Diario de un Gerente

Stop Wasting Money on Team Building

2018-09-12T10:57:00.001-05:00

Stop Wasting Money on Team Building

https://hbr.org/2018/09/stop-wasting-money-on-team-building?es_p=7547931

Stop Wasting Money on Team Building

FREDERICK FLORIN/Staff/Getty Images

Most corporate team building is a waste of time and money. I say this based on my 25+ years of research and practice in the field of team effectiveness. Seventeen of those years were with Mars Inc., a family-owned $35 billion global business with a commitment to collaboration.

Many companies, when they decide to invest in team building, decide to do offsite events like bowling nights or ropes courses. Sometimes these events get really elaborate. One sales and marketing executive I know told me how he was flown to London with 20 of his colleagues, put up in a pricey hotel, and then trained to do the haka, a traditional war dance, by a group of Maori tribe members from New Zealand. This exercise was supposed to build relationships and bolster team spirit, and, by extension, improve collaboration. Instead, it fostered embarrassment and cynicism. Months later, the failing division was sold off.

Mars was not immune to the conventional wisdom. Before making the commitment to study collaboration intensively, we also did things like this. Once, we spent thousands of dollars to hire an orchestra to spend an hour with a group of senior leaders at an offsite retreat and help them work together in harmony. It was a nice metaphor and an interesting experience. It did nothing, though, to change how that group of leaders worked together.

Events like these may get people to feel closer for a little while; shared emotions can bond people. Those bonds, though, do not hold up under the day-to-day pressures of an organization focused on delivering results.

In 2011 senior HR leaders at Mars decided that we would study our global workforce and try to crack the code of how to maximize team effectiveness. The resulting research, which I led, revealed that most of what we — and others — thought about team building was wrong. Most important, we learned that quality collaboration does not begin with relationships and trust; it starts with a focus on individual motivation.

Our research drew on data from 125 teams. It included questionnaires and interviews with hundreds of team members. We asked, among other things, how clear people were about the teams' priorities, what their own and others' objectives were, and what they felt most confident about and most worried about. If there was one dominant theme from the interviews, it is summarized in this remarkable sentiment: "I really like and value my teammates. And I know we should collaborate more. We just don't."

The questionnaires revealed that team members felt the most clarity about their individual objectives, and felt a strong sense of ownership for the work they were accountable for. To further investigate, we turned to another source and analyzed several years of data from Mars's 360-degree leadership surveys. The two top strengths identified in those surveys were "action orientation" and "results focus." The picture was getting clearer: Mars was full of people who loved to get busy on tasks and responsibilities that had their names next to them. It was work they could do exceedingly well, producing results without collaborating. On top of that, they were being affirmed for those results by their bosses and the performance rating system.

It occurred to us that their failure to collaborate was, ironically, a function of their excelling at the jobs they were hired to do and of management reinforcing that excellence. Collaboration, on the other hand, was an idealized but vague goal with no concrete terms or rules. What's more, collaboration was perceived as messy. It diluted accountability and offered few tangible rewards.

Based on that insight, we developed a framework to make collaboration clear, specific, and compelling — to make collaboration something to be achieved. At the core of this framework are two questions to pose to any team. The first: Why is their collaboration essential to achieving their business results? And second: What work, which specific tasks, would require collaboration to deliver those results?

We had a chance to test our framework in early 2012 with the Mars Petcare China leadership team. Over two days we posed our questions and hashed out specifics. We spent the entire first day wrestling with the answers to our two questions. Initial reactions were bemusement and frustration: What did I mean by "essential to business results"? We restated the question as: Why is your working together, as a team, more valuable than just the sum of your individual efforts? That got the conversation going, and we spent three hours discussing and debating what we called their "team purpose." They finally agreed that their purpose would center on people development and deployment of their new strategy throughout the business.

The second question, the one about which specific pieces of work required collaboration, was more contentious. One leader in particular felt that he needed to be left alone, that none of the work he was responsible for should include any of his peers. The debate became heated, but eventually his peers won him over. Eventually we were able to sort our list of projects into those that could be handled by individuals and those that really would be improved by collaboration.

Our second day focused on accountability. They agreed to build their collaborative commitments into their individual performance objectives. Then they cocreated a list of the behaviors they expected of each other in support of those commitments and agreed on how they would hold themselves accountable for them. (At one point we compared and discussed their Myers-Briggs types. That discussion about relationships lasted 15 minutes before they urged me to take them back to discussions about how they were going to work together. I thought that was remarkably telling.) We ended by creating a plan for how they would sustain the progress we had made during our two days together.

I spoke with the general manager of Mars Petcare China a few times over the next year. During our final conversation I learned that their growth had rocketed up 33% — a stunning achievement. Their primary dog food brand alone was up 60%. It was the first time in eight years that they had met their financial commitments to the larger corporation. How much did our work together contribute to those outcomes? "Massively," the general manager told me. Their team purpose had focused their collaboration on the things that mattered most to the results they planned for. The sense of accountability for their work together, based on the agreements they forged, made their working relationships far more productive than they had been.

At Mars, we learned that to get people to work together, we had to let them figure out how that would actually improve results.

We officially deployed our fully developed and tested framework later in 2012, embedding it in a single management development program. Within two years, the Mars High Performance Collaboration Framework had gone viral throughout the company.

Strong relationships and trust do matter to collaboration, but they are not the starting point. They are the outcomes of dedicated people striving together. Connecting collaboration to the motives of success-minded team members is what unlocks productive teamwork.

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Make Sure Everyone on Your Team Sees Learning as Part of Their Job

2018-09-12T10:55:00.001-05:00

Make Sure Everyone on Your Team Sees Learning as Part of Their Job

https://hbr.org/2018/09/make-sure-everyone-on-your-team-sees-learning-as-part-of-their-job

Make Sure Everyone on Your Team Sees Learning as Part of Their Job

Jens Magnusson/Getty Images

As an executive coach, I speak regularly at corporate leadership development programs. During discussions, participants often confess the real reason they're in the room, and it's rarely "to grow and learn." Time and again, the reasons include: they are checking a box on their development plan, their manager told them to come, or they've been told that their participation will increase the chance of a promotion.

The reality is that most people are not set up to take advantage of development opportunities. Many organizations view learning as something extra, something to fit in on top of the regular work. But to create a culture that encourages employee growth, managers need to make learning an expectation — not an option.

Learning helps people keep a broad perspective. When we feel expert at something, sociologists have shown, the earned dogmatism effect sets in, causing us to be more close-minded and to disregard new ideas and perspectives. For managers, suggesting that team members go to a training or take an online course isn't enough; for many professionals, that's just more work on their plates. Instead, managers need to encourage continual learning with supportive behaviors that, in turn, will shape their company culture.

Be a vocal role model. Managers should frame learning as a growth opportunity, not as a quid pro quo for promotion.

A good starting point is simply to talk about your own development. When managers open up about their personal areas for improvement, it becomes more acceptable for everyone else to do the same. Ask yourself: What skills are you most excited to develop? What areas do you need to grow the most in? What insights have you found helpful in accomplishing these goals? Then share your answers with the rest of your team.

You should come back from every workshop or training with a story about what you learned. Rather than the typical, "It was interesting," be specific. For example, you might say, "I thought I was a good listener, but I can see that this is a growth area for me. The day showed me new ways to interact with others, and though they aren't necessarily comfortable for me, I'm going to try them out."

If you talk about learning as being enjoyable, you set a playful tone that encourages people to be adaptively authentic — and open to trying new behaviors.

Celebrate growth and lean into failure. Carol Dweck and her colleagues at Stanford University recently published research showing that people don't simply have passions, they develop them. The best way to determine what you enjoy is to try new things, even when those things are challenging or uncomfortable. If you want your team to be excited about and find purpose in their work, encourage them to be curious and experiment.

A successful learning environment celebrates growth for growth's sake. One way to develop this kind of culture is to recognize employees when they make progress on a new initiative — even if it doesn't hit the goal — because they have proactively created a learning opportunity for themselves and the company at large. In addition, when you promote team members, do it for their professional development, even if it means you lose them to another division.

You can also support learning by not hiding failures. One technology company I advise began instituting mandatory post-mortems for all of its product releases and major programs, no matter the results. Team members were able to both celebrate successes and illuminate failures as a matter of regular business, creating an environment that encouraged transparency and continuous learning. People felt free to discuss issues without blame, and interdepartmental communication improved.

Make it easy for people. People usually take on development opportunities on top of their regular workload, so the easier you can make it for them to find the right program, the better. A Google search for "management training" will undoubtedly lead you down a rabbit hole for hours. Instead, try asking HR for recommendations. If that doesn't give you the results you're looking for, crowdsource what you need. Ask colleagues inside and outside your office what they've recommended to their teams. You might end up with a repository of vetted ideas.

You and Your Team Series

Learning

Learning to Learn

When someone is attending a program, lighten their workload to reduce stress and allow them to be present. I've heard many employees complain that their boss recommended them for a development program only to email them constantly throughout the session, forcing them to step out to address work issues.

And make it easy for participants to apply the learning. In an attempt to show "value," managers often require team members to present their takeaways or train others after completing a program. But doing so just creates more work for the participant. It's more valuable to let people apply what they've learned to their own projects first. This gives them the opportunity to determine what lessons are relevant before sharing them with the rest of the team.

Foster new experiences. Research shows that to be inspired, we need to transcend current thought and become aware of new or better possibilities. As the adage goes, if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.

Cross-functional projects, role rotations, and geographic relocations are just a few ways to expose people to new learning experiences. Special assignments that last at least a year will help give your team a chance to "eat their own cooking," or witness the impact of their decisions. People benefit most and feel empowered when you allow them to weigh in on what learning opportunities are of the greatest interest to them.

New experiences can feel daunting, especially when someone is accomplished in their current role — but that's exactly why you should foster them. Only by tackling unfamiliar challenges will people get the feedback they need to learn. Your team may not always succeed when faced with challenging situations, and that's OK. The goal is for them to learn from the task, not necessarily to knock it out of the park.

Companies are investing considerable money and time into developing talent, but without doing the up-front work to ensure that leaders are building a learning culture. Frontline managers have the largest and most immediate influence. If you're a manager who wants to grow your team, demonstrate that you're committed to growth yourself.

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En tránsito hacia una Inteligencia Artificial ciudadana

2018-05-11T22:34:00.001-05:00

En tránsito hacia una Inteligencia Artificial ciudadana

https://www.forbes.com.mx/ruta-hacia-una-inteligencia-artificial-ciudadana/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Ruta hacia una Inteligencia Artificial Ciudadana

Foto: Yuichiro Chino/Getty images.

Cuando se piensa en sistemas de inteligencia artificial (IA) que ayuden a hacer diagnósticos médicos, respalden las decisiones de pago de seguros o utilicen conocimientos basados en datos para mejorar el desarrollo de software. Todas estas cosas y más están sucediendo ahora.

El reporte Technology Vision 2018, realizado por Accenture señala que los sistemas de IA y las decisiones basadas en estas tecnologías tienen cada vez un mayor impacto en la vida de las personas. El concepto de Ciudadanía IA explica como la inteligencia artificial evoluciona de una herramienta tecnológica a un socio entre las personas que coordina y colabora con los humanos en la fuerza de trabajo y la sociedad.

La Inteligencia Artificial ya es la cara pública de muchas empresas, ya que puede ayudar en distintas áreas de la operación, desde las interacciones iniciales con el cliente a través del chat, la voz y el correo electrónico, hasta completar roles vitales de servicio al cliente. Con una mayor autonomía y capacidades sofisticadas en el aprendizaje automático, el futuro de la IA a menudo tendrá tanta influencia como las personas que lo utilizan. Para las empresas, esto significa cambiar la forma en que ven la IA, desde sistemas que están programados, hasta sistemas que aprenden.

Esto significa que las empresas necesitan enseñar a sus sistemas de Inteligencia Artificial a "actuar" de manera responsable, explicar decisiones o trabajar bien con los demás. Esto requerirá la aplicación de algunos de los mismos principios utilizados en la educación humana: enseñar a las máquinas cómo aprender, cómo explicar sus pensamientos y acciones, y cómo aceptar la responsabilidad de sus decisiones.

Sin embargo, el entrenamiento exitoso de IA no se trata sólo de acceder a una variedad y profundidad de las fuentes de datos; también se trata de minimizar activamente el sesgo en los datos. Esto incluye el seguimiento de la procedencia de los datos para garantizar que las fuentes de datos originales sean confiables y precisas.

Además, las compañías necesitan elevar sus sistemas de Inteligencia Artificial para reflejar las normas comerciales y sociales de responsabilidad, equidad y transparencia. Esto comienza con descartar la toma de decisiones de "caja negra". Dado que un sistema de IA está diseñado fundamentalmente para colaborar con las personas, las empresas deben construir y entrenar sus IA para proporcionar explicaciones claras de las acciones que los sistemas de Inteligencia Artificial deciden tomar, en un formato que la gente entienda.

Independientemente del papel exacto que una IA termine desempeñando en la sociedad, representa una compañía en cada acción que lleva a cabo. ¿Qué sucede si un prestamista hipotecario impulsado por Inteligencia Artificial niega un préstamo a un posible comprador calificado, o si un robot alimentado con AI recibe a un trabajador en un almacén? Las compañías que usan la tecnología deben pensar cuidadosamente sobre la distribución de la responsabilidad y responsabilidad por las acciones de un sistema de inteligencia artificial.

Los líderes asumirán el desafío de criar a la IA de una manera que reconozca sus nuevos roles e impacto en la sociedad. Al hacerlo, establecerán los estándares para lo que significa crear un sistema de IA responsable y profundizar significativamente la confianza con los clientes y empleados.

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How to Be Friends with Someone Who Works for You

2018-05-10T23:16:00.001-05:00

How to Be Friends with Someone Who Works for You

https://hbr.org/2018/02/how-to-be-friends-with-someone-who-works-for-you

How to Be Friends with Someone Who Works for You

Nadezda Kozulina/Getty Images

Working as a senior executive can be a lonely job. You have to deliver tough messages. You can't always be transparent about your own challenges. And you must keep key decisions confidential until the timing is right.

There's no way to escape the necessary burdens of authority. And, from time to time, you may develop a friendship with someone in your organization. It's one thing to have a peer-to-peer friendship at work, but another to have a power imbalance with your friend. Can you be friends with someone who works for you, especially when your role requires you to harbor secrets from them?

Consider this example: Mariah and Einat became friends over a dozen years ago after they discovered their shared love of outdoor activities. They've hiked and backpacked and taken long bike rides together. Together they have survived some sharp rocks, literally and figuratively, in their friendship.

But Mariah and Einat started out in a different relationship. Mariah was a vice president of their company and Einat's skip-level boss. Einat was a senior director in Mariah's group. Clearly any manager-employee friendship is fraught with traps. You might damage either the friendship or the working relationship. Other staff may withhold valuable feedback about the employee if they sense you're friends. You could lose trust with your friend and with the rest of your staff if you're not careful about walking the fine line between confidentiality and transparency.

You and Your Team Series

Friendships

Having Work Friends Can Be Tricky, but It's Worth It

In her role, Mariah often knew information that would impact Einat's job, including possible layoffs and promotions. Even though they were close friends, Mariah had to keep this sensitive information confidential. Mariah trusted that Einat would understand the constraints on transparency because of their roles at work. When I talked with Einat, she did understand and called it her "suck-it-up muscle."

Not every employee has this muscle, though, and they can become offended or hurt by withheld information or negative feedback. And not every boss knows how to navigate the fine line of how much to share and when. But there are ways you can set your friendship up for success. Here are five tips on how to manage a friendship with one of your employees.

