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Tag: Workplace Evolution

  • Practicing and Believing These 5 Mantras Will Change Your Life

    Practicing and Believing These 5 Mantras Will Change Your Life

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We all experience difficult struggles in life. Every day, people have disagreements at home, projects go sideways at work and we encounter setbacks with goals.

    Over the years, I’ve noticed that how quickly we rebound from these trials and tribulations is directly correlated with the beliefs and values we have about ourselves and life, as well as how we speak to ourselves. Believing, saying and practicing the following five mantras is incredibly useful when attempting to recover from any challenge.

    Related: 5 Mantras of Successful Entrepreneurs You Can Use to Improve Your Life and Habits

    1. I can do this. Things will work out.

    Whenever we’re experiencing any kind of setback or failure, it’s tempting to start to doubt ourselves more wholly. Our feelings can start to snowball and we can create a domino effect in our lives.

    We’ll start by focusing on that one client we didn’t sign or that one deal that didn’t go through and begin to conclude that “maybe I’m just not right for this job” or “maybe I shouldn’t even be doing this at all.” We can even get into imposter syndrome. Because of this negative thinking, we’ll often create a self-fulfilling prophecy and bring about more of the very thing we’re trying to avoid. Our negative thinking will cause us to have more failures and we’ll feel vindicated — which will lead to the next domino falling.

    The opposite works, too. Instead of concluding that all is lost after a setback, instead ask: “What can I learn from this? How can I use this to make me better?”Don’t think long about the one thing that didn’t work out. Instead, refocus your energy on the things that are going well.

    The more you believe in yourself and have faith in your abilities, the better you’ll rebound from setbacks. When we believe that things will work out, they usually do, especially when we’re dedicating consistent effort toward our goals. Continue to take steps toward them, no matter what.

    Related: 15 Ways to Drown Out the Destructive Voices in Your Head

    2. The past doesn’t matter. I can let this go.

    When we feel harmed or hurt, we tend to hang onto it for longer than we should. The past is written — it can’t be changed. If we’re reflecting on the past to help us learn from our mistakes, that’s one thing. Find the lessons, then move on with new insight and wisdom.

    However, we often don’t look at the past to guide us. We look back and dwell, which results in us staying stuck. Rehashing what didn’t go our way or venting about what someone else should’ve said or done rarely serves us. Our brains can’t focus on two disparate things at once, so anytime we’re ruminating on the past, we’re rarely focusing on what we can control in the present and how excited we are for the future.

    Instead, make a conscious decision to forgive others (and yourself) for mistakes. Sometimes people will say: “But it’s so hard to get over this!” Sure, it can be hard to let something go, but I guarantee you that you do have a choice in that. Choose to focus your conscious energy on who you are trying to become in the future.

    Related: 7 Ways Companies Can Harness Failure to Drive Success

    3. I’m sorry. I will fix this.

    When we’ve experienced conflict with someone, it’s not always easy to take accountability or responsibility and focus on the part of the situation that we can mend. We like to focus on what’s been done to us instead.

    We’ll often even say, “That wasn’t my fault.” Assigning blame elsewhere can feel good because it takes us out of the hot seat and helps us feel that our reactions are justified. This might feel good at the time, but it rarely serves us. Instead, have the humility to say: “You’re right. I did that, and I’m sorry. Here’s what I’m going to do about it.”

    When we do that, a few things happen. First, others respect us more. Second, we pull ourselves back into our circle of control and identify actions that we plan to take to improve things. Third, we lead by example and show others what it looks like to also do this. The result? We improve situations much faster and create a brand and reputation for taking ownership.

    4. I need help.

    Sometimes, it can be scary to ask for help. Many of us feel that if we’re capable and successful, we should figure out how to do it all ourselves. It’s nice to feel strong, and asking for help can make us feel weak. However, it takes a strong person to ask for help.

    Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it also wasn’t built by one person. Most people enjoy being asked to help. Don’t be afraid to find others around you who are better at something than you are or have strengths in an area you lack and leverage them. You don’t have to do it all yourself. Find people you admire and trust, then be vulnerable and say you could use some assistance. That’s part of building great relationships and it’s actually what great leaders and professionals do.

