How to Recognize And Weed Out Toxic Managers

How to Recognize And Weed Out Toxic Managers Toxic leadership is a big problem in the business world. Despite the massive growth in interest around company culture in recent years, toxic managers still exist. They are bad apples having a detrimental effect on employee retention and productivity. Most of all, toxic managers are destroying the good fabric of the business. It’s increasingly recognized that good company culture is essential for productivity and growth. A new report from breatheHR, a software provider for smaller and medium-sized companies, has found that bad company culture is costing the UK economy a staggering £23.6 billion per year. The report,  The Culture Economy,  found as many as a third of British employees have quit their jobs due to bad workplace culture. Conversely, the same company also researched to find the top 25 SME culture leaders. So why do toxic managers prevail? Business owners are guilty of turning a blind eye to toxic managers and some even actively hire and promote them. The havoc they wreak is often forgiven because their immediate success is measured in sales. Toxic bosses are often results driven without any understanding of the impact of their behavior in the long term. Employing this kind of manager is a short-sighted and short-term strategy. In the long game, toxic managers can destroy organizations. Weeding out a toxic employee is one thing, but what do you do as the leader if one of your loyal managers is the problem? How to recognize a toxic manager Most toxic bosses are clueless that they even have a problem (though some smugly manipulate employees). Most think the way they manage staff and what they are doing is best for the company. But bad managers can cause irrevocable damage to your business by hindering employee performance and causing stress. The first step in weeding toxic behavior out of your business is recognizing you have a problem in the first place. Here are 11 signs of toxic behavior you need to watch out for: Poor coaching skills â€" getting frustrated when teaching new skills to employees Micromanaging Lack of compassion and social skills Anti-social behavior Not bothered about helping staff to progress Takes credit for all the work Blaming others for their mistakes Is never wrong! Belittles or ridicules others Won’t listen to ideas Gossiping and talking about others behind their back Understand why someone is toxic Toxic managers generally fall into one of three categories: narcissistic, dictator, or inadequate. Understanding how your toxic manager operates, how they view the world and what motivates them will help you to influence their behavior. A manager acting from inadequacy may be able to change if given the right support and training. It can, however, be extremely difficult to change ingrained behavior, so not all toxic managers will come around to your way of thinking, in which case letting the person go may be your only option. How a toxic manager is affecting your business Ignore a toxic manager and you are most certainly hurting your business. Toxic managers affect your staff and their productivity much more than you think. Importantly, toxic managers are damaging to your entire culture. Here’s what a toxic manager can do: Destroy morale Impair staff retention Deter cooperation Reduce information sharing Negatively affect employee emotional well-being Increase absenteeism and presenteeism How a toxic manager affects employees Working for a toxic boss is extremely stressful. It can be humiliating, upsetting and soul-destroying for employees who feel unsupported and harassed. A bad attitude can also be contagious. Toxicity breeds toxicity. Employees working in a toxic environment won’t be performing at their best. A toxic manager can make a whole team feel angry, dejected, cautious and uninterested in the jobs they are doing. This all has a massive impact on productivity, team cohesion and the development of new ideas. A bad boss can have a serious impact on employee mental health. How to weed out toxicity No matter how loyal someone has been to your business, if their behavior is toxic it needs to be dealt with. Ignore the problem and you’ll suffer the consequences of productivity losses and lose good staff. The first step is to confront them. This needs to be approached in a calm and non-aggressive way. Document the behavior, suggest changes and support them in making changes. Here are some proactive things you can do to weed out toxicity: Be proactive in detecting and handling dysfunctional behavior Hire external coaches to improve managers behavior Provide conflict training to staff Review your grievance procedure so staff feel they are safe to whistle-blow Offer company-wide training in toxicity Understand your managers and your employees and support them. Creating a positive company culture is the pathway to success. About the author:  Mike James  is an experienced business writer specializing in HR, tech, and cybersecurity. On the latter, he has contributed to many of the leading publications both online and in print â€" such as StaySafeOnline, GlobalSign, Tech London and more.

