Welcome to the guest blog.
As part of the expansion to help more people tap into their unique talents to communicate, connect and come alive, I've decided to include other voices on the website. I hope the ideas here will help you in your business and in your life. Enjoy!
All my best,
Victoria
Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com
It may seem like one of those things that easy to say and hard to do but making yourself indispensable may be easier than you think. Hopefully, you’re already doing good work for your company. You’ve mastered the basics—coming in on time, meeting deadlines, keeping things congenial with your co-workers, and maintaining a solid work ethic. These things are great, they’re critical, but they’re not enough, especially in a competitive marketplace. Job security is born from the knowledge that you are a crucial component of your company’s success. Without you, projects will fail, clients will be unhappy, and other employees will fall behind. Without you, the company will suffer. How do you go about creating this boundless image, this keystone employee persona? Start with the little things.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Americanpicturelinks.com
The eight-hour work day is a relatively recent phenomenon. Before it was established, people worked until they dropped, driven by the profit incentives of their companies and bosses. It was a great success of the labor movement in the early 20th century. The culture is changing but in many companies employees are still expected to work very long hours. In business, labor laws are rarely enforced.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Lakeland.edu
When I was in high school and college, I was a member of the soccer team. Though I had several different coaches over those eight years, something we never lacked was an overarching enthusiasm for the sport and for our school. We did a lot of community-building—rallying to get our classmates excited about our games, holding bake sales and other fundraisers to pay for uniforms and team travel, and hosting other schools for weekend tournaments that brought attention and economic support to our school and town. I have always been fascinated by the correlations between successful teams in sports and in business. Many of the interpersonal skills I learned playing soccer translated directly to my business relationships. I was used to following direction, hard work, dedication, practice, and to encouraging my teammates. I knew what it meant to commit to something bigger than myself. I also knew what it meant to organize support and to garner enthusiasm—two very important things in developing business relationships.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Latimesblogs.latimes.com
Like in aristocratic society with scheming lords and ladies, office environments are breeding grounds for power struggles. The hierarchical structure of a business, in itself, instigates this dynamic. A boss tells his employees what to do. But employees aren’t automatons. They aren’t slaves. They have their own ideas about what tasks need to get done or what clients need to be prioritized. If an employee is high-ranking and has been with the company for a while, disagreements can quickly lead to power struggles. How these dynamics play out depends in large part on the climate of the company and on the company’s hiring, firing, and promotion policies. We see power struggles cripple organizations all the time, like the NBA. We also see them cripple governments, like China’s. Managing power struggles well can keep a company, or a government, afloat.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Flickr.com
Most business presentations end with a Q&A session, a time for the audience to ask all of the burning questions they’ve been holding back during the talk. It’s also a time for the presenter to elaborate on points that he didn’t have time for during his presentation. But often, the Q&A session falls flat. Sometimes the audience is embarrassed or caught off guard, other times a lackluster presentation has lost their attention or left them feeling tired and bored. Whatever the reason, there is nothing worse than a silent room.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Americamspeakerforum.wordpress.com
I’m not the most organized person in the world. I try to be. I make lists; buy all manner of containers for my papers, clothes, and books; carry around a scrawled-upon calendar; and yet still, I struggle to keep my life in order. If only we could all be star students with meticulously placed post-its in our textbooks, neatly sorted index cards in our backpacks, and three-ring binders in a dusted row on our desks. Alas, organization doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Fortunately, change is possible.
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