Advance Your Career by Playing to Your Strengths at Work
What are your strengths and weaknesses? If the last time you considered this question was during a job interview, you're probably past due for a little self-reflection. And while it's important to acknowledge where you have room for improvement, it's actually best not to spend too much time and energy working on your weaknesses. Instead, focus on doing more of what you're already great at. After all, if your writing skills are a 1 out of 10, even months of work might only get you to a 4 or 5. So devote that time to pinpointing areas where you excel and finding ways to make your true talents shine. When the work you do draws on your natural abilities, it's less arduous. It makes work more interesting and engaging, elevating your performance and attracting the kind of positive attention that’s key for advancing your career. But true introspection is not easy, and identifying your personal strengths in a meaningful way can be a challenge. 5 Ways to Identify Your Personal Strengths Some people are good at asking the big-picture questions: what problem are we trying to solve and why? What are our company goals? These visionary thinkers are able to create an inspiring, positive picture of the future and rally others around it. Others excel at analyzing facts and figures and determining what needs to be done when, boiling down big-picture thinking into clear, specific goals. Still others are good at using proven techniques and tools to make processes more effective and efficient. To identify your core strengths, ask yourself the following questions: Which activities are the most satisfying or fulfilling for you? What energizes you at work? What tasks do your colleagues come to you for help with? What types of work do you get the most praise for? When you look up from your work to find that two hours have flown by, what kind of projects are you working on? What kinds of skills or abilities are you using when you feel most "in the zone?" What kinds of activities do you do when you’re not at work? What types of hobbies or volunteer work do you do? Organizing events? Building relationships? For an even deeper understanding of your strengths, ask colleagues, mentors, friends, and family for feedback. Ask them about times when you made an important contribution or helped them in a meaningful way, then look for patterns or themes. Do you stay calm under pressure? Are you reliable? Show enthusiasm and curiosity? Persevere when times get tough? You might be pleasantly surprised at how many strengths your peers recognize and appreciate in you! How to Apply Your Strengths to Your Daily Work Now that you've identified them, how can you structure your work to play to your strengths? Every position has certain constraints, and not every aspect of your job will be a natural complement to the type of work you excel at. But that doesn't mean you can't tailor your projects and teamwork to play up your advantages and those of your colleagues — and draw positive attention to your efforts and accomplishments. Even small changes can make a big impact, like shifting your schedule or adjusting how many meetings you hold. For instance, if you find that your strengths include both relationship building and creative problem solving, ask your team to share their biggest roadblocks and brainstorm ways to improve products and processes. In some instances, no amount of fine-tuning or rescheduling will make your job a fit for your natural strengths and abilities. If you find that's the case for you, it may be time to reevaluate whether your current position is truly a good fit for your career goals and personal happiness — and arming yourself with a deeper understanding of the types of situations in which you excel is a critical first step in finding a new position or career path that you can thrive in. Knowing your own strengths and that of others on your team makes it easier to find that collaboration sweet spot where everyone is able to play to their strengths, and not get bogged down by motivation-draining tasks where they can’t add value. So stop dwelling on your weaknesses, and start making your strengths even stronger. For more ways to up your game at work, check out these articles on simple ways to develop your leadership skills and bring more positivity to your work. Sources: HBR.org, Forbes.com, Medium.com
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Moving Beyond PTO & WFH: 5 Companies With the Best Work-Life Balance
As millions of office workers around the world juggled their home and working lives in the same space last year, one thing became clear — work-life balance is arguably more important than it ever has been. According to Bloomberg, we are working an average of three hours extra a day. And the companies who do not prioritize work-life balance for their employees are likely to lose out and fall victim to the ‘Great Resignation.’ In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, some four million Americans quit their job in July 2021. The Harvard Business Review found this is most likely to impact 30-45-year-olds who work in health and tech and attributes a lot of it to high burnout associated with increased workloads. So, who are the companies with the best work-life balance and what can we learn from them about recruiting and retaining the best talent? And what lessons may work best at our own organizations? Read on to find out how companies with good work-life balance are coming out on top, post-pandemic and what that may mean for the future of how we work. 1. Capital One’s holistic approach to wellbeing Named in The Washington Post’s Top WorkPlaces of 2021 list, this financial giant employs 40,000 people and takes the approach that our financial, physical, and emotional wellbeing are closely linked. To maintain this, the group offers on-campus healthcare centers and access to affordable mental health care for their families. Capital One also encourages staff to get involved in community mentoring programs and increased paid time off for parents and caregivers during the pandemic. The company also encourages their staff to discuss important societal issues (such as the killing of George Floyd) with dedicated town halls and has pledged $200 million to support Black and Latinx small businesses. 2. Better.com’s emphasis on family support Topping Fortune’s 2021 Best Workplaces in New York™ list, mortgage company Better.com had big plans for an on-site daycare ahead of the pandemic. To support parents working from home last year, they launched a virtual day camp called Better Birds to give their staff parents a much-needed break. As Alex D’Amico, senior director of talent strategy, told Fortune.com, it’s all about listening to your staff’s needs and reacting to them: “We always speak about being first-to-market and being nimble in the delivery of our product to our customer. And I think from an HR side, from the people team, we want to meet that model for our employees.” Photo: Alexander Dummer via Unsplash 3. Sisense’s long weekends every quarter For employees at data analytics software company Sisense (another one that made it onto Fortune’s 2021 Best Workplaces in New York™ list), work-life balance is helped immensely by ‘Coming Up For Air’ days. A unique perk, Sisense gives every staff member in the company the first Friday following the end of the quarter off. Nurit Shiber, chief people officer at Sisense told Fortune: “The intention was to allow us to recharge after each quarter by spending more time with our loved ones, participating in a fun activity, or by just taking a break and getting ready for the next quarter.” To really commit, the company bans emails and phone calls during this time. Each employee has two self-care days every quarter to rest up. 4. Forster Communications’ rewarding healthy commutes Trying to change the culture of PR, an industry not known for work-life balance, Forster Communications not only developed a toolkit to help others in the sphere, they practice what they preach. Developed with Public Health England, the toolkit is free to download for employers in the UK and provides insights into physical activity, healthy eating, mental health, sleep, and recovery. To help encourage time out from the office, staff at the company who walk or cycle to the office are rewarded with extra PTO days and can gain money back from every mile they actively commute to meetings. 5. Expedia’s travel allowance for loyalty Once called “The Happiest Workplace in the UK” by Business Insider, travel company Expedia rewards staff who stay at the company for at least 12-18 months with a travel allowance of between £6,000 (around $8,176) and £10,000 (around $13,626). The company also encourages staff to pursue activities of their choice with a wellness allowance of between £400 and £1,200 ($545 - $1635). Staff can spend these on items such as running shoes, tennis rackets, or gym memberships to help them switch off from work. Whether you would benefit most from a healthier commute, an on-site daycare, an amazing free holiday, access to Nike’s 286-acre sports center, or Netflix’s full year of parental leave, companies with the best work-life balance are changing the landscape. They are showing us that there are more ways to reward employees than just salary or seniority and that now is an important time for companies to really listen and provide for their staff’s work-life balance needs.