Do You Have a Résumé or a Job Description - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Do You Have a Résumé or a Job Description - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Editor’s Note: This blog is a modified excerpt from professional “headhunter” and bestselling job-hunting book author Skip Freeman’s next book in the “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets series of job-hunting books, CAREER STALLED? How to Get Your Career Back in High Gear and Land the Job You Deserve-Your Dream Job. Publication is scheduled for early 2013. ________________________________________________________ Is your résumé more characteristic of a “job description” than it is of a professional document that clearly and quickly brands you as unique and sells your experience, qualifications and your  potential for success to prospective employers? Unfortunately, the résumés of many professionals today more often resemble the former type of document than the latter type. As a professional “headhunter” I have literally hundreds of résumés pop up on my office computer screen each and every business day, in response to positions I am trying to fill for my hiring company clients. In truth, a significant number of these résumés read more like a job description than as a professional résumé that canâ€"and does!â€"give me what I refer to as “cause for pause” and make me want to read further. (Be assured that I am not the only hiring professional who feels this way.) Let me give you a real life example of what I am talking about here, and this example, I’m sorry to report, is not at all unique. Earlier this year I was recruiting for candidates to fill a Quality Manager position for a major manufacturer I represent. Although the phraseology varied somewhat, here is how the typical applicant usually described his or her experience/qualifications for the position in his/her résumé: Quality Control Manager â€" Name of Current Employer â€" 2005 to present  Responsible for improving manufacturing processes and reducing defects and downtime. . . . While the candidates who utilized this approach more than likely thought it to be entirely acceptable and appropriate, the fact of the matter was (and is), all this approach actually accomplished was to immediately relegate the applicants who used it to the “me too” pool! Why? Because this approach sounds as though it was literally lifted right out of a written job descriptionâ€"and in some cases it quite probably was! This approach gives the reader (who may spend 45 seconds or less on the résumé to begin with) no reason whatsoever to read on and learn more, i.e., there is absolutely no “cause for pause”! The end result for résumés which featured this approach? Hit with the big DELETE key! Applicants out of the running. Does this mean that I may have missed some really exceptionally qualified candidates by not reading more of their résumés? Maybe, but in my professional experience, highly unlikely. Plus, I, like all hiring professionals, simply do not have, and cannot take, the time to “plow” through hundreds of résumés in search of a “diamond in the rough.” Résumé Should Both Tell and Sell! A résumé that reads like a job description does indeed accomplish at least one goal of an effective résumé: It tells the reader what the applicant actually does (or has done), i.e., “duties and responsibilities.” A hiring professional of course needs to learn (and quickly) if an applicant possesses the basic, relevant experience to even be considered for a particular position. But far, far more important is how well the applicant has performed these duties and responsibilities! In other words, an applicant must include those things in his/her résumé that makes him/her unique, different and better than the typical, “run-of-the-mill” applicant. Referring back to the above example, consider how much more effective (and stronger) an applicant’s résumé would be if he or she had taken this approach to explaining and amplifying his or her experience and qualifications for the position: Quality Control Manager â€" Name of Current Employer â€" 2005 to present Reduced equipment failure rate by 89% in first year as Quality Manager, while increasing annual production by 15%, resulting in an overall revenue increase of $12.5 million. Not only do applicants who take an approach like this tell the hiring professional what their current (and previous) duties and responsibilities are/were, more importantly, they are selling how well they are now performing these duties and meeting these responsibilitiesâ€"by using the concrete “yardsticks” of dollars and percentages! The not-so-subtle, underlying message to a hiring professional, of course, is that “I can also do this for you and the company you represent!” If you were a hiring professional, which approach would most likely give you “cause for pause,” and make you want to learn more about the applicant? Résumé First Glimpse into Your Professional Brand It’s important to keep in mind that, for the overwhelming majority of job applicants, the résumé is the first (and many times, the only) glimpse into their professional brand. If you “blow it” out of the “starting gate” because your résumé doesn’t immediately give the hiring professional sufficient “cause for pause,” you won’t be getting a second chance! And, while a résumé, no matter how “sparkling,” will never actually get you the job, you certainly can’t expect to progress to the next important step in the job search, either, i.e., getting an interview, if your résumé doesn’t both tell what you do and effectively sell how well you do it! Obviously, there is much more that goes into a job-winning résumé than what I have included in this blog, e.g., visual appeal, overall length, appropriate use of keywords, to cite just a few of the elements that comprise an effective résumé. Take a long, hard look at your résumé before you send it out in application for another position. Does your résumé read more like a job description than a well-designed, professional document that sells what is unique, different and better about you? If so, then take the time and make the effort to rebuild it, so that it becomes an accurate, complete picture of your true professional brand and moves you ahead in your job search! Author: Skip Freeman  is the author of “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!  and is the President and Chief Executive Officer of  The HTW Group (Hire to Win), an Atlanta, GA, Metropolitan Area Executive Search Firm. Specializing in the placement of sales, engineering, manufacturing and RD professionals, he has developed powerful techniques that help companies hire the best and help the best get hired.