Choose your friends carefully. Many of us heard this advice when our moms kissed us goodbye for our first day of kindergarten, but it's especially important at work. Having a friend who is a subordinate requires high degrees of trust and judgment on both parts. It's not possible with every work relationship. Mariah points out that both parties must be mature and have enough self-esteem to build trust over time. "It's really not rocket science," said Mariah, "just impeccable communications and boundaries."

Set expectations at the start. You will have knowledge and responsibilities beyond your friend's role and clearance, and your friend needs to know that. Be transparent up front about what you can and can't share. I didn't follow this advice earlier in my career and instead simply made an assumption. When I was working with my peers on our management team on a company reorg, I knew my friend Alice would be affected. But I wasn't her manager, and I had to keep the information confidential. After the changes were announced, Alice was upset that I had kept the reorg from her. I had assumed it was obvious that, even though we were friends, I couldn't share any information that Alice didn't have access to in the normal course of business. It wasn't a matter of trust; it was a matter of ethics. And sharing the reorg information prematurely would have also put Alice in an awkward position with her peers who were in the dark. In retrospect, establishing boundaries with Alice may not have made the reorg easier for her, but it would have avoided any tension in our relationship.

Be clear about your roles in conversation. Explicitly setting norms together for how you will work and play creates equality and equanimity in your friendship. Whether you're in a one-on-one conversation in the office or hanging out together after work, be transparent about what kind of conversation you're having. Say something like, "Let's talk about this in friend mode." Or, "Here's a work topic that I'd like to bring up and get out of the way first." But also check if it's okay with your friend to have that conversation at that moment. As a manager, you might say, "I want to find out how things are going with your project. Is this a discussion we can have right now?" This allows your friend to have an equal say in what topics are discussed when.

Be transparent with others. Since Mariah was two levels above Einat, when she was in meetings with her direct reports, she would recuse herself on discussions about Einat's pay. Mariah would state clearly that she and Einat were friends, so she didn't want that to influence the team's decision making. Others might feel awkward disclosing their feelings about your employee, especially if they have negative feedback. They might wonder if you'll hold their comments against them, or if you might unduly influence the outcome of the discussion. On the other hand, you might know more than you're supposed to bring into the professional setting. Mariah noted, "I wanted to be careful that my inside information wouldn't be taken out of context."

Do your job. Be direct and prompt in communications — especially when it comes to negative feedback or unpleasant news, like a layoff. Even if you're afraid of hurting your friend's feelings or fear they might get defensive, speak up, but be prepared that there may be rocky times or even long breaks in your relationship. As you wrap up the discussion, let your colleague know you want to be friends, but give them space to make their own decision about whether they also want to maintain the friendship. For example, Ben and Ravi had been friends for many years when they began working together. Ravi was hired as Ben's manager. After a couple of years, Ravi had to tell Ben that Ben's job was being eliminated. Ben said, "It was challenging for each of us. He didn't want to have to tell me, of all people, that I'd lost my job." After leaving his job, Ben remained friends with Ravi because he realized Ravi's decision was business, not personal, but it took Ben some time before he could come around to that mindset.

Friendships are based on mutual trust and transparency. Navigating manager-employee friendships is tricky, especially when, as a boss, you're privy to information that your employee is not. The work friendships that survive are also based on trust and transparency: transparency about the boundaries within which you will be able to communicate and trust that your actions are professional, not personal.

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Cómo lograr juntas productivas

2018-05-03T09:29:00.001-05:00

Cómo lograr juntas productivas | Expansión.

https://expansion.mx/carrera/2018/05/02/como-lograr-juntas-productivas

Cómo lograr juntas productivas

Las continuas reuniones laborales pueden resultar tediosas y poco efectivas. Los expertos aseguran que, si se realizan correctamente, son fundamentales para la comunicación empresarial.

Puntuales y concretas. Los especialistas recomiendan empezar siempre la junta a la hora acordada y enviar de forma previa una descripción de los temas a tratar, para evitar perder tiempo. (Foto: iStock)

Junta a las 9 am. A las 10.30. Y a las 13.00 horas. De 15 minutos, 30 o hasta un par de horas. Una sucesión de encuentros que ha llevado a muchos colaboradores y empresas a ponerse en pie de guerra contra estas reuniones laborales El problema, sin embargo, no es tener a los trabajadores en varias juntas a lo largo del día, si no que éstas no sean productivas y no provoquen el desarrollo de una acción que beneficie a la compañía, sostienen especialistas.

Esto implica que el tiempo invertido en ellas no genera retorno de inversión, lo que se traduce en dinero perdido, explica Silvano Soto, presidente del Comité de Trabajo en Comunicación de la Asociación Mexicana en Dirección de Recursos Humanos (Amedirh).

Si una junta tiene un objetivo claro y se lleva a cabo efectivamente, es beneficiosa para la empresa pues genera comunicación de forma directa y en tiempo real con aquellos colaboradores a los cuales se les necesita transmitir indicaciones, procesos, sugerencias o propuestas, apunta Raúl Manuel Beyruti Sánchez, presidente de Gin Group, empresa especializada en recursos humanos.

Te interesa: Scrum, la táctica de rugby para alinear a tu equipo

Soto explica que el primer paso para hacer una reunión de trabajo óptima es contestar a la pregunta de si la reunión es necesaria y cuál es el objetivo. En caso de que la respuesta sea que no es necesario, el paso siguiente es lógico: no hacerla. Hay muchas cosas que se pueden tratar en una simple conversación de dos o por correo electrónico, si hay buena comunicación, señala el experto.

En caso de que se haya decidido llevar a cabo, es necesario identificar qué tipo de junta es para darle la importancia que merece. No es lo mismo un kick off o lanzamiento de un proyecto a una junta de seguimiento o de solución de problemas. Lo importante, señala, es preparar cada una según su naturaleza y establecer objetivos de forma previa (los que hay que cumplir antes de la reunión), durante (cuál es el motivo de la junta) y de manera posterior (los compromisos a los que se llega).

Beyruti comenta que el tipo de junta también determina la frecuencia con la que se realiza. En el caso de una empresa mediana, recomienda que las reuniones de seguimiento se realicen de manera quincenal. "En ellas se reúnen los socios y directores del grupo para analizar el resultado, cómo se está llevando a cabo el proceso y cuáles son las decisiones que se deben tomar, de ahí se desprenden juntas para todas las demás áreas", indica.

En cuanto a la duración, si bien hay juntas de seguimiento que pueden durar 10 minutos e, incluso, pueden llevarse a cabo de pie para ser más ágiles, un objetivo puede ser evitar que duren más de media hora.

Lee también: Libros que te enseñan a negociar

El presidente de Gin Group comenta que si el equipo que participa es mayor a cuatro personas y el tema que se tratará es complejo, deberían durar entre una y dos horas. "Para que en esa reunión se tenga resultados positivos y la gente esté atenta, no se aburra y pueda aportar algo importante con base en su experiencia", agrega.

Consigue la reunión perfecta

Este es el protocolo que recomiendan los especialistas consultados para lograr juntas que arrojen resultados:

1. Establece un objetivo.

2. Determina el número de participantes de la reunión. No incluyas a ninguna persona que no vaya a tener participación relevante, ya que sólo servirá para alargar la junta.

3. Establece día, hora y lugar. Empieza siempre puntual.

4. Envía información previa sobre la junta. De esta forma, los asistentes estarán preparados sobre el tema a tratar y no se perderá tiempo en explicaciones que podrían tener lugar en otro momento.

5. Si se trata del seguimiento a una junta previa, comienza el encuentro con un repaso rápido sobre lo acordado en la última reunión.

6. Presenta la propuesta, planteamiento o problema mostrando los elementos claves.

7. Indica la participación que debe tener cada miembro del equipo. Genera compromisos que deben cumplir cada uno de ellos.

8. Solicita un feedback a los participantes.

9. Realiza una minuta con los puntos claves de la junta y compártela con los participantes. Así será más fácil dar seguimiento a los acuerdos.

10. Asigna a una persona de nivel jerárquico gerencial para que verifique que lo acordado en la reunión se esté llevando a cabo.

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Harvard scientists say these 5 things can prolong your life by a decade

2018-04-30T16:31:00.001-05:00

Harvard scientists say these 5 things can prolong your life by a decade - MarketWatch

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/harvard-says-these-5-habits-can-prolong-your-life-by-10-years-2018-04-30

Harvard scientists say these 5 things can prolong your life by a decade

Getty Images

Harvard researchers say they've figured out which five habits lead to a longer life.

Want to live 10 years longer? You may have to revamp your lifestyle.

There are five habits that, when done together, could add more than a decade to your life expectancy, according to a study released Monday by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The good news: 10 years is a lot of extra time. The bad news: You'll have to cut out junk food and being a couch potato.

Here's what the study recommends you do:

• Eat a healthy diet

• Exercise 30 minutes or more a day

• Maintain a healthy weight (Specifically, a body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9 — you can find yours here.)

• Don't drink too much alcohol (No more than one 5 oz. glass of wine per day for women, and two glasses for men)

• Don't smoke (ever)

Men and women who followed the healthiest of lifestyles were 82% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and 65% less likely to die from cancer compared with people who lived unhealthy lifestyles over the course of 30 years, according to the study, published online in the journal Circulation.

The researchers analyzed 34 years of data from more than 78,000 women and 27 years of data from more than 44,000 men. The researchers estimated the women who adopted these five habits would see 14 more years of life, and men would add 12 years.

The healthy habits that the Harvard researchers pinpointed may sound obvious, but they're not easy to adopt. For starters, that recommended BMI might be difficult for many Americans. The average BMI for the average American man is 28.6, up from 25.1 in the early 1960s. Anything over 24.9 is considered overweight and a BMI over 30 is regarded as obese.

There are a few ways to slowly make them a part of your life however, according to the National Institutes of Health. Become aware of your bad habits, whether they're dipping into the office vending machine at 3 p.m. or staying out late and giving the gym a miss the next morning.

Also, don't do it alone. Ask friends and family to try these healthy challenges with you. The National Institutes of Health also suggests looking ahead and imagining how you'll feel when you accomplish your goals. "You're never too out of shape, too overweight, or too old to make healthy changes," the organization's monthly newsletter suggests.

There are other factors to consider if you want to add years to your life or, at the very least, not shorten it. Along with exercising and eating nutritious meals, people need to have active social lives and get enough sleep, studies suggest. More than 40% of adults in the U.S. suffer from loneliness, which is linked to depression, dementia, anxiety and cardiovascular diseases. Insufficient sleep also lead to hypertension, diabetes and obesity.

Take into consideration what happens when you do the opposite of the Harvard study's recommended habits:

• Poor diet leads to one in five deaths, according to a study by researchers at the University of Washington and published by the journal Lancet. A poor diet can also cause high blood pressure and diabetes, which are linked to eating the wrong foods. (The right diet, the study found, is one that incorporates whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds).

• Not exercising also leads to high blood pressure and diabetes, and people who are physically inactive are more likely to develop anxiety, depression, coronary heart disease and even cancer, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

• Falling below or above your proper BMI isn't safe. Being underweight, where your BMI is below average, signals malnutrition and increases the risk of osteoporosis, a decreased immune function and fertility issues, according to Healthline. Having a higher BMI or having obesity causes chronic health conditions, such as asthma and bone problems.

• Overindulging in alcohol can lead to cancer, even a light intake, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

• Smoking has killed more than one in 10 people worldwide, according to a study published in Lancet — 11.5% of global deaths were attributed to smoking.

Given all that, those 5 good habits may not seem so bad, after all.

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How to Ask for a Promotion

2018-04-30T16:27:00.001-05:00

How to Ask for a Promotion

https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-to-ask-for-a-promotion

How to Ask for a Promotion

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Asking for a promotion can be nerve-wracking. But when you think you're ready for the next step, it's important to say so. How do you prepare for that conversation with your boss? What information should you have at the ready? And how exactly do you make your case?

What the Experts Say
"Asking for a promotion makes you feel vulnerable," says Sabina Nawaz, the global CEO coach, leadership keynote speaker, and writer. "You're not in control; you're putting yourself in the hands of your manager to be judged — and you might be judged not worthy." You may fret that you'll be "bugging your boss" or come across as greedy and "self-serving." But, to advance in your career, you'll need to learn to advocate for yourself, says Joseph Weintraub, the founder and faculty director of the Babson Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program. "You can't assume that the organization will take care of you just because you do a good job," he says. "There is a degree of self-promotion that's needed." Put simply: "if don't you ask, you don't get." Here are some pointers on how to make the request.

Reflect
The first step in the process, is to think through what you want, Weintraub says. "Do you want more power? More money? More managerial responsibility?" Is there already a position you covet, or do you wish to "create a new role"? Do you want to move up — or might a lateral move interest you? It's also important to "think about your skill set and how it aligns with the objectives of the organization," he says. This will help you position your promotion request in a way that connects to broader strategic goals.

Do some research
It's smart to gather outside intelligence too, says Nawaz. "The more senior you get, the more likely it is that your promotion is not the sole decision of your manager," she notes. "Your manager's peers have input as well." She recommends, "soliciting feedback from a personal board of directors" on your strengths and weaknesses, and speaking to peers to try to "gauge your institutional reputation." The past is precedent. Find out how others successfully pressed their cases for promotion. This might help you uncover effective strategies. Also ask your colleagues how they perceive your promotion readiness. Remember: when it comes to granting your request, "it's not just the business results [that matter.] You have to be someone that people are willing to follow."

Build your case
Once you've clarified exactly what you're looking for, build a compelling case for why you deserve to move up. This is particularly important if you're asking to advance ahead of your organization's promotion cycle. Be prepared for a "what-have-you done-for-me-lately mentality," says Nawaz. She recommends preparing a one- or two-page memo that "clearly outlines your proven track record." The memo's bullet points ought to "provide concrete metrics of the impact you've had," descriptions of "solutions you've delivered" and financial outcomes for which you've been responsible. It might also include "data from other divisions or consumer or employee surveys" that point to your success. "You're trying to prove that you're already working at the level you're asking to be promoted to," she says. Weintraub also recommends thinking about "who your successor might be" at this stage and figuring out how to champion that colleague. Show your manager that "you're working hard to develop someone else," he says. "This not only showcases your leadership capabilities; it will also relieve your boss to know that there is someone who can fill your shoes."

Consider timing
There's no perfect time to ask for a promotion, but you should be savvy about when you make the request, says Weintraub. Obviously, the week after a round of layoffs at the company or the day your team loses a key client aren't ideal. Instead, ask "after something good has happened." Perhaps you've just signed a major new deal or your company announced a solid earnings quarter. Nawaz agrees. "When there's a lot of churn happening, it might be the best thing to jump in, roll up your sleeves, and simply do the work to stabilize the organization." On the other hand, don't be lulled into complacency. If your promotion will help the company achieve its objectives, you should press on.

Plant the seed
Asking for a promotion is not a one and done discussion; rather, it's a series of continuing conversations, says Nawaz. Using your memo as a guide, she recommends that "your early words should be something along the lines of: 'I am excited to be here and to make an impact. Here is the impact I've already made. I would like to have ongoing discussions with you about what it would take for me to get to the next level.'" Weintraub recommends "framing the conversation around excellence," while making your reasons for wanting a promotion clear. "There's that old adage that managers do things right and leaders do the right things," he says. "Tell your boss: 'I want make sure that what I'm doing is not just good, but excellent.'" Then ask: What can I do to make you confident that I'm ready for the next step? "Demonstrate your willingness to grow and learn," he says.

Nurture the seed
Once you've planted the seed, "nurture it over time," says Nawaz. She recommends asking your manager for feedback "not so often that it becomes an irritant, but, say, every month or every quarter." Be specific. If, for instance, your promotion involves more client-facing responsibilities, she suggests saying something like: "I've spent the past month talking with our key enterprise clients and here's what I've learned. What feedback do you have for me?" Another smart strategy, according to Weintraub, is to present your boss "with ideas of how you would spend your first 90 days on the job." "Show you've done your homework and that you're serious about" earning a promotion.