The 5 Ws of Virtual Communication
You're running a virtual team, and you probably already have a well-stocked arsenal of tools to help you do it. You have the project management tool. The collaboration tool. The communication tool. (Maybe all in one?) But now you're stuck: Now that I have all these tools, what's the best way to actually TALK to my team? Philosophers and researchers have been watching their fellow human beings and releasing volumes of communication tips since before you or I were born. But as our workforce becomes increasingly virtual, there is a need to focus on virtual communication tips. We're breaking down the 5 Ws of virtual communication so you can make sure your message is crystal clear when you're talking through a screen. Consider WHO you're talking to. With virtual communication, it's likely that at some point you will send a message to someone that speaks a different first language from yourself. In that case, you need to modify your language to accommodate a potentially less advanced vocabulary. Yes, they could Google the words you use. Yes, they could probably figure out what you're saying even if they didn't understand it naturally. But why make their life more difficult when you could easily simplify your communication? It's polite behavior, and a little politeness goes a long way. Watch WHAT you're saying. How do you read this: "Okay..." versus "Okay!" I'll bet the first voice has a little hesitation, and the second is excited. In person, you'd have the benefit of body language to convey the correct message. Online, not so lucky. You need to choose your words and your punctuation wisely, because they'll alter your message. Since your reader will have the opportunity to dissect every letter, make sure you say exactly what you mean without leaving room for interpretation. Use exclamation points. Add a smiley face to the end of a sentence. Let them know if you're joking. And if you're confused or less-than-pleased with something, fine, use the ellipsis at the end of your sentence... Choose WHERE to say it. Does your office have a Communication Guidebook yet? If you communicate with your team over multiple tools, make the different use cases consistent. Use your instant messenger tool for informal chatting. Use your project management tool for all task- and project-related conversations. Use email only to communicate with people who don't have access to your project management tool. Use your online meeting tools, for, well, online meetings. By segmenting your conversation locations, you'll always know where to find information if you need to reference a conversation. Think about WHEN you deliver your message. Don't message someone at 2:00 PM to let them know you need a task done by 5:00 PM. Don't tell someone on Monday that you won't hit your Tuesday deadline. Not only is this bad communication in general, but with virtual communication you run the additional risk of the recipient not seeing your message in time. Bad planning can have an even more extreme effect with virtual communication. Also consider timing. Don't send urgent messages when you know your recipient is sound asleep, and it's probably not a great idea to leave bad news in someone's inbox to be the first thing they read after they wake up. Also, try not to hold onto anger for weeks until you boil over; since your colleagues won't have the opportunity to pick up on the nonverbal cues that would typically tell them you're upset, you need to be upfront with your feelings. Timing can be everything when delivering a message, so take it just as seriously when you're online. Decide WHY you're saying it. Does it need to be said? As they say, once it's on the internet, it's forever. Before you leave a message in a burst of anger or sarcastic frustration, make sure you'd be comfortable with someone reading your words a week, a month, or a year from now. If there is a kinder way of phrasing your words, that's probably the best route. Take your time. Next time you're talking online, consider your WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY before hitting 'Enter.' Since you don't have the face-to-face pressure of providing an instant response, take the time to revise and edit your messages so you don't stick your foot in your mouth. Related Articles:4 Tips for Virtual Team MeetingsEverything You Need to Successfully Run a Virtual Team
Leadership Blind Spot: Why a Lack of Cultural Intelligence Holds You Back
When you're at work, you probably think about your colleagues' IQ (Intelligence Quotient), or how traditionally smart they are. You might even think about their EQ (Emotional Quotient), or how well they deal with and respond to emotions when communicating. With international expansion, there arises another factor to consider — one that might possibly take priority over the other two: CQ (Cultural Quotient), or how one relates and adapts to different cultures while working. It's more than just cultural awareness, it's about embracing challenging situations and different mindsets. If your business is global and your employees don't have CQ, you're going to find yourself fumbling far more frequently than your CQ-savvy peers. New leaders need to learn to work with people of different cultures, including different backgrounds, ages, titles, and dispositions. As an individual and as a business, you need CQ to collaborate, to innovate, and to connect to our shrinking world. Book Review: Cultural Intelligence by Julia Middleton After receiving a copy of Cultural Intelligence by Julia Middleton, I read the book which brands CQ as "the competitive edge for leaders crossing borders." The book is an enlightening and informative read about CQ — what it means, everything it encompasses, and how we can develop ourselves as leaders to make sure our cultural intelligence is ever-evolving. It helps you evaluate where your CQ stands today, and what you can do to increase your own cultural intelligence. Middleton breaks down CQ into two parts: our core and our flex. Our core is made up of behaviors and beliefs that are so near and dear to us that we refuse to change them for others. Things in our flex are more adaptable when we step into an unfamiliar situation or a different culture. To increase our cultural intelligence, we must individually evaluate both parts of our personality. Both are necessary, and the trick is to find the balance between the two zones. According to Middleton, cultural intelligence is not something leaders can develop or stretch by attending a class. It's not even something we can hope to gain by reading her book and taking copious notes. Cultural intelligence must be gained by going out into the world, interacting with people outside of our comfort zones, making (sometimes uncomfortable) mistakes, and learning to welcome new possibilities and challenges. It's not about obeying our manners, it's about learning new thought processes and embracing them. I highly recommend the book for any leader who wants to take a hard look at their own cultural intelligence, and learn how to develop it further — there is always room for improvement. How to Develop Cultural Intelligence at Work Today If you want to take Middleton's lessons on cultural intelligence to work with you, here a few business-ready ways to start developing your CQ today: 1. Create a mixed network Do not surround yourself with people from the same background, same team, or same mindset. Purposely keep people in your network from all walks of life. By keeping different cultures close to you — including people of various backgrounds, ages, positions — you will find opportunities to expand your horizons. Do it today: Befriend the new gal in the office. Grab lunch with a colleague you rarely talk to. Tweet to your followers to find someone who disagrees with one of your many opinions. 2. Take the time to learn from other people Actually sit down and learn about the people around you. Every colleague has had a different experience, and therefore has a different way of perceiving and solving problems. By learning about them, you learn more about their mindset and may learn new ways to approach business. Do it today: Organize a team-building event for your group to share and learn about what makes each person unique. If colleagues claim they're just "too average/typical/boring" to teach anything, have them talk about their heritage, their culture, their home state, their family, their hobbies, or even their bucket list of dreams for the future. 3. Seek out challenging opinions Human instinct tells us to shut out competing opinions. If they're not with us, they're against us! By operating under that assumption, you're denying a valuable opportunity to grow. Actively seek out colleagues that seem to disagree with everything you say, riling you up and making you so mad that you go home and fume about work for two more hours. After you've cooled down, take each turbulent conversation as an opportunity to learn a different approach to your work. Do it today: If you have been shutting out That One Colleague that always seems to disagree with your opinions, reevaluate their responses. Go out of your way to ask the dissenter for their feedback on your current project. Challenge yourself to appreciate their opinions instead of resenting their perceived roadblock. Developing Cultural Intelligence for the Future of Work As the world gets smaller, leaders must grow. By actively educating yourself and developing your CQ, you will expand your horizons and be known as a better leader for it. Cultural Intelligence by Julia Middleton is an excellent book that walks through what it means to develop cultural intelligence, gives easy-to-follow resources for evaluating your own CQ, and ultimately leaves you feeling empowered to grow as a leader. If you are interested in continuing to learn more while you wait for your copy of the book, read this article about cultural intelligence over on the Common Purpose website (an organization founded by Julia). Have you read Cultural Intelligence or other similar books? We'd love to start a conversation about CQ and the business value of cultural intelligence in the comments. Talk to you soon. Related Articles: 5 Tips for Embracing Cross-Cultural Differences on Teams Top 10 Work Skills You'll Need in 2020 (Infographic)
How to Devise a Creative Recruitment Strategy
