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Typically, the words “risk” and “work” don’t particularly fit together. It’s widely believed that the best kinds of employees are those who keep their heads down and just go with the flow. There’s nothing wrong with that if you’re both happy and doing your job well. But there’s definitely room for some risk in the workplace. Here are the four best ways to risk at work: 1. Take charge of meetings How you act in meetings largely shows what kind of employee you are. Again, if you simply want to show up to your meetings, jot down notes on what you need to take away, and call it a day, that’s fine; but if you want to set yourself apart, try and shake things up every once in a while. Bring your own ideas to the department meeting, including ideas on how the meetings should be run. Do you know how to make meetings more effective? Maybe you’d like to run a meeting yourself someday! Talk to your superior about your ideas. If nothing else, they’ll see that you’re looking to improve the bigger picture, and that’s how you go from a good employee to a great employee. 2. Ask for a raise the right way If you deserve a raise, ask. Asking for a raise can definitely feel like a risk for a lot of people — they don’t want to rock the boat if things are going well at work, or maybe they just don’t like asking for things. But if you’re doing stellar work and the company is benefiting from your efforts, you should ask. Back up your request with hard data and a professional proposal. Go into the meeting with concrete reasons as to why you deserve the raise. Print out numbers and come prepared with specific examples of how you help the company grow and succeed. 3. Help out coworkers you don’t necessarily need to help out Even if it’s not in your job description to lend a helping hand to people outside of your department, it doesn’t hurt to help a coworker when you have the time. You never know when you might need someone to vouch for your work ethic or return the favor. Generally speaking, the more people who like you, the better off you are. Adding to the positive atmosphere and helping to keep up office morale are two invaluable qualities not every employee can possess. 4. Abandon your ideas when they’re not working out It’s important to stick to your guns when you know you have an idea that will help the greater good of the company, but it’s imperative to know when to let go as well. Consider what is a contingency plan in project management — a strategy to deal with potential scenarios that could ruin your project. You may have planned for certain eventualities in your contingency plan, but when unexpected ones crop up, it can be difficult to admit defeat and change direction. Listen to your coworkers and bosses, accept criticism, and view your work with an unbiased eye. It’s extremely challenging, but try to remove your ego from the equation. When you really need to examine something you’ve been working on, don’t think of it as a reflection of who you are as an employee, but rather just as another project a coworker completed. Is it still good? Author Bio: Deborah Sweeney is the CEO of MyCorporation.com. MyCorporation is a leader in online legal filing services for entrepreneurs and businesses, providing start-up bundles that include corporation and LLC formation, registered agent, DBA, and trademark & copyright filing services. MyCorporation does all the work, making the business formation and maintenance quick and painless, so business owners can focus on what they do best. Follow her on Google+ and on Twitter @mycorporation.
So you’ve just hired a talented individual to join your team, and you want to make sure that her initial experience with the company is awesome. You hope she brags to all her friends and family about how amazing her new company is. But when was the last time you assessed — let alone improved — your onboarding? Consider this: your onboarding process is your new employee’s first impression of the inner workings of your organization. In other words, you need to make it count! To help you create an unforgettable onboarding experience for your new hires, we put together this helpful guide. It includes a lot of the best practices that we use to onboard new team members at my company, so I hope it can help you. While these processes work best in person, they are also great to implement while onboarding remote employees — get creative with Zoom and virtual team-building exercises, to ensure your remote hires get the best experience possible. Set expectations before they start working Your new hire’s first experience with your company actually comes before their first working day. You have a chance to wow them before they even step foot inside the building. Give them a breakdown of what they can expect when they arrive on their first day. Where can they park? What are some local lunch spot favorites around the office? What is their Day 1 agenda? What time should they arrive to work? These are all common questions that you should answer to help them alleviate some of that first day anxiety. Make a strong impression on day 1 It really helps your new hire feel comfortable when they sit down at their desk for the first time and they already have everything they need to get started. Here are some things you should have ready at your new hire’s desk when they arrive: Tools they need to perform their job — keyboard, wireless mouse, laptop stand, etc. An onboarding folder — this is a personalized A-Z style guide for working at your company. It should also include the roles and responsibilities of their position, as a reminder. A nice welcome package — company branded t-shirt, wristband, pen, hat, and any other company swag. An onboarding checklist — these are the top 10-15 things about your company that every person on your team needs to know. It should include things like the history of your company, profiles of the leadership team, your company’s mission and core values. Push their start date to a day when you have a team-wide meeting At my company, we have a team-wide meeting every Monday from noon to 1pm to go over important company updates and conduct our personal development training called the “Sensei Session”. We