Don't be reckless
Using an outside offer to get a promotion can work—and often does. If nothing more, an outside job offer builds your confidence and gives you more information about your market worth. (This is particularly pertinent if your primary reason for wanting a promotion is financial.) But as a strategy to get your boss on your side, it comes with many risks. "Promotion by hostage is not a good way to win friends and influence people," says Weintraub. "People generally don't respond well to ultimatums." Nawaz echoes the sentiment. This tactic often has a "negative impact on relationships" and "artificially promotes people who are not ready to be promoted" in the first place, she says. "Be very careful about playing this card."

Be patient (to a point)
It would be great if your boss agreed to promote you on the spot, "but don't count on it happening," says Nawaz. Promotions rarely happen overnight, and you mustn't get discouraged if you don't immediately succeed. "Be realistic," she says. While you're waiting, "continue to do good work, sincerely look for ways to increase your impact, and elevate the level at which you operate." That said, do not ignore signs that things may not be going your way. "If you look around and see others getting promotions that you're not getting, talk to your boss," says Weintraub. "Say: 'Will you recommend me for a promotion when one becomes available?'" If you learn that you're "not on your manager's short list," then "think about whether you want to stay in your organization or look for a job elsewhere." The bright side: "At least you know."

Principles to Remember

Do:

Think about the position you want and how it aligns with the objectives of your organization and manager.
Prepare a memo that clearly outlines your proven track record and provides concrete metrics on the impact you've had.
Ask your boss for regular feedback and advice on how you can get to the next level.

Don't:

Assume that asking for a promotion is a one-and-done discussion. It is usually a series of ongoing conversations.
Play the "other offer" card recklessly. That tactic often has a negative impact on professional relationships.
Get discouraged if you don't get what you want right away. Be patient.

Case Study #1: Create a "resume of accomplishments" to bolster your argument
Earlier in her career, Gretchen Van Vlymen — who was then an HR manager at a company in Chicago — decided she was ready to ask her boss for a promotion.

Her first step was determining the role she wanted: "I looked at where there were gaps in the company that need to be filled," says Gretchen. "I knew that if I could connect my own career path to the company's overarching goals, it would make my promotion more compelling for upper management."

After a period of reflection, she zeroed in on a new role: VP of HR. The job would involve managing the HR team, and also recruiting and hiring for the company itself.

Before talking to her boss, Gretchen created a "resume of accomplishments," which included numerous examples that demonstrated how she'd mastered the responsibilities associated with her role and was ready for the next move. For example, she described how she revised the company's internal handbook by using skills she honed as a consultant and crowd-sourcing HR ideas from the team she already managed. (The handbook was rolled out company-wide.)

"I [wanted to showcase] ways in which I had added to the organization by going above and beyond what was required of my current job," she says. "I also wanted to show how those efforts affected the productivity of my team and department — and consequently the [company's] bottom line."

Gretchen also devised a "game plan" for how her team would manage should her promotion be granted. "I made a list of duties that I could easily transition to the team members I had trained," she says.

She then set up a meeting to talk to her boss. "I was clear and concise while outlining the prep from my 'resume,'" she says.

Gretchen made sure to say she was "realistic about timing" for the move. And, indeed, her boss didn't say yes right away. In fact, he had some specific concerns. "He posed tough questions about how I could make time for new responsibilities when my plate was already full," she says.

She left the meeting with a promise from that he would revisit the issue over the coming months. "In the meantime, he challenged me with several short-term goals."

Gretchen was successful. She received her promotion and today she is the VP of HR at Stratex, an HR services company.

Case Study #2: Ask at the right time and request specific feedback
Tom Gimbel, the founder & CEO of LaSalle Network, a staffing and recruiting firm headquartered in Chicago, has requested — and granted — many promotions over the course of his career. "The biggest lesson I've learned is that no one is going to hold your hand," he says. "You have to own your career."

Years ago, when he was a salesperson at a David Green Associates, he decided to ask his manager for a promotion. The timing was right: He had just finished a stellar year of sales. "I was not only hitting but exceeding my metrics and what was expected of me," he recalls.

But before talking to his boss, Tom did some homework on the role that he wanted: national sales manager. "I spent a lot of time understanding what this job entailed and how the people who had those titles accomplished their goals."

When it came time to make his request, Tom was blunt. "I had already built a relationship with my boss because I knew that a strong relationship would lead to more opportunities," he says. "I told him I was ready for more. I asked where I stood, and where I could improve."

His boss agreed to think about granting the promotion. And Tom made sure to follow up regularly. "I asked what I could do to make him even more happy with my performance. I wanted the feedback," he says. "I also offered to help. Any chance I got, I raised my hand."

Three months after he initially asked for it, Tom got the position he wanted.

His advice for others seeking advancement? "Ask for what you want and work hard to get yourself there. But remember, the moment you ask for a promotion, be prepared to do more work."

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You May Be a Workaholic If

2018-04-11T20:41:00.001-05:00

You May Be a Workaholic If

https://hbr.org/ideacast/2018/04/you-may-be-a-workaholic-if

You May Be a Workaholic If

Nancy Rothbard, a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, draws a distinction between workaholism and working long hours. She explains the health consequences of being addicted to your work. She also gives practical advice for managing work addiction, whether it's you who's suffering, your direct report, boss, peer, or partner. Rothbard is the coauthor of the HBR article "How Being a Workaholic Differs from Working Long Hours — and Why That Matters for Your Health."

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast, from Harvard Business Review. I'm Sarah Green Carmichael.

Have you ever wondered if you're a workaholic?

Researchers at the University of Bergen came up with a test to help you figure that out. It's called the Bergen Work Addiction Scale.

The way it works is, you react to seven statements. And if you say that you often or always do at least four of these things, then you might be a workaholic. So, I'm going to read the seven statements, and just keep track of how many times you're saying, oh, I often do that or I always do that. I will keep note as I go along, too. And then we can see how we compare.

No. 1, you think of how you can free up more time to work. No. 2, you spend much more time working than initially intended. No. 3, You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and depression. No. 4, you have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them. No. 5, you become stressed if you are prohibited from working. No. 6, you deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise because of your work. No. 7, you work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.

So, for me, I scored "often" or "always" on four of those. How did you do? Well, if you, like me, got four or more, the researchers say you might be a workaholic.

Now, you, like me, might have noticed what's not on that list: the number of hours you work. Because, as it turns out, working long hours and being a workaholic are not the same thing.

And our guest today is here to talk about the difference, as well as the health problems that come with work addiction — and how even if you're only working 40 hours a week, you might still have a problem.

Nancy Rothbard is a management professor at The Wharton School who has studied workaholic tendencies.

Nancy, thank you for talking with us today.

NANCY ROTHBARD: Thank you Sarah. It's a pleasure to be with you.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, I thought we could just start by maybe illustrating how being a workaholic is different from, say, working long hours. So, first just give us an example of the typical work week of someone who works long hours.

NANCY ROTHBARD: Bascially, long hours are 50 hours a week or more. So, there are some people who work a lot but they can turn off. They might even work once they get home, but if something is demanding their attention at home or if they, you know, need to go to the gym or they want to hang out with friends, they're able to do that without ruminating on their work.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: How is workaholism different? What is that person's typical week look like?

NANCY ROTHBARD: So, I think that what's really important in terms of the distinction between working long hours and workaholism is that working long hours is a behavioral aspect of extreme hours at work, you know, spending a lot of time at work.

Workaholism is really a more cognitive aspect of that. It's our attitude towards our work: how we think about our work, whether we dwell on it, whether we feel guilty when we're not working. When you're a workaholic, the work really looms large in your mind, and it can be really difficult to turn it off, even when you're not actually working. Actually, I think that what's also really important to note is that there's a strong correlation between working long hours and being a workaholic. So, I mean, you can be a workaholic without working long hours, but typically if you're a workaholic, you are also working long hours.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, what are some of the sort of signs that you might be a workaholic, even if you're not working long hours? Are there sort of red flags that people should notice or questions they should ask themselves?

NANCY ROTHBARD: Sure. The questions you might want to ask yourself, and these are the questions that we asked in our study: I find myself continuing to work after my coworkers have called it quits. I feel guilty when I'm not working on something, or I put myself under pressure with a lot of self-imposed deadlines when I work. Those are the kinds of things that a workaholic will answer strongly agree to; yes, I always do that. Whereas, if you're not a workaholic, you might work long hours, but you might not be feeling guilty when you're not working on something or you might not, you know, self imposing deadlines or putting pressure on yourself. You might be working long hours because that's what's required of you.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Mhm. Yeah. I think that the point about feeling guilty when you're not working, that's one that sounds pretty familiar. What do you think causes that?

NANCY ROTHBARD: So, there's a lot of thought about where that comes from and you know, some of it is that there's a personality aspect to that, and some of it is that people start to develop patterns of behavior. Some of that may be because the environments that they're in, the organizations that they're in, kind of foster that feeling that you should always be on, that you should always be working really hard and thinking about the organization. And you know, some people will really buy into that, and some people will resist that, you know, that expectation.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Mhm. If this sounds like a portrait of yourself, you know, what should you be worried about in terms of how it might be affecting your health?

NANCY ROTHBARD: So we actually found a really interesting pattern, which is that workaholism was related to risk of metabolic syndrome. And risk of metabolic syndrome is basically a suite of a cardiovascular diseases. What was really interesting about that is that it was only the case for a certain subset of workaholics. It wasn't the case for all workaholics. And it wasn't related to working long hours alone. Now, as I said earlier, working long hours is related to being a workaholic. So, those two often go hand in hand. But if you work long hours and you're not a workaholic, you seem to have a buffer against some of these negative health consequences.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, this is a topic that I am super intrigued by in part because this is something I really struggle with. So, we are talking on a Monday, and on Saturday this weekend I could not stop thinking about work. And it was a beautiful day, and I just kept saying to myself like, why — you're basically in the office right now in your mind. And then Sunday I woke up, and, like, it was fine. Didn't think about work at all. And like to me it's because I don't understand sort of what my brain is doing there, I find it difficult because of course I would have rather had both Saturday and Sunday not thinking about work, but in the end I only got 50 percent of my weekend it feels like. So, why does sometimes the brain gets stuck in those loops, and is there anything we can do to, to stop it?

NANCY ROTHBARD: I mean, that's — I think that's a great illustration and, and I think that what that suggests is the fact that you were able to stop on Sunday is a good sign. Because a person who's a workaholic would have a lot of trouble stopping ruminating even on Sunday. Right. And so, I think it's really normal and natural that sometimes we're ruminating about our work. Maybe there's some stressor that we should be paying attention to. Or, you know, sometimes we're thinking about our work because we like it and it's interesting to us, and that's not a problem either, actually, because if it's something that gives us joy and something that we enjoy doing, that can also be an opportunity for recovery. It doesn't have to be draining to us.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What about if you are really having trouble with the kind of cognitive boundaries in place? You know, you continue to have these unwanted thoughts about your work sort of throughout the weekend or into the evening. Do you have any advice for someone who struggles with that?

NANCY ROTHBARD: I think that that's a great question because we all struggle with that, of course, in various forums. One thing that is really important for managing the cognitive boundaries is that you want to sometimes actively engage in something else. If you're leaving a lot of blank space, the obsessive thoughts about work are going to be filling up that space. Whereas if you're doing another activity, you're engaging with friends or family, you're going to the gym, you're actively doing something that is filling that space. That provides an opportunity for recovery.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, I have heard some people say, well, I'm a workaholic, but I love my job. Are those people just kidding themselves, or are they actually in a healthier place?

NANCY ROTHBARD: Well, actually that's, that's exactly what we found in the study, which is there are people who are workaholics; they are really obsessed about their work; they think about it all the time, but they also love what they do. And we actually found in our study that those people were also actually had a lower risk of metabolic syndrome, just like the people who weren't workaholics at all. And so that engagement with the work allowed them to really recover as well and to not be as drained from the more obsessive aspect of being a workaholic.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: I'm wondering if the problem of workaholism is something that you think is getting worse over time as our technology and devices make it more possible for us to be always connected to work and in a way it seems like it should make it be less stressful because you know, we can kind of leave the office and not worry about whether we finished everything or if we're unavailable. But in some ways it just means that our offices are always with us all the time. And I'm just wondering, you know, if you think that that constant connectivity is having a positive effect or a negative one.

NANCY ROTHBARD: I mean, I think that's a fascinating question. I've been wondering about that same question for many years now, and I've done some other research on that as well. But what I would say is that I think that technology allows us greater connectivity as you say, and that can be a positive and a negative and I think that what it is doing from a workaholism perspective is it's enabling workaholics to stay connected and to continue to obsess, and it makes it harder for them to disconnect. However, I think that for people who are engaged and are, you know, have, have a lot of positive feeling about their work but who are also workaholics, that may allow them to stay connected in positive ways and not be worried.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: If engagement can help us buffer against workaholism and the negative effects of workaholism, I'm wondering if there's a way in which specifically we should focus on that. Because in some ways being highly engaged in your work and a lot of meaning and purpose in it, in some ways might be heightening your workaholism if you think it becomes really wrapped up in your sense of self and identity. I could see it having a negative impact, too. So, how do we make sure that we are engaging in the right way so that it makes us feel good about our work and not like if we mess up, we're messing up our whole lives?

NANCY ROTHBARD: So, that's a great question. I mean I think that one of the worries we often have when we think about engagement is, is that, as you say, is it making workaholism worse? But actually what we find is that it really doesn't. Couple of things I think are really interesting. So we, we did some comparisons in our study between nonengaged workaholics and engaged workaholics as well, as well looking at just engaged employees who are not workaholics and then people who are not engaged and are not workaholics at all. When we looked at them, we were able to look at what was different in terms of the ways that they approach their work or the ways that they experienced their work and also their non-work lives. And so, what we found was at work, people who are engaged, workaholics, we're really similar to engage employees in that they had more personal resources that they reported, so they reported having better time-management skills. They reported having better communication skills and communicating with other people in more effective ways. They reported having more intrinsic motivation in terms of their jobs, so they found their job more interesting. And so, being engaged really allowed workaholics to mimic these engaged employees in these very positive ways, and they had more of these resources than the non engaged workaholics and the non-engaged non-workaholics.

They also reported having more autonomy, more coworker support, and better supervisor support. So, it's possible that what was allowing these engaged workaholics to approach their work with a more positive attitude was they felt more supported at work by other people. So, that's something from a practical standpoint that we can think about doing in the workplace as managers.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What if someone listening to this has recognized, not themselves, but maybe someone that they care about in this description. So you are a manager, and you've noticed one of your employees maybe falls into the category of work, obsessive workaholic, or you're listening and you think, gosh, that describes my spouse. Is there anything that you can do as a bystander to help someone that you care about get better at this stuff?

NANCY ROTHBARD: Yeah, I mean I think that there a couple of things. You know as a, as a manager, if you recognize that somebody is not really turning off and seems to be burning out as a result, that's not going to be good for you. Right? And so you don't want that person to get into a really bad pattern. And so trying to offer supports to them, trying to offer them opportunities to turn off, maybe not sending them the email at 11:00 PM might be a good start.

As a family member, offering ways to connect with them is really critical: ways that are engaging, ways to get them off their phone or get them out of the house and doing something active with you or with other members of the family or with friends, you know, those kinds of opportunities. Building opportunities to engage with other people can be a really effective strategy as a family member who cares about somebody who seems to be obsessing, but also to recognize that not all obsession is equal, right? If somebody is obsessing and they're really enjoying what they're doing to pull them away from that might not be what that person wants or needs.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Say more about that.