Creative recruitment is a fresh approach to finding talent that's changing the way we think about hiring. Creative recruitment strategies are beneficial for brands that want to appeal to better candidates and share their company culture. It’s also a great way to stand out, which is especially important considering the latest reporting from The Society for Human Resource Management, which states there are millions of open job postings and not enough interest to fill them. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to use creative recruitment strategies to attract a large pool of well-qualified candidates for any position. What is creative recruitment? Creative recruitment is a way of finding, attracting, and hiring new job candidates through unconventional means. The old model consists of writing a job description, posting it online, and interviewing the best candidates who submit. While job boards can certainly be a strong component of creative recruitment strategies, this method goes beyond that. By infusing some unexpected communication methods with elements that represent the uniqueness of your team and brand, you can quickly outshine your competitors in the eyes of top talent. The duties of a creative recruiter vary depending on your industry. Some responsibilities may include sourcing candidates for a single employer, managing candidate searches, and hiring marketing assistance. Depending on which tools you plan to utilize, there may also be some artistic aspects such as filmmaking or video game design involved. Regardless of what tasks you do, effective project management is a large component of creative recruitment. While many of us may not be used to working with formal projects, there are many activities that HR professionals can do that are considered projects. Creative recruitment is one of them. HR employees are also becoming more involved in developing strategic projects that impact the way they and the rest of the team work together. Organizing all of your processes in one place so that everyone on your team knows who is responsible for what makes it easier to manage the more complex process of creative recruitment. This is especially important if you have more than one campaign going at a time. Creative recruitment involves tailoring the campaign to the position and the personality of the team the candidate will be working with. Project management is essential for creating, tracking, and completing all of those moving parts. Why is creativity important in a recruitment process Creativity is important in the recruitment process because it helps employers reach employees even during difficult times. It’s also helpful for finding individuals who fit in well with your company culture, offer a competitive advantage over other candidates, and who have highly specialized skills. For example, the United States is experiencing a labor shortage in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. There are reports of bidding wars for entry-level positions and proposals to fill the gaps with prison labor for outrageously low and unjust wages. With the help of recruiters, employers can keep their standard processes and find workers to pay fairly. Even after this cloud has passed, recruiters will be there to navigate challenging social and economic issues through creative solutions. Examples of creative recruiting strategies Creative project management and recruitment can be done with any budget, time, or personnel limitations, Regardless of what resources you have access to. Use some of these great real-world examples as a jumping-off point for creating your own creative ways to recruit employees. 1. Share employee testimonials John Deere displays a variety of employee stories on their website (like this one about two John Deere retirees), including those of service technicians. They also have a video that shows how they support military veterans. These employee testimonials show how military veterans have been supported and nurtured by the organization that they work for. They also share how they were able to get the support they needed at John Deere, despite coming from different backgrounds. 2. Advertise in the newspaper This can mean anything from a traditional ad to an out-of-the-box one. During World War II, codebreaking institute Bletchley Park conducted a recruiting campaign where they put a Turing test crossword puzzle in the Telegraph. Because they had to keep their process a secret for national security purposes, they also put out a call asking for individuals to solve the puzzle in 12 minutes or less. If readers were able to complete the puzzle in that time frame, they were then instructed to mail it to a secret Bletchley mailbox. Candidates were then chosen from this pool of submissions and confidentially invited for an interview. 3. Create a notification list Instead of waiting for a role to open up, allow fans of your company to sign up for a newsletter that notifies them when a new job is added. Zappos attracts candidates by allowing them to sign up as a 'Zappos Insider.’ This is a great way to get in touch with the company and learn about open roles and company culture all in one place. 4. Connect on Reddit In 2013, Google used Reddit to discuss the company's employment policies. The I Am A Google employee AMAA thread attracted over 1,300 responses and had a 90% upvote. Reddit’s Ask Me Anything format is a great way for companies to connect with thousands of candidates in a simple, scalable manner. 5. Host virtual career days Amazon's virtual career day in 2020 was a way for the company to show off the thousands of open positions across the country. Their digital event brought together over 1,000 recruiters for 20,000 1:1 coaching sessions and 33,000 job opportunities. The event featured workshops for various industries, including sales, marketing, and technology. Another benefit of virtual recruiting is that it allows the participants to access the event's content in an on-demand format afterward. Creative recruitment ideas to attract top talent 1. Incorporate video Video is becoming one of the most important mediums we have for building business relationships. For example, Zoom saw over 350 million daily meeting participants by the end of 2020. Even social media giant Instagram is switching from photo-sharing to video-sharing. Here are some ways to use video in your creative recruitment strategies: Ask candidates to include an unedited 10 to 30-second introduction video instead of a cover letter. Invite Tik-Tok users to share their pitches and choose from the ones that have the most likes. Feature accomplished team members giving Ted Talk-like speeches. Use Virtual Reality 360 video to give tours of physical office spaces. 2. Choose unconventional platforms Many recruitment teams will post their job ads on places like Monster.com and Facebook. But have you considered digging deeper into other popular internet hangouts that don’t normally see these types of posts? You can create a positional Q&A podcast on Anchor, start a branded recruitment room on Clubhouse for group interviews, or even use paid advertising on local dating sites such as Hinge or Bumble to find the perfect match (all puns intended). 3. Play video games The US Army uses existing video games to recruit new soldiers. But your team can create their own with the help of an independent studio or by DIYing one with a drag-and-drop video game tool like BuildBox. Focus on making the game fun to play, representative of your workplace culture, and a soft test of key job skills. 4. Offer free coaching Candidates are looking for more than just a job. They are interested in crafting a lifelong career. By offering free coaching, you are showing candidates that you mean it when you say your advertised opportunities will help them grow. There are multiple angles you can take with free coaching. For example, the HR team can host a resume review workshop and give live feedback to candidates then encourage them to apply afterward. 5. Host virtual events Yes, virtual recruitment fairs are already gaining popularity. But the creative approach would be to engage your candidates with something unexpected. For example, If you have anyone on the extended team interested in mentorship, set up a virtual speed dating scenario. Candidates can ask one or two questions in ten-minute increments with a few different experts at your company. 6. Share incredible content As part of a long-term strategy, you can develop informative content (think blogging, podcasts, eBooks, etc.) around becoming a great applicant for roles in your industry niche. Many companies publish their open-source information for anyone to use and mimic in their own organizations. Doing so fosters a sense of community and goodwill towards their brand, which is especially appealing to future employees. How to create creative recruitment strategies with Wrike Getting the right talent is the first step in any project management process. Without the right tools and expertise to manage it all, the entire hiring process can be challenging. Project tools and processes can help your team organize and track their key activities. They can also be easily accessed by the whole team so collaboration is streamlined. Wrike is an app that can help you manage the entire recruiting process from start to finish. It can also allow you to communicate all your creative recruitment projects with other employees in one platform. Here’s how: Track performance This tool can help you keep track of how your team is performing and provide insight into the team's goals and priorities. Confirm scheduling This feature allows you to identify and resolve potential conflicts between your teams’ commitments. Improve efficiency Use tools to track and manage time and tasks to get a better understanding of how productive your team is. It can also help you predict how long it will take to complete certain tasks. Automate tasksWrike simplifies the repetitive tasks of hiring and onboarding. It lets you create workflows for each step of the process, so you can focus on recruiting top talent instead of creating thousands of documents and emails. Most companies that track time manually don't receive hours logged until after the fact. This means that employees may not be able to remember their time and could end up with inaccurate records. You can also automate reminders for new hire training. By reducing the complexity of your HR processes, you can free up time for your employees and HR specialists. This gives everyone the opportunity to focus on other specialized skills while staying on top of administrative tasks. Conclusion As the world of recruitment continues to evolve, building a fresher candidate experience will become more challenging. It's important that you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and lean into what makes your brand unique in order to remain competitive in the market. That is exactly why relying on creative recruitment strategies works so well. Start your two-week free trial with Wrike today and begin your journey to revamping a more interesting and productive recruitment process.