    Related: Asking for Help Might Be the Key to Your Success

    5. I made a mistake and that’s okay.

    All too often, we fear failure. We think that success and failure are diametrically opposed, but that’s not true at all — failure is part of success.

    There are few examples of highly successful people who didn’t struggle greatly or err numerous times on their journey. When we embrace mistakes, we tend to enjoy the journey of life far more. Mistakes often mean that we’re experimenting and trying something new, which puts us out of our comfort zones and makes us learn.

    Be willing to be uncomfortable and try new things, regardless of how poorly it might go on the first try. Plan to struggle and embrace it when you do. When you do that, you begin a process of growth and change. It’s hard to grow without being uncomfortable, making mistakes and having a few failures. If you truly want to evolve, then get comfortable with these things. The sooner you can adopt that mindset, the faster you’ll advance and the better you’ll feel doing it.

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    Amy M Chambers

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  • If You’re Struggling to Find Diverse Talent, Look at These 5 Areas

    If You’re Struggling to Find Diverse Talent, Look at These 5 Areas

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Recruiting and retaining talented employees from various backgrounds is important for many reasons. Diverse teams are likely to outperform their competitors in profitability. As well, your organization can better cater to diverse consumer needs while enhancing workforce innovation.

    Unfortunately, many organizations today experience difficulties in filling up their talent pipeline with talents of diverse backgrounds. This means that they are not able to meet their representation objectives nor experience the benefits of having a diverse and inclusive workforce.

    If your organization is facing a pipeline problem when it comes to hiring more diverse talents, it is essential to take corrective steps to resolve this issue. This article will discuss five areas to help you troubleshoot what might be causing the pipeline problem, and strategies to mitigate this.

    Related: Unconventional Ways to Source Diverse Talent

    1. Barriers and goals

    What is the representation goal for your organization? Perhaps your company may want to increase the percentage of women leaders within the C suite by a certain percentage or are looking to have more talents from under-represented backgrounds occupying senior leadership positions. The goal can be either quantitative or qualitative. Whatever your vision may be, the vision must be clear and have specific metrics associated with it.

    Once the company goal is clear, then move on to the individual experience. Underrepresented talents experience various barriers in their careers. Identify what barriers exist for your target groups. This could show up in ways such as not feeling supported by colleagues or opportunity gaps.

    Consider how these individual barriers will affect their career trajectory. Identifying any existing processes in the company can help to mitigate these barriers in the short term.

    Related: 4 Criteria Diverse Talents Use to Evaluate Their Prospective Employers

    2. Reconsider your talent-sourcing strategies

    What do your current talent-sourcing strategies look like? If you’re looking at your existing talent pipeline, where are your talents currently coming from? Do you feel that that is meeting the representation goal that you have at the organizational level? If you’re looking to have a different result and increase representation in your organization, you may need to reconsider your talent-sourcing strategies.

    If the company is not meeting its representation goals and are looking for more talents of under-represented backgrounds, then you can’t be doing the same thing that you have been doing before. There has to be some sort of a shift. Whether you are innovating the existing strategy jobs that are working very well or you’re trying something completely different, you have to be doing something different. This is not an exception when looking at your talent-sourcing strategy.

    So what does the sourcing strategy look like? It is imperative to understand that you cannot expect a different result if you’re doing the same thing as you have been doing before, so make sure that your sourcing strategy reflects that change somehow.

    Related: Struggling With Hiring Right Now? It’s Time To Go All-In on Diversity

    3. Interpretation of assessment criteria

    How are you currently evaluating and assessing candidates? You may already have a set method on how you evaluate and assess the candidates. But what if it is hindering your underrepresented talents from even applying? While the criteria stay the same when it comes to skills or experience, the interpretation will have to change.

    For example, when evaluating cultural fit, many companies evaluate the cultural fit based on shared personal interests. This can turn away talents coming from different backgrounds. So instead of similar personal interests, focus on evaluating from the shared professional values.

    If you are looking for diverse candidates, your criteria may have to shift to assess candidates from different perspectives. For example, instead of assessing cultural fit from shared interests, consider evaluating their professional values. Rather than focusing on specific tiered schools or grades, consider keeping it to a certain educational level or equivalent amount of professional experience in a specific business function.

