instead, looks solely to the numbers to decide who is invaluable and who needs to go.

How to neutralize a robot: To succeed with a robot, you need to speak his language. When you have an idea, make certain you have the data to back it up. The same goes with your performance—you need to know what he values and be able to show it to him if you want to prove your worth. Once you’ve accomplished this, you can begin trying to nudge him out of his antisocial comfort zone. The trick is to find ways to connect with him directly, without being pushy or rude. Schedule face-to-face meetings and respond to some of his e-mails by knocking on his door. Forcing him to connect with you as a person, however so slightly, will make you more than a list of numbers and put a face to your name. Just because he’s all about the numbers, it doesn’t mean you can’t make yourself the exception. Do so in small doses, however, because he’s unlikely to respond well to the overbearing social type.

6. The Visionary

Her strength lies in her ideas and innovations. However, this entrepreneurial approach becomes dangerous when a plan or solution needs to be implemented, and she can’t bring herself to focus on the task at hand. When the time comes to execute her vision, she’s already off onto the next idea, and you’re left to figure things out on your own.

How to neutralize a visionary: To best deal with this type, reverse her train of thought. She naturally takes a broad perspective, so be quick to funnel things down into something smaller and more practical. To do so, ask a lot of specific questions that force her to rationally approach the issue and to consider potential obstacles to executing her broad ideas. Don’t refute her ideas directly, or she will feel criticized; instead, focus her attention on what it will take to realistically implement her plan. Oftentimes, your questions will diffuse her plan, and when they don’t, they’ll get her to understand—and commit to—the effort it’s going to take on her part to help make it happen.

7. The Seagull

We’ve all been there—sitting in the shadow of a seagull manager who decided it was time to roll up his sleeves, swoop in and squawk up a storm. Instead of taking the time to get the facts straight and work alongside the team to realize a viable solution, the seagull deposits steaming piles of formulaic advice and then abruptly takes off, leaving everyone else behind to clean up the mess. Seagulls interact with their employees only when there’s a fire to put out. Even then, they move in and out so hastily—and put so little thought into their approach—that they make bad situations worse by frustrating and alienating those who need them the most.

How to neutralize a seagull: A group approach works best with seagulls. If you can get the entire team to sit down with him and explain that his abrupt approach to solving problems makes it extremely difficult for everyone to perform at their best, this message is likely to be heard. If the entire group bands together and provides constructive, non-threatening feedback, the seagull will more often than not find a better way to work with his team. It’s easy to spot a seagull when you’re on the receiving end of their airborne dumps, but the manager doing the squawking is often unaware of the negative impact of his behavior. Have the group give him a little nudge, and things are bound to change for the better.

Bringing It All Together

If you think these strategies might help others, please share this article with your network. Research suggests that roughly half of them are currently working for a bad boss!

And please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

Forbes.com | June 17, 2015 | Travis Bradberry 

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#Leadership: 5 Secrets to Mastering Conflict…How you Handle Conflict Determines the Amount of Trust, Respect, & Connection you Have With your #Employees & Colleagues.

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Conflict Typically Boils Down to Crucial Conversations–Moments When the Stakes are High, Emotions Run Strong, & Opinions Differ. And you Cannot Master Crucial Conversations Without a High Degree of Emotional Intelligence (EQ).

IMAGE: Getty Images

Between the two of us, Joseph Grenny (bio below) and I have spent 50 years studying what makes people successful at work. A persistent finding is that your ability to handle moments of conflict has a massive impact on your success.

How you handle conflict determines the amount of trust, respect, and connection you have with your colleagues.

Conflict typically boils down to crucial conversations–moments when the stakes are high, emotions run strong, and opinions differ. And you cannot master crucial conversations without a high degree of emotional intelligence (EQ).

With a mastery of conflict being so critical to your success, it’s no wonder that, among the million-plus people whom TalentSmart has tested, more than 90 percent of top performers have high EQs.

So how can you use emotional intelligence to master crucial conversations? There are five common mistakes you must avoid, and five alternative strategies you can follow that will take you down the right path.

Mistake 1: Being brutally honest.

You’ve suffered in silence long enough. Your colleague continues to park so close to your car that you have to enter through the passenger door. You’ve asked her before to stop. After a dozen more violations of your request, you decide you’ve suffered long enough. Clearly, she needs to know what you think of her intentional disrespect. So you let her have it. You get right in her face and tell her what an inconsiderate jerk she is.