Everything You Need to Successfully Manage a Virtual Team (Checklist)
If you've ever managed a virtual team member or an entire remote team before, you know how difficult it can be to keep everyone aligned. If you're about to manage a virtual team for the first time, there are a few major challenges you need to carefully consider before work begins: How to get your team organized without seeing them in person. How to encourage the company vision without holding a face-to-face conversation. How to ensure team members work diligently without sitting in the same office. How to keep a good project pace without constant communication. We've created a remote work policy checklist of the processes, tools, and mindsets you'll need to create solutions for those challenges and keep your virtual team on point. Check out the infographic below to get a visual on the checklist, and download and print our handy accompaniment: the Virtual Team Management Guide PDF. Go through it with your boss and colleagues at work. If you'd like to put this infographic on your own site, feel free to use this embed code for easy sharing: Infographic brought to you by Wrike Find this infographic a useful resource for your team? You can also download this easy-to-follow guide to make sure all of your pieces are in place. Download the Virtual Team Management Guide now. Virtual teamwork is hard work! Running a virtual team often takes more work than running a co-located team, but it isn't impossible. If you can check off every item on this list, your virtual team is well on its way to success. Share this infographic and PDF with your peers to turn your entire company into a hive of productive virtual workers.
5 Ways to Bring Mindfulness to the PMO
Even though technology has advanced, the workforce is still largely human. When was the last time you took a break and rested in your project management office? Read our list of five common situations and ways to practice mindfulness in your workplace.
How to Increase Business Velocity in 3 Easy Steps
Business velocity can make or break any business — and it's especially important for startups that are struggling to bring a product to market before anyone else beats them to it. Thus it becomes of paramount importance to clear roadblocks and set the stage for team productivity. Except how is this done exactly? At a 10,000-foot view, there really are only 3 steps.
How to Find Your Power as an Introvert Leader: Top Tips
Many people falsely believe that extroverted individuals are the most successful leaders. But in fact, both introverts and extroverts have equal opportunity to achieve greatness in the workplace. An introvert leader can guide, mentor, make important decisions, and network just as well as an extrovert leader. Even though their style is different, introverted leaders have valuable gifts they can harness to improve their work and the lives of those they manage. In this article, we’ll explain exactly why you should nurture introverts into leadership roles and how to make the most of your own introverted personality with a few practical tips. Keep reading to discover the myths, qualities, and fame many introvert leaders experience. Why introvert leaders are a benefit to businesses The idea that extroverted individuals are better leaders than those with introverted traits is influenced by the number of people in leadership positions who are naturally extroverted. According to a collection of studies analyzed by Positive Psychology, the majority of people around the world identify themselves as either somewhere in the middle of the two extremes or almost evenly split between them. Despite this, people still largely believe that the majority of people are extroverted, especially if they hold a position of power. This may be because, as humans, we tend to think that whoever is more outspoken is more confident. Confident people are the most inspiring, therefore we assume whoever talks the loudest is the best possible leader. But introvert leaders, regardless of their confidence levels, are living proof that the opposite is also true. Even the quietest person in the room has the ability to be a powerful leader, if given the chance. Although contrary to popular belief, personality tests do not measure the differences between introverted and extroverted individuals. Instead, they look at the continuum of behaviors. Both sets of opposing behaviors, including outspoken vs. soft spoken, can be used to effectively lead people. It all comes down to what leaders do and how they do it. As we all know, there’s more than one way to manage a team. And you may find that an extrovert’s approach is less effective than an introvert’s when it comes to a particular group of people or the type of work you’re doing together. Introverted leadership qualities Here is how introverted leaders work their magic. If you have more than five of the following characteristics, you may display introverted leadership qualities regardless of how you personally identify. Here’s what to look for in yourself or other introverts: Thoughtfulness in words and actions Thinking deeply about fewer ideas or projects Remaining calm in high-pressure situations Interest in productive processes over quick end results Prefers quality connections over fewer shallow ones Easily maintains focus in the long term Detail-oriented when solving problems Myths we need to dispel about introverted leaders There are many rumors about introverts and their leadership abilities. These may seem harmless at first, but learning about the introverted leadership style will provide guidance for everyone from directors to managers who want to help employees reach their full potential companywide. Here are some biases worth rethinking: Myth #1: Faster is good Extroverts thrive on sharing their thoughts as soon as they have them. This is especially true in group sightings where they can jump from topic to topic. Introverts, on the other hand, like to take their time. They often speak slowly and think through things before sharing with the group. This adds a level of diplomacy to their actions which is especially beneficial when it comes to dealing with sensitive subject matters. Myth #2: Louder is better Extroverts are known for being enthusiastic. They're often seen as the life of the party or the conference room. Introverts, however, often get labeled as sticks in the mud. But don't be fooled by their quiet disposition. A quiet confidence is more valuable in professional settings where strategic action is valued. When it comes to speaking in a group setting, introverts often demonstrate quality over quantity. Myth #3: Expressive is best Extroverts are confident in themselves and their achievements so you often hear them excitedly sharing them. While there are many benefits to loud and proud leaders, sometimes humility is a more effective strategy (as long as it doesn’t lead to persistent imposter syndrome). This is especially important to consider when collaborating with clients and partners who have cultural backgrounds that are different from your own. For example, many European countries view stereotypical extroverted Americans as less agreeable than an introvert’s calmer, low profile approach. Famous introverts that made great leaders People often illustrate introverts as reserved and quiet, socially awkward, solitary and soft-spoken. These qualities may make it seem that introverts lack the confidence and social skills that leaders, pioneers, and change makers possess. But you may be surprised to learn that 40% of leaders and executives identify themselves as introverts: Bill Gates Warren Buffett Marissa Meyer Mark Zuckerberg Guy Kawasaki Barack Obama These are only a few of the famous leaders and innovators who consider themselves introverts but you’ll find at least one major influencer in every industry, specialty, and leadership role who openly identifies as one. Their success proves that transformational leadership is not monopolized by those with an outgoing, socially-affable, and highly-confident temperament. In fact, despite an extroverted environment, introverts can successfully take the reins in any organization. Tips for leadership as an introvert As Westcliff researcher Ekta Agarwal writes in their study of introvert leaders: “The goal is not to change introverted leaders, instead it is to understand their preferences and use it as a strength.” And while Psychology Today says it’s “not necessarily fake or inauthentic for introverts to act the part of extroverts”, understanding what makes an introverted leader unique is the first step to helping them achieve truly authentic leadership. Here are six tips that introverts and people who manage them can leverage to harness their innate management and leadership skills: Listen first, talk later Introverts tend to shy away from small talk because it drains their energy. Typically, they prefer to stay on the sidelines and listen first, and weigh in with their own viewpoint later (or when asked). A study managed by Francesca Gino, associate professor at Harvard Business School, shows that introverted bosses with active teams can be extremely successful, because they patiently listen to what their team members have to say. This trait allows introverts to be especially effective leaders, since successful collaboration requires effective communication. Introverts tend to evaluate the full picture of a situation, carefully prepare what they are going to say, and add comments and instructions that are well thought out and clearly communicated. Step up during times of crisis An introvert is capable of creating fully formed ideas and solutions that are rooted in his or her own inner power as much as, or sometimes more than, an extrovert. This person may seem unproductive until they come up with a solution that everyone else missed. Then, their contribution is often valued highly since it is typically well thought out and detailed. By listening more than they speak, introverts are able to digest more information before making a proper analysis of the situation. Combine this with introverts’ ability to listen intently to their colleagues and weigh different perspectives, and they can be a valuable voice of reason in times of crisis. Get out of your comfort zone Because of their low social energy, networking can be difficult for introverts. But because it is key to opening up important business opportunities, it requires introverts to step outside of their comfort zone a bit. Introverts actually can use their natural sincerity to lessen their anxiety and better engage others in conversation, making meaningful connections. Use your writing skills Introverts prefer to communicate in writing because it allows them to organize their ideas as they pen their thoughts. Author John Green jokes, “Writing is something you do alone. It’s a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don’t want to make eye contact while doing it.” But in all seriousness, introverts make the best writers and can use this skill to their advantage when leading groups. Take time to recharge Given the limited social energy that introverts have, engaging in too many group activities and events drains them. Once their social energy is used up, introverts tend to withdraw from their surroundings in search of rejuvenation. Taking some time to work individually is essential to keeping efficiency and productivity high. It’s also key to preventing burnout. As an introvert, set aside time during your day to get back into your contemplative zone and re-energize. You can actually use this time to come up with new strategies and ideas, and surprise your company with the surge in enthusiasm and passion at work. Use collaboration and communication apps Going digital can be especially advantageous for introverts, since they can preserve their social energy for in-person meetings with important clients and business partners, while staying connected with their team. Instant messaging, collaboration, and work management apps like Wrike can bring enhanced communication, transparency, and accountability to the workplace. Successful managers, executives, and leaders are not defined by their personalities. They are defined more by how they handle critical situations, guide their team to achieve their goals, and inspire those around them, while being true to themselves.
