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: Dc.gov
It’s not surprising that one of the most often cited “soft skills” employers value is the ability to self-supervise. Employees who can motivate themselves are incredibly important for a well-oiled company. They don’t need constant attention or oversight. They don’t need much of anything. They are perpetual motion machines, content to work through tasks efficiently in solitude. If a company could be comprised entirely of self-supervisors, there would be no need for managers, team leaders, or assessment reports. Think of it as a machine with many moving parts. Machines aren’t keeping tabs on their gears and circuits. Every part does its job so that the whole can function.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Redcarpetcloset.blogspot.com
We’ve all heard about the “it” factor before—it’s that indescribable panache, that extra something that makes a performer rise above the group. I watched a documentary recently about elite ballet called First Position. It followed some of the world’s most talented young dancers through a competition for ballet scholarships and jobs with top companies. All of the dancers were incredible. All of them had been dancing since they were tiny children. They all loved to dance more than anything in the world, wanted to win, and had the training necessary to make it. And yet, it was clear to me, a complete lay-person, that some of the dancers had a quality that was missing from others. It was a spark, a raw passion, a focus, and it came across in every movement and every glance.
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Posted by
Anni M.
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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.
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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: Articles.businessinsider.com
According to Peggy Klaus, a corporate consultant and author of the book, “Brag,” in the face of dire economic circumstances, executives tend to bury their heads in the sand. It’s no secret that the recession has hit businesses hard. Many of them have gone under, unable to weather the immense storm that continues to rage through our country’s coffers. And many of the survivors are in rough shape, having had to lay off a huge percentage of their employees. From the outside, the picture is bleak, but how must it look from the inside? How are these executives handling their losses? Is Klaus right, are they just burying their heads in the sand? If they are, I expect it’s just a matter of time before their companies buckle again, this time permanently.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Thewhiteroombirmingham.blogspot.com
Most of the time, we think of technology as a boon to business. It’s true: we can do so much more so much faster. We can share documents, create incredible multimedia presentations, and interact instantaneously from wherever we may be. We can use our handheld devices as personal navigators, calendars, encyclopedias, and cheerleaders (motivational apps are all the rage these days!) But sometimes all that technology gets in the way of productivity or communication. How many times have you been interrupted by an incoming text or phone call? How often do you feel like you need to check your email at the expense of a project that demands your full concentration? It happens all the time, every day, all day long. It’s hard enough concentrating in a cubicle without iPhone Tetris calling your name. So how much is too much? Where do we draw the line?
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Flickr.com
Following the rules is one of the infamous “soft skills,” those qualities that are difficult to quantify but that help a businessperson succeed. These skills include many of the things I’ve written about here: courtesy, honesty, dependability, a willingness to cooperate, adaptability, and integrity. These are skills that are difficult to teach. How can you make a person more honest or dependable? If you are someone who struggles with these skills, learning them can be very difficult too. Often these skills are learned at an early age, taught by parents and teachers and reinforced by friends and cultural context. Someone who follows the rules has likely always been contentious about his behavior. He is probably someone who did very well in school, never got into any kind of trouble with the law, and was a well-behaved child. Fortunately though, following the rules is one of the easiest soft skills to learn. It is quantifiable.
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Posted by
Anni M.
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In some contexts, self-promotion is a dirty phrase. It evokes self-involved businessmen with naked ambition, people who are unashamed of pushing their own strengths even when those strengths are exaggerated. As maddening as it is, often these people do succeed. Their relentlessness and drive wear on bosses and managers. Eventually, they give in, promoting the obnoxious loud mouth over the more industrious but reserved employee. Why does this happen and what can you do about it? While there is little you can do to stop that annoying self-promoter in his tracks, you can learn how to do your own inoffensive self-promotion. The first step: stop feeling guilty about touting your accomplishments.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Shambalatimes.org
I think working in an office is inherently stressful. We’re animals. We’re not built for constant artificial lighting, confined spaces, and sitting in one place for eight hours at a time. As our bodies lose strength, our minds do too. We work in such close proximity to other people and those people don’t always share our work ethic or work style. I am the type of person who needs absolute quiet in order to concentrate. For years I worked next to a man who listened to techno music all day long. He couldn’t work without it and he refused to wear headphones. Sometimes stress finds you and when it does you have two options: change your situation or change your own behavior to compensate.
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