How to beat this? Honesty without brutality. From a young age, we’re taught to believe that we have to choose between telling the truth and keeping a friend–that the only options are brutality or harmony. With emotional intelligence, you can speak the truth without burning a bridge.

Have you ever noticed how some conversations–even ones about very risky subjects–go very well? And others, even ones about trivial things, can degenerate into combat? The antidote to conflict is not diluting your message. It’s creating safety. Many people think the content of the conversation is what makes people defensive, so they assume it’s best to just go for it and be brutally honest. It isn’t. People don’t get defensive because of the content–they get defensive because of the intent they perceive behind it. It isn’t the truth that hurts–it’s the malice used to deliver the truth.

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Mistake 2: Robotically sharing your feelings.

Some well-intentioned “communication” professionals suggest that when it’s time to speak up, the diplomatic way to do so is to start by sharing your feelings. For example, you tell your parking-impaired colleague, “I feel rage and disgust.” Somehow that’s supposed to help. It doesn’t. People don’t work this way. Robotically sharing your feelings only alienates, annoys, and confuses them.

How to beat this? Start with the facts. Our brains often serve us poorly during crucial conversations. To maximize cognitive efficiency, our minds store feelings and conclusions, but not the facts that created them. That’s why, when you give your colleague negative feedback and he asks for an example, you often hem and haw. You truly can’t remember. So you repeat your feelings or conclusions, but offer few helpful facts. Gathering the facts beforehand is the homework required to master crucial conversations. Before opening your mouth, think through the basic information that helped you think or feel the way you do–and prepare to share it first.

Mistake 3: Defending your position.

When someone takes an opposing view on a topic you care deeply about, the natural human response is “defense.” Our brains are hard-wired to assess for threats, but when we let feelings of being threatened hijack our behavior, things never end well. In a crucial conversation, getting defensive is a surefire path to failure.

How to beat this? Get curious. A great way to inoculate yourself against defensiveness is to develop a healthy doubt about your own certainty. Then, enter the conversation with intense curiosity about the other person’s world. Give yourself a detective’s task of discovering why a reasonable, rational, and decent person would think the way he or she does. As former Secretary of State Dean Rusk said, “The best way to persuade others is with your ears, by listening.” When others feel deeply understood, they become far more open to hearing you.

Mistake 4: Blaming others for your situation.

Your boss tells you she’ll go to bat for you for a promotion. You hear later that in the HR review she advocated for your colleague instead. You feel betrayed and angry. Certainly, your boss is the one responsible for your pain–right? Truth is, she’s not the only one.

How to beat this? Challenge your perspective. When we feel threatened, we amplify our negative emotions by blaming other people for our problems. You cannot master conflict until you recognize the role you’ve played in creating your circumstances. Your boss may have passed you over, but she did so for a reason. Half your pain is the result of her betrayal; the other half is due to your disappointment over not performing well enough to win the promotion.

Mistake 5: Worrying about the risks of speaking up.

It’s easy for crucial conversations to fill you with dread. Under the influence of such stress, your negative self-talk takes over and you obsess over all the bad things that might happen if you speak up. You conjure images of conflict, retribution, isolation, and pain until you retreat into silence.

How to beat this? Determine the risks of not speaking up. The fastest way to motivate yourself to step up to difficult conversations is to simply articulate the costs of not speaking up. VitalSmarts‘ research shows that those who consistently speak up aren’t necessarily more courageous; they’re simply more accurate. First, they scrupulously review what is likely to happen if they fail to speak up. Second, they ponder what might happen if they speak up and things go well. And finally (the order is important) they consider what may happen if the conversation goes poorly. Once they have an accurate understanding of the possibilities, saying something is their typical choice.

Bringing it all together.

The only way to win an argument is to never have one in the first place. Successful people know this–they don’t avoid conflict because they can do something productive with it before things get out of hand. Apply these strategies the next time you’re facing a challenging situation and you’ll be amazed by the results.

Please share your thoughts on conflict in the comments section below, as we learn just as much from you as you do from us.

A big thanks to Joseph Grenny for co-authoring this article with me. Joseph is a four-time New York Times best-selling author, keynote speaker, and leading social scientist for business performance at VitalSmarts.

