The Career IDEA
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The Career IDEAWhat You Need to Know to Get to the Next Level of Success!
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5 Tips for Bringing Your Pet to Work this Summer
During the summer months especially, many employers plan events and switch up work schedules to give their team members a break to enjoy some fun in the sun. Extra days off, summer hours and company picnics are just a few of the ways employers create an enjoyable environment for their employees. One of the latest benefits to come to the corporate world is incorporating a dog-friendly atmosphere. Keeping these five tips in mind when bringing your furry friend to work can help ensure a fun and safe time for all.
5 Tips for Bringing Your Pet to Work this Summer
(Family Features) During the summer months, many employers plan events and switch up work schedules to give their team members a break to enjoy some fun in the sun. Extra days off, summer hours and company picnics are just a few of the ways employers create an enjoyable environment for their employees. In a competitive talent market, employers are typically looking for new ways to provide the latest and greatest in employee benefits, eager to be the best place to work. One of the latest benefits to come to the corporate world is incorporating a dog-friendly atmosphere. In fact, a survey from Mars Petcare found that 87 percent of employers in the United States believe that being dog-friendly helps them retain and attract more talent. “Having pets in the workplace can boost morale, increase physical activity and even improve productivity,” said Cheryl DeSantis, vice president of people and organization at Mars Petcare. “Our survey findings also discovered that nearly half of pet parents are concerned their pets are lonely while they are at work, and nearly 40 percent worry their dogs need to be walked and are either hungry or thirsty while they’re home alone. Bringing their pets to work with them can drastically eliminate these concerns.” Keeping these five tips in mind when bringing your furry friend to work can help ensure a fun and safe time for all:
To learn more about how to safely bring your pup to work this summer, visit BetterCitiesForPets.com, where you can download the Pets Work at Work toolkit and find more information on the survey results. Photo courtesy of iStock SOURCE:Mars Petcare KEYWORDS
Find Your Influence Style this Year
The ability to influence those around you is a key leadership skill. To influence effectively, you must be adept at getting your opinions and ideas heard, recognized and considered by others. Use the new year as an opportunity to try a new approach, such as one of these, to achieve different results when trying to influence those in either the dining room or the boardroom.Find Your Influence Style this Year
(Family Features) The ability to influence those around you is a key leadership skill. To influence effectively, you must be adept at getting your opinions and ideas heard, recognized and considered by others. Use the new year as an opportunity to try a new approach to achieve different results when trying to influence those in either the dining room or the boardroom. According to clinical psychologist Dr. Steven Stein, CEO of Multi-Health Systems, influence styles can range from reliance on position and power to education, encouragement and collaboration. Most people rely on pushing or advocating for a position, which can create a tension between parties, Stein said. It immediately draws a line in the sand between the two sides and leaves people feeling unheard and disrespected. Last year, you may have found yourself using these influence techniques: Rationalizing, which is a fact-based approach, is using logical reasoning to convince others of your point of view. When used correctly, rationalizing moves discussion to a less emotional space. It works best when the people involved haven’t already made up their minds about a certain topic. Some people react negatively to this influence style, assuming you value your data more than their feelings. Asserting involves enforcing your dominance through your position or experience to explain why people should believe you. You ask people to comply rather than agree with you. Others can perceive this as aggressive, self-serving and competitive. If they don’t respect your position, your assertion will fall flat. The turn of a new year might be the time to change up your tactics. To change someone’s mind, you may want to try pulling people toward you and your point of view. If you’re starting on opposite sides of disagreement, find a way to unite the two groups by using these techniques: Bridging entails building communities based on common, mutual interests. Establish trust by listening to what others have to say. Show you’re listening and then try to find something you agree upon. Finding somewhere small to start where you can agree might help you build toward a resolution. Inspiring entails advocating for your position by encouraging others with a sense of shared purpose and exciting possibilities. Famous leaders, like Steve Jobs, are remembered for rallying their employees with passionate words and empowering people to share the same feelings. This year, if you end up arguing with a relative about politics or a colleague about an aspect of your business, take a step back. After exhausting yourselves with facts and figures, try finding common ground. Learn more about techniques for influencing others at mhs.com. Photo courtesy of Getty Images SOURCE:Multi-Health Systems 
