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Leaders feel isolated at work

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Managing a team of skilled people is the dream for many professionals. In fact, one in five Brits believe that managing a team is a sign of success in the workplace, a survey from CV-Library revealed, however, this success comes at a price.

According to CV-Library research, 27.2% of senior leaders admit to feeling lonely in the workplace with 40% claiming that people’s attitudes towards them changed after they moved into a more senior position.

The study of 300 senior members of staff from across the UK discovered that loneliness also permeated into their personal lives. So much so that over half (56.8%) stated that their home life had suffered as a result of work. In addition, 54.7% said that it’s not worth it to be where they currently are in their professional career.

“Reaching the top is an attractive goal for many, but even the most senior employees need support in the workplace. Particularly if you’re working long hours and shoulder huge levels of responsibility” said Lee Biggins, Founder and CEO of CV-Library.

“Naturally, as a senior member of staff, you’ll have to remain neutral towards your teams, but this can result in feelings of exclusion. Moreover, you’ll have a responsibility to provide support to your employees, but don’t forget about yourself! Seek help from other senior members of staff, especially in the transition period after being promoted.”

The research went on to reveal that senior leaders are most likely to feel lonely in the workplace because they have little in common with colleagues (42.7%), work in an office on their own (34.4%) and because their peers are much younger than them (24.4%).

When asked what they think are the best ways for employers to prevent loneliness in the workplace, senior leaders suggest the below:

  • Put appropriate support in place (49.2%)
  • Have more office socials (34.5%)
  • Hire a diverse team (32.9%)
  • Construct an open-plan office (28.2%)
  • Improve the on-boarding process (27%)

Biggins added: “As a senior employee, you may feel unable to talk about any feelings of loneliness because of your status in the company. To combat this, it’s important to prioritise your own well-being and work closely with other leaders.

“Whether you organise company socials to blow off some steam away from the workplace, or have regular catch ups with fellow manager, it will help you to forge stronger working relationships. In turn, this should encourage a more open and supportive atmosphere.”

(Credit to Executive Grapevine Daily)

Don’t trust ‘productivity’ tools

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In a progressively digital world the number of tools and apps on the market, which are designed to make our jobs easier, is somewhat staggering.

With start-ups regularly coming onto the scene purporting to offer the latest and greatest productivity tool, it’s easy to get caught up in the ability these technological advances can have. However, is it possible these new tools are actually hindering our productivity?

Therefore, it is time business leaders and managers take a step back and review their productivity tools and whether they should trust them. To help you recognise whether your tools are helping your productivity, Medium shared a list of three top tips to track this.

Evaluate your needs

A good staring point Medium suggests is to list areas which you wish to be more efficient with and then sort them into categories. Then identify the key thing you need the most help with in each category. For example, from this if you realise you need a more effective way of taking notes during meetings, conduct some research into tools to help with this to benefit you and your tasks.

Keep track

As the adage saying goes, ‘less is more’. This is particularly true when it comes to your choice of productivity tools. To keep on top of things it’s vital that you keep track of the many tools you are using, for example you may discover you are using too many for one task. If this is the case, start eliminating the one you do not use. Streamlining your tools on a regular basis like this will stop you from using more tools that aren’t necessary.

Use only what you need

Lastly, Medium warns business leaders and managers shouldn’t get caught up in the false need to use what’s new and hot on the market. Remember each tool that you use should be making life easier at work, while also improving your productivity. However, if they are making things more complicated it may be worth ditching them altogether.

(Credit to Executive Grapevine Daily)

How to make better professional decisions

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Making important decisions is a fundamental part of any business leader’s role. Whether it’s determining how to better improve company policies or how to enhance an organisation’s profits, these decisions are never easy and can result in a number of repercussions.

According to The Balance Careers, managers often face unstructured issues within the workplace, which are there to test their abilities as a decision maker and will therefore ultimately impact their success as a manager.

It’s imperative that every leader gets these right, as getting them wrong can all too often lead to a lack of trust in you as a manager, which would likely lead to a loss on morale as employees lose faith.

Below are three tips to help you make better career decisions as a leader:

Removing emotion

When it comes to making key decisions, leaders should be aware not to let their emotions play a part in this. Emotions can rush a judgement or slow a process down, therefore The Balance Careers suggests stepping back and reflecting on the situation before making any snap decisions.

Reversing decisions

Once a decision has been made, every leader should be aware that this can’t be reversed as easily as they hope. However, The Balance Careers warns that managers should not fall victim to self-doubt when they have a called a decision, as this can lead to extra stress and frustration among teams and employees.

Learn from your mistakes

This well-known phrase is imperative for every business leader. As such, to strengthen your capabilities to make decisions you should reflect on ones you have made in the past and review them to help you improve your decision-making in the future.

(Credit to Executive Grapevine Daily)

How to position yourself as a thought leader

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Good business leaders are hard to come by; whilst many may fulfil the basic functions of a senior manager in that they make decisions based on sound financial and productivity data, it’s rare to find a leader that sports the qualities needed to be considered a thought leader.