 

Inc. com | June 16, 2015 | 

BY TRAVIS BRADBERRY

Author, ‘Emotional Intelligence 2.0’

#Strategy: Donald Trump’s Core Business Philosophy from his Bestselling 1987 Book ‘The Art of the Deal’ … “Money was Never a Big Motivation for Me, Except as a Way to Keep Score, The Real Excitement is Playing the Game.”

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“My style of Deal-Making is Quite Simple & Straightforward,” he writes. “I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want.”

trump book cover

Real estate mogul Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is running for president of the United States.  He proclaimed that he is the master negotiator that President Barack Obama and other candidates are not.

“Our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now,” Trump said. “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.'”

Trump’s book, first published in 1987, has sold over 1 million copies. In it, he breaks down his approach to deal-making before explaining how he developed his theories throughout his career.

“My style of deal-making is quite simple and straightforward,” he writes. “I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want.”

Here are the key elements of Trump’s “art of the deal.”

“Think big.”

If you’re satisfied knowing that you can comfortably make a deal that doesn’t require much effort, then you’re not thinking big enough.

“Most people think small, because most people are afraid of success, afraid of making decisions, afraid of winning,” he writes. “And that gives people like me a great advantage.”

 

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“Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself.”

Trump learned that he would rather own casinos than be a gambler himself.

“I always go into the deal anticipating the worst,” he writes. “If you plan for the worst — if you can live with the worst — the good will always take care of itself.”

“The only time in my life I didn’t follow that rule was with the USFL [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][the defunct United States Football League]. I bought a losing team in a losing league on a long shot. It almost worked, through our antitrust suit, but when it didn’t, I had no fallback. The point is that you can’t be too greedy.”

Get into deals that you can afford to recover from if things go poorly, and know when the opportunity cost for making a small deal is lower than had you not made a deal at all.

“Maximize your options.”

It’s necessary to be flexible, he says.

“I never get too attached to one deal or one approach,” Trump writes. “For starters, I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first. In addition, once I’ve made a deal, I always come up with at least a half dozen approaches to making it work, because anything can happen, even to the best-laid plans.”

trump towerFlickr/Allie_CaulfieldTrump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

“Know your market.”

Trump says that he likes to rely on his own research rather than the work of consultants, statisticians, or critics. He says that he’s made it a habit to collect himself as many opinions as possible about a potential real estate deal to see how it will affect the area and who it will be catering to.

“Trump Tower is a building the critics were skeptical about before it was built, but which the public obviously liked,” he writes. “I’m not talking about the sort of person who inherited money 175 years ago and lives on 84th Street and Park Avenue. I’m talking about the wealthy Italian with the beautiful wife and the red Ferrari. Those people — the audience I was after — came to Trump Tower in droves.”

“Use your leverage.”

The only way you’re going to make the deal you want, he says, is if you’re coming from a position of strength and can convince the other side that you have something they need.

Trump says he’s not afraid to blur reality to utilize leverage. “When the board of Holiday Inn was considering whether to enter into a partnership with me in Atlantic City, they were attracted to my site because they believed my construction was farther along than that of any other potential partner.”

“In reality,” he writes, “I wasn’t that far along, but I did everything I could, short of going to work at the site myself, to assure them that my casino was practically finished. My leverage came from confirming an impression they were already predisposed to believe.”

“Enhance your location.”

Trump says that the adage that location is everything in real estate isn’t true.

“You can take a mediocre location and turn it into something considerably better just by attracting the right people,” he writes, explaining that this is what he did with the Trump Plaza location in New York City’s Upper East Side. He took the glamour of his Fifth Avenue location, where it wasn’t hard to sell luxury, and used its name brand to sell apartments to the same audience in a much less glamorous location.

Taken beyond the real estate industry, his main point is that rather than overpay for something that is already established, you should consider cheaper alternatives that have the potential to be molded to your taste.

“Get the word out.”

Once you’ve made a deal, the only way it’s going to be worth anything is to then attract customers, he says. Similarly, creating a public persona helps you get the most out of your next deals.

Trump says that he’s always embraced a healthy dose of sensationalism and controversy to pique the media’s interest.

“I play to people’s fantasies,” he writes. “People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.”

RTX1GRA6Reuters/Brendan McDermidTrump at his 2016 presidential campaign announcement.

“Fight back.”

