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For a really long time, I did not understand what drove people to ignore their job responsibilities. I did not understand why any individual deliberately chose not to follow a manager’s directive or be so bold as to go the opposite direction then previously instructed. Then, I gained perspective when I entered a corporate setting. It’s not to say that I agree or even promote folks to do this. That’s not what I mean at all. What I do mean is that I now fully understand how people who have been managed inappropriately fell and why they would completely shut down. This article serves to give insight to those who wish to create a culture that is driven by a set standard while allowing the employee to hold themselves accountable for their behavior. I find this information very useful to anyone who is in leadership positions while working in a corporation, and to those who are looking to start their own business. Let’s get into it. #1 Set the Example Anyone who has previously worked with a boss who asked more than they themselves were willing to give knows exactly how this feels. It sucks. Not only do you want to deliberately ignore everything they say, but you also want to quit. I remember the time one of my kids and I were discussing individuals that bark orders. I couldn’t help but smile and say “If you have ever noticed, I never ask more of you than what I myself am willing to do. I wouldn’t ask you to wash dishes if I wasn’t willing to do so myself.” There was a small pause after that as the youngster soaked it in. For some reason, someone down the line forgot to add this to the curriculum in leadership training. However it is vital if you wish to be successful when managing a team. Now that’s not to say that you need to know how to do every aspect of the jobs that you require performed. That would be completely nuts. You do need to have some initiative and be willing to jump into a role if a member of your team requires assistance. You should know your key people well enough to bring their specific skill set to optimal use at the time of need. Your team is always watching how you lead. If you hold yourself accountable for your own actions, they will as well. If you hold yourself responsible for the team’s success or failures, they will acknowledge that. And slowly you will see a shift in culture towards a more disciplined approach. #2 Allow Others to Question It is kind of funny that this section of this article should bring about so many memories of my in office experiences. The first that comes to mind would be the label that a colleague placed on me as “The Troublemaker.” This would probably be because of the amount of questions I ask as to why. “Why are we moving in this direction instead of the other?” “Why are we doing this and what is the end goal we hope to accomplish?” If you just want silence and obedience from your team, then you will not be a successful leader, manager, or whatever. Shutting down questions will lead to 2 things: 1. A stop in creative problem solving 2. A start of passive aggressive behavior. Flash ahead to present day, post my promotion. The current team I am with almost always stops me dead in my tracks and questions things if they make zero sense. To anyone who is not used to having courageous team members, this may be frustrating. Hell, I find this frustrating from time to time. But the individual may indeed have a point. And most do. After the initial reaction, come back to the subject with a fresh set of eyes. Turn your initial reactive response into a proactive one by opening yourself to their view. You may find that you may need to shift your direction and directive. #3 Do Not Fear Failure I think one of the biggest fears of managers or entrepreneurs is the fear of failure. They fear that they may not be able to recover financially or from the embarrassment of losing. To those who do, I challenge you to take a look at your past failures. What did you learn from them? Have you grown stronger from the past failure? Here’s the thing about mistakes and being afraid to fail- If you become a stronger individual from your past, if you have learned something in any shape or form, then those mistakes were never really mistakes. Understand that anything you decide to do in life has the possibility of failing. That does not mean that you shouldn’t try it. If you continue to live in fear of failure, you lose the chance to experience life itself. If you continue to live in fear of looking stupid because of a mistake you might possibly make, then you lose the chance to laugh at yourself and grow stronger from it. You literally stunt your own growth living in fear. Acknowledge that you are human and you can make mistakes. Then choose to make them anyway so that your character can grow and your team will follow. #4 Hold Yourself Accountable I know of a few people that do the following and think it’s tied to being an accountable individual.