NANCY ROTHBARD: Well, so I think that for people who are, you know, thinking about their work and they're just, they're getting fired up about it and they're really excited about it to say, you know what, stop thinking about that right now; you know, we need to do something else — that could be really frustrating to that person over time. Right? And so again, you can do that sometimes, but if it's not having a deleterious effect on them, then it's only a problem. If it's having a negative effect on your relationship and that may be and if that's the case, you need to act on that, but that's another story.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Yeah, so, so switching gears and going back to the manager example, you're a manager and you have an employee — you are lucky enough to have an employee who is super enthusiastic about the job, who has a huge capacity for work, and they're always kind of taking on more projects at the same time. They're taking on more than they can reasonably handle, and you want to kind of protect them from ultimately burning out, or you want to create a company culture where people aren't working that long, and you kind of realize if one person's doing it, other people are going to start to feel like they have to do it. Is there a way that you can get that employee to back off without sending a message that is ultimately a negative or demotivating one?

NANCY ROTHBARD: I think that's a great question and it's one that is really hard to manage because most people, if they've got somebody who's enthusiastic and who's doing a lot and is willing to do more, you know, they, they jump on that person. They're like, yes, that's, you know, that's the ideal worker and they are very excited about it. And so, you know, being able to be vigilant enough as a manager that, that could have long-term consequences both in terms of the culture but also potentially for that person is really is the, is a very self-aware manager. Um, but I actually think that the bigger issue from what we have found is that for that person, they might be OK personally because they're enthusiastic and they're loving it. But if it creates a culture where there's a larger expectation that everybody is working, that's more of a problem quite frankly because not everybody might be engaged and they might just get the expectation to work long hours rather than the enthusiasm and excitement about doing so.

And so then that creates an atmosphere where workaholism may be more of a problem culturally in the group. And so for a manager to think about, how do you forestall that, I think that starting with yourself as an example is really important. So, showing that you can shut off at times, showing that you take weekends, showing that you're, you know, willing to put the out of office on your email and not respond immediately when somebody emails you. I think that's a really important signal culturally for other people in the organization that it's OK to do that because people will pay a lot of attention to those signals from their boss. And so that's step number one. Step number two is thinking about providing opportunities for people to, you know, take flexible time to, to be able to shut off when they need to and to reward that and encourage it when people ask. And to do that very visibly and publicly. So that it, again, you don't have the cultural problem that can be more of an issue.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Are these things that as a manager you can and should be trying to do, even if you're the enthusiastic workaholic, you know, you have this huge appetite for work, but you realize that if you're sending emails at 11:00 PM, just because you're so excited about the project, that might send a weird signal to your employees. Like, are there things you as a manager can do to protect other people from your workaholism?

NANCY ROTHBARD: I think that's a great practice, actually. So, even if you yourself are a workaholic, you know, send that email and put it on delay so that it gets sent at 7:00 AM or 6:30 AM, not at 11. Right? So that, you know, people don't feel like there's this pressure hanging over them.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What can you do if there's someone that you're working with or working for who just will not stop kind of handing you stuff at 5:00 PM on a Friday and saying, oh, you know, you can read this over the weekend or emailing you late at night and then first thing in the morning being like, oh, did you get my email? Are there things you can do to protect yourself?

NANCY ROTHBARD: I mean, that can be really hard if it's your boss because there are very strong expectations that we're responsive to our bosses. Right? Which is why I think there's more onus on a boss to be vigilant about that and about the effects that — the inadvertent effects that they might be having on other people. I mean, if you are an employee who was a good relationship with your boss, you could have a conversation with them where you say, look, I'm an early morning person. I go to sleep early. I get up early, so when I don't respond at 11, I'm asleep, but I'll be on it right first thing in the morning. Don't worry. I think you could say something like that, but again, it depends on the quality of the relationship you have with your boss and how your boss is known for receiving that kind of information.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What if it's a peer? Because I have occasionally worked with some people who will — they work all the time, and then they kind of expect that you also were working all the time, and that can be difficult to kind of try to set a boundary with someone who's not the boss of you, but who has these expectations that you don't share.

NANCY ROTHBARD: That's actually where you have a lot more autonomy and leverage is with your peers. Because as you say, we all have different working styles, and a lot of times they may not be aware that there are kind of putting that style onto you and that it's a burden to you. So, I think having that conversation with a peer in a respectful way can be very effective. So, talking to them and saying, look, I get it that you're enthusiastic. I am too, but I just have a different way of working and I have a different working style and I promise you I'll be on top of it, but we got, we got to work something out that's going to work for the both of us.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Well, Nancy, I think this has just been a really helpful conversation. I know it's helped me. I hope it's helped some of our listeners, too. Thank you so much for talking with us today.

NANCY ROTHBARD: Thanks Sarah.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: That's Nancy Rothbard. She is a management professor at The Wharton School. And she's the coauthor of the HBR article "How Being a Workaholic Differs from Working Long Hours — and Why That Matters for Your Health."

Thanks for listening to the HBR IdeaCast. I'm Sarah Green Carmichael.

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Aurora Station será el primer hotel de lujo en el espacio

2018-04-07T09:56:00.001-05:00

Aurora Station será el primer hotel de lujo en el espacio | Digital Trends Español

https://es.digitaltrends.com/tendencias/hotel-espacio-aurora-station/

Aurora Station será el primer hotel de lujo en el espacio

Orion Span

Desde tiempos inmemoriales, el espacio y sus misterios han apasionado a miles de millones de personas y civilizaciones, que se preguntan qué habrá más allá de lo que nuestros ojos pueden ver y lo que nuestros telescopios pueden mostrar. Y muchos sueñan con poder experimentar qué se siente estar por fuera de la tierra.

Pues bien, ya no tendrás que ser un astronauta para experimentarlo. Resulta que ahora una Start up Orion Span basada en San José, California ha anunciado que creará un hotel espacial.

Sería el primer hotel en el espacio y su nombre será Aurora Station. El anuncio fue hecho durante la conferencia Space 2.0.

A bordo de Aurora, los turistas podrán flotar en gravedad cero y ver varios amaneceres y atardeceres en un solo día.

Según el CEO de la empresa, Frank Bunger, los primeros clientes podrán visitar Aurora a partir del 2022. Pero no creas que te saldrá barata la ida y que podrás ir al espacio sin ningún tipo de preparación, que te dará un certificado de astronauta por parte de Orion Span.

Además de estar en el espacio, Aurora será un lujoso hotel. Eso, además del simple hechode viajar al espacio, justifica el enorme precio de $10 millones de dólares por paseo. Para hacer tus reservas, debes dirigirte a su sitio web y hacer un depósito de $80,000 dólares.

Además, si tienes el dinero y quieres viajar, deberás saber que debes someterte a un régimen de 3 meses en preparación para el viaje, aunque una parte puede ser completada online.

Estarás a bordo de Aurora durante 12 días, y podrás ver 16 amaneceres y atardeceres, ya que el hotel hace órbita a la tierra cada 90 minutos, 200 millas por encima de la superficie de la tierra. Otras actividades incluyen hacer experimentos con el fin de ayudar las investigaciones para intentar establecer colonias en Marte o la luna, como por ejemplo, intentar sembrar plantas.

Además, podrás compartir tu experiencia con tus seres queridos que quedan en la tierra de forma instantánea ya que tendrás acceso a internet de alta velocidad.

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Conocimiento e Ignorancia

2018-04-05T07:33:00.000-05:00

Daría todo lo que sé, por la mitad de lo que ignoro.

René Descartes.

How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary

2018-04-02T22:08:00.001-05:00

How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/310605

How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary

Everyone has the potential, but the habits necessary are adopted only by the few. Will you be one of them?

Image credit: Alex de Mora | Getty Images

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Elon Musk has been quoted as saying, "I think it's possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary." Now, whether you view him as the real-life Tony Stark, most of us view him as an exception among the humble stock of this planet. But even Elon Iron-Man Musk believes that any ordinary person -- you included -- can become extraordinary.

As someone who was far below average, I had to scratch and claw just to reach mediocrity. But by that point I had put so much effort in that I figured, "Why not just go all the way?" So I improved my skills as a writer and coach with a goal of never-stopping, and I succeeded in making an excellent living doing what I loved most.

I like to call this process extraordinification. And if you'll stick with me for an article, I'll teach you it to you. Spoiler alert: You definitely won't turn into Musk/Stark, and you probably won't amass a hundredth of his fortune. But that's not the point. The point is to maximize your God-given talents to create an extraordinary impact in the ways that only you can. This might involve millions of dollars; it might not. But it will lead to the happiest and most significant version of you possible.

Phase 1: Choose extraordinary thoughts.

People who set themselves to changing the world and making the most of their talents are not different than you -- they just cancel ordinary thoughts. Extraordinary living starts with a simple shift in mindset.

Every person on Earth has thoughts like these, I'm not good enough, or I'll never make it, or I can't do it. But people who behave in extraordinary ways separate themselves by the wholesale rejection of negative thinking. When negative thought comes in...Bam! They call it out as disempowering BS and revert to extraordinary thinking. Thoughts like, I can, and Life is good, and I am extraordinary and capable of accomplishing whatever I set my mind to, become normal if you initiate phase one of extraordinification.

Start early.

You can force yourself into the most useful and extraordinary thoughts possible by making a morning routine of these mantras and affirmations: I am and always will be good enough. Or, I am making the most of my talents today and giving my absolute best effort today. Or, I can do whatever I want and be whoever I want if I believe in myself and support myself with positive thoughts.

If you repeat these mantras to yourself as soon as you wake (literally, the moment you regain consciousness), you will not only flood yourself with the confidence and positivity you need to do extraordinary things but you'll also automatically wall off all the negative thinking that used to make you ordinary. Shoot for five to ten minutes. And it's helpful to write out a list of 40 affirmations that you need most.

So you must stick with a morning routine involving some kind of focused, positive thinking. Non-negotiable. But to ensure that you stick with extraordinary thoughts throughout the day, you have to remind yourself to choose positive thoughts all day.

Plan for self-encouragement.

I've found the most effective way to do this is to plan out 10 checkboxes every day next to this goal: Encourage yourself. Dead simple, right?

As you accomplish your tasks throughout the day, all you have to do is flip open your blank-sketchbook-turned daily-planner and applaud yourself for your efforts. Anytime you're aware of blank encouragement boxes that need to be filled, you repeat your extraordinary mantras and affirmations.

Keep this habit up for a week and life will be incredible. One month and it'll be unbelievable. One year? You and your life will be extraordinary. I promise. You'll notice extraordinary improvements after just one day.

Phase 2: Do extraordinary things.

More than 95 percent of people won't persevere in their commitments -- whether those are for health, career, relationships or whatever. They'll always find some excuse to take the easy way out. And, even more universally, they lack the daily plan and reminders to actually do what they set out after. So if you do positive things consistently, and you plan for those things daily, then you're automatically extraordinary.

This won't be a problem for you, if you've adopted the habit of extraordinary thinking. You'll have the self-confidence to keep grinding even when things look bleak. And, if you start the habit of planning your self-encouragement, you'll be all set to plan out the concrete actions you need to excel in every other area of life: in your career, in your personal life, and in your health and fitness.

After your morning routine of extraordinary thinking, take ten minutes to plan out the physical actions for an extraordinary day. The best way I've learned how to do this is to decide what five-to-eight goals you can accomplish just for this day -- work, fun, learning, etc. Top five goals go on top; the rest go on the bottom of the page. In the middle, you'll write daily recurring goals: things like meditation, self-encouragement, reading, etc.

Advanced planning.

To expedite this process, and to make sure you're not scratching your head for extraordinary things to do each morning, you'll want to reflect on a weekly planning sheet every morning. All you have to do is spend 10-20 minutes every Sunday drafting out a full page for the next seven days: career, health/fitness, fun/self-love, self-improvement and giving. Having these prebuilt goals and habits will make selecting your most relevant goals in the morning a breeze.

If you want to make the most of your weekly and daily planner, you'll take an hour to sit down and define your goals for the entire year, just as above: Career, fun/self-love, health/fitness, self-improvement, and giving goals. This way you're always reminded of your extraordinary, bigger-picture goals when you're creating weekly and daily action steps.

The idea is to keep your daily planner with you all throughout the day and to refer to it whenever you need direction -- which, unless you're in the middle of working on a project, will be all day. Plan out enough goals and habits so that every minute of your day will be occupied with extraordinary thoughts and actions. To quote the founder of Ikea, "Life is broken up in to ten minute chunks. Waste as few of them as possible." As a corollary, plan for as many extraordinary ten minute chunks as possible!

Phase 3: Surround yourself with extraordinary people.

If there's one habit that all extraordinary-acting people have in common, it's that they surround themselves exclusively with extraordinary-acting people -- which means that they also reject negative company. And if you want to irreversibly cement your process of extraordinification, you'll do the same. Practically speaking, it's pretty damn simple.

All you have to do is draw up a list of the people you're around most -- friends, family, coworkers, etc. Then create another page and divide it vertically, labeling the left side Uppers, and the right side as Downers. People who practice positive thinking and extraordinary living go in the left, and people who don't go in the right.

Then review the list, and plan on spending much more time with the former, and much, much, muuuuuch less with the latter. In some cases, not most, you'll even realize that x, y or z person is so toxic that they don't even deserve a spot in your life. (I've done that with three people total, and my life is immeasurably better for it.) As for the rest of the people in the right-hand column of your list, you'll just commit to not seeing them as frequently, and to spending less time with them when they are around. This will involve saying "No" more frequently, and having stronger boundaries in general, which can be planned for in your daily planner.

Seek out extraordinary connections.

You'll especially want to single out inspiring and successful people/entrepreneurs to connect with in your area in order to purposefully increase your sphere of extraordinary influences. Coincidentally, that step is how this article came into existence.

I'd read an article last year about the importance of proactive networking, and it hit me hard. That had been one thing I had not worked at, and I wasn't growing as fast as I could because of it. So I thought of the most successful person in my town, and I messaged him. Andy Lim, founder of the international iPad POS system of restaurants called Lavu and founder/CEO of proximity-based, event software company Addmi, is the definition of extraordinary.

I offered to buy him a few beers and chat about his latest business, which just hit an extraordinary growth curve, so I could write an article about it. It was during our conversation that Lim talked about success and about how Elon Musk thought that even ordinary people can be extraordinary. I never would have thought of that topic, let alone written about it, if I hadn't proactively sought extraordinary people in my community like Lim.

So, if you want a logarithmic growth curve of extraordinary thinking and behavior, don't forget to plan on brushing elbows with the most extraordinary people you can. It can help to have something valuable to offer, like an interview for an article.

It's a choice, and you make it anyway.

If you've read through this whole article, you've spent about fifteen minutes focusing on one thing; which, in today's gnat-brained culture, is extraordinary. You're extraordinary. But if you really want to embody that extraordinary reality, to light up the experiences and lives of others, you've got to go a step beyond.

I want you to go back through this article with either a pen and pad or a notes-app handy and start writing down these action steps in detail. Then make a plan for committing to them: like going out and purchasing a blank-paged hard-backed sketchbook for your daily planner, and actually doing your first yearly and weekly planner. After you've committed to this process for a year, I promise that you will never, ever envy anybody else like Musk for the life they have and the one you don't. Because you'll already be extraordinary, just out of habit.

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The Most Common Type of Incompetent Leader

2018-03-31T13:36:00.001-06:00

The Most Common Type of Incompetent Leader

https://hbr.org/2018/03/the-most-common-type-of-incompetent-leader

The Most Common Type of Incompetent Leader

Jakub Domerecki/EyeEm/Getty Images

A young friend recently remarked that the worst boss he ever had would provide him with feedback that always consisted of "You're doing a great job." But they both knew it wasn't true — the organization was in disarray, turnover was excessive, and customers were not happy. My friend was giving it his all, but he needed more support and better feedback than he received. He wanted a leader who would be around when he needed them, and who would give him substantive advice, not platitudes. As a measure of his frustration, he said, "I would rather have had a boss who yelled at me or made unrealistic demands than this one, who provided empty praise."