    By shifting the interpretation of the assessment criteria itself, your recruitment team will be able to start evaluating diverse talents based on additional strengths they can bring to the table, rather than how similar they are to everyone else. This, in turn, will help with the number of applications that make it through the initial rounds of recruitment stages.

    Related: Hire Like a Diversity Expert: 5 Key Qualities of Inclusive Employees

    4. Interview to offer ratio

    Are people from diverse backgrounds even being interviewed in the first place? If the answer is no, the first three areas in this blog can be useful to troubleshoot this. However, if diverse candidates are being interviewed but no offers are being extended, that might be a symptom of a deeper issue.

    Consider recording the interviews for both training and transparency purposes. When you go back to the recordings, you will see things that stand out. Maybe a candidate may have been asked a question, even as an icebreaker, that wasn’t asked to other candidates. It could have been a different setting, or a candidate not being provided the accommodation that they requested.

    This is going to help you to pinpoint possibly why some of these talents were not even able to get to the final offer stage and determine from the strategic level, where the problem could be coming from.

    Related: Diversity and Inclusion Best Practices for Your Workforce

    5. Career trajectory

    Perhaps you have everything absolutely nailed down in terms of the strategic direction, sourcing strategies, a great interview-to-offer ratio and the candidates accepting the offer. However, retention or representation at the leadership levels could use more improvement. If this is the case, career trajectory should be examined.

    This is a long-term strategy where you will need to collect over the years to examine the trend. For example, if entry-level employees are leaving the company for another company that gave them a higher-level role, this could mean that they did not see the opportunity for growth. While if a senior team member comes in as a new leader and they depart, it may be that they were not feeling set up for success.

    Once you identify a clear pattern, go further into the records. What concerns did they bring up with their managers? Did anyone else who was managed by that manager experience a similar issue? Were there any indications? Use the data to better shape the career trajectory and experience.

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    Clair Kim

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  • 5-Minute Mentor: How Do I Get My Products In Front of Customers Online?

    5-Minute Mentor: How Do I Get My Products In Front of Customers Online?

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    “Success leaves clues.” Terry Rice, a business development consultant and writer for Entrepreneur magazine, is not channeling Sherlock Holmes — he’s offering a surefire method for newbies in the business game to unlock success. “Jot down the names of competitors and similar companies and see how they are making it happen. Look how they use social media, find out who they are partnering with. Then put your own spin on those methods that are proven to work.”

    In this week’s episode of 5-Minute Mentor, Terry talks with Julia Cuthbertson, co-founder of Las Chingonas Imports, a Brooklyn-based company that imports high-end Mezcal from Mexico. Julia and her co-founder Tiffany Collings launched their company with two products a year and a half ago, and are looking for ways to expand not just in New York City shops, but online as well. Terry breaks down strategies and tactics for the team to reach a wider customer base while keeping things manageable within their time and resource constraints.

    Watch the above conversation and in just five minutes get actionable tips for:

    • Moving from brick-and-mortar to online sales
    • Getting your product on relevant delivery platforms
    • Developing a customer relationship management system
    • Taking your first steps in fundraising

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    Terry Rice

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  • 5 Essential Things Leaders Can Learn From Their Employees

    5 Essential Things Leaders Can Learn From Their Employees

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In the era of entrepreneurship and business ownership, many aspiring leaders focus on collecting as much knowledge as possible in terms of running a company or maintaining dazzling team performance. Everyone wants to be the best version of themselves when it comes to professional growth and development.

    Entrepreneurs worldwide try to be constantly on the right track with approaches, business models, leadership strategies, etc. — the world provides plenty of resources and education in the shape of books, courses, seminars and university degrees.

    When it comes to hard skills, though, entrepreneurs can definitely reach out to plenty of resources. We all know, however, that successful leadership is closely connected with soft skills and certain management strategies. What if the employees themselves could teach entrepreneurs useful tips?

    Related: 5 Lessons a Boss Should Learn From Employees

    The team is the mirror an entrepreneur looks straight into

    Usually, we tend to believe that the entrepreneur is the one who teaches their employees all things important when it comes to business and work ethic.