If you fall in this category then my friend you are highly mistaken. Accountability in its raw form is holding yourself responsible for the direction of your actions and your team’s. Whether your team fails or succeeds, you should hold yourself accountable and act as such. Remember in the first step of this article we discussed setting the example? Now is the time to hold yourself to that set standard. No one will ever be inspired by a person whose actions are in complete contrast of what they preach. So if you wish to be taken seriously, then there is no way around this. An example of this would be: If you divide your troops too far, you should acknowledge that they might lose sight of what they are working towards. If you take the responsibility to keep them aligned to one common purpose then you can minimize the risk for failure. Understand that a big contributor to success or failure is the ability to make yourself accountable for you and your team’s actions. #5 Brace for the Unexpected Although you should never fear failure, you should always prepare for the unexpected. This is why stifling your team’s voices is a stab at your vision for success. No matter how much you plan or try to minimize risk, there will inevitably be something that you did not see coming. Therefore, preparation is just as important for failure as it is for success. Ask yourself, what is the worst case scenario should this go awry, and how can I change that for the better. Engage your team in planning for the unexpected as they might allow for a better set of ideas that could minimize the risk that you are taking, and prepare for the unexpected. They may come up with another scenario that you may have not even thought of. Remember, you should be able to switch gears should the circumstance call for it. Be ready for it and do not fear it. #6 Allow Creative Problem Solving One thing that I love about people in general is their individuality. I love to engage with a person and be able to understand a totally different perspective then my own. I love how others think and value that over any other thing that they can give me. However, not everyone shares the same feelings as I do toward individuality and diversity. Again, this sucks. Creative problem solving starts by being accepting of the individuality of your team, and what they bring to your work environment. Create an accepting environment by making yourself available to your team and having the time to listen to new fresh ideas and perspectives. Challenge yourself not to speak when someone else is talking. Listen to understand, not to engage after their idea has been expressed. Engage with the speaker in your conversation by connecting with what they are saying. Allow yourself to feel their thoughts and words. Doing so allows for rapport to be built within the group. The exchange of ideas will multiply tenfold if you consider honest, open communication. #7 Allow for Flexibility If 2020 has taught us anything, it has to be that at any given time, things can change. Look at our new normal. Think about how quickly we as a human race quickly adapted in only 1 year to overcome and survive as a species. If you think that flexibility has nothing to do with it, you are highly mistaken. Flexibility and the ability to evolve has been the cornerstone of resiliency in absolutely every company that has been successful. In the work culture you are trying to create, it should then hold a high place in the overall structure. Things go wrong more times than many of us are willing to admit. It helps to remember that we were built for this. We were made to overcome the most extreme circumstances. So give it all you got. Should the time come to change course, don’t gripe. Accept it and change direction. Then give it all you got again. If all 7 of these characteristics have been implemented into the work culture of your team, then you are well on your way to creating a disciplined staff. Creating an atmosphere of inclusion allows for your team members to express themselves freely. The results will be gradual at first, but soon enough will be astounding. The Previous Post...
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I know that the majority of our younger generation receives these skills as part of their curriculum prior to graduating high school. Some of us, however, tend to forget these skills as time goes by. There may have been times that we hadn’t had to think about a resume in a long time. Perhaps this is because we have been at a job for quite some time and we now need to find another for whatever reason. Or we might be considered for a promotion, therefore we need to freshen up the resume that got us in the building in the first place. If you can relate to any of these circumstances, then this article might help to jog your memory. There a lot of ways that you can revive your resume in 2021. With use of the internet and other resume software, we can look at other resume templates and pick or choose what types of things we want in it. We have free reins to control how and where we choose to place this information, which may in turn be stifling. When we have too many choices, our minds may find this a little overwhelming. We may overthink what we would like to use or where would be the best fit for it. Have no fear, that’s what this article is for. Let’s get into it. #1 Tools Needed Before we consider writing the resume, we need to look at the tools we might need in order to create a visually pleasing resume. Most of us think that we need some fancy resume software- NOT THE CASE. You can make a great resume by using either Google Docs or Microsoft Word Online. Both these competitors have amazing resume templates that allow you to view the layout of your potential resume. Not only that, they also offer some great tools to help you during the creation of the resume, such as auto correct, and word count. This should not take the place of proof reading. You will