Millennials being creative at work
Although there are many reasons to feel stressed in the workplace, productivity is often at the root. After all, productive employees are often perceived as the most valuable employees and when productivity fails, it tends to put everyone on edge. Take a proactive role in improving your own productivity with these ideas.Get Focused
Plan to make productivity a priority (Family Features) Although there are many reasons to feel stressed in the workplace, productivity is often at the root. After all, productive employees are often perceived as the most valuable employees and when productivity fails, it tends to put everyone on edge. Concerns about productivity are broadly founded. They may be related to your self-assessment of your own performance, or it could be that a manager is demanding more. Or maybe you’re collaborating with a team of peers and are struggling to find your footing, and collectively productivity is down. Productivity is not only good for business; it’s good for worker morale, too. A productive work day can produce a sense of accomplishment and pride, and may result in a less stressful work environment. You can take a proactive role in improving your own productivity with these ideas. 1. Face a challenge head on. Procrastination can be the ultimate roadblock to productivity. For many, that means saving the least desired task on your to-do lists for the end of the day. However, by the end of the day, it’s too easy to delay the task until tomorrow. Instead, start the day with your least desired task. This is when you’ll have the most energy and you’ll kick off your day feeling accomplished, ready to tackle whatever comes next. 2. Be intentional with your time. It may seem counterintuitive, but taking breaks can help you have a more productive day. When you feel your energy start to wane, give yourself a timeout. Take a 15-minute walk, run the stairs or spend some time drawing in your notebook. Over the course of a week, pay attention to your schedule and start to plan your meetings and tasks around breaks so you’re working during periods of the day when you’re the most energized. 3. Capture ideas when they come. Let’s face it: not every great idea arrives at the ideal moment. While it’s possible to key your ideas immediately into your smartphone, that can come with multiple obnoxious distractions. However, trying to recreate that flash of inspiration at a more opportune time more often than not falls short with missing details. An option like the Bamboo Slate smartpad allows you to write naturally with pen on any paper without the social media notifications and email alerts. With the push of a button, you can then convert your handwritten notes into “living” digital files. With Wacom Inkspace, you can organize, edit and share your notes and sketches on your enabled smartphone, tablet or other devices. In case you’re not near your mobile device when inspiration strikes, you can store up to 100 pages on your smartpad and sync later. Learn more at bamboo.wacom.com. 4. Identify areas for collaboration. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The key is knowing yourself well enough to know when you need to ask for help to be more productive. Wasting time on tasks you don’t excel in can slow everyone down. Rather, find others whom you can collaborate with and learn from to help you improve your productivity over time. 5. Stay organized. When you’re working under continuous deadlines, things can really start to pile up – literally. Digging through a mess to find the report containing the data you need or the invoice to cross reference is a waste of precious time. Allow the clutter to build during the work day if you must, but make it a goal to never leave the office without bringing some order to the day’s chaos. Coming in each morning to a desk that is de-cluttered and ready for the day ahead can be a big productivity booster. Learn to Make Lists with Purpose List-making has long been revered as the classic time management tool, and technology makes it easier than ever to blend this analog task with your digital world by using smart notebooks like the Bamboo Slate to create an online to-do list. Consider these three list styles to determine the approach that best fits your work style to put you on your way to more productive days: Categorized lists. Most people start with a daily to-do list, focusing just on the most urgent tasks for the day. Once you’ve mastered that approach, try looking ahead to the future to help you meet your goals. For this