Inspire a Productive Culture With Workplace Boundaries

Inspire a Productive Culture With Workplace BoundariesInspire a Productive Culture With Workplace BoundariesWeve talked about how important it is to clearly outline your companys employer brand and culture. But sometimes it can be difficult to understand the specifics of how to get people to act a certain way or how to make it clear what is acceptable and what is not within your workplace. Enter boundaries. They define acceptable behavior and basic displays of respect within your organization. When your organization has boundaries, theyre often difficult to clearly identify. But when your organization doesnt have boundaries the symptoms are very clear your employees arent properly engaged or focused, theres confusion about how people should react to different situations, theres a lack of company identity or cohesiveness, and theres a sense of disconnection and fragmentation within your departments or business units.Boundaries are not restrictive. Rather, they are empowering. Establis hing and working on boundaries within your culture can lead to a more peaceful and productive working environment. Here are three guidelines for establishing and enforcing boundaries and what it might look like within your workplace Build boundaries around your company valuesIf you dont have a clear set of company values it shouldnt be a surprise that people within your organization arent sure how to act. Values give boundaries a jupe to stand on, and its only once you establish your values that you can begin to outline what the boundaries within your organization should be. For example, if you want your company culture to be expressive and lighthearted, humor might be an important value for you. But we all know that there is a wide range of behavior and language that fits within the world of humor. Setting boundaries around what kind of language is acceptable and which topics are off-limits will help prospective candidates understand if theyre a good fit for the environment and hel p current employees engage freely within those terms. A company could establish these boundaries by including examples of good and bad humor in a company onboarding document or by responding appropriately to on-the-spot violations of those boundaries (laughing when the jokes are appropriate, then not laughing when the jokes are not appropriate and speaking with employees individually if the inappropriate humor continues). There are also more suggestions here. Define the behavior you want to seeEffective boundaries keep everyone in your organization in the know about what is expected of them. That way there is no guessing at the best way to respond to a problem or wondering if there will be a punishment for handhabung a situation a certain way. Rather, your leadership team has defined the behavior it wishes to see and what it will do when that behavior isnt happening.For example, if your company-wide value is Respectful Communication, then your leadership team should also identify be haviors that lead to respectful communication (starting the conversation with a friendly greeting, being polite in the words and tone we use) and signs that respectful communication is not happening (one or more parties are frustrated, conversations escalate into loud disagreements). That will lead everyone in the organization to have a common definition of respect and a clear understanding of how to react and resolve situations that dont meet that standard. Bring focus back to your shared purpose and goalsAlong with establishing values, discussions about boundaries should always lead back to your organizations shared purpose and goals. Respectful Communication and Friendly Humor are simply vehicles that your organization uses to reach the overall goal of serving your client base or developing the best products in your industry. Orienting those values and the behaviors that align with those values toward your companys ultimate purpose will help each employee see how their behavior p lays into the big pictureand how each resolution will also be oriented toward those values and the companys ultimate purpose. For example, when an argument about a certain product attribute comes up, a company with excellent boundaries in place would be able to acknowledge that the course of the communication isnt going well and decide to re-align the discussion with the companys ultimate purpose. With both parties agreeing that the ultimate purpose is to design a product that meets a given need within the client base, the discussion is taken from the specific instance and widened to what both parties have in common the ultimate vision of what they are trying to build together. Within an organization, setting boundaries is the foundation for appropriate communication and respectful behavior. And while it might feel like youre setting up walls or limiting engagement within your company culture, in reality you are establishing the building blocks of what it means to succeed as a membe r of your company. What company values are you trying to instill within your organization? How can values help you accomplish that goal?

Tips for Answering the Job Interview Question How Do You Manage a Heavy Workload

Tips for Answering the Job Interview Question How Do You Manage a Heavy WorkloadTips for Answering the Job Interview Question How Do You Manage a Heavy Workload2Hiring managers are often interested in knowing how employees handle a full plate, so to speak. They want to understand your process.If youre questioned by a potential employer about how you would manage a heavy workload and arent sure how to answer, read onUnderstand the question.Asking how you would deal with a large amount of work can be classified as a behavioral interview question. Its the type of question that is designed for a potential employer to find out mora about your personality and determine how youll react to future events based on past behavior. While the interviewer is looking to find out how youd handle a heavy workload, theyre actually trying to gain a deeper insight into your character and if youll ultimately be a fit for the company.Be a STAR.Once youve determined that youre being asked a behavioral quest ion during a job interview, its good to know that theres an easy formula for answering it. Its called the STAR format, which stands for Situation or Task, Action, and Results. Essentially, your answer should start off with a similar situation being posed by your interviewer, the action you took to remedy the situation, and most importantly, the results you achieved. Dont forget the last part, since its not just about identifying a problem and your reaction to it that counts, but ultimately the results achieved that truly matter.Know what to say.In the case of managing a heavy workload, youll want to have a strategy for answering it. You can say something likeEveryone has faced a heavy workload at some point or another in their career. For me, being able to take a step back and observe the situation can give me greater clarity and objectivity. Instead of diving in and trying to do it all- and all at once- Ive found that its best to prioritize the tasks at hand. While everything might appear to be urgent, that might not necessarily be the case. So I would organize the projects that need to be done right away, and communicate with my team and boss to make sure that were all on the same page in terms of prioritizing. Offer an example.After youve shown that you understand the question by providing an answer similar to the one above, its story time Cite an example of a similar situation in which you were faced with a heavy workload, what you did (i.e., the tasks you completed and why you chose those), and the results you achieved. This shows that you can handle this interview question- and a heavy workload, tooKnow someone looking for a job? Refer a friend to with this link- youll get a month free service and theyll get 30% off