Researchers have studied managerial derailment — or the dark side of leadership — for many years. The key derailment characteristics of bad managers are well documented and fall into three broad behavioral categories: (1) "moving away behaviors," which create distance from others through hyper-emotionality, diminished communication, and skepticism that erodes trust; (2) "moving against behaviors," which overpower and manipulate people while aggrandizing the self; and (3) "moving toward behaviors," which include being ingratiating, overly conforming, and reluctant to take chances or stand up for one's team. The popular media is full of examples of bad leaders in government, academia, and business with these characteristics. However, my friend was describing something arguably worse than an incompetent boss. His manager was not overtly misbehaving, nor was he a ranting, narcissistic sociopath. Rather, his boss was a leader in title only — his role was leadership, but he provided none. My friend was experiencing absentee leadership, and unfortunately, he is not alone. Absentee leadership rarely comes up in today's leadership or business literature, but research shows that it is the most common form of incompetent leadership.

Absentee leaders are people in leadership roles who are psychologically absent from them. They were promoted into management, and enjoy the privileges and rewards of a leadership role, but avoid meaningful involvement with their teams. Absentee leadership resembles the concept of rent-seeking in economics — taking value out of an organization without putting value in. As such, they represent a special case of laissez-faire leadership, but one that is distinguished by its destructiveness.

You and Your Team Series

Emotional Intelligence

Self-Awareness Can Help Leaders More Than an MBA Can

Having a boss who lets you do as you please may sound ideal, especially if you are being bullied and micromanaged by your current boss. However, a 2015 survey of 1,000 working adults showed that eight of the top nine complaints about leaders concerned behaviors that were absent; employees were most concerned about what their bosses didn't do. Clearly, from the employee's perspective, absentee leadership is a significant problem, and it is even more troublesome than other, more overt forms of bad leadership.

Research shows that being ignored by one's boss is more alienating than being treated poorly. The impact of absentee leadership on job satisfaction outlasts the impact of both constructive and overtly destructive forms of leadership. Constructive leadership immediately improves job satisfaction, but the effects dwindle quickly. Destructive leadership immediately degrades job satisfaction, but the effects dissipate after about six months. In contrast, the impact of absentee leadership takes longer to appear, but it degrades subordinates' job satisfaction for at least two years. It also is related to a number of other negative outcomes for employees, like role ambiguity, health complaints, and increased bullying from team members. Absentee leadership creates employee stress, which can lead to poor employee health outcomes and talent drain, which then impact an organization's bottom line.

If absentee leadership is so destructive, why don't we read more about it in the business literature? Consider a story I recently heard about the dean of a well-known law school: Two senior, well-regarded faculty members called the provost to complain about their dean because, they said, he wouldn't do anything. The provost responded by saying that he had a dean who was a drunk, a dean who was accused of sexual harassment, and a dean who was accused of misusing funds, but the law school dean never caused him any problems. So, the provost said, the faculty members would just have to deal with their dean.

Like the provost in this example, many organizations don't confront absentee leaders because they have other managers whose behavior is more overtly destructive. Because absentee leaders don't actively make trouble, their negative impact on organizations can be difficult to detect, and when it is detected, it often is considered a low-priority problem. Thus, absentee leaders are often silent organization killers. Left unchecked, absentee leaders clog an organization's succession arteries, blocking potentially more effective people from moving into important roles while adding little to productivity. Absentee leaders rarely engage in unforgivable bouts of bad behavior, and are rarely the subject of ethics investigations resulting from employee hotline calls. As a result, their negative effect on organizations accumulates over time, largely unchecked.

If your organization is one of the relatively few with effective selection and promotion methods in place, then it may be able to identify effective and destructive leaders. Even if your organization isn't great at talent identification, both types of leaders are easy to spot once they are on the job. They also produce predictable organizational outcomes: Constructive leadership creates high engagement and productivity, while destructive leadership kills engagement and productivity. The chances are good, however, that your organization is unaware of its absentee leaders, because they specialize in flying under the radar by not doing anything that attracts attention. Nonetheless, the adhesiveness of their negative impact may be slowly harming the company.

The war for leadership talent is real, and organizations with the best leaders will win. Reviewing your organization's management positions for absentee leaders and doing something about them can improve your talent management arsenal. It's likely that your competitors are overlooking this issue or choosing not to do anything about it, like the university provost. Doing nothing about absentee leaders is easy. Just ask any absentee leader.

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Por qué debemos decir a las personas qué hacen mal en su trabajo (y cómo hacerlo)

2018-03-14T08:24:00.001-06:00

https://www.lainformacion.com/management/por-que-debemos-decir-a-las-personas-que-hacen-mal-en-su-trabajo-y-como-hacerlo/6343784

Felicitar a un empleado por un buen trabajo es necesario, y relativamente sencillo, pero también es importante saber dar y recibir críticas negativas.

Para lograr una cultura empresarial saludable, que permita a los trabajadores mejorar, hacer carrera y llevar a la compañía por el buen camino, es imprescindible que exista una correcta retroalimentación entre todos los niveles jerárquicos.

Felicitar a un empleado por un buen trabajo es necesario, y relativamente sencillo, pero también es importante saber dar y recibir comentarios negativos, y esto es más complicado, sobre todo cuando las críticas funcionan en ambas direcciones.

Un estudio publicado en la revista Science, apuntaba que la retroalimentación negativa se puede experimentar como una forma de rechazo social. En demasiadas ocasiones cuando alguien critica nuestro trabajo nos creemos, sencillamente, que nos están diciendo que somos unos paquetes y que si no nos ponemos las pilas vamos a acabar de patitas en la calle. Y este rechazo duele emocional y físicamente. Muy pocos dirigentes quieren dañar a sus subordinados, y menos aún están dispuestos a arriesgarse a que estos tengan un arrebato emocional o pierdan el compromiso. Así que, aunque alguien haga algo mal, prefieren callares. Error.

Cuando las personas no reciben criticas útiles no pueden mejorar. No hay nada peor que una empresa en la que no se tratan de mejorar los procedimientos, se da por hecho que todo lo heredado es correcto y que todo el mundo hace bien su trabajo. La crítica constructiva es indispensable para que una organización funcione en el tiempo. Además, pese a lo que pudiéramos pensar, las personas generalmente sí agradecen las críticas negativas, siempre que estas sean correctas.

Pero ¿cómo criticar a alguien sin que este se lo tome mal?

Construyendo una cultura de la crítica

Normalmente, encontramos dos extremos de empresas. Tenemos organizaciones jerárquicas y autoritarias, donde sí hay feedback negativo, pero del tipo que hace a los empleados sentirse menospreciados, pues no suele ser empático ni, en muchas ocasiones justo. Por otro lado, tenemos las organizaciones más participativas, donde todo el mundo se trata con respecto, pero no existe ningún tipo de feedback, precisamente por el miedo de los directivos a romper este clima positivo, que tanto cuesta crear.

En general, todas las empresas tienen un poco de los dos extremos y la virtud reside en lograr un clima positivo y de respeto en el que nadie se sienta herido por recibir críticas negativas. Para lograr una cultura empresarial abierta a la crítica es importante seguir estos tres consejos:

1. Sé el primero en hacer comentarios negativos

Si quieres que en tu empresa se puede hablar libremente de lo que se está haciendo mal señala primero los errores que tú has cometido. "Cuando las personas evitan dar retroalimentación constructiva, a menudo es porque temen herir tus sentimientos", explica el profesor de negocios Adam Grant. "Pero si te oyen hablar sobre lo que hiciste mal, el miedo desaparece".

Prueba a hacer un comentario sobre algo que haya salido mal por tu culpa y pide consejo para hacerlo mejor. Si haces esto repetidamente, sobre todo si estás en una posición de liderazgo, irás generando una cultura donde se pueda hablar libremente de estos asuntos sin que nadie se lo tome a pecho.

2. Deja claro que las críticas negativas sirven para aprender

Si tus colegas, jefes o clientes son reticentes a ofrecer una retroalimentación negativa, pregúntales directamente qué puedes aprender de ellos. Como explica Deborah Grayson Riegel, directora de The Boda Group en Harvard Business Review, esto le da a la otra persona la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre sus propios talentos y habilidades (lo que hace que la mayoría de la gente se sienta bien), y compartir sus ideas sobre dónde podrían ayudarte a crecer, en un contexto no amenazante. En definitiva, los anima a hacer comentarios negativos, sin pensar que lo están haciendo.

3. No permitas que se hagan críticas no constructivas

Construir una cultura en el que exista un feedback negativo constructivo es tan difícil como fácil es echar todos tus esfuerzos por tierra con un par de críticas desafortunadas. No permitas, en ningún caso, que las críticas vayan a lo personal o sean hirientes. Para ello es importante que toda la retroalimentación negativa se comparta en frío, de forma calmada, y no en el mismo momento en el que algo se haga mal.

"El aumento de la franqueza y la retroalimentación no nos da a ninguno de nosotros la licencia para decir lo que queramos, como queramos, siempre que queramos", explica Jennifer Porter, en otro artículo deHarvard Business Review. "No se trata de desahogarnos. La intención de crear una cultura de franqueza y retroalimentación es ayudar a otras personas a desarrollarse y ser más eficaces o ayudar a que una conversación, decisión o grupo sea más productivo".

¿Los líderes nacen o se hacen? Experimentado CEO tiene una teoría

2018-03-09T09:10:00.001-06:00

https://gestion.pe/economia/management-empleo/linkedin-lideres-nacen-experimentado-ceo-teoria-228820
Jack Welch, gurú mundial del management, escribe en este artículo de LinkedIn las cinco cualidades que definen a un lider, algunas de ellas pueden ser desarrolladas, otras no tanto. Aquí sus consejos.

Para algunas personas, la pregunta de si los líderes nacen o se hacen es verdaderamente intelectual: tema para un buen debate en el aula o la cena. Pero para las personas en puestos gerenciales que deben contratar, promover y despedir gente, la pregunta "¿quién tiene las cualidades para dirigir?" definitivamente tiene más importancia.

Acertar en la respuesta puede impulsar la cultura y rendimiento de una organización a nuevos niveles. Equivocarse también tendrá un impacto, pero negativo.

Entonces, ¿cuál es la respuesta? Ya que estamos hablando de la vida real, obviamente no es ni clara ni simple. Los hechos son que algunos rasgos de liderazgo son innatos, y tienen un enorme significado y relevancia. Por otro lado, se pueden desarrollar dos rasgos clave de liderazgo con capacitación y experiencia; de hecho, debe ser así.

Sin embargo, antes de ir más lejos, hablemos de nuestra definición de liderazgo. Está compuesto por cinco rasgos esenciales. Estos rasgos, por cierto, no incluyen la integridad, que es un requisito en cualquier posición de liderazgo, o la inteligencia, que también es algo indispensable en el complejo mercado global hoy en día. Tampoco incluyen la madurez emocional, otra necesidad. Estas tres características son básicas y obvias.

Así que vayamos más allá de lo mencionado. Según nuestra experiencia, el primer rasgo esencial del liderazgo es la energía positiva: la capacidad de ir y venir con un vigor saludable y una actitud optimista durante los días buenos y malos.

El segundo es la capacidad de motivar a los demás, liberando su energía positiva para escalar cualquier montaña.

El tercer rasgo es la perspicacia: la capacidad de tomar decisiones difíciles, de decir sí o no, y evitar el 'tal vez'.

El cuarto rasgo es el talento para ejecutar, simplemente hacer las cosas.

Quinto y último, los líderes tienen pasión. Ellos tienen mucho interés en su trabajo. Sudan la camiseta; ellos creen.

Como se imaginarán, la energía positiva y la capacidad de motivar son cualidades invariables. Básicamente son parte de nuestra personalidad. Del mismo modo, la pasión es algo innato. Algunas personas parecen estar cargadas de intensidad y curiosidad; naturalmente aman a las personas, la vida y el trabajo. Está en ellos. Son ellos.

La perspicacia y la capacidad de ejecutar son diferentes. Los nuevos empleados rara vez muestran estas cualidades en forma pulida, e incluso los gerentes de nivel intermedio se benefician al capacitarse en ambos rasgos. Pero el mejor maestro para estos dos rasgos es el 'frente de batalla'. Y esto se debe a que la perspicacia y la ejecución son en gran medida una función de la confianza en uno mismo.

Puedes decir sí o no muchísimo mejor cuando lo has hecho varias veces y has visto lo bien que funciona la firmeza. Del mismo modo, solo frente a desafíos del mundo real los gerentes pueden sentir el poder de reaccionar rápidamente, exigir responsables y recompensar buenos resultados. También pueden experimentar lo dañino que es no ejecutar, un error que los líderes más efectivos no cometen dos veces.

Entonces, ¿los líderes nacen o se hacen? La respuesta (quizás para sorpresa de pocos) es ambas cosas. Su mejor estrategia entonces es contratar personas con energía, capacidad de motivar y pasión. Esmérate en capacitar y desarrollar la perspicacia y la ejecución. Promueve a las personas que tienen una buena dosis de los cinco rasgos. Sin embargo, siempre recuerda que no todos pueden ser líderes. Pero mientras tú seas uno, es tu trabajo encontrar y formar a los que sí pueden serlo.

Por Jack y Suzy Welch

10 Shocking Workplace Stats You Need To Know

2018-03-08T22:19:00.001-06:00

10 Shocking Workplace Stats You Need To Know

https://www.forbes.com/sites

10 Shocking Workplace Stats You Need To Know

Credit: Shutterstock

It's not a mystery that employee engagement continues to sink. The Gallup organization reminds us every couple of years that nearly 70 percent of employees are actively disengaged. It's also not a mystery that generational differences, and the shift of leadership, continues to elicit headlines—revealing to all of us in the corporate world that the only thing we can truly count on is change.

But these aren't the only numbers that should make us think. Research is consistently giving us insights into the realities of today's working world. And because our heads are buried in research each and every day, we thought it would be fun and enlightening to give you some of the statistics we thought were most provocative and interesting.

A recent study by CareerBuilder.com shows that a whopping 58 percent of managers said they didn't receive any management training. Digest that for a second. Most managers in the workforce were promoted because they were good at what they did, and not necessarily good at making the people around them better. This statistic obviously unveils a harsh reality. We have a bunch of leaders who aren't trained on how to lead.
Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave revealed that 89 percent of bosses believe employees quit because they want more money. As much as any boss would love this statistic to be true (because it basically pardons any manager from wrong-doing) it's simply not true. Only 12 percent of employees actually leave an organization for more money.
Loverboy's Working for the Weekend is still ranked #100 on VH1′s 100 Greatest Songs of the 80′s. Although this is just a fun fact, it may reveal something bigger—that there's a connection to the lyrics and sentiment of the song that tells us how many employees just want to get away from work.
A Harvard Business Review survey reveals 58 percent or people say they trust strangers more than their own boss. This is truly shocking. We live in a world where cultural trust is at an all time low, but also, in certain areas, at ground-breaking Never before would we ask a stranger to drive our kids around town until Uber and Lyft arrived. However, distrust of leadership should be worrisome to all of us who have jobs.
Global studies reveal that 79 percent of people who quit their jobs cite 'lack of appreciation' as their reason for leaving. As two guys steeped in research about the power and impact of employee appreciation, this isn't a shocker to us, but it is to many of the companies we consult. People don't leave companies. They leave bosses.
American workers forfeited nearly 50 percent of their paid vacation in 2017. And, nearly 10 percent take no vacation days at all. According to a study by Glassdoor, the fear of falling behind is the number one reason people aren't using their vacation time.
Career Builder released a study that revealed two out of every five employees suggest they've gained weight at their current job. The shocking part isn't the weight gain as much as the fact over a quarter of these employees had access to employer-sponsored wellness benefits, but 63 percent of those employees didn't take advantage of them.
People still fall in love at work. A study by Glassdoor suggests that men and women are almost equal when it comes to finding love in the workplace. Women find love a little more frequently than men, however. 52 percent reported finding love at work, compared to only 48 percent.
The Conference Board reports that 53 percent of Americans are currently unhappy at work. Consider that for a second. Half of the workforce is unhappy. That is sad. Not to be snarky, but maybe taking a vacation (the statistics are hauntingly similar) might be a good starting place.
Recognition is the number one thing employees say their manager could give them to inspire them to produce great work. Global studies prove that when it comes to inspiring people to be their best at work, nothing else comes close—not even higher pay, promotion, autonomy or training.