always start new employees on Mondays so we can give them a proper introduction during our all-hands meeting. We typically introduce new hires to the entire org and try some virtual icebreakers — we ask them to share their name, their role, where they're from, and one weird or interesting thing about them. We also add a little extra flare to our introductions. Our Director of Talent Acquisition plays the background music from the 1996 Chicago Bulls starting lineup intros and uses a bullhorn to introduce each new hire as if they’re about to run out on the court at the United Center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jK-NcRmVcw Give them time to meet with each department head During their first week on the job, it’s important that your new team member has a chance to learn the roles and responsibilities of each department. That way, they’ll get a much better understanding of the different moving parts inside your company. Schedule back-to-back 15-minute meetings with every department head so your new hire can learn who works in which department and what they do on a day-to-day basis. Organize a lunch with an executive during week 1 There have been more and more examples of companies achieving success with a flat organizational structure. A flat structure empowers individuals to become leaders and make decisions. In order to achieve this, employees need to have open and consistent lines of communication with the leadership team. One amazing way you can promote a flat structure at your company is by having the CEO or President take out your new hire for lunch. This will give them a chance to create rapport with someone on the executive team and show that each member of the team is valued. Give them a "Core Values" quiz at the end of week 1 If you put an emphasis on culture, everyone on the team should know your company’s core values inside and out. Write a core value quiz that your new hires must take and pass at the end of their first week. By the way, if you haven’t yet defined your core values, you absolutely must. Here’s a quick, 5-step guide to get you started. Create check-in points along the way There can be unforeseen challenges that arise when someone starts a new job. They might not get along with a coworker, or their direct manager may not giving them enough training. You can get ahead of these problems by holding check-in meetings. Your Hiring Manager or Head of HR should have a check-in meeting at the end of week 1, month 1, and month 3. The purpose of this meeting is to see how things are going, hear about challenges that they might not have discussed with their manager, and provide professional feedback so you can help them succeed. Author Bio: Sean Kelly is the CEO of SnackNation, a healthy snack delivery service for offices across America. Sean is also the Founder of AwesomeOffice.org, an association dedicated to helping companies maximize employee engagement, productivity and wellbeing.
By Lynn Hunsaker and Gary Katz, President/CEO and Chairman/Chief Strategy Officer, respectively, of Marketing Operations Partners Value creation is the ultimate measure of success in business: value to customers, shareholders, alliances, employees, and the community at-large. In the quest to be best, follow the money, or better yet, be the one that enables value (money, capability, opportunity) to be created. Marketing Operations is a role that can facilitate the whole marketing department responsibilities in value creation. Here are 7 secrets for success: 1. Know which side your bread is buttered on It’s a fact of life that you get ahead faster when you cater to whoever holds the purse strings. For Marketing, that’s first and foremost your customers. If your marketing is out of sync with content, timing, and methods that customers prefer, there’s not much point. Always start with WHO. This applies not only to messaging, but also to your strategic plans, tactical plans, process designs, people, tools, performance measurement – really, everything that Marketing does. This analysis and management of stakeholder needs is also known as ecosystem. 2. Set your CMO up for success Going hand-in-hand with the big picture of the ecosystem, the next layer in the bread-buttering hierarchy is enterprise objectives. Your CMO will be successful to the extent that the C-team perceives strong fit and contribution to their strategic goals. This is the WHY of the Marketing organization. You can align everything in Marketing with what the C-suite cares about by using a technique called cascading objectives. It’s the logical starting point for all marketing plans and performance monitoring. This orientation is the basis for your Marketing strategy. 3. Be a strategic enabler Someone needs to ensure the strategy comes to life, and that’s you. See yourself as a facilitator of Marketing’s success. Standards and oversight to help all marketers achieve enterprise goals are the WHAT of your role. It’s not about bureaucracy, but rather, connecting dots between strategy and execution, connecting people, connecting diverse data, and connecting interdependent processes. This is also known as governance or guidance. 4. Formalize the methods to your madness Process diagrams and procedures go a long way in accelerating necessities like onboarding, minimizing duplication of resources and effort across geographies and lines of business, and maintaining know-how when key persons depart. This is the HOW for your delivery of the why and the what for the who. Everyone’s work methods in Marketing comprise processes. 5. Remember: What gets measured gets done Help every Marketing sub-function select metrics that monitor early signals in their work. Typically, metrics are focused at the extremes of the spectrum: click-throughs (activity) and revenue (outcome). Don’t confuse outputs of a process to be early signals. These are junctures within a group’s work that signify potential re-work or scrap, or otherwise, potential successful outputs and outcomes. This is the SO WHAT? of everything Marketing does. By monitoring early signals before stakeholders can see outputs and outcomes, marketers are empowered to make adjustments that are efficient and effective. Measurement of progress is commonly known as metrics. 