Trump says that he prefers to be cooperative and positive, but that sometimes it’s necessary to be confrontational when the other side is treating him unfairly or trying to take advantage of him.

“The risk is that you’ll make a bad situation worse, and I certainly don’t recommend this approach to everyone,” he writes. “But my experience is that if you’re fighting for something you believe in — even if it means alienating some people along the way — things usually work out for the best in the end.”

“Deliver the goods.”

“You can’t con people, at least not for long,” Trump writes. “You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you can’t deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on.”

“Contain the costs.”

Trump explains that his father taught him to never pay a penny more than you should for something, since pennies can easily turn into dollars.

From observing his competitors, he writes, he’s found that throwing money at a project is never the path to success if it was shoddily planned.

“Have fun.”

Successful deal-making should be about the thrill of winning and accomplishing something, not solely for making money, Trump says.

“Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score,” he writes. “The real excitement is playing the game.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-business-philosophy-from-the-art-of-the-deal-2015-6#ixzz3dJcJxHKt[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

#Strategy: 50 Free Ways To Increase Your #Facebook Page Likes…This Article will Walk you Through 50 Effective & Free Ways to Increase your #Facebook Page Likes.

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There are now an estimated 40 million #Companies & Small Businesses using #Facebook to promote their brand and connect with their customers. If you’re managing marketing for one of these businesses, you already know how hard it is to attract new “#Likes” to your page.

But while it can be a challenge to increase your page likes, making the effort is undoubtedly worthwhile: one researcher has estimated the average value of a single Facebook fan at $174. While this number obviously varies depending on the business and industry, there’s no doubt that capturing the attention and loyalty of your target audience on Facebook is important.

Most marketers know how to increase Facebook page likes through Facebook’s paid ad platform, but there are plenty of ways to grow your likes without spending any money. This article will walk you through 50 effective and free ways to increase your Facebook page likes. Some of these strategies will focus on increasing your organic post reach – because the more your posts get liked and shared, the more your reach and visibility increase. And ultimately, this is what will lead to the organic growth of your page.

1. Use images as a regular part of your content strategy. Despite what you may have heard, captivating and relevant images can still be a great way to increase engagement and reach on your page and posts.

2. The most common reason people unlike a brand page is because their posts are uninteresting. Keep more of the fans you already have by posting engaging content that meets the needs of your audience. See “How to Write More Exciting Content for Your Industry.”

3. Use Facebook’s Page Plugin (formerly Like Box) on your website or blog. A like button next to your blog posts is great for getting your content shared, but the Page Plugin will help you boost your page likes.

 

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4. Engage with other pages in your niche. Regularly leave thoughtful comments in response to other people’s posts. Make sure you’re commenting as your page rather than from your personal profile.

5. Promote your page on your other social media accounts. A simple ‘Like us on Facebook’ is unlikely to work. However, occasionally pointing your Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections to discussions happening on your page just might.

6. Contests are still a great way to entice people to like your page. Promote your contest on your site and to your email list, and make liking your page a contest requirement.

7. Reference your Facebook page on your blog. Draw attention to an interesting discussion happening on your Facebook page by mentioning it in a blog post.

8. Post multiple images. Some research suggests posting albums (as opposed to single images) may lead to increased reach.

9. Keep your promotional content to a minimum. Some experts suggest 80/20 – Posting non-promotional content 80% of the time and promotional content 20% of the time. This number will vary depending on your business, so see what works best with your audience.

10. In the About section of your personal profile, link to your Facebook page as your place of employment.

11. Keep your posts short and sweet. Some research seems to suggest that shorter posts (those between 100-119 characters) may result in the highest engagement. Other research suggests keeping your character count to 40 characters or less for optimal engagement.
12. Offer an exclusive discount just for your Facebook fans. This is a great incentive to like your page; in fact, 42% of people say they like a brand page for the coupons and discounts.

13. Don’t be afraid to get personal from time to time. People want to know there’s a real person behind your company, and will be more likely to engage with a person than with a faceless brand.

14. Regularly visit your Facebook Insights to find out which content is working with your audience. Find the posts that have received the most engagement and highest reach, and share these types of content more often.

15. Target Facebook ads to users by interest. One of the most effective ways to use Facebook ads is to target users who already like pages in your niche. Using Facebook’s Graph Search, find out which pages your existing fans like by typing in, “Pages liked by people who like my page”. Target your ads to users who have liked these pages, as they’re likely to be interested in your page as well.