While all of these statistics are fascinating to think about, just pondering their meaning won't achieve much. As leaders, it's our responsibility to take action, look for ways to promote change, and, if we have to, build practices, policies, and procedures that inspire change. That is our job. We're responsible to inspire the best in people.

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How to Collaborate Effectively If Your Team Is Remote

2018-02-28T21:51:00.001-06:00

How to Collaborate Effectively If Your Team Is Remote

https://hbr.org/2018/02/how-to-collaborate-effectively-if-your-team-is-remote

How to Collaborate Effectively If Your Team Is Remote

Hulton Archive/Hayon Thapaliya/Getty Images

Remote communication isn't always easy. Do you recognize yourself in any of these examples?

At 10 p.m., a corporate lawyer gets a text from a colleague and wonders (not for the first time) if there's a protocol about work-related texts after a certain hour.

After a long and liquid client dinner, an advertising executive opens an email from his boss reminding him to submit his expenses on time. Annoyed by this micromanagement, he immediately responds with his uncensored thoughts.

On the weekly team conference call, a remote team member is confused about whether her colleague is really "on mute" when she delays a response to a question or if she's just not paying attention and is using this as an excuse.

When it's possible to be set off by a phone's mute button, it's safe to say that we're living in challenging times. The digital era has ushered in a revolution in communication that's equivalent to the one surrounding the invention of the printing press. It's changing how we speak — often in bullet points. And it's affecting what we hear, as the jumble of information coming at us can lead to frequent misunderstandings and confusion.

People who work on remote teams face these challenges consistently. According to recent estimates from Gallup and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22% of Americans work from home, while nearly 50% are involved with remote or virtual team work. This continuing shift calls for a new range of behaviors and skills.

You and Your Team Series

Remote Work

How to Convince Your Boss to Let You Work from Home

Why do remote teams demand new collaboration skills? What's missing from our texts, emails, conference calls, and other digital communications? Body language. Even when we're co-located, the tone of a text or the formality of an email is left wide open to interpretation, to the point that even our closest friends get confused. These misinterpretations create an anxiety that can become costly, affecting morale, engagement, productivity, and innovation.

Remote communication can distort the normal pace of our conversations. The delay between our messages can often postpone or hide emotional reactions to our comments. How many times have you written an email and, immediately after hitting send, felt concerned about how it would land? Would your boss see your late night email and consider it to be an intrusion on her private time? Would she tell you if it was? While we may have become used to these types of asynchronous interactions, they can still conflict with our normal rules for social interaction. Lacking an immediate response, we can become distracted, second-guess ourselves, or even grow frustrated with our teams.

To perform at the highest levels, remote teams have to find new and better ways to operate.

First, consider that there are three kinds of distance in remote collaboration: physical (place and time), operational (team size, bandwidth and skill levels) and affinity (values, trust, and interdependency). The best way for managers to drive team performance is by focusing on reducing affinity distance. Try switching most remote communication to regular video calls, which are a much better vehicle for establishing rapport and creating empathy than either e-mails or voice calls. And design virtual team-building rituals that give people the opportunity to interact regularly and experience their collaboration skills in action.

When remote teams communicate well and leverage their strengths, they can actually gain an advantage over co-located teams. Here are some best practices to master:

Don't conflate brief communications and clear communications: In our efforts to be efficient, we sometimes use fewer words to communicate. But such brevity can mean that the rest of the team wastes time trying to interpret your messages. (And then misinterprets them anyway.) Don't assume that others understand your cues and shorthand. Spend the time to communicate with the intention of being ultra clear, no matter the medium. Indeed, you can never be too clear, but it is too easy to be less clear than you should.

Don't bombard your team with messages: Do you follow up on a task by email, text and phone? Do you tend to ask people if they got your previous message? Abusing those access points can be a form of digital dominance, a relentless and uncomfortable form of harassment. The medium you choose creates different demands on the time of the receiver. Using all of them for the same message is ineffective (as well as annoying). Choose your digital volume wisely.

Establish communication norms: Remote teams need to create new norms that establish clarity in communication. Companies such as Merck have created acronyms for their digital communications like "Four Hour Response (4HR)" and "No Need to Respond (NNTR)" that bring predictability and certainty to virtual conversations. Individual teams can also establish their own norms — e.g., to use or not use Slack, Google Docs, or Whatsapp groups. And norms can also exist on an individual level, such as people's preferred response time, writing style, and tone. For example, some individuals prefer short and quick messages, while others favor lengthy and detailed responses; people also differ in their preference and tolerance for humor and informality.

While we often tend to regard human predictability as a defect, few qualities are more sought-after at work, especially in virtual collaborations. We are all unique, but our consistent behaviors help others predict what we do, and in turn help them to understand us — and we all benefit from being understood. You can make that easier for others by establishing a clear personal etiquette and sticking to it consistently.

See the hidden opportunities in written communications: Being behind a screen can create new opportunities for certain team members, making space for those who might be less inclined to speak out in groups. Text-based communication places less importance on interpersonal skills and physical appearance, offering an effective way to share power and decision-making. Research shows that introverted individuals are less inhibited in online versus offline interactions. However, you need to watch out for virtual unconscious bias, where punctuation, grammar and word choice might reveal prejudiced attitudes towards certain groups.

And the absence of body language doesn't necessarily mean that we're not giving away more than we intend to when we communicate remotely. There's still a great deal of meta-communication and virtual leakage that happens in digital environments, and it only takes paying attention to read between the lines. For example, the use of exclamation marks or a negative emoji after referring to someone's gender, nationality, or religion is as powerful a marker of disapproval as a disgusted face.

Create intentional space for celebration: Old school birthday cakes are still important for remote teams. Creating virtual spaces and rituals for celebrations and socializing can strengthen relationships and lay the foundation for future collaboration. Find ways to shorten the affinity distance. One company we worked with celebrated new talent by creating a personal emoji for each employee who had been there for six months. You can find your own unique way to create team spaces for social connection. How you do it is less important than whether you do.

As more and more of our interactions happen digitally, we will continue to experience new forms of miscommunication and misunderstanding. The solution will not come from new technologies (although, no doubt, developers will keep trying to bridge that gap). Instead, the solution is in understanding the new rules of engagement; in building a communication skill set that reflects the demands of our digitally-driven age.

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Human Capital Is Critical to ISO 9001:2015 Success

2018-02-28T21:46:00.001-06:00

Human Capital Is Critical to ISO 9001:2015 Success | Quality Digest

https://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/standards-article/human-capital-critical-90012015-success-022618.html

Human Capital Is Critical to ISO 9001:2015 Success

Three new resources help organizations profit from quality people management

Many quality professionals remain unaware that a systematic approach to human resources is now a requirement in ISO 9001:2015. These new requirements are based on the principles considered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to be essential to quality management success.

Because ISO 9001 has only recently included specific human capital management language in the standard, and because ISO itself does not always properly market its full range of standards, many quality professionals may not be aware of new ways that they can bring added value to their organizations by implementing the spirit and intention of these new requirements.

These new or updated requirements, outlined below, are based on ISO's quality management principles, most recently published in 2015, which include:
1. Customer focus. A demonstrable commitment to continually meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
2. Leadership. An established unity of purpose and direction and conditions in which people are engaged to exceed the organization's quality objectives.
3. Engagement of people. Competent, capable, empowered, and engaged people at all levels dedicated to creating and delivering value.
4. A process approach. A systematic plan to manage interrelated processes that function as a coherent system.
5. Improvement. Continuous improvement is built into the culture and organizational ecosystem.
6. Evidence-based decision making. Plans are made based on analysis of data and information.
7. Relationship management. Organizations have a systematic approach to managing relationships with all interested parties, including customers, distribution partners, employees, vendors, owners, communities, etc.

New or updated ISO 9001 people management requirements

Following are the new ISO 9001:20015 requirements related to implementing a systematic approach to stakeholder engagement in quality management efforts:

Clause 4.1.2, "Understanding interested parties' needs." The standard now specifically calls for a systematic approach to managing relationships with all people critical to quality process management, including customers, distribution partners, employees, owners, management, and employees. For employees this means having a good work environment, including job security, health and safety, training and opportunities for promotion, and recognition and rewards. For others, it is having a means of continually understanding and addressing their needs as they relate to quality management.

Clause 5.1, "Leadership." The latest standards expand the requirements related to top management commitment to foster a work environment that encourages employees to excel and to take an active interest in producing quality products and services and to achieve an organization's mission, goals, and objectives; apply a systematic approach to designing, implementing, and measuring the outcomes of the process; and to commit the resources necessary to do so.

Clause 5.2, "Customer focus." This clause calls for connecting customer expectations and perceptions by having one-on-one relationships with each customer to enhance satisfaction. The standards prescribe that this focus should drive the development and implementation of products, services, and customer support; the vision, mission, goals, objectives, and plans; culture; employee responsibilities; and risk analysis.

Clause 7.1.2, "People." For the first time, ISO 9001 specifically emphasizes the importance of human resources management. The organization is expected to ensure the necessary amount of human resources, its capabilities, its well-being, and its performance as it relates to an organization's goals and objectives.

Clause 7.1.4, "Environment." This standard prescribes a working environment that considers ergonomics, diversity, and an affable and non-confrontational environment to minimize stress and promote health and safety.

New learning and advisory services available

Four new education and advisory resources are now available to help your organization address the critical people issues included in ISO 9001:2015. This is considered so important that ISO created ISO 10018, "People Involvement and Competence" as a standard pointing the way to a systematic approach to quality people management that can equally be applied at manufacturing, services, not-for-profit, and governmental organizations.

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Demandas millonarias amenazan a General Electric

2018-02-28T21:38:00.001-06:00

Demandas millonarias amenazan a General Electric | Expansión.

https://expansion.mx/empresas/2018/02/27/demandas-millonarias-amenazan-a-general-electric?utm_source=Matutino&utm_campaign=4c87e44425-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_35f350be4e-4c87e44425-111881433

Demandas millonarias amenazan a General Electric

A los problemas financieros de este gigante industrial de EU se le suman investigaciones por las tácticas contables y sus enormes pérdidas de seguros.

General Electric tiene una montaña de problemas legales.

Los problemas financieros de la compañía podrían empeorar por dolores de cabeza legales que pueden costar miles de millones de dólares al conglomerado, según muestran nuevos documentos.

La SEC está investigando las tácticas contables de GE y sus enormes pérdidas de seguros. El Departamento de Justicia indaga la venta de hipotecas de alto riesgo de GE previa a la crisis. Los accionistas furiosos están demandando a GE y exaltos ejecutivos por declaraciones supuestamente engañosas.

Lee: 5 claves para entender la crisis de General Electric.

JPMorgan estima que la compañía se enfrenta más de 9,200 millones de dólares en reclamos por daños además de otras pérdidas potenciales de la SEC y demandas de accionistas.

Warren Buffett, cuya empresa Berkshire Hathaway vendió su participación en GE el año pasado, dijo a CNBC este lunes que "claramente se cometieron errores" en GE.

"La contabilidad en GE no ha sido ejemplar en absoluto en los últimos años", dijo Buffett.

Las acciones de GE se hundieron brevemente por debajo de los 14 dólares el lunes por primera vez desde julio de 2010.

Lee: La caída de un imperio llamado General Electric.

La compañía está tratando de resolver sus problemas, en parte mediante la renovación de la junta directiva. GE nombró a tres nuevos candidatos a director el lunes. Los nominados incluyen a Leslie Seidman, expresidenta del Consejo de Normas de Contabilidad Financiera (FASB), la organización independiente que establece los estándares de contabilidad utilizados por el grupo empresarial estadounidense.

Estos son algunos de los principales problemas legales que GE enfrenta:

Conflicto hipotecario de alto riesgo: el negocio hipotecario de alto riesgo descontinuado de GE Capital, conocido como WMC, todavía atormenta a la compañía. GE ha revelado previamente una investigación del Departamento de Justicia sobre cómo WMC escribió, compró y vendió hipotecas antes de la crisis financiera.

Recomendamos: General Electric más cerca de dejar el paraíso de Wall Street.

GE dijo en un documento regulatorio este viernes que es probable que el Departamento de Justicia afirme que WMC y GE violaron una ley bancaria de 1989 que se ha utilizado en los últimos años para multar a los grandes bancos con decenas de miles de millones de dólares por presuntos delitos hipotecarios.

GE dijo que explorará "si se puede llegar a una solución aceptable de este asunto". De lo contrario, GE advirtió que el Departamento de Justicia podría demandar, situación frente a la que la compañía cree que podría defenderse.

La compañía también enfrenta juicios contra WMC de Deutsche Bank y otros grupos por hipotecas de alto riesgo.

Lee: La crisis de General Electric, por décadas de malos manejos.

GE estima que su exposición actual a daños es de aproximadamente 3,700 millones de dólares, sin incluir ningún acuerdo del Departamento de Justicia. GE ha reservado cerca de 400 millones de dólares, aunque admitió que es "difícil de evaluar" las pérdidas futuras en este rubro.

Accionistas furiosos: los accionistas enojados han demandado a GE al menos cinco veces desde finales del año pasado. Algunas de las demandas nombran al exCEO Jeff Immelt y su sucesor, John Flannery, afirmando que "hicieron declaraciones falsas y engañosas" sobre el desempeño financiero esperado de GE.

Tres de los pleitos se han consolidado en una sola demanda.

Immelt y Flannery también fueron nombrados en una demanda de accionistas de GE presentada el 15 de febrero afirmando "incumplimientos de deberes fiduciarios y enriquecimiento injusto". Entre otras cuestiones, esta demanda critica a GE por permitir que Immelt sea escoltado por todo el mundo en un avión de reserva. (GE dijo que dejó de implementar un jet extra para Immelt en 2014).

Lee: General Electric plantea la posibilidad de una división del conglomerado.

"La compañía se defenderá de estas afirmaciones", dijo un vocero de GE a CNNMoney.

Investigación ampliada de la SEC: La oficina de Boston de la SEC notificó a GE a finales de noviembre acerca de una investigación sobre la contabilidad de la compañía, de acuerdo con los documentos presentados. Al principio, la investigación se centró en las prácticas de reconocimiento de ingresos de GE y en los controles internos sobre los acuerdos de servicio a largo plazo.

La SEC amplió la investigación en enero después de que la compañía sorprendió a Wall Street al revelar un cargo de 6,200 millones de dólares a una cartera de pólizas de seguro de cuidado a largo plazo. Buffett dijo el lunes que estaba "asombrado" por el tamaño de las pérdidas de seguros de GE.

Lee: Las malas apuestas le cuestan muy caro a General Electric.

GE dijo que está cooperando con la investigación de la SEC al proporcionar documentos y otra información.

GE también planea reformular sus resultados de 2016 y 2017 debido a un cambio en las normas de contabilidad sobre cómo las empresas registran ganancias y pérdidas en los contratos a largo plazo.

Lee: John Flannery, CEO de General Electric, compra 1millón de dólares en acciones.

Un vocero de GE dijo que la "transformación" de los resultados es "independiente de la revisión de la SEC, que se encuentra en etapas tempranas".

Los jubilados de GE quieren 700 millones de dólares: al menos cuatro grupos han demandado a GE desde finales de septiembre por la supervisión de la compañía de su plan. GE dijo que las demandas afirman que la compañía violó sus deberes fiduciarios al usar fondos de propiedad exclusiva que tenían un rendimiento inferior al del mercado y eran costosos. Los demandantes están buscando el estado de acción de clase.