6. Prevent accelerators from becoming imploders Technology is intended to be an accelerator of everything. Select technology per who, why, how, what, and so what. When it’s selected in a vacuum, or without a firm understanding of the preceding, technology often derails strategy. Rushing to technology prematurely typically requires people and processes to bend in ways that aren’t sustainable. Conversations are taken over by what’s needed by the technology, instead of what’s needed for strategic opportunities. Make technology choices wisely to ensure Marketing’s strategic impact. 7. Ensure the horse is before the cart The combination of processes, metrics, and technology forms Marketing’s infrastructure: the vehicle to get from point A to point Z. This is the means for all the moving parts to function as intended. Remember that who, why, and how – ecosystem, strategy, and guidance – inform the necessary characteristics of infrastructure. The seven secrets of the best Marketing Operations teams fit together as shown in this framework.Notice the flow beginning with the ecosystem. Metrics, especially early signals, indicate what needs to be adjusted in every component of the framework. In our benchmark study, Journey to Marketing Operations Maturity, this framework represented the secrets of the best Marketing Operations teams, and is your path to value creation. It’s the lifeblood of your enterprise. In turn, it’s the ultimate measure of your success. These seven secrets can take root in your Marketing organization readily through our new Marketing Future Forum, which allows you to personalize these ideas to your business, access them on-demand in half-hour bites, and share them across your marketing organization. Join our Leap Day announcement webcast to learn how you can ready your Marketing organization for the future. Register now at http://ow.ly/YDCV1 Author Bios: Gary Katz, Chairman/Chief Strategy Officer and Lynn Hunsaker, President/CEO of Marketing Operations Partners, an organization that aims to transform marketing organizations as a value center via Accountability, Alignment, and Agility.
Without creative thought, your team can become stagnant — and a company that isn't growing is dying. Over time, even the best people can lose their enthusiasm for finding new approaches. The status quo can feel like quicksand that pulls everyone in and holds them in stasis. With effort and planning, however, you can shape an environment that encourages your team to think outside the box, bringing fresh ideas, growth, and enthusiasm. Make Brainstorming an Agenda Item Experiment to see what approach works best for your group. You might present an issue and ask each team member to bring ideas to discuss, and then see what grows from that discussion. Or try bringing them in cold and asking them to generate ideas on the spot as a team. Put someone in charge of drawing a mind map on the whiteboard one day, and have everyone take his or her own notes another day. Try setting a short time to generate a minimum number of ideas, so the energy level stays high, and the team isn't bogged down by yet another lengthy meeting to attend. Consider Your Space Does your team have access to a common area where they can relax together? If not, your first brainstorming session might be about creating an environment that fosters creativity. Most teams do best in an open, uncluttered space with plenty of light and comfortable seating, where members can move freely around the room or even pace — the opposite of many meeting rooms. The space should be free of clutter but offer all the tools staffers might need to develop and communicate ideas (e.g., whiteboards, markers, modeling materials). Democracy and Diversity Are Vital Your job is to bring diversity and equality to the creative process. This assures that you will include the broadest possible range of voices. Take the dominant participants aside before the meeting and let them know you appreciate their leadership, but need them to give space to other voices. If a reminder during the meeting doesn't work, remove them. Young staffers and women are often interrupted or discounted in groups — make sure their voices are heard. Bring in front-line staff and others whose perspectives are different, and treat their input with respect. Support Your Creative Team If ideas are judged harshly or mistakes aren't tolerated, people will start keeping their creative thoughts to themselves. Model for your marketing team how to receive all ideas enthusiastically and respectfully. Tossing out half-baked ideas is part of the brainstorming process, so never mock or show disdain for a "bad" idea. Support your staff when mistakes occur as well. By definition, if they are taking risks, some of their new ideas will fail, and that's when your enthusiasm and acceptance are most needed. If you don't stand behind your staff when their ideas fail, they will stop trying new ideas. Invite and Celebrate Staff Input Publicly acknowledge team members who bring you new ideas, so your staff will get the message that you value their input. Nothing dries up the flow of suggestions faster than a staff who believes their boss will take credit for their ideas, so give credit publicly and often. Another factor that shuts people down is feeling like their ideas aren't welcome. Counter that by openly inviting input. Don't just have a suggestion box — publish and respond to suggestions in the company newsletter. Run a contest, awarding time off or a pizza party for the person or team who offers the best solution to a problem. Are you fostering the right environment for your creative team? If your people aren't excited about solving problems any more, that's a problem. It's normal for team members to get into a rut, focus on daily tasks, and stop looking creatively at the big picture. But if everyone is rowing the boat, no one is steering. Energize your team and bring their enthusiasm back by tweaking the environment to foster, invite, and reward creative thinking. Top image via Flikr by Office Now Guest AuthorJT Ripton is a business consultant and freelance business, marketing, and technology writer out of Tampa. You can follow him on Twitter @JTRipton.