16. Optimize your Facebook page’s SEO (search engine optimization): Use relevant keywords in your title and About section; Make sure your profile is complete and contains a consistent NAP (name, address, phone number); Link to your page from your website and other web properties.

17. Create a topical Facebook group. Facebook groups can be a great way to reach prospects who are wary of liking a brand’s page. Create an industry-related group that your target market may be looking for, and then use it to build relationships and trust. While a group may not give you the “one to all” voice a page does, the level of engagement you can achieve in a group can be much higher than on a page.

18. Tag other pages in your posts. When you tag other pages, your posts appear on their wall and may spark the interest of those pages’ owners and fans.

19. Create and share your own infographics. Infographics are one of the most shared types of images. Create your own using a tool like Infogr.am.

20. Offer true value. If you’re posting content that fills a gap or meets a need for your fans, your posts will get liked and shared; and this increased engagement will naturally lead to increased likes for your page. Pay attention to conversations happening in your industry, and offer unique insights and commentary that add something to the discussion.

21. Leave thoughtful comments on popular blogs in your niche. Be sure to link to your Facebook page when asked for your URL.

22. On Facebook, videos now outperform photos in terms of reach. Now is the time to start incorporating video into your social content strategy.

23. Include a ‘Like us on Facebook’ link on the ‘thank you’ page of your site. Customers are more apt to like you when they’ve just made a purchase they’re excited about.

24. Arrange a partnership with a complimentary page in your niche. Agree to cross-promote posts to help build up each other’s audiences.

25. Join industry Facebook groups and offer thoughtful advice and insights. If people like what you have to say, there’s a good chance they’ll hover over your name to find out more about you. This is one reason why having your business name and Facebook page URL in your About section are so important!

26. Suggest your page to your email contacts. Send a brief email inviting your contacts to connect with your business on Facebook.

27. While hashtags may not work as well on Facebook as they do on Twitter, they can still be a good way to attract new fans. One of the best strategies is to use popular hashtags when posting about breaking news or other trending topics.
28. It seems like nearly everyone is taking advantage of popup boxes on their websites these days. Join the club, and set yours up so that it cycles between asking visitors to join your email list and like your Facebook page.

29. Add a link to your Facebook page in your email signature. It never hurts to let your connections know about another way they can connect with you.

30. Post regularly: Posting sporadically sends the message that you’re not serious about your page. If you want people to invest in your page, you need to establish a regular pattern of posting useful and relevant content.

31. Embed your Facebook video posts onto your website or blog. This is a great way to promote your Facebook page to your website visitors.

32. Put your Facebook page link on all your marketing materials: your business cards, pamphlets, signage and even on your print ads.

33. Ask your employees to like your page. The more likes your page accumulates, the more powerful your social proof.

34. Offer flash freebies on your page. Word gets around…if you regularly offer ‘flash freebies’ (e.g., “The first 5 people to message me will receive a $20 gift card”) you can bet your page likes will increase!

35. Submit your page to a fan page directory like Fan Page List. It’s unlikely to result in a ton of likes, but with such minimal effort involved, why not try?
36. Upload photos from live events, and ask your fans to tag themselves. This gets your photos in front of your fans’ friends, extending your visibility and reach.

37. Connect with group admins. Getting on the radar of the admins and moderators of popular Facebook groups can be invaluable. If they see you as an authoritative source of information in their industry, they may share your page with their members.

38. Make sure you’ve claimed a great vanity URL. A catchy URL will be more enticing and much easier to remember.

39. Make sure you have like buttons and share buttons next to all your blog posts. When people engage with your content by clicking these buttons, this action appears in their friends’ feeds, increasing your page’s visibility.

40. Participate in Follow Friday. Although it’s more common on Twitter, some pages regularly host a Follow Friday. Participating can be a great way to build your audience as well as other people’s.

41. Ask your fans to share photos on your page. These will appear in their friends’ feeds, increasing your visibility.

42. Make sure your page’s branding and design are professional and consistent. When people come to your page, it only takes them a split second to decide whether to like it or not; make sure your page accurately conveys your brand’s voice and image.

43. Use a WordPress plugin like WP-TopBar to show a “Like us on Facebook” message at the top of each page of your site.
44. Include a “Connect with us on Facebook” link on your website’s contact or help page to drive traffic to your Facebook page.