"Creemos que tenemos defensas contra los reclamos y responderemos en consecuencia", dijo GE.

Caso de corrupción de Alstom: GE adquirió el negocio de energía de Alstom en 2015, un acuerdo que ha fracasado al aumentar su exposición al declive del carbón. GE se enfrenta a procedimientos legales relacionados con presuntas conductas anticompetitivas y pagos indebidos de parte de Alstom vinculados a proyectos en Israel y Eslovenia.

La conducta de Alstom en cuestión tuvo lugar antes de que GE comprara el negocio. GE ha reservado 858 millones de dólares para posibles pérdidas relacionadas con ello, pero ha advertido que las pérdidas podrían ser mayores.

Turbinas eólicas extraterritoriales: GE dijo que todavía está cooperando con una investigación de la Comisión Europea sobre la adquisición de LM Wind, fabricante danés de palas de rotor. Los reguladores señalan que, durante una revisión del acuerdo, GE proporcionó información incorrecta o engañosa sobre sus actividades de investigación y desarrollo de turbinas eólicas. GE se enfrenta a una multa de hasta el 1% de sus ingresos anuales, o alrededor de 1,200 millones de dólares, si el CE determina que las violaciones fueron intencionales o negligentes.

Lee: General Electric abandona su icónico negocio de focos.

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Haz que te paguen por lo que te gusta hacer

2018-02-28T21:32:00.001-06:00

Haz que te paguen por lo que te gusta hacer | Expansión.

https://expansion.mx/dinero/2018/02/28/haz-que-te-paguen-por-lo-que-te-gusta-hacer?utm_source=Vespertino&utm_campaign=c78d16cc8b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bd319b3d7a-c78d16cc8b-112064301

Haz que te paguen por lo que te gusta hacer

Estas cuatro personas han encontrado en su tiempo libre una segunda fuente de ingresos. Así monetizaron su hobby.

Desde pequeño, Óscar Palacios se divertía contándole chistes a su familia y amigos pero, al no tener la oportunidad de aparecer en programas de televisión, pensó que su talento nunca sería reconocido. Hace tres años, después de haber estudiado Economía y tener un empleo como analista en una empresa global de telecomunicaciones, retomó su sueño y comenzó a estudiar formalmente stand up comedy, un género de la comedia en el que se cuentan experiencias propias. En enero fue invitado por un grupo de comediantes para llevar su hobby a un nivel más formal y crear el colectivo Manada Pesada Comedy, que ya se presenta cada semana en el Foro Sylvia Pasquel.

Palacios es solo un ejemplo de las personas que han hecho de su hobby una segunda fuente de ingresos. "Hay un problema inflacionario y estamos perdiendo la capacidad adquisitiva. En 2017 se anunció una inflación de 6.77% -según cifras del Inegi, una de las peores cifras en los últimos 16 años- y las empresas normalmente no hacen ese ajuste en los salarios. Por lo que, a la gente le queda la alternativa de empezar a hacer uso de sus propios dones y capacidades para poder monetizarlos y generar un ingreso extra", explica Alan Rozz, fundador y director general del portal Ser Mejor, una plataforma que fomenta el desarrollo humano.

Lee: Estos supuestos prestamistas te dan gato por liebre. Cuidado

"No está mal hacer dinero de hacer algo que nos gusta y que disfrutas hacer", apoya Sonia Sánchez- Escuer, autora de BlogyLana.com, un blog de finanzas personales, quien en 2017 sacó a la venta un libro que hizo a base de dibujar mandalas, uno de los pasatiempos que tiene para desestresarse.

"Algo que debemos tener claro es la diversificación de ingresos. Diversificamos al invertir o ahorrar, pero no de igual manera con el dinero que ganamos. Si solo tenemos una fuente de ingresos, estás en riesgo y eres vulnerable a que se acabe o interrumpa porque te corrieron o hubo un problema en la industria o intervino algún factor político o geológico", dice la experta en finanzas personales.

En el mejor de los casos, dice Sánchez- Escuer, lo que más te gusta hacer te saca de un apuro económico o se convierte en tu primer empleo. Como lo fue en el caso de Carlos Mercado, un comunicólogo que decidió introducirse al mundo de la cerveza artesanal y convertirse en un beer sommelier. Hoy trabaja en la cervecería Cyprez, es profesor en la Academia Mexicana de Eno-Gastronomía (AMEG) y editor en un portal de noticias deportivas. De lo que percibe como ingreso, el 75% viene de su hobby y 25% del trabajo relacionado con su profesión.

"Todos tenemos dones, capacidades y habilidades especiales para hacer cosas, el problema es que como las vemos tan naturales y no las tomamos como especiales, tendemos a devaluarlas. Pero en realidad son únicas e intransferibles, pues tienen que ver con nuestra vocación y personalidad", dice Rozz. Hay que reconocer para qué eres bueno, agrega el experto.

En 2012, Gabriela Alcalá descubrió el mundo de los ángeles, la lectura de cartas y el reiki. Comenzó a leer, estudiar y tomar cursos sobre el tema. Actualmente, combina su trabajo de publicista con las terapias de sanación. Su trabajo es tan flexible que puedo intercalar sus actividades en su propia agencia de marketing digital con una o dos terapias diarias. Su objetivo, en el corto plazo, es aumentar el número de terapias por día y obtener hasta 40,000 pesos de ingresos mensuales por su hobby.

EL PRECIO DE TU TALENTO

Uno de los retos de vender un servicio o producto que disfrutas hacer es ponerle precio. "Por el hecho de que algo nos guste mucho, no significa que no debamos tener una remuneración económica. Porque al hacerlo le invertimos trabajo, esfuerzo, material, dinero y publicidad", señala Sánchez-Escuer.

Lee: Estrategia para sacar una hipoteca en pareja

Lo primero que debes hacer para darle valor a lo que realizas, agrega Rozz, es estar consciente de que lo que haces tiene un valor. Después, conviene sondear en Internet y ver cuánto está cobrando la competencia para que tengas un referente, dice Sánchez-Escuer.

Otra manera de fijar un precio es preguntándole a tu cliente potencial cuánto estaría dispuesto a pagar por tu producto o servicio. Y un último factor que influye en el precio será la calidad que tenga.

"Este último punto es el más difícil de medir porque a veces el ego se va hasta arriba o hasta abajo y tienes que ser objetivo. Sé honesto y si estás empezando no cobres como alguien que lleva años haciendo eso que tú ofreces", comenta Sonia Sánchez-Escuer.

Araceli Díaz es contadora freelance de varias personas físicas, su hobby es tejer y hacer manualidades. Su madre le enseñó las primeras puntadas, pero gracias a los tutoriales de Youtube aprendió a hacer amigurumis (muñecos tejidos) y scrapbook (diseño de libretas, agendas y álbumes). Cuenta con su cuenta de Instagram (@mycielo) desde 2015 y a través de la cual se ha dado a conocer y recibe pedidos. Teje un muñequito cada tres días y puede venderlos hasta en 200 o 400 pesos cada uno, dependiendo el tamaño y los puntos de tejido que requiera.

Los expertos coinciden que empezar por comercializar tu servicio a través de las redes sociales es lo más barato, solo es necesario tener autoconfianza y el valor de "lanzarte".

"No existe la verdad absoluta o garantía sobre lo que va a querer el mercado, la experiencia es lo que nos va a decir hacia dónde dirigir el proyecto, hay que ser valientes para aprovechar los recursos personales", invita Rozz.

Sánchez-Escuer da una última clave: "Intenta monetizar todo lo que te haga feliz, quédate con la actividad que te guste más, en la que te desenvuelvas mejor y sea más rentable".

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5 tips para ser promovido en el trabajo

2018-02-27T10:17:00.001-06:00

5 tips para ser promovido en el trabajo | Expansión

https://expansion.mx/carrera/2018/02/26/5-consejos-para-obtener-un-ascenso-en-el-trabajo?utm_source=Matutino&utm_campaign=fa64815d97-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_27&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_35f350be4e-fa64815d97-111881433

5 consejos para obtener un ascenso en el trabajo

Si bien el camino obvio para obtener un ascenso en el trabajo es la antigüedad, factores como el desempeño, las habilidades y la constante comunicación con los jefes son importantes.

https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpghttps://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg https://cdn.expansion.mx/dims4/default/13c3fb2/2147483647/crop/5616x3159%2B0%2B441/resize/800x450%5E/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.expansion.mx%2F79%2Fdd%2F9d86a9c14ffc8d5ab26f9af1d1df%2Fistock-643957016.jpg

Haz bien tu actual trabajo Es muy difícil obtener un ascenso si no eres un empleado sobresaliente en tu trabajo. (Foto: iStock)

Solo ser bueno en tu trabajo no significa que serás promovido. A veces tienes que hacer que las cosas sucedan para llegar a donde quieres llegar profesionalmente.

Por supuesto, hay buenos jefes y grandes compañías que ayudan a los empleados a superarse profesionalmente. Con esos fabulosos empleadores, siempre se sabe dónde estamos y nunca tenemos que adivinar el próximo paso.

Sin embargo, en la mayoría de las empresas, incluso con empleadores realmente buenos, se debe ser activo en la gestión de tu propia carrera. Eso significa tener un plan para obtener el ascenso que deseas.

No se trata solo de merecer una promoción, también debes asegurarte que cumples con todos estos requisitos:

Lee: Consejos para elegir entre dos ofertas de empleo

1. Haz bien tu actual trabajo

Parece algo obvio, pero te sorprendería la frecuencia con la que los empleados que no se desempeñan al 100% se molestan cuando no se les consideraba para ser ascendidos. Ese pensamiento proviene de la idea de la mayoría que cree que la antigüedad importa más que el rendimiento.

En general, es muy difícil obtener un ascenso si no eres un empleado sobresaliente en tu trabajo actual. Ve más allá de las expectativas y al mismo tiempo mantente abierto a nuevas responsabilidades. Trata tu trabajo actual como algo importante, no solo como una parada en el camino hacia donde te diriges.

2. Asegúrate de estar calificado

A veces puedes estar considerado para ser promovido, pero careces de alguna habilidad o certificación requerida. Algunas cosas pueden ser negociables, pero tus posibilidades mejoran si cumples con todos los requisitos técnicos.

En algunos casos, basta con trabajar para cumplir con un requisito, como asistir a clases para obtener una maestría. En otros, realmente necesitas contar con varios requisitos. Cualquiera que sea tu situación, sigue los pasos necesarios para estar listo.

Recomendamos: 4 tips para triunfar en una entrevista laboral vía Whatsapp

3. Habla con tu jefe

Si no le dices a tu jefe a dónde esperas que vaya tu carrera, puede interpretar que estás contento en tu posición actual. Ten una reunión con tu jefe donde discutas abiertamente tus objetivos. Solicita información sobre lo que debes hacer para llegar a donde deseas llegar.

Permanece abierto a la crítica constructiva y considérela una oportunidad. Si tu jefe dice que necesitas trabajar en algo, escucha y sigue el consejo.

Si es posible, no solo tengas una reunión. Establece controles regulares para documentar tu progreso y ubica dónde te encuentras.

4. Ejecuta

Una cosa es saber dónde estás parado y qué deberías hacer, y otra cosa completamente distinta es hacerlo. Usa los pasos anteriores para crear un plan, uno que con suerte cuente con la aprobación de tu jefe o jefes. Después de eso, será tu responsabilidad seguir cada paso y asegurarte de que cuando aparezca una vacante, tú seas la persona adecuada para llenarla.

Lee: Los mejores empleos de México por región

5. Sé paciente

A veces puedes estar listo para una promoción y simplemente no se abre la vacante. En otros casos, puedes llenar todas las características anteriores, pero tus jefes quieren a alguien que tenga más antigüedad. No permanezcas pasivo, pero te paciencia.

Reunirte con tus jefes dos o tres veces al año te hará saber si estás bien encaminado. Mientras lo haces y no has sido relegado por trabajos que crees merecer, ten fe en el proceso. Mantente listo y dispuesto, pero enfoca tu tiempo para que cuando se abra una vacante tú seas la opción más clara para ocuparla.

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Plan a Better Meeting with Design Thinking

2018-02-26T09:11:00.001-06:00

Plan a Better Meeting with Design Thinking

https://hbr.org/2018/02/plan-a-better-meeting-with-design-thinking

Plan a Better Meeting with Design Thinking

Daniel Day/Getty Images

"Sometimes, when I sit in meetings, especially ones in which people don't seem engaged, I calculate the cost in staff time. I've estimated that one standard weekly meeting in my bureau—50 people sitting in a cookie-cutter conference room, looking both bored and anxious—costs around $177,000 annually, and surely this scenario occurs throughout the [organization] hundreds of times a day. It drains us, and it breeds cynicism. So many meetings are lost opportunities."

Do these sentiments—expressed by an applicant to the course on meeting facilitation we teach at Georgetown University—sound familiar to you? They should, according to these statistics on meetings:

Organizations hold more than 3 billion meetings each year.
Executives spend 40-50% of their working hours—or 23 hours per week—in meetings.
90% of meeting attendees admit to daydreaming in them.
73% acknowledge they do other work during meetings.
25% of meetings are spent discussing irrelevant issues.

At the same time, the right kind of meetings can be key to advancing a team or organization's agenda. So how do you ensure that the gatherings you host are productive, not destructive?

By applying design thinking, a concept popularized by IDEO founder David Kelly and Stanford's d.school, which was first applied to the design of physical objects, then other products, such as technological tools, and now to more complex challenges across a wide variety of industries. The idea is to put the "user" at the center of the experience — an approach that works with meeting design, too.

Start by putting your own expertise and agenda aside and thinking about the people who will be affected by your meeting. Develop empathy for them by asking three sets of questions:

Who is going to be in the room and what are their needs?
Who won't be in the room but will nevertheless be affected by the meeting and what are their needs?
In what broader culture and environment are you operating and what are some of the overarching challenges and opportunities?

Actively seek out individuals who will attend the meeting, or who will be affected by it, and speak with them—ideally in person. Even if you run regular meetings with the same group of people, these individual brief check-ins can help build trust, surfaces hidden issues and ensures that participants feel more invested.

Next, set a frame for the meeting. Once you've attentively listened and observed, you'll want to suggest an overarching purpose for the meeting and articulate clear outcomes that will connect to achieving it. We recommend that you ask yourself: If this meeting is wildly successful, what will people feel, know, and do as a result? Include these desired outcomes in your agenda, so that participants know why they're attending and can gauge with you whether or not the time has been productive. In our experience, people rarely spend enough doing these things. Meetings are often put on the calendar without a particular goal in mind — simply to hold the time — and, as a result, the cart often drives the horse; people meet simply because they feel they must. Even — perhaps especially — short meetings deserve a clear purpose and clearly articulated desired outcomes. This keeps people on task, and ensures that people feel that their time is well spent.

The third step is to creatively design the meeting. Once you know the core question to address, and what success might look like, you should create your agenda. People tend to throw agendas together at the last minute, if at all. We compare the design and execution of meetings to the driving navigation app Waze: what is the quickest, safest, most effective way to get to your destination? The first step, immersing yourself with people, was about understanding where you need to go (the beach? the city? the mountains?). The second step was about identifying your desired destination — your exact address and location. This third step is all about the route. Should you get there as fast as possible? Do you need to take a detour? What is the most scenic route? Are there roads that you've traveled so many times before that are perhaps best to avoid? What might you need to watch out for — your team's equivalent of potholes or traffic jams? This is the phase where we encourage people to be playful, to put reality on hold for a bit and push past their initial, "go-to" ideas. What would it look like for you to infuse your meetings with a bit of fun? To begin and end in an unexpected way? To use film, images, poetry, or music to spark ideas? To create an opportunity for personal sharing and connection? While this might sound frivolous, it is actually extremely important. Meetings are opportunities not simply to get things done, but also foster a positive team culture.