Product Development Tips from the Wright Brothers (Video)
Roll out the red carpet! Pop the popcorn! Dim the lights! We’re premiering the first in a series of videos on Lean methodology, featuring your very own productivity coach, Errette Dunn. This first video applies Lean principles to the product development process, taking examples from the history of flight and the Wright brothers’ amazing success. You’ll learn: how to shake up your process for better results the most important first step for every stage to watch for costly assumptions that could trip you up Make your product development process more efficient, the Wright way. Hit ‘play’ now! Like this video? Share it with your friends and colleagues! The second installment of our video series is coming soon, so keep checking the Wrike blog — or better yet, subscribe to our YouTube channel! Related Articles: 5 Lessons in Lean Product Development from the Wright Brothers (Infographic) Startups Should Lean on Lean Project Management
How to Inspire Disengaged Employees and Manage Detachment
You have a rockstar employee on your team. They always go the extra mile, wrap up projects before the assigned due date, volunteer for new work, and always lend a helping hand. Suddenly, you start to notice that employee pulling back. They stop going above and beyond and barely meet minimum requirements, start missing deadlines, and act bothered every time you interact with them. Why the change? You might have a disengaged employee on your hands. Don’t panic yet. With a solid understanding of disengaged employees, how to identify them, what they cost your business, and how to help get them back on track, you’ll have your top-notch employee back in the groove in no time. What is a disengaged employee? Employees can exhibit levels of disengagement in various ways. But generally speaking, a disengaged employee isn’t enjoying their work, is unlikely to go the extra mile on any project or task, and may actively dislike the company they are working for. Even worse? Disengaged employees are sometimes known to spread negativity amongst other employees — meaning it’s important to nip disengagement and detachment in the bud. How to identify a disengaged employee The first step in addressing the problem is identifying disengagement by spotting the warning signs. Keep an eye out for these red flags and common characteristics of a disengaged employee: Employees withdraw or act disinterested. Disengaged employees may not become disengaged overnight. This change might happen slowly over time, and it starts with signs of withdrawal and general disinterest. Say you have an employee who always used to raise their hand and dive into new projects, but lately, they seem less likely to volunteer or avoid new work altogether. This is a common sign of someone who is becoming disengaged. Employees frequently become absent without prior planning or reasoning. Absenteeism is a red flag when it comes to a detached employee. If you notice that an employee stops coming to work suddenly or starts using multiple sick days back to back, your employee is potentially displaying signs of disengagement (although, of course, remember that they could actually be ill too). Employees miss deadlines and don’t seem to care. Disengaged employees likely aren’t striving for maximum quality and may not care if they aren’t fulfilling expectations. These employees might be doing just enough to keep their jobs or continuously ask for extensions on projects because they aren’t making any progress. If an employee’s productivity is declining, it can signal low engagement. Employees show a negative change in attitude. We all have bad days, but if an employee repeatedly acts out through rudeness, cynicism, or other negative feelings, this change in attitude might signal a larger problem. No matter the cause of the attitude shift, it’s essential to get ahead of this type of behavior before it impacts your other employees, or even worse, your clients and customers. Employees start defying the rules. Resistance to feedback and suggestions and refusing work when it’s assigned can be a sign of disengagement. Defiance could be an employee’s way of trying to feel heard or expressing their anger or boredom resulting from feeling disengaged. Sure, there could be other issues at hand like company-wide changes, for example, but constant defiance is a behavior that you should keep an eye on. How can employee disengagement impact a business? So, how costly is having disengaged employees? Disengaged employees leave their marks on businesses and can cause more of a ripple effect than you might realize. According to a Gallup report, companies with higher employee engagement see better customer engagement, higher productivity, better retention, and higher profitability by 21%. If that’s not convincing enough, another study revealed that disengaged employees in the U.S. cost companies anywhere between $450 and $550 billion per year. And when we look at turnover, a Korn Ferry study revealed that 33% of respondents cited boredom as their top reason for looking for a new job. So, when disengagement is severe enough, businesses have to deal not only with the cost of losing employees, but having to train new hires to replace them as well. How to help and manage detached employees Needless to say, employee disengagement has a big impact on businesses, from cost to culture and everything in between. With an employee engagement strategy and thoughtful plans for managing disengaged employees, you can help your detached employees and your business before it’s too late. Let’s take a look at tips for managing detached employees. 1. Communicate more frequently with detached employees Communication is crucial for creating a high-engagement culture. A disengaged employee may start communicating less with their teammates and manager, but increasing communication is a must to help them get back on track. Using a centralized tool like Wrike can ensure that your teams communicate and connect frequently. Keep in mind that communication is a two-way street, which means if your employee has feedback to share with you, it’s essential to hear them out and make a note of areas of improvement on your side. 2. Identify motivators and create a professional growth plan An employee might be tasked with work that isn’t motivating or exciting, leading to disengagement. Knowing how to motivate a disengaged employee can help you get them back on track. Spend some time with your employee, identify natural talents and hidden motivators, and see if you can squeeze in new work that aligns better for them. Maybe your employee is in a role that isn’t a good fit any longer, but there might be another role better suited for them within the organization. In this instance, you should follow the same process of identifying key motivators and where that type of work might appear within your organization. If a transition plan is needed, consider developing a professional growth plan together. Put that plan into a project management tool like Wrike to keep track of progress and hold each other accountable for the transition’s agreed-upon timeline. 3. Reward positive behavior and improvement Communicating with your detached employee and identifying an actionable path forward together provides the opportunity to see positive behavior change. That change shouldn’t go unnoticed. When you see a shift in behavior and your employee starts to become more engaged, pause and take time to reward the improvement you’re seeing. Consider asking your employees how they prefer to be recognized for their achievements in advance (such as when you onboard them), so you can recognize them in a way that’s meaningful to them. 4. Regularly conduct employee engagement surveys Employee engagement surveys are a useful tool to help you get ahead of disengaged employees by giving them an opportunity to share feedback and voice their concerns. Conduct surveys of your workforce at least annually to gather feedback and address areas of improvement on the business side. Be mindful of any concerns that multiple employees raise. When possible, follow up with employees who seem disengaged or frustrated through their survey results to get ahead of more severe levels of disengagement down the road. Disengagement doesn’t have to be an inevitability When you notice an employee is becoming more detached and disengaged, that isn’t the point of no return — instead, it’s the time when you need to step in and right the ship. Getting disengaged employees back on track isn’t easy, but it’s almost always more than worth the effort. Give all of your employees the transparency and visibility they need to succeed. Get started with Wrike today.
