Why Team Building is Necessary for a Good Working Culture

If you care about having a great working culture, Real Simple’s Maggie Seaver shares that you need to ensure that every employee feels a sense of belonging — and one great way to do that is through team building. And with everyone from the world’s largest corporations to the smallest of startups investing in team building, is all the hype about it justified?

What is team building?

At its core, team building is any action or process that aims to turn a group of employees into a cohesive team. It helps with the employees’ transition from having an individualistic to a collaborative mindset. And this is important because when employees focus on tasks and results on an individual level only, Forbes points out that the whole organization misses out in terms of productivity and effectiveness.

Team building ranges from small activities like bowling or a game night, to big activities like a sportsfest or a three-day retreat at the beach. However, it still has a bad rap for a lot of employees, many of whom see it as some mandatory “fun” activity where they must put on a happy-go-lucky face. But if done right, it doesn’t just serve as a stress reliever for the whole team. It also brings serious benefits and advantages to the whole organizational culture of the company.Continue reading

6 of the Most Important Components of an Effective Leader

Contributed article in our leadership series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Every great business needs a great leader, but what is it exactly that makes a leader great?

Firm but Fair

Any truly great leader must be able to strike a balance when dealing with their subordinates. In particular, it is important that you always make your workers aware when they make mistakes, as this is the only way that they will learn. However, your role cannot simply be to hand out work and critique the results. You have to mix constructive criticism in with compliments and acknowledgment of their strengths and achievements.

If you lean too heavily in either direction on this, you will find that you quickly have a demotivated workforce on your hands. As their leader, it is up to you to ensure that the various components of your business are acting in harmony.Continue reading

How To Get Motivated To Achieve

Contributed article in our business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Motivation is the reason you get out of bed in the morning. You’re motivated to go to work and earn money to enjoy living. Sometimes this motivation can suffer a setback and not always because of a perceivable reason. There isn’t always one clear reason why your levels of motivation dip, and it can be the culmination of a few factors. For the times when you can’t quite put your finger on the cause, you’re best off to implement a healthy lifestyle and to get out and enjoy your time more often. As the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a sad boy,” so endeavor to enjoy yourself as well as work hard. You need to maintain a balance if you’re going to stay motivated and determined to succeed.Continue reading

4 Tips for Staying Motivated When You’re Self-employed

Contributed article in our small business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

When you’re in charge of your own work life, it can be difficult to stay focused. With no one to pay attention to your activities, it’s tempting to talk yourself out of doing work. In the short term, this might provide you with a pleasant break. However, in the long term, a lack of productivity will be disastrous for your personal finances and the development of your career. That is why you need to take control of the situation. It’s vital that you’re doing everything in your power to work efficiently. Luckily, there are plenty of easy steps for you to take. Below are four tips for staying motivated when you’re self-employed.

Schedule Your Day

Make sure that you have a clear plan for your day ahead. You should even try to plan your entire week in advance. This allows you to have a clear idea of everything that you need to get done. When you’re formulating your plan, it’s important that you strike the right balance between being optimistic and being realistic. You should always be pushing yourself to achieve more. However, you should avoid setting yourself unrealistic deadlines. Ideally, at the end of each day, you want to feel satisfied instead of deflated.Continue reading

3 Ways to Stay Focused on Success

iStock_000012789422XSmallContributed article in our entrepreneurial business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Any successful business man or woman can tell you that one of the main detriments to continued success is a sense of complacency that hits everyone at a certain period in their career. They reach a level where they are comfortable and take a step back when they should be forging ahead.

Until you’ve reached the top of your game, become a Bill Gates or a Donald Trump, there is no time to lose your focus, to get complacent. In fact, even those amazingly successful entrepreneurs never lost their focus for any great length and this is why they continued to reach the pinnacle of success. Here are three key ways to stay focused on success.Continue reading