Finally, test-drive your plan, in the same way that a product designer would put an early prototype into users' hands. In a meeting context, this might be a draft agenda shared with participants. Their responses will help you gain more empathy, frame new questions, get even more creative in your meeting design, and increase your potential for success at the actual gathering.

People who have applied this design process to their meetings tell us that it has radically affected both the efficacy of those gatherings, and the attitude people in their organizations have about them. Each phase has its benefits. Immersing helps people feel heard, and it ensures that meeting leaders are connected to participants. Framing pushes the meeting leaders to ensure that there are clear goals for each meeting. Imagining leads to more creativity and experimentation in the meeting design. Finally, prototyping—something as simple as getting feedback on your plan from a few people—makes people feel valued, more accountable in the meetings, and more invested in their success.

This may seem onerous for every meeting but, with practice, you can learn to cycle through these stages in less and less time, and you'll find that that small investment upfront saves significant time in the long run. You'll have fewer meetings, and those you do have will be more productive—even sometimes fun.

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How CEOs Without College Degrees Got to the Top

2018-02-26T09:10:00.001-06:00

How CEOs Without College Degrees Got to the Top

https://hbr.org/2018/02/how-ceos-without-college-degrees-got-to-the-top

How CEOs Without College Degrees Got to the Top

John Kuczala/Getty Images

Employers are continually upping the ante on academic credentials. Nearly a third of jobs that once required only a high-school diploma now demand a four-year college degree, while one in four jobs that used to require a bachelor's degree now require a master's degree. Meanwhile, 75% of Americans believe that higher education is unaffordable and out of reach.

Employers often overvalue pedigree out of desire to play it safe—but hiring mistakes still abound. Meanwhile, a huge number of potential superstars are being overlooked.

For over 20 years, we have helped boards and CEOs avoid painful mistakes as they groom and select CEOs and C-suite leaders. In the process of that work, we assembled a data-set of more than 17,000 C-suite executive assessments and our CEO Genome Project studied 2,600 in-depth to analyze who gets to the top and how. We have seen firsthand that an Ivy-draped diploma doesn't guarantee someone will be good at the job, but even so, we were surprised to uncover that 8% of CEOs in our sample did not complete college at all.

Getting to the top is never easy, but it is especially hard when you lack the hallmarks of prestige that can wow potential employers. So how did the 8% of our CEO sample make it to the top without a college degree? The CEOs who overcame the odds made themselves look like a safe bet by excelling in three ways.

Become a proven insider: In the absence of ready-made credibility that comes with academic credentials, you can establish bona fides by gaining deep industry-specific and firm-specific knowledge. 89% of CEOs without college degrees "grew up" in the same industry where they served as CEO, and spent 40% more time in the industry where they became CEO compared to their peers with college degrees. Employers often feel safer hiring industry and company insiders. These CEOs' deep knowledge and relationships gave them a platform for success that more than compensated for lack of formal education.

CEOs without a degree also stayed on average 25% longer in roles and held 13% fewer roles than their college-graduating CEO peers. It typically took 15% longer for them to get to the CEO seat.

In 1970, Bob started his career as a code breaker during the Vietnam War. In his first job out of the military, he worked for an alarm company. By holding multiple positions in two companies and working alongside four different CEOs, Bob built up sufficient trust and credibility to extinguish any concerns over his credentials. His crowning achievement was turning around and selling a security company which had only a few thousand dollars left in the bank, and which had been written down as an investment by the owners when he took it over. The company was sold for nearly $50 million. His deep industry knowledge helped him take the company through a nine-year transformation where he consolidated operations, acquired 24 businesses, and reduced bad debt by 88%, all while doubling revenue.

If you don't have a strong track record in a single company or industry, you will likely have better luck at smaller companies than large ones. We have found that small businesses are open to a much broader range of educational backgrounds and pedigrees, in part because the available talent pool is often thinner. Finally, there's always the option of starting your own company. CEOs who don't have a college degree are twice as likely to be company founders as CEOs who do.

Overindex on results. CEOs who get to the top without a college degree let their outsized results speak for themselves. As we shared in What Sets Successful CEOs Apart, reliability is one of four CEO Genome behaviors that differentiates successful CEOs—and the only one that also doubles your chances of getting hired into the role.

One of the CEOs we studied, "Mark," had been accustomed to being underestimated and thrived on exceeding people's expectations. When he started out his career as a truck driver, a competitor noticed that he was delivering three truck-loads a day rather than the expected one daily load. "That was unheard of," Mark said. "So he asked me to come work for him." In his first sales job, he again delivered the same outsized results. Although his colleagues were expected to grow their divisions' sales by 5% to 10%, his boss challenged him to grow his division by 30% and promised that anything over 10% would be returned as a bonus. Undaunted, Mark grew his division by 60% and expanded the company's footprint from a single city to 13 states. With a laser-like focus on driving results, Mark went from truck driver to CEO of a $50 million business in less than two decades.

Mark's success derived from the fact that he got things done—and got noticed for them. The majority (56%) of CEOs without college degrees in our survey came up through sales and marketing. Numbers speak louder than credentials, and it's easier to get noticed in roles that drive measurable topline results for the business.

Interestingly, the CEOs without college degrees had almost twice the rate of military experience than the overall pool of CEOs we analyzed. In the absence of a college degree, military experience can offer opportunities to learn important skills and demonstrate results in early leadership experiences.

Be a talent magnet. The CEOs without degrees that we analyzed were more likely than their peers to proactively surround themselves with strong talent and lean on the team to contribute expertise. They were humble, and more open to soliciting ideas from all types of people, regardless of status or rank.

We met Brian when he became CEO of a $350 million staffing company. His recipe for success? Banking on strong performers and seeking out big ideas—at every level of the organization. Soon after he hired a new administrative assistant, she suggested an idea that landed the biggest contract in the industry's history. Earlier in his career at a different company, Brian started a practice of asking his customers to name the most talented people they knew in the industry. Although a customer named someone who was much more senior and made significantly more money than Brian, he convinced that person to join his team. "He runs one of their most profitable branches to this day."

This kind of focus on building a strong team goes a long way. In contrast, we were intrigued to uncover that the CEOs who saw "independence" as their defining character trait were twice as likely to underperform compared to other CEOs.

Each of us faces our own formidable hurdles on the way to the top. While the CEOs we studied surmounted the extra obstacle of not having gone to college, we think their career paths can provide lessons to other leaders regardless of their level of education. We will all do a better job if we learn our business deeply, focus on delivering results, and learn to lean on others.

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14 Stephen King quotes about writing you totally need to hang on your wall

2018-02-26T09:04:00.001-06:00

14 Stephen King quotes about writing you totally need to hang on your wall

https://mashable.com/2018/02/23/stephen-king-best-writing-quotes/?utm_campaign=Mash-BD-Synd-Flipboard-Ent-Full&utm_cid=Mash-BD-Synd-Flipboard-Ent-Full#ZYxUf37.rmqV

14 Stephen King quotes about writing you totally need to hang on your wall

Stephen King is a veritable writing machine.

Image: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images

The first Stephen King book I ever read was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I was still in my teens, and my gran — a huge King fan herself — thought it was the one I'd have the best chance of reading without getting too scared.

She was wrong about that (I scare pretty easily), but she was right to introduce me to King. He's been my favourite author ever since.

It's not just his stories that keep me coming back, either. He's also a brilliant writer. From his gloriously grisly descriptions to his on point dialogue and character portrayals, I've always thought the horror master doesn't get anywhere near enough credit as he should for his impressive command of language.

Well, the good news is King has never been shy about talking about the writing process. In his excellent book On Writing, in interviews and in the forewords that accompany his books, he regularly offers insights and advice into the way he works.

Here are some of his quotes about writing that have stuck in my mind over the years...

1. On his early days as a writer.

Image: Getty Images/Aurora Creative/mashable composite/quote via rolling stone

2. On rejection.

Image: Getty Images/EyeEm/mashable composite/quote via youtube

3. On his writing setup.

Image: Getty Images/EyeEm/mashable composite/ Quote via rolling stone

4. This crucial piece of advice.

Image: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images/mashable composite/quote via 'just after sunset'

5. On his method for sifting through ideas.

Image: Getty Images/EyeEm/mashable composite/quote via 'night shift'

6. On the importance of getting rid of pretensions.

Image: Getty Images/mashable composite/quote via 'on writing'

7. On his daily working routine.

Image: Getty Images/EyeEm/mashable composite/quote via youtube

8. This very clear rule.

Image: BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/Getty Images/mashable composite/quote via 'on writing'

9. On the place ideas come from.

Image: Getty Images/mashable composite/quote via 'on writing'

10. On the need to not be too rigid when it comes to planning.

Image: Getty Images/EyeEm/mashable composite/quote via youtube

11. On the fiction hierarchy.

Image: Getty Images/mashable composite/quote via 'night shift'

12. This sweet quote about family and friends.

Image: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images/mashable composite/quote via 'on writing'

13. On the place you go to write.

Image: Getty Images/Blend Images/mashable composite/quote via the paris review

14. Finally, this memorable piece of advice.

Image: Getty Images/mashable composite/quote via 'on writing'

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8 conceptos fundamentales en Gestión de Riesgos

2018-02-24T09:02:00.001-06:00

8 conceptos fundamentales en Gestión de Riesgos - EALDE

http://www.ealde.es/conceptos-gestion-de-riesgos/

8 conceptos fundamentales en Gestión de Riesgos

La eficiencia y eficacia de la Gestión de Riesgos va acompañada paralelamente de un lenguaje universal, que la hace comprensible no solamente para los risk managers, sino para todos los stakeholders a los que afecta.

Aceptación del riesgo. Consiste en tomar una decisión tomada atendiendo a la información disponible, en la que se acepta las consecuencias y la posibilidad de que se produzca un determinado riesgo.
Amenaza. Se trata de un peligro latente que presenta la posible manifestación en un periodo de tiempo y en un determinado territorio. La amenaza puede producir efectos adversos en las personas, producción, infraestructura, bienes y servicios de la organización.
Análisis del riesgo. Es el uso sistemático de información disponible para determinar cuantas veces un evento especificado podría ocurrir, así como la magnitud de sus consecuencias.
Consecuencia. Se trata del resultado de un evento o situación expresada de forma cualitativa o cuantitativa. El resultado puede ser una pérdida, daño, desventaja, pero también puede ser una ventaja o ganancia.
Control del riesgo. Este apartado de la Gestión de Riesgos involucra la implementación de políticas, estándares, procedimientos y cambios físicos para eliminar o minimizar riesgos.
Daño. Consiste en un efecto adverso causado por un fenómeno producido sobre las personas, bienes, sistemas de prestación de servicios, naturales o sociales.
Elementos en riesgo expuestos. Se trata del contexto social, material y ambiental representado por las personas, los recursos, los servicios y los ecosistemas que puede ser afectados por un fenómeno físico.
Evaluación de amenazas. Proceso en la Gestión de Riesgos que consiste en determinar la posibilidad de que un fenómeno se presente, en un determinado período y con un grado de severidad. Representa si es recurrente y la ubicación geográfica.

Los profesionales dedicados al Risk Management han de conocer y dominar estos términos consensuados internacionalmente en el ámbito de la Gestión de Riesgos.

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The 3 Things Employees Really Want: Career, Community, Cause

2018-02-23T07:19:00.001-06:00

The 3 Things Employees Really Want: Career, Community, Cause

https://hbr.org/2018/02/people-want-3-things-from-work-but-most-companies-are-built-around-only-one

The 3 Things Employees Really Want: Career, Community, Cause

Strike up a conversation about work values, and it won't be long before someone brings up a pyramid — a famous psychologist's best-known theory. Abraham Maslow's big idea was that we all have a hierarchy of needs: once our basic physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, we seek love and belongingness, then self-esteem and prestige, and finally self-actualization. But that pyramid was built more than half a century ago, and psychologists have recently concluded that it's in need of renovation.

When you review the evidence from the past few decades of social science, it's hard to argue with Maslow's starting point. If your basic needs aren't met, it's hard to focus on anything else. If you have a job that doesn't pay enough, and you're up all night worrying about survival, chances are you won't spend much time dwelling on self-actualization.

But Maslow built his pyramid at the dawn of the human relations movement, when so many workplaces in the manufacturing economy didn't have basic physiological and safety needs covered. Today more companies are operating in knowledge and service economies. They're not just fulfilling basic needs; they're aiming to fulfill every need, providing conveniences like meals and gyms, and competing to be the best places to work (from 1984 through 2011, those that won outperformed their peers on stock returns by 2.3% to 3.8% per year). In those environments, survival isn't in question.

And once you get past that layer of the pyramid, the rest of it falls apart. People don't need to be loved before they strive for prestige and achievement. And they don't wait for those needs to be fulfilled before pursuing personal growth and self-expression.

If Maslow were designing his pyramid from scratch today to explain what motivates people at work, beyond the basics, what would it look like? That's a question we set out to answer at Facebook, in collaboration with our people analytics team.

We survey our workforce twice a year, asking what employees value most. After examining hundreds of thousands of answers over and over again, we identified three big buckets of motivators: career, community, and cause.

Career is about work: having a job that provides autonomy, allows you to use your strengths, and promotes your learning and development. It's at the heart of intrinsic motivation.

Community is about people: feeling respected, cared about, and recognized by others. It drives our sense of connection and belongingness.

Cause is about purpose: feeling that you make a meaningful impact, identifying with the organization's mission, and believing that it does some good in the world. It's a source of pride.

These three buckets make up what's called the psychological contract — the unwritten expectations and obligations between employees and employers. When that contract is fulfilled, people bring their whole selves to work. But when it's breached, people become less satisfied and committed. They contribute less. They perform worse.

In the past, organizations built entire cultures around just one aspect of the psychological contract. You could recruit, motivate, and retain people by promising a great career or a close-knit community or a meaningful cause. But we've found that many people want more. In our most recent survey, more than a quarter of Facebook employees rated all three buckets as important. They wanted a career and a community and a cause. And 90% of our people had a tie in importance between at least two of the three buckets.

Wondering whether certain motivators would jump out for particular people or places, we broke the data down by categories. We started with age.

There's a lot of talk about how different Millennials are from everyone else, but we found that priorities were strikingly similar across age groups.

Contrary to the belief that Millennials are more concerned with meaning and purpose, we found that younger people cared slightly less about cause — and slightly more about career — than older people. In fact, people ages 55 and above are the only group at Facebook who care significantly more about cause than about career and community. This tracks with evidence that around mid-life, people become more concerned about contributing to society and less focused on individual career enhancement.

But overall, the differences between age groups were tiny. And that's not just true at Facebook. In a nationally representative study of Americans across generations, Millennials, Baby Boomers, and Gen Xers had the same core work values — and tended to rank them in the same order of importance. As we've said before, Millennials want essentially the same things as the rest of us.

We also didn't see any major differences by level, or by performance reviews: people valued these three motivators whether they were exceeding, meeting, or falling short of expectations. And when we compared office locations, it was clear that career, community, and cause were all prized around the globe.

Finally, we turned to function. "If it weren't for the people," Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, "the world would be an engineer's paradise." Survey says: false. Our engineers care a lot about community, giving it an average rating of 4.18 on a 1-5 scale. And just as we saw with age and location, across functions people rated career, community, and cause as similarly important.

"To know what one really wants," Maslow argued, "is a considerable psychological achievement." Our data suggest that people are very clear on what they want at work — and they fundamentally want the same things. When it comes to an ideal job, most of us are looking for a career, a community, and a cause. These are important motivators whether you're 20 or 60, working in engineering or sales, in Luleå or São Paulo or Singapore or Detroit. We're all hoping to find a what, a who, and a why.

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