definitely need to proofread your work prior to submitting to any potential employer. Don’t like the layout? By all means, create your own. I am a fan of not falling into the cookie cutter image. Let your creative spirit flow by adding tables and experimenting with fonts. However, do not go too overboard with colors and added elements to it such as graphics. Remember, you are going to hand this over to a company executive. You do not want to be handing over what looks to be a document that is overwhelmed with so many graphics that it looks sort of like a coloring book. #2 Visually Pleasing We touched a little on this in the previous step. It’s a fact, visually pleasing resumes get looked at a little closer than other resumes. Choose a layout that is not busy with too many elements, is clear and easy to read through, and follows the natural line of reading. I probably should mention here that adding your Instagram picture here is not professional and should not be done. Stop laughing. You would be surprised at what comes by a manager's desk. If you opted to create your own resume layout, seek an opinion from someone you trust to critique it. They will be able to better guide you should you get a little carried away. #3 Grammatically Correct We often communicate with each other in relaxed settings. When we finally have an important piece to write, and we forget to take a look at how our words are being used. IMs, comments on social media sites, messages, emails to loved ones do not warrant this type of attention. Certainly resumes do though. When you have completed plugging in the information that you want your prospective employer to look at, take a look at how it was written in. Did you use slang in your wording? Did you write as if you were commenting on a YouTube video? Make sure to use the software that you have available to review for spelling and punctuation. You should not, however, fully rely on it. You should always take the time to re-read and make corrections. Most editing software will not be able to pick up words that are not miss-spelled but are misused. #4 Great Content Have you have ever been shy about highlighting your strengths? This is not the time for it! Take the time to think about all the great things about you. What can you offer an employer that no one else can? Why? Do you have supporting evidence of work experience for that specific skill set? Skills that should take precedence in your resume are things that you feel you have learned throughout your career in that particular field of practice. These skills should be those who may seek the employer's attention: such as Microsoft Word proficient or knowledge in medical policy guidelines. Make sure that your resume conveys an air of confidence without completely sounding like an ego frenzied freak. Sometimes your ego can get the best of you. And it is definitely a fine line that we walk between confidence and complete jerk. Take the time to review the underlying tone of your email. Do you sound sure of what you are putting on paper? You should. Now is the time we can take to freshen up on the skills. Make full use of free available resources such as YouTube to review Excel and Word skills. That way when the time comes, you do not have to worry so much about the actual skill it takes to keep the job once you have it. #5 Clear Objective What exactly are you trying to say to your reader when she sees your resume? What job are you hoping that this resume will land you? Make sure that your resume reflects who you are in a professional matter. What is your end game? Besides earning income, what do you hope to accomplish in your career? Make sure that this information is clear, and to the point. Most of us when we were young, looked at the world with a fresh prospective. We had high dreams, high hopes, and high ambitions. Your objective should indicate your highest goals without sounding like a farfetched dream. For more on goal setting and breaking big goals down to bit size pieces, check out my article From Complexity to Simplicity. It will give you a great guide on how to take any big career goal and break it down into smaller, manageable pieces. #6 Great Cover letter Don’t head off to Indeed just yet once your resume has been completed! You still have your cover letter to write. Your cover letter should state clearly who you are, what position you are applying for, and why you think you would be the best possible candidate for the job. It should be composed of 1-2 paragraphs that gives your prospective employer a quick summary of what may be in your resume. This is a great option if you are applying for jobs posted on internet job search engines such as Indeed.com, Monster.com, or CareerBuilder.com. In these situations, you have no face-to-face interaction with the company you are applying for. Spending a few extra moments to create a cover letter may help give your resume the extra push it may need. Resume building may seem like a daunting task when you initially sit down and begin. You may think there are a lot of things that go could go into the resume and feel completely overwhelmed. Your emotional response may already be high due to the circumstance surrounding why you are creating the resume in the first place. Whatever the case may be, I am sure that with the information located here within this article, you will be able to present a well-polished resume that is sure to land you that dream job. Keep in mind, there is also another option to generating an income. And that is entrepreneurship.
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AuthorYaritza Ellison has been an nurse since 2010. She has been essential to the healing process of many and seeks to continue to do so. Her passion for mental health and self help literature has lead her to launch justyari.org, where she aspires to coach young ladies navigating through work-life balance. Categories
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