Why I Took a $12,000 Pay Cut and Why It Was Worth It

Why I Took a $12,000 Pay Cut and Why It Was Worth ItWhy I Took a $12,000 Pay Cut - and Why It Was Worth It There welches only one problem with accepting the best job offer I had ever receivedIt meant taking a $12,000 pay cut.As attractive as the role was, I had to wrap my head around making such an unconventional career move. In the end, heres why I decided to switch jobs for less money - as crazy as it sounds.There are all sorts of natural reasons to take pay cuts. You might be transitioning into a new career field and starting at the bottom of the food chain. Or you might be starting your own business and keeping your companys expenses low.More likely, youre taking a smaller wage because you have to, whether because you need the work in your current city or because youre moving to a new one .In my case, there was no single reason for deciding to cut my salary by $12,000. In fact, there were four.Working fruchtweinly in digital media, I have been a producer, an e ditor and a content marketing strategist. But I had never been paid to write full time. Tired of jack-of-all-trades jobs, I wanted to jump at this new opportunity because it fit my desire to type words like these on a daily basis.For me, it wasnt just about the opportunity to write. It was the opportunity to specialize.I understood that Id have to lower my salary expectations . After all, you typically work your way up in pay by taking on more responsibility, not less.Maybe finding your better fit isnt about a role but is instead about a better fitting environment. You might be willing to deal with a lower salary, for example, in exchange for rewarding work at a mission-driven nonprofit or for-profit company. Feeling like your work matters might erase your concern about being paid below market value.Often in the case of small companies and bootstrap startups, employers know that theyre offering less money than you can get elsewhere. Theyre not fooling themselves. So, they try to make up for it.In my case, my new company offered me the ability to work from home, from a co-working space, and on the move. I now have colleagues based in every corner of the U.S., Chile, and Russia. A few of them travel the world as they work.To me, this closed the deal. Im not the only one who thinks so. The average professional would be willing to sacrifice 8 percent of their pay to work from home, according to 2017 research from two Ivy League professors .Similarly, a 2017 survey performed by Qualtrics found that 37 percent of millennials would take a pay cut between 6and 12 percent for flexible work hours.My companys flexibility when it comes to location and hours is important to me because it helps me achieve a better work-life balance . The work wherever policy allowed me to work from California when my sister gave birth. It allowed me to play beach volleyball on a Wednesday morning before putting in Uber driver-like hours in the evening.When evaluating job offers, look pas t the salary to other perks. Decide for yourself if theres something you can no longer imagine living without. Thats how I feel about working remotely.As nice as it is for your company to show it values you in other ways, your salary is almost always a primary consideration. At the end of the day, many of us do what we do because we getpaid for it.In fact, 47 percent of employed Americans describe their job as just what they do for a living, according to a 2016 report from the Pew Research Center .Although I have had the fortune of enjoying each of my post-college jobs, Im like any young professional. I want to keep enough money coming in to pay off debt, cover current expenses and save for the future.Thankfully, my big decrease in base salary - $12,259, to be exact - wasnt what it initially landseemed. Thats because my new job offered five financial benefits that my previous one didntEven if youre math-wary, its not difficult to put a dollar figure on all of these benefits.Imagin e the dividends for 401(k) accounts. If your company matches5 percent of your contributions, youre essentially giving yourself a 5 percentraise.Similarly, if a company is offering to cover 100 percent of your health care plan, the arithmetic is simple. I had been paying $85 per month for similar coverage at my previous job, for example. My new job would save me $1,020 per year as a result.Run the numbers of your potential benefits package . Also, consider other factors like whether youd be switching to a lower federal income tax bracket.All told, you might find that your potential pay cut isnt as significant as it appeared at first glance.The most difficult part about giving up salary is that you could be stunting your long-term salary growth . Enter your information into any lifetime earnings calculator, and youllsee that what youre earning now invariably affects what youll be making five, 10 and 20 years from now.All things being equal, giving up $12,000 per year could cost me m ore than $775,000 between now and my 65th birthday, according to a Calculators.orgs tool .No amount of benefits - even the disappearance of commuting costs - can change that. But heres what can If your new job puts you on a better trajectory to earn more over time.My $12,000 pay cut, for example, could be lessened by climbing the ladder more quickly. I could eventually get back to my original salary number by excelling in my role or earning a promotion .Assess whether you might be able to rise through the ranks faster at your next employer. If you have to take a lower salary in the short-term for a better opportunity to advance in the long-term, the decision could pay off.This is especially true if you move to a company where you can successfully negotiate regular raises .Take a look at your overall financial health before deciding to either take a pay cut or chase a bigger salary by job-hopping . If youre burdened by student loan payments, for example, maybe you need to put off a better fitting role for a higher-paying one.But dont rule out a lower paying position in the future. Youll know the right opportunity when you see it. Sometimes you just have to look past the dollars and cents.This article was originally published on Student Loan Hero . It is reprinted with permission.