5 Digital Transformation Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Digital transformation has been happening since the personal computer was invented and was turbocharged when the internet came along, as people were able to communicate instantly across the globe. The “cloud” was the next big revelation, as teams worldwide could access their data securely no matter where they operated. Fast forward to 2020, and the pandemic forced many organizations to shift how they worked together overnight as digital transformation came to the forefront once again. McKinsey notes that responses to the pandemic have sped up the adoption of digital technologies by several years and that many of these changes could endure long into the future. After all, Zoom is now a household name thanks to millions of companies transitioning to remote work and embracing virtual collaboration. The workplace will continue to evolve as organizations look to work smarter and be more efficient. But what is digital transformation? What should organizations be aware of as they continue to move towards the future of work? And how can you overcome the biggest digital transformation challenges to reach success in this new environment? What is digital transformation? Digital transformation is different at every organization. It involves having an open mindset to establish new paradigms with how teams work internally with each other and externally with customers. It’s about leveraging modern technology to inform how a business is run and encompasses everything from improving business processes, to revamping your internal culture, and enhancing customer interactions. With the massive shift to digital, the increase of emerging tech has led many companies to experience digital fatigue as they adopt more apps and software to “always be on” while working remotely. It’s not just about adopting technology, though. It’s also about having a forward-thinking growth mindset. On the corporate side, being able to innovate faster and keep up with the times are at the top of the priority list of why organizations embrace digital transformation. There are many reasons why you might consider investing in technology, but successfully implementing it often comes with the following digital transformation challenges. Five common digital transformation challenges Establishing executive buy-in Getting executive buy-in is often the biggest hurdle because they may have established workflows or invested in tech that were once effective but are now outdated. The pandemic may have changed all that. At the beginning of 2020, 67% of U.S. CEOs expressed concerns about migrating all of their business to the cloud. At present, most companies have had no choice but to embrace digital technologies. That initial hesitation quickly switched to necessity — so much so that 70% of CEOs say that the creation of new digital business models and revenue streams has been accelerated by months or years due to the pandemic. Hard to argue with results like that. To keep up with the times, not giving new technology or processes a chance can be even riskier than doing nothing. Dealing with employee pushback On the flip side, your executive management team may be now challenging the status quo they established when the company was founded and going all-in on digital transformation. Just because the C-level may be convinced that disrupting business processes and investing in newer digital tools is the new way to go, doesn’t mean everyone in the organization has bought in. So, if getting executive buy-in is priority one — since they approve the budget — then getting departmental buy-in from team leaders and their employees is priority one-A. They’re likely the ones using these tools on a daily basis so they need to buy-in more than anyone. With any new tech on the job, your team might be uncomfortable using it at first. That’s normal because they’re accustomed to familiar processes and by introducing anything new, that familiarity is disrupted. “That’s the way we’ve always done it” can’t be a valid response when an organization looks to outpace its competition and scale. Just make sure the reasons for embracing digital transformation are for the long term. Remember, your digital transformation journey doesn’t belong to one individual or department. Keep employees engaged during the onboarding process by encouraging them to ask questions and be involved with the deployment. Doing this can empower them and have them feel more involved in the decision making rather than being mandated to use the new tech. Furthermore, already having (or implementing) an agile strategy can help your team navigate uncertainty as you roll out new technologies or processes during the Next Normal. You’re relying on legacy tools too much Imagine if your team was limited to pen and paper; using sticky notes to communicate, desk calendars to schedule meetings, and relying on phone calls to check in on projects. It’s hard to fathom any business in 2021 being able to scale and collaborate efficiently with such primitive methods when there’s many sophisticated solutions now available. If you’re relying on legacy tools like email and spreadsheets, which are no doubt a step above handwritten notes and phone calls, these have their own set of limitations. Your inbox and spreadsheets still have a place, but modern teams need more than these foundational tools. The biggest issues are scalability and versatility. Searching your email for project updates and asset feedback is tedious and time-consuming. Questions like, “Where is the most recent version of the demo video?” and “Which one-pager do I need to give feedback and approve?” would be difficult to resolve scouring your email inbox. With spreadsheets, not only are they mind-numbing to look at, but even with advanced formulas and formatting, they lack the versatility of cloud tools. And you can forget about saving files to spreadsheets or setting project reminders because that’s nonexistent with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Features like online visual asset proofing provide widespread visibility into time-sensitive feedback along with automatic user notifications, which speed up approval times. Collaborating is easier than ever today because everything lives in the cloud. When you manage your work in a collaborative work management (CWM) solution like Wrike, it’s a master system of record that stores all your comments and file updates, automates approvals, tracks your team’s hourly rates, and a whole lot more. Plus, with built-in features like the @mention and cross-tagging, you can keep everyone in the loop. It’s your paper trail that details everything happening with ongoing and future work. When an organization’s goal is to be agile and scalable, relying on legacy tools might be “familiar” but not the best business decision. Updating your tech stack would be best for the long term, even if there are short-term struggles with getting your team onboard. Overcoming budget constraints Adopting a digital transformation mindset is necessary to innovate faster and be more resilient, but your budget may be limited to move away from legacy processes into more modern tools. Building the business case for a new technology can be intimidating because it’s often seen as your “one shot” to get budget approval. When it’s time to introduce a new technology to your team, it’s easier when there are low barriers to entry, like a software free trial. As you begin building the business case, give examples of how your team missed a deadline or is constantly experiencing bottlenecks with its work and not meeting its KPIs. Then, experiment by managing a few projects in a new software and document your team’s experience. What was superior compared to the old system? Could they track project progress better? What were the bottom-line results? Analyzing the project and answering these types of questions can go a long way in getting budget approval. Wrike Free, for instance, allows unlimited users to manage their work in a centralized hub, typical of how enterprise and hypergrowth organizations manage their work. Unlimited users means nobody on your team is excluded and gets to work out of the same platform. With 200 subtasks available, it’s a fantastic entry point for organizations looking to experience the benefits of a robust CWM system. Syncing all your tech As you consider adding new tools to your tech stack, figuring out how to make them pass the relevant data back and forth can be overwhelming. Unless you have a strong IT or technological background, dealing with APIs can be confusing and too much “tech speak.” When you work in Wrike, integration is a breeze because Wrike Integrate enables you to sync more than 400+ prebuilt connectors to cloud and on-premises enterprise applications. It also lets you connect Wrike to thousands more using universal connectors to apps with accessible APIs. What’s even better, it’s a no-code system, and very intuitive for any user skill set. Don’t let digital transformation challenges overwhelm you Whether you’re looking to adopt new technologies or revamp your business processes, don’t let it overwhelm you. When you’re ready to experience how hypergrowth and enterprise organizations manage their work with a CWM, go here to start your Wrike free trial.