    But much like every major aspect of life, it’s a two-way street. A leader can surely share plenty of useful knowledge with their team but the other way around is definitely as important. Being part of a team is incredibly beneficial both for the employees and the entrepreneur. Through tasks and duties, the team can in fact share beneficial knowledge in terms of soft skills and personal growth — they both are crucial when it comes to successful leadership.

    All it takes is for the leader to actually listen and pay attention to their surroundings. They’d be surprised to know just how much they can learn through daily communication with the team members. At the end of the day, a leader’s success is measured mostly by the success of the team — what’s important here is that this success is not because of the leader only; the employees themselves contribute a great deal by showcasing their personal experiences, work ethic and communication strategies.

    Related: Why Lifelong Learning is the Key to Entrepreneurial Success

    5 things employees can teach leaders

    A good leader is someone who never stops trying to improve themselves work-wise. And while books and courses are always a great option, we can actually add some additional sources of knowledge and experience. Here are five things an entrepreneur can indeed learn from their relationship with the employees at the office.

    1. Diversity in teams, even when challenging, is definitely worth the effort. A team may (and should) consist of different people with different backgrounds and experiences. This way everyone can easily contribute to the whole group by sharing thoughts and beneficial ideas. The trick for the leader here is to learn how to balance out all the diverse opinions and work approaches. Essentially, this could teach them a thing or two about flexibility and team growth.
    2. Communicating with the employees daily requires the leader to put all theoretical knowledge into practice. Teamwork is indeed a great source of various types of situations and issues that need solving and fixing. Even if an entrepreneur has mastered the management theory, only a live situation can actually showcase all this knowledge in practice. That’s why it’s often said that a good leader is someone who manages to keep their team happy and content with the work they do. Without the team, the feedback and the plethora of situations a workday presents, we, as entrepreneurs, could never really improve our theoretical knowledge and check whether it’s suitable for actual situations.
    3. There’s a close connection between the leader trusting their team and trusting themselves as well. We all know that trust is essential when it comes to establishing great professional relationships. If a leader fails to trust their team, then delegating work may soon result in interpersonal issues and arguments. Since building trust is mutual, whenever a leader allows themselves to let go of control and trust their team members, they also showcase trust in themselves. Why? Simply because the team’s success proves the leader’s fair judgment. Whenever an entrepreneur sees how well they’ve managed to distribute work, they ultimately begin trusting their skills as well.
    4. Since the team often consists of professionals, there’s a high chance the leader can oftentimes take the role of a student. There’s beauty in not knowing everything all the time. This way, any person can allow themselves to submerge in other people’s knowledge and expertise. Coming from a place of respect and trust, entrepreneurs can learn a lot of skills from their employees that later could be used in their own experiences. We all are teachers and students at the same time — the fact that someone is a team leader doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve got nothing to learn from the members of that same team.
    5. While money is important, being happy with what you do is more important. Nowadays, a great majority of employees worldwide tend to choose satisfaction and happiness over big paychecks, especially if the latter is at the expense of the first. Through this constant chase after work fulfillment, entrepreneurs and leaders could indeed stop for a second and remember what truly makes their engine run. Essentially, this is the core of truly successful businesses.

    Related: How Becoming a Lifelong Learner Is a Must If You Want to Achieve and Maintain Success

    Being part of a team, regardless of the role, is an incredible opportunity for everyone to learn so much and further elevate their professional expertise and personal development.

    Entrepreneurs and leaders worldwide can indeed benefit quite a lot if they listen and pay attention to their teams. Through this enriching experience, they can gather additional information and knowledge on all things worthy and self-improving. It would be for the better if they play the role of a student from time to time since this position allows them to truly open the door toward successful leadership and business ownership.

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    Ivan Popov

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  • Is Remote Work the Future? It’s Time For The Agile Workplace.

    Is Remote Work the Future? It’s Time For The Agile Workplace.

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As the pandemic subsides, many executives and employees are transitioning to the new normal. Companies that transitioned to a remote environment are now opening their offices again and trying to determine how they will operate. Some businesses, like Airbnb, Salesforce, Meta and Google, have stated they will allow people to remain remote if they choose to, as employers believe it improves their chances at retention and employees have proven they can get the work done.

    Others, like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Netflix, are pushing to have all employees back in the office five days a week in the belief that there is no substitute for in-office collaboration and interactions. Other companies are trying to land in the middle. Adobe, Apple, and Citi use a hybrid approach in which employees are generally expected in the office 2-3 days a week.