45. Include a link to your Facebook page in the author bio of your guest posts.

46. Make sure your cover photo includes a call to action to like your page.

47. Include your fan page URL on every image you share on Facebook. As your image gets shared, so does your page URL!

48. Periodically include an invitation to “connect with us on Facebook” in the P.S. of your email newsletters. Your P.S. can be an incredibly powerful place to put a call to action.

49. Enable Facebook commenting on your site. If you have a WordPress site, you can do this using a plugin like Facebook Comments. If not, you’ll have to enable Facebook commenting the hard way.

50. Make engagement a priority. Answer questions and respond to comments promptly. Your Facebook posts are a starting point for great discussions – not a final destination.

Final Thoughts

While likes are certainly an important metric, keep in mind that engagement is the true yardstick for Facebook page success. David Baser, Facebook Insights Product Manager, reminds marketers that increased engagement should be their top priority: “User engagement is the best proxy metric for the ultimate success of [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][your] brand page on Facebook. It’s great for understanding how much distribution you are getting in the news feed, how many people you are reaching with your messages…From a fundamental perspective, that’s the most important thing for marketers to take away.”

Remember that likes don’t mean anything without true engagement. Converting social media followers to customers should be the goal. Focus on regularly providing relevant and compelling content, and your page likes will undoubtedly increase organically over time.

What would you add to this list? What’s your best tip for increasing Facebook page likes? Share below!

 

Forbes.com | June 16, 2015 | Jayson DeMers

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#Strategy: Drive Your Own #Success By Learning How To Manage Your #Manager… Simply #Managing your Staff isn’t Enough to Get Results in #Business. You also Need to #Manage your #Boss.

/in /by

You are the Expert in your Own Area, and you Know what you Need to Deliver Success in your Department & to Contribute to the Company’s Bottom Line. It’s Not that your #Boss Doesn’t Contribute—it’s Just that their Contribution is Different from Yours. And for Them to Get you What you Need to #Manage your Department Successfully, you Need to Begin by #Managing your #Boss.

businessman as chess piece

© Nomad_Soul – Fotolia.com

Simply managing your staff isn’t enough to get results in business. You also need to manage your boss. You are the expert in your own area, and you know what you need to deliver success in your department and to contribute to the company’s bottom line. It’s not that your boss doesn’t contribute—it’s just that their contribution is different from yours.

And for them to get you what you need to manage your department successfully, you need to begin managing your boss.

Here are two simple strategies for managing your boss to drive your own success in the organization:

1- Manage their communications about you and your department: Your ability to get a promotion and get the resources you need to succeed (budget, staff, or even simple support for initiatives) depends on how senior management perceives you and your department.

Don’t leave this important issue in the hands of your manager.

Provide your boss with bullet points, blurbs, explanations, and even facts and figures to demonstrate your success for them to use. Take a sales approach and consider the audience. They don’t want technical or process information; they care about your impact on the company’s bottom line, and they need short, concise information.

Offer to write material for reports, prepare slides, or even attend senior-level meetings and presentations with your boss. Show support for your boss while protecting your interests.

Find out what senior management is interested in and make sure your boss is equipped with the “talking points” they need to properly represent you and your department.

 

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2- Manage their support of you and your department : Chances are your boss has more than your department and your issues to worry about. Yet you want their attention when necessary to gain resources, approval, or even be noticed for success, so managing your boss is necessary.

What you don’t want is to be noticed for failure or be going to your boss for solutions to your problems.

So, take the initiative to work out issues and problems and bring the solutions to your boss. Be a problem solver and take less of your boss’s time so that when you do get their attention, it is on your terms, not theirs.

Also be proactive by asking your boss about higher-level issues and then showing them what you and your department can do to support those issues. Demonstrate and deliver support to your boss and when you need it, they are more likely to support you.

Whenever you need something that your boss has to get approval for, provide your boss with everything they will need to get you what you want. Similar to the first point, you also need to understand senior management so you can help your boss with the pitch.

Don’t let it rest on your boss’s shoulders or rely on them to know how to get support from their superiors for your initiatives. They should know, but don’t make assumptions.

Read all of Michel Theriault’s articles on AllBusiness.com.

 

AllBusiness.com | June 16, 2015 | Michel Theriault