Understanding Self-Serving Bias in The Workplace
Making mistakes at work is normal. However, if people begin to avoid blame, self-serving bias may be creeping into your work culture. Self-serving bias is a way of thinking that makes a person see themselves in a more favorable way than they really are. In essence, it’s the reason why many people believe that the success they’ve achieved is purely down to them alone. It may sound like a minor issue but it’s a bias that has the potential to disrupt productivity at best and mean the difference between life or death at worst. In this article, we’ll provide an insight into what self-serving bias is, how it is dangerous in the workplace, and how to avoid it. We’ll also share some practical tips for managers and team leaders on how to deal with self-serving bias in the workplace before it takes over. What does self-serving bias mean? If someone demonstrates self-serving bias, it suggests that they are more likely to blame others for their failures than themselves. We often rely on this cognitive bias to protect and boost our self-esteem. But in the workplace, it can make even the most humble fail to see their own shortcomings or errors. This bias is incredibly common in our lives, and it can be overcome by practicing self-compassion. Our brains are biased when it comes to making decisions because we are primed to see the world exclusively from our perspective. These biases are caused by issues with memory and attention, and they can often be dangerous in group environments. However, they help people make sense of the world and make fast decisions, which is why it’s key for survival. But when this bias comes up in a scenario that is not life-threatening, it can affect others socially and professionally. If we work to decrease instances of self-serving bias in the workplace, managers can achieve everything from increasing overall productivity to speeding up the hiring process. Why can self-serving behavior be damaging at work? Self-serving behavior at a managerial level can be damaging to workplace culture and employee retention. Having an ethical climate at work (particularly one that keeps self-serving behavior in check) decreases the likelihood of having difficult employees. According to a study published by the Journal of Business Ethics, the relationship between self-serving leader behavior and employees’ desire for retaliation and supervisor-directed deviance is stronger when unethical actions fueled by self-serving bias and other similar issues are present. In other words, if your workplace allows managers and leaders to regularly act on their self-serving bias, your employees will notice and they won’t be happy about it. Similarly, when self-serving bias is acted upon at the employee level, the consequences are noticeable. These include everything from quitting to leaving job-related tasks unfulfilled. At the very least, a self-serving employee is unable to perform their job to their highest potential. They can also decrease morale for the rest of the team. It may seem like common sense, but when one employee sees another get away with unfair behavior, it makes them feel less motivated to align with expectations. After all, why should everyone else follow the rules if the self-serving employee is getting away with not doing so? In extreme cases, self-serving bias can quite literally be the difference between life or death, especially when it is found in the medical field. According to research by Linda Babcock and George Loewenstein, even the most well-meaning doctors are susceptible to self-serving bias. “Transplant surgeons, for example, must often decide how to allocate scarce organs between potential recipients. To maintain favorable statistics, their self-interest may not be to transplant those who would benefit most in terms of increased survival, but instead those where the probability of a successful operation is highest,” writes Babcock and Loewenstein. “Based on the research we have reviewed, it seems likely that transplant surgeons' views of who benefits most from the transplant will be distorted by their interest in ‘cream-skimming,’” they conclude. In other words, self-serving bias isn’t always meant to be selfish, even if the end result favors the decision-maker. It can often be perpetrated by the very systems we utilize in the workplace every day. Even if your firm doesn’t deal with matters as high stakes as organ transplants, you may be surprised to discover the hidden ways self-serving bias negatively affects your team’s ability to conquer workplace terrors, despite the best of intentions. Fundamental attribution error vs self-serving bias The concept of self-serving biases emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. It was discovered by Fritz Heider who was studying attribution at the time. His results proved the theory that people tend to believe things go well because of how great they are at whatever skills are needed to accomplish the task. And when things go wrong, it’s because of a negative situation or a third party. Take test grades for example. It’s not uncommon for people to blame a bad grade on a teacher but take all the credit for themselves when they earn top scores. Not sure what the difference is between self-serving bias and the concept of attribution? These two concepts have a symbiotic relationship. Think of the concept of attribution as the cause and the self-serving bias theory as the result. Here’s a side-by-side comparison: Fundamental Attribution Self-Serving Bias Not taking responsibility for negative outcomes Taking responsibility for positive outcomes Focuses on situational factors Focuses on internal factors Negatively reinforces distrust and pessimism Positively reinforces ego The root cause of self-serving bias and other related biases A type of fundamental attribution Systematic error in judgment Self-defense mechanism Examples of self-serving bias in the workplace Self-serving bias is all about taking credit for work success regardless of the situation. Here are some examples: A vendor accepting praise for the on-time delivery of materials one week but blaming shipping freight issues for other delayed packages the next. A manager evaluating their team’s performance solely based on the aspects their own supervisor will be looking out for in the manager’s own performance review. A team lead assumes responsibility for the success of a project they oversaw rather than crediting it all to their colleagues who created the product. A collaborator choosing to believe their increased productivity has more to do with their own time management skills than the new project management software they’ve adopted. A business owner failed to recognize the support of their staff who helped them win an entrepreneurial achievement award. How to avoid self-serving bias at work There are plenty of ways to avoid self-serving bias at work and create an environment where employees are encouraged to maintain a healthy sense of self-esteem while also growing their skill sets. As a leader, it’s your job to implement the self-work and workplace culture listed in these suggestions: Show gratitude When a product is successful, the best thing you can do to defeat self-serving bias is to publicly thank the people who helped make it possible. This can be something as simple as sending out a celebration message tagging the appropriate team members on your instant messaging platform. Or it can be something formal like a congratulatory dinner after a large or long-term project is complete. Whatever you do, just make sure to look around you and ask yourself whether or not you really could have done this on your own. Keep a journal Journals are a great way to keep track of your growth over time. At the end of each workday, take a moment to consider what you did well and one thing you like to improve on tomorrow. Building this habit will help you see your own work from a more subjective place. Encourage employees to do the same and hold an accountability group if people are interested in participating. If journaling turns out to be an effective tool for you, consider setting aside even more time to evaluate your skills on a big-picture level. Set intentions As a leader in the workplace, you have a responsibility to determine how you want projects to go. A great way to consciously practice this is to set intentions for your day, week, month, or for every assignment. You can set the simple intention to continually monitor your own self-serving bias throughout the day. Or you can look for ways to improve when you do encounter a stumbling block. Share your intentions with your team so that you have a shared vision you're all working toward. Systemize feedback The best way to systemize feedback is to clearly track who is responsible for what and whether or not they've achieved the goal for their portion of the project. A visual project management tool will make it easy to evaluate performance at a glance. You'll also be able to fairly provide feedback since details such as due dates and expectations will be clearly laid out. Go a step further and create a rubric for performance that is based on key performance indicators rather than opinions. Need a place to start? Why not brainstorm solutions for self-serving bias together. Identify motivations Consider whether or not your team members have an internal or external locus of control. An internal locus of control assumes that actions and outcomes are an individual's responsibility. An external locus of control assumes that actions and outcomes are the responsibilities of outside forces. Those with an internal locus of control are motivated by themes of self-improvement. But those with an external locus of control thrive when project elements that impact their work are thought out and managed well. This allows them to release the stress of monitoring those aspects and instead concentrate on their own contributions. And if things do go wrong, they’re more likely to see how their actions may have affected the outcome when all other elements are in place. Welcome feedback It's important to create an environment in which other managers, employees, and collaborators feel comfortable providing constructive criticism and feedback on everyone else’s work. If giving and receiving feedback graciously is part of your workplace culture, it will be easier to identify self-serving bias before it gets out of hand. This also means providing a safe way to communicate these ideas. Some employees may feel like they can't speak to higher-ups about ways we can make their management style more compatible with the team. But in order for the step to work, feedback must go both ways. Not only will this make employees feel more empowered, but it will also keep self-serving bias in check among management. Focus on process At the end of the day, self-serving bias is all about taking credit or putting the blame on someone else for the end product. But the truth is, the most important part of any project is the process. The process will help you determine who is responsible for what, while clearly setting expectations. That way, even if an employee is struggling with self-serving bias, they’ll be able to see for themselves what tasks they've completed and how their work will affect the rest of the project as a whole. When you have Gantt charts right in front of you, it's hard to shy away from personal responsibility. Using tools such as color-coded tasks to assign responsibilities and making timelines visible for all project members helps everyone look at their own role more subjectively. Want to limit the influence of common cognitive biases in the workplace and get more done? Use Wrike to clearly plan out responsibilities and subjectively evaluate performance using data-backed reporting. Start your two-week free trial today.