Project management is a highly complex and complicated job. Because there are so many factors that come into play during every single project, project managers must be extremely versatile and skilled. Unlike developers, engineers, or architects that work on the technical side of projects, project managers, in addition to being familiar with all the technical details, also need to deal with the social and corporate aspects. On top of all that, they are often juggling several projects at once. In addition to all this, project managers need to ensure that lines of communication between different departments stay open so that teams coordinate with each other and any potential risks that can sideline the project don’t go unnoticed. Naturally, all this complexity is a fertile breeding ground for a myriad of problems. Here are three major headaches almost every project manager faces, along with some practical solutions. Headache #1: Project Schedule Updates It goes without saying that every project needs a schedule, so that everyone involved can keep track of their progress and responsibilities, including milestones. It is up to the project manager to monitor all the activities of the team, update the project status, and act as the link between the team and any stakeholders, including upper management. However, all of this is an incredibly time-consuming activity for project managers, when their skills and expertise could be put to better use by having them do actual work on the project, instead of administrative tasks. Solution: Automate schedule updates whenever possible, so that you don't have to waste time collecting them manually. Meeting with your team and asking each member for task status is time-consuming, especially when there are project management and collaboration tools available that allow your team to simply mark a task or milestone as finished and provide real-time status updates and reports. By saving time on administrative busywork, you can focus your efforts and expertise where it really matters. Headache #2: Multitasking With so much on your plate, multitasking may seem unavoidable. But it turns out that it actually impedes your productivity, negatively affects the quality of your work, and can create massive delays. A setback in one area will inevitably cause problems for any dependent tasks, which can't begin until the first task has finished, and so on. It quickly compounds and creates further delays. Solution: Do what you can to limit the number of projects that are in progress at the same time. Try to keep no more than 25 to 50% of your projects running simultaneously to result in fewer delays and a higher quality of work. As a project manager, you will have a much easier job with fewer projects demanding your time and attention at once. You should also take advantage of the many online tools that can help you shoulder some of the burden. An instant message app like Slack allows for real-time communication, message archiving, and easy search, in case you need to recall specific conversation details. Headache #3: Project Duration Estimates Unless you have a working crystal ball on hand, (in which case, can we borrow it?) you simply cannot know how much time it will take to complete a particular task. However, you will need provide an estimated project duration to stakeholders and clients, based on all the relevant information you have at your disposal. And you will be held accountable to that estimated completion date. There are several different methods you can use to estimate how much time it will take your team to complete a project. But even if you assign proposed durations for each task, you may come up short with your estimate—which means your team will have to pick up the slack and make up for lost time. And aside from the stress, that can mean sacrificing quality, going over budget, or potentially slipping deadlines. Solution: Instead of asking your team members to provide a single estimated deadline for their individual tasks, try a two-point estimation method. The advantage of a two-point method is that it allows you to miss your estimate, while providing enough of a buffer that you can still deliver the project before the final deadline. Note that this method still doesn't guarantee that you’ll be able to deliver every project on time, but it's still a safety net of sorts. With these helpful strategies and tools, you’ll be able to plan and execute your projects better, and allow yourself and your team to function more productively, under less stress, and still meet (or exceed!) your client's expectations. Author Bio: Diana Clark is a Digital Marketing Expert and Marketing Operations Project Manager works with her talented marketing team at Aussiewriter. She loves guiding people though their business practice and shares her ideas as a blogger.