technique, you might consider an annual list or even a life list to help put the big picture in perspective and make it more manageable to accomplish your desires. Others go so far as to categorize their time to focus their attention on different types of tasks on different days. To-do vs. done lists. Another option is to use lists to catalog both the items you need to do and those you’ve already completed. A “done list” can be a motivating factor in pushing forward with your to-do list by letting you see your accomplishments in writing. Bullet journaling. The bullet journal approach is a four-step process designed to make the to-do list less of a chore and more efficient. A step-by-step guide shows you how to create more productive lists you can easily reference in the future.SOURCE: Wacom KEYWORDS
 Tips to Bring a Healthy Dose of Sick-Etiquette to Work When the common cold hits, sharing is not caring (BPT) - Being considerate of others when you’re sick is one of the first steps to good sick etiquette. For example, you may think you’re going to score points for showing up at work despite feeling under the weather. However, if you were to run this by an etiquette expert like Diane Gottsman, she would probably tell you the reverse is true. “A recent survey found that half of Americans feel anxious about getting sick when others cough around them,” Gottsman says. “So when you cough, your co-workers are likely going to be thinking of themselves and may not sympathize with you.” That’s why Gottsman says the best thing you can do is steer clear of the office. If working remotely isn’t an option, it is best to take a sick day. “When you’re sick, it’s so important to take precautions to keep your germs from infecting others, which should always include staying home from work or other activities until symptoms have subsided,” says Gottsman. “I understand that sometimes life seems too busy to get sick or a workplace may not offer enough paid time off. So staying home and putting work on the back burner until you’re well is not an option for everyone. Still, productivity will decline when you are sick and you may prolong your illness by overexerting yourself." With that, Gottsman says the name of the game is keeping those germs to yourself. Don’t be afraid to be demonstrative about that so you send a clear signal that you care and you don’t want to infect anyone — it will put your friends and colleagues at ease. Here are Gottsman’s sick etiquette tips: Telecommute: If it is physically possible for you to complete a day’s work at home, that is probably the second most ideal solution to taking a sick day. If that’s not a typical arrangement at your place of employment, though, frame it as being beneficial to your boss and your fellow employees. For example: “I understand we have this important deadline coming up, which is why I would prefer not to spread this bug to others. What if I worked on the project from my home office today instead of coming in? If you sent me the call-in information, I could still join the conference call later. Of course, if you need anything at all, I’m just a phone call or email away.” Touch no one: If a friend moves in for a hug or a handshake, kindly warn them that you are recovering from a cold and would prefer to “play it safe” before extending your hand or leaning in for a hug. Keep a sickness arsenal: Keep your desk well stocked to help you treat your symptoms and keep common areas germ-free. For your kit, consider items like tissues, disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer, as well as relief for sick symptoms, like pain relievers and a cough syrup like Robitussin. Avoid shared surfaces: Cold viruses can survive several hours on surfaces, transferring easily to your colleagues. Germs can be hard to contain and avoid, but you can do your part by wiping down shared areas like a table or chair with a disinfecting wipe when you are finished using them. Cover your mouth wisely: Coughs and sneezes give germs and viruses a nice little vehicle to get around and infect others nearby. When you must cough or sneeze, use a tissue or cough into your arm or elbow — never your hand, because the hands help spread the germs around. When using a tissue, promptly dispose of it and sanitize your hands. Minimize coughing: When people hear someone cough in a crowded space, 26 percent feel annoyed, and 46 percent feel anxious about getting sick themselves, according to a recent online survey conducted by the Harris Poll. Keeping the medicine cabinet stocked with a powerful cough reliever is one effective way to suppress your cough. One product Gottsman recommends is Robitussin 12 Hour Cough Relief, because the long-lasting formula gets you through the whole work day by providing soothing relief from the hacking coughing. (You'll also be much quieter, which is a bonus.) It’s not always possible or practical to stay home for several days when you come down with a cold, but practicing good sick etiquette can help keep viruses from spreading to those around you.
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