5 Ways to Keep Leadership Involved Without Slowing Your Process
Leadership is busy. When it comes time to get their input on a project, they often either lack enough previous knowledge to weigh in (without multiple hold-up questions) or take too long to complete their action step. This delays the project’s end date and can be incredibly frustrating for the team members who are involved in the project. They feel like they’re in a holding pattern and worse yet, may have to go back and make aggressive changes quickly when leadership finally weighs in.
3 Ways Collaborative Work Management Fuels Enterprise Agility
Embracing change in the current post-digital world to remain relevant and competitive has become more critical than ever. Read more to learn how collaborative work management can fuel enterprise agility and help your business stand out from the rest.
Take This Quiz: Are You A Micromanager? (Infographic)
You read all the literature on micromanagement. You avoid forcing your ideas on your colleagues and friends whenever possible. But you still worry about whether or not you are coming across in a helpful, positive light. ...Or maybe this quiz suddenly appeared in your inbox from an anonymous sender? According to a survey from the book My Way or the Highway, 71% of non-managers said micromanagement has interfered with their job performance. Whether you came to this quiz on your own or received it from a concerned friend, it's time to find out once and for all if you're being too overbearing. So, are you a micromanager? After you take the quiz, read our guest post on the top 3 reasons why micromanagement is a MACRO hindrance. (Prefer the interactive version? You can also take this micromanagement quiz on Qzzr!) What were your results? Are you a micromanager, a bit of a pushover, or someone we'd all like to work with? Don't worry — if your management style isn't where you want it to be, you can always improve. If you enjoyed our infographic, share it on your website with this embed code: Brought to you by Wrike Here are some resources you can check out to get you back on the right track: • 3 Reasons Micromanagement is a Macro Hindrance • How Neuroscience Can Make You a Better Project Manager • 4 Problems with Virtual Meetings that You Can Fix • 10 Phrases That Can Ruin Your Project Kickoff Meeting
Join Wrike CEO Andrew Filev for a Webinar on Building Virtual Teams
We're excited to announce that our CEO Andrew Filev will be the guest panelist on the upcoming webinar "How To Build Effective Virtual Teams For Startups" hosted by The Founder Institute. Andrew will share his experience from years of getting big results from virtual teams in fast growing businesses. Founder Institute CEO Adeo Ressi is hosting the webinar, which will cover topics including: How to efficiently manage virtual teams Collaboration techniques to boost productivity Common mistakes managers make with virtual teams and their remote working policy How to track progress with virtual teams How to overcome communication obstacles for virtual teams and working from home advantages and disadvantages We hope you'll join us on September 29th at 9am PST. It's a fun opportunity to hear from Andrew and ask questions. You can register here now: http://bit.ly/wfivirtualteams See you soon! Follow them on Twitter:Adeo Ressi | Andrew Filev | Founder Institute | Wrike
3 Strategies for Bringing a Distributed Team Member On Board
On our first day at a new job, we observe everything that is happening in the office and start to understand what is okay and what it is not allowed. We start building a mental map of what things are like in the office so that we can adapt faster. We notice if the receptionist is smiling or appears cranky, we look inside the meeting rooms and see if people are engaged and speaking or if they have their heads down, we look at people working at their desks and observe whether they have their feet propped up on the table or are focused on work, and we start to get to know them by what they have on their walls, desks, etc. But what happens when we join a distributed team? Nothing is visible to us, so we cannot build the mental map that typically helps us adapt to a new place and that gives us confidence to feel strong in a new environment. How can companies with distributed team members help them adapt to the virtual environment? 1. Use video ALWAYS! Start with the obvious: If your company has a physical location, substitute walking through the corridors and peeking through the glass doors of meeting rooms with a virtual tour of the office. If all of your team is remote, do all meetings with video. It is quite common for employees to object to the use of video. But when bringing a new member on board, make sure he/she uses video from the very first day. Video will help both of you in many ways: Better communication: 80% of the messages we receive come from body language. Building trust: We only trust people that we know, so video helps us gain more information about a person. Have a quick introductory meeting with the entire team, and while the new person receives training, have 1:1 meetings with the other team members. Get your message through: Intercall conducted a study showing that 65% of us do other work during conference calls without video, 55% eat or prepare food, and 47% go to the restroom! If you want people to actually pay full attention, use video. Break the geographical distance. If your team is multicultural, you are probably dealing with a variety of accents; body language will help you understand better what the others are saying. 2. Put everything in writing Document everything you say. Our attention spans are short even when we have somebody in front of us, so imagine what it is like when the other person is in a different country, being viewed through a little screen! Do not expect new team members to remember everything you say. Training somebody from a distance is not the same as training somebody in an office; you need to communicate better and more often. Provide common ground rules Your job is to guide the newcomer; the purpose is not to give him/her rules that shouldn’t be broken, but to show the person how you work, what is expected of him/her, what to expect from you and your company, and how you are currently playing. If there are rules are there to be broken in your company, say so, and at least show them how you work at the moment. During the first days, your job is to provide a solid ground where he/she can understand the new environment. Prepare a handbook with graphic documentation Avoid, at all costs, handbooks with a lot of text. Have your design team work on the handbook to make it attractive, easy to remember, and navigate. Keep visual records of meetings During meetings, use online whiteboards, and if trainings are complicated, record the trainings and have them available for people to check at any point in time. 3. Repetition is key You will need to repeat concepts and ideas more than usual because those ideas are not being reinforced in the same way that they would be if he/she was in the same office as the rest of the team. Repeat, but be creative when you do so: Create exercises for the new person to solve so you have a good excuse to repeat some ideas that were not clear. Give him/her small challenges one at a time. During your trainings, always summarize the most important points seen in the previous training. During every meeting, find a different example that explains the purpose of his/her job and why it is important. If those examples have to do with real customers or real team members, that’s even better! Daily mentoring Distance and a lack of bonding make distributed teams rust and break. If you create strong ties between team members from the very beginning, you will have done a lot. If your work methodology doesn’t include daily meetings, make sure that during the first 2 weeks the new team member meets with somebody at least once per day. The meetings should always include the following parts: Fun virtual icebreakers Questions about previous meetings and feedback about past challenges A main topic A new challenge proposal A fun, short activity to end on a high note Using solo mentors can be a good way to organize the transition of a new team member, but it can also create some unhealthy dependencies; remember that you can also have meetings that include different people so that the new team member sees all the colors of your team! Author Bio Anna Danes is the CEO of Managing Virtual Teams, where she consults for companies with global teams. Having worked and studied in different European countries, Asia, and the US, she provides a multicultural take on business. Follow her on Twitter: @virtualteams Download our free eBook If you want more advice on how to efficiently and successfully manage your remote team, download our free eBook: The Art of Staying Productive Across Distance