Tag: motivation | The Caraires Recruitment Consultancy

Don’t trust ‘productivity’ tools

11th November 2019 by Molly Billings

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.

How to position yourself as a thought leader

7th November 2019 by Molly Billings

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.

Three strategies to accelerate your career

6th November 2019 by Molly Billings

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.

Are you ‘not sure’ if you’re in the right career?

1st November 2019 by Molly Billings

All workers question their own credentials every now and again; maybe a project doesn’t go to plan and the boss dresses them down in front of the team, or maybe they just don’t feel the connection with their job that they once did – it’s completely natural, and often is will pass.

Yet, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes, the little voice in the back of your head telling you that you’re on the wrong path only gets louder and louder, until it’s all you can think about. At this point, it’s time to seriously consider if you’re ready to make a change.

This, according to research conducted on behalf of First Direct which polled a total of 2,000 workers across the country, is the feeling of almost half of the British workforce. When asked in the poll if they felt that they were in the right job, and the right career, 47% admitted that they were ‘not sure’ and that their current positions were not fulfilling enough.

One quarter of respondents were motivated to switch careers in order to learn a new skill and attempt to build a new profession in another industry, whilst one third insisted that the key problem in their current job was the lack of a reasonable work-life balance.

“It’s easy to associate career switching with the early years of your working life, but our research found the desire to do something completely different spans every age and generation,” stated Joe Gordon, Head of First Direct and commissioner of the research.

“Even 42 per cent of the over-45s plan to change careers in the next two years. Money isn’t the driving factor behind a career switch. People are keen to learn new skills, or to do something they find more personally satisfying. Almost one in five are considering teaching, nursing or charity work as an alternative career,” he concluded.

5 motivational hacks that will change your life

23rd October 2019 by Molly Billings

With the best of intentions, all professionals need help with motivation sometimes.

Between the bustling workday, a slew of hard deadlines and the sheer effort of maintaining personal life outside of the office, it’s unsurprising that many Brits have a serious problem with finding the motivation to upkeep their home and work lives. Things slip, and once they start to slip, it’s far harder to prevent a full-blown disaster. Miss that one deadline, and all others are pushed back as you struggle to catch up. Lose concentration whilst completing a task and the day’s work may be rendered pointless. Miss laundry day one week and you’re wearing that ill-fitting shirt you took out of rotation for the day.

It’s important, when looking to improve motivation, to consider that many workplace specialists perceive motivation to act like a muscle. If you don’t use a muscle for a while, it starts to get weaker and is unable to perform as it once did. Work on that muscle, and it rebuilds itself stronger and better than before. With that in mind, your motivation needs to be trained with an equally effective regime.

But when pushing your motivation, what works?

Find an ‘accountability partner’

The best way to get motivated is to find someone else who is either already talented at productivity, or someone who also wants to better themselves and use this camaraderie to push yourself to your limits. Friendly competition and the conviction of knowing that someone else is aware if you succeed or fail is a fantastic way of keeping yourself to your own promises.

Organise your brain

Different kinds of learners will do this in different ways, yet a good way to describe the jumble in your brain is in the form of a metaphorical monolith. This giant, looming monolith of to-do lists, big projects and general tasks requiring effort looks seemingly impossible when viewed in this way, yet simply getting these things down in the form of a structured to-do list replete with action dates and scales of investment will turn that monolith into bite-sized chunks, which you can complete one-by-one.

Start small

The rewarding feeling of crossing off an item on your to-do list is a powerful one. It breeds motivation as you power through your tasks. Start with something small that you’ve been meaning to get done and build to bigger tasks. You’ll be so in the zone by the time that you get to the key projects, you’ll be in the mindset to tackle them head-on.

Be realistic

People generally attempt to dive into productivity and set themselves unrealistic deadlines. If you’re physically unable to complete these deadlines, you’re setting yourself up for guaranteed failure, which is a massive motivation killer.

Give yourself a break

Figuratively and literally, everyone needs time to clear their mind and unpack information. If you try to pile on too much at once, you’ll overload yourself and kill your motivation. Take short, sharp breaks between tasks – but keep these brief and get right back to work afterwards.