    Several factors suggest the winning strategy won’t be forcing one approach but adapting to the needs and desires of the workforce. A more agile strategy toward workplace design, culture and operating models will be required to succeed. To understand why, consider the business realities and opportunities behind a more agile approach.

    Related: Remote Work Is Here to Stay. It’s Time to Update the Way You Lead.

    Why an agile strategy will win

    Gallup published a study of more than 8,000 remote-capable workers to learn what they prefer, what they see as the future and what they plan to do if their company changes directions.

    Fifty-six percent said their job can be done entirely remotely today, and only 20% said they believe fully on-site will remain a valid strategy, down from 60% in 2019. Only 6% said they want to work entirely on-site. That means 94% of employees surveyed want a more flexible strategy. With more than 70 million workers in the U.S. estimated to be in remote-capable roles, that’s a significant number looking for a more flexible strategy.

    After two years of the “great work experiment,” in which vast portions of the workforce were forced to work from home, we have a lot of information and data. Here’s what we’ve learned:

    • Workers are more productive at home: a Stanford University study found that working from home full-time was equivalent to adding a full day of productivity per week.
    • Workers are more likely to stay at their employer: the same study indicated turnover decreased by 50% as employees felt more loyal and refreshed because they could be more comfortable at home and spend more time with friends and family.
    • It limits wage inflation: a July 2022 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed those organizations that expanded work-from-home and remote work opportunities moderated wage inflation by 1% of wages over 12 months on average. The annual Survey of Business Uncertainty found that 55.4% of companies have been able to “restrain wage growth” by employing a flexible work strategy.
    • It allows companies to tap into a more global, more diverse workplace: remote teams give employers access to worldwide talent and potentially be “open” to the public around the clock ― the “follow the sun” model, in which work continues in various regions night and day. Groups that have traditionally “fallen” out of the workforce, like women who have kids, can work from home part-time or full-time more easily.
    • Employers save money on rent and other facilities costs. A study by Global Workplace Analytics estimates facilities savings could equal $10,000 per year per employee.

    So what does an agile work strategy mean and look like?

    An agile workplace strategy means an organization is not wedded to traditional 20th-century operating models or organizational structures and is willing and able to adapt flexibly to meet the needs and preferences of its talent. The new models include:

    • Fully Distributed Organizations: rather than trying to employ all technology workers in traditional markets (Silicon Valley, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc.), companies will establish hubs all over the world. Top talent can be obtained and retained in lower-cost markets like Eastern Europe, India or Southeast Asia, or even small non-traditional cities in the U.S. like Boise, Idaho.
    • Full Remote Organizations: these organizations have removed the requirement to be in an office entirely for nearly every role and now employ a global “work where you are” strategy. Companies like GitLab, with 1,500 employees in more than 65 countries, have gone even further — they have no company-owned offices at all. Dropbox is “virtual first” now and retains 16 studios worldwide, but employees aren’t required to come in or be near a location.

    How do you make this work strategy work? Four quick tips:

    • Change your organization’s operating model and structure to allow this environment. For example, Google provides “distributed work playbooks” for leaders, managers, employees and buddies (to help new hires) to help drive how to make the environment work for everyone.
    • Set clear expectations: practical goal setting, feedback processes, and regular and effective check-ins and 1:1s between managers and employees to ensure things don’t fall through the cracks with a remote, global or hybrid workplace.
    • Gather the right tools: effective project management software like Asana, shared document approaches like Google Docs/Sheets/Slides, shared drives like One Drive, and effective real-time collaboration tools like Slack and Zoom for working seamlessly in a (usually) single-sign-on environment.
    • Make it an organizational imperative to forge connections, bonds and friendships at work: in an Agile work environment, people will need to find ways to connect as informal in-person mechanisms will be more limited.

    Related: 4 Things for Employers to Consider About the Future of Work

    Conclusion

    How to deploy an agile work strategy is complex, nuanced and challenging, but it will be required to win in the future. The organizations that begin the journey now will be more ready to survive the challenges ahead and capitalize on the opportunities the future will provide.

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    Jesse Meschuk

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