This is often reflected in the way in which they are viewed by their staff. Some are also blinded by the bottom line, and therefore unaware of how basic changes could positively impact their company.

Gallup research claims that around 70% of UK employees are actively disengaged at work. Why? Because of their leadership; a recent study by Career Builder claims that 58% of leaders haven’t actually received management training, and 89% are completely unaware that the main reason that employees quit is because of their leadership – actively misconstruing this as a push for more money.

And this is having a massive impact on the way that professionals view their bosses. Harvard Business Review data suggests that 58% of workers would trust a stranger more than their own boss, whilst 79% of people who quit cite a ‘lack of appreciation’ from their leadership.

What is a thought leader?

It may sound like a classic business buzzword, but actually thought leadership literally simply refers to being as informed as you possibly can be, and then seeing the broad spectrum of your industry, with a view to implementing policies based on this in your own company. No one definition for a thought leader

exists, yet most agree that it’s someone who is a trendsetter, and someone who is a ‘top dog’ in their field.

Russ Allan, leadership specialist and contributor for Forbes magazine, stated that his view of a thought leader is this: “A thought leader is an individual or firm that prospects, clients, referral sources, intermediaries and even competitors recognise as one of the foremost authorities in selected areas of specialisation, resulting in it being the go-to individual or organisation for said expertise.”

Yet his next point is slightly more poignant. He said that almost as important as being a thought leader, is being viewed as a thought leader. He said: “A thought leader is an individual or firm that significantly profits from being recognised as such.”

How do you become one, or at least be viewed as one?

Build credibility 

Becoming a thought leader isn’t an overnight process; it takes groundwork. This means working hard to build credibility in your field. Your workers should trust you implicitly. Other leaders should value your advice. You should be seen as someone who could hold their own in a debate or be invited to speak at industry events.

Know your audience 

Knowing your industry is essential, and so is knowing your audience. Who are you advising? What positive change is coming from your input? How are you affecting outcomes and who do you need to address to do so? These are questions you must answer.

Tell your story

Context is essential in any road-map. Where have you come from and how does this affect where you’re going? Where were your expertise honed? Anyone can read a book – how are you actively using your past experiences to implement good change?

Network 

This doesn’t just mean sipping wine at an annual business conference. This means immersing yourself in the experiences of others in your field. Build a powerful LinkedIn community around you and be active on it. Read your trade news and engage in as much conversation as you can. Be passionate and build passion. This also helps you build on the last point…

Gain knowledge

…which is, gain as much knowledge as you possibly can. This is the route of all things. You must know your industry inside and out. Read everything, watch everything, listen to podcasts and build your own opinions. Use this information to see patterns and understanding.

(Credit to Executive Grapevine Daily)

Three strategies to accelerate your career

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Never before has self-development and personal training been more crucial than it is today.

In an age where job-hopping is no longer frowned upon, as employees take on new roles and join new companies to find the one that suits them best, employers have slowly begun to stop investing in developing individual workers who may leave before a return on learning is realised.

Therefore, adopting strategies yourself that can accelerate your career can provide employees with the best possible option to get ahead and achieve more.

This is something Jason Wingard, a contributor to Forbes, has put emphasis on in a recent article for the publication. He wrote: “For ambitious employees, self-development is an effective way, and, in some cases the only way, to hasten progress along the career ladder.”

He went on to reveal his top three strategies to help employees assume control of their development and accelerate their career:

Put strategy first

With statistics stating that one-third of employees report that their bosses don’t assist with career development, Wingard believes that the onus should fall on to workers to be proactive and work towards a strategy to improve their own skill-set. They should prioritise ways in which they can gain more experience, attain marketable skills and build a group of supporters.

One way to enhance this is to find a mentor. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a senior leader and could be a co-worker or a junior colleague. As long as the mentor has teachable skills that can accelerate your career, mentor-ship can make a huge difference to the future of your role at work.

Be your own ‘Chief Marketing Officer’

Wingard advised that today’s workers must become their own ‘Chief Marketing Officer’ and therefore should be analysing, refining and improving the way that they appear in the job market. One of the quickest ways he suggested is to embrace education to improve oneself.

These could be in the form of free webinars that inform users of the latest techniques within business, or you could choose to invest some more and take on an online course or attend weekend workshops to expand your skill-set.

Get feedback

While feedback can be both positive and negative, it is all constructive and can help to grow your career. Therefore, it’s essential you regularly ask for feedback. Wingard noted that discovering strengths and weaknesses in soft skills is the first step all employees should take when trying to accelerate their career, and the best way to do that is by asking for feedback.

Ensure you regularly reach out to your peers and line manager to see what you could improve on, while also finding out what  you’re excelling at to provide yourself with a benchmark. This will ultimately steer you in the right direction and provide structure to your career goals.

(Credit to Executive Grapevine Daily)

About Caraires

The Caraires Recruitment Consultancy was founded in 2007 by Nicola Carrouché and Sharon Aires, who have over 40 years of recruitment experience between them; determined to partner both clients and candidates whilst living their philosophy that ‘honesty is a value, not a word’.

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