New agenda for workplace activism Keep marriages together

New agenda for workplace activism Keep marriages together The topic of should women work or should they stay home is a baby boomer fetish topic, with Leslie Bennetts being the current poster girl. Joan Walsh, writing at Salon, points out that we are generally sick of baby boomer women telling younger women what to do and what not to do. But we are also generally disgusted with the baby boomer infatuation with the opt-out topic since only 4% of women in this country are so lucky to have both a hotshot career and a husband making enough money to be the sole breadwinner. For the other 96% of us, opting out is about gutwrenching financial decisions, not feminist platitudes. Nevertheless, women like Bennetts approach the issue of staying home with kids as if many women are considering this option. She says that women who quit working and stay home with their kids will decrease their earning power and put themselves at risk if theres a divorce. First of all, we know that baby boomers divorced at a higher rate than any group in history, and today the risk of divorce is only 20% for college-educated women, and the trend is for divorce rates to continue declining. Yet Bennetts writes about divorce among women who can afford to stay home as if its an epidemic. Second, when a woman stays at home the marriage is more likely to stay intact, and when a marriage stays intact, the kids do better. So you can argue forever that a stay-at-home parent (male or female) loses something by not going to work, but clearly their family gains something, so if women want to stop working for a while, fine. Why get all up in arms about it? The problem is when there is a divorce. Divorce doesnt just hurt stay-at-home parents, who have to go back to work after being out of the workforce for years. It hurts breadwinners, who, because of child support issues are very limited in the career moves they can make. But most of all, divorce hurts kids. Divorced parents routinely walk around saying that their kids are doing fine and that their kids are better off because the parents are happier. However there is little evidence to generally support either of these claims. Both are very psychological and complicated and parents are hardly good judges of their own case since they have already made the decision and want to feel it was not selfish and terrible to do to their kids. Here is what there is research to support: Even amicable divorces do permanent damage to kids, yet the media practically ignored this evidence when it came out. Kids with divorced parents do worse in school, and this research is independent of socioeconomic status, and it gets worse if a parent remarries. Also, if you get divorced, you make your child almost 50% more likely to get a divorce. So heres what we know for sure, today: Women who work have a higher chance of having a divorce, and women who stay at home are very vulnerable in the case of a divorce. Heres what we should do with this information: Start talking about how to keep a marriage together. Making marriage last is a workplace issue because work factors play such a very large role in the equation. Work needs to help us to keep marriages together instead of hurt it. And advice about work needs to focus on improving marriage rather than preparing for divorce. This issue hits close to home to me because my marriage is under stress right now. We have two young kids, both of whom have special needs. Additionally, Im at a time in my career when I have a lot of work, while my husband is lost in his career. Sometimes I think of getting a divorce, and I tell myself Im not doing it. I tell myself that no one is in love every second of their marriage. I tell myself that this is a really bad time in our marriage and I will have to work really hard to make it better. And then I think, how will I find time to do that? I actually have very little guilt about how I have dealt with my kids. I spend tons of time with them because my work is flexible. But I have not focused on my marriage. I have focused on my kids and my career and myself. But what about my marriage? Its a big part of the equation. I hear a lot of women saying they have a problem keeping their marriage together. And in general the group that shouts the loudest about advice for keeping a marriage intact is the Christian right. (Check out the fourth result on the Google list from the search how to keep your marriage together.) So this is my call for a shift in discussion about women and work. Both men and women need to figure out how talk about how to make better marriages. We need to take all our energy we spend talking about the risks of stay-at-home parenting, and the risks of dual-career families, and put that thinking power toward what makes a marriage strong.

How to Shift Your Organizations Culture to Become More #Equal -

How to Shift Your Organization’s Culture to Become More #Equal - There is more uncertainty for women’s equality now than ever before. But this doesn’t mean we are helpless, it means we urgently need to participate in shaping our own work culture. At the individual level, there is so much we can do to create an equal workplace. While I feel your pain, you are not alone and you are not helpless. Men are receiving maternity leave with increasing demand. Because  they are demanding it. What can we learn from this? As a female executive and long-time feminist, and in my work in designing corporate cultures, I’ve spotted a few trends that will help you to create a more gender-equal work culture,  by demand. Change your rhetoric and context to change your culture. “What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” Abraham Maslow I’m quite sure that if Maslow had outlived the 1970s he would be a workplace feminist. Instead, he’s stuck with an un-diverse quote on the internet. Don’t make the same mistake. Heighten the awareness of your communication, and then strengthen your communication. From an equality stance, I mean. If you are vying for your seat at the power-table, it’s time to speak your power. If you aren’t comfortable putting on a man’s suit and becoming a different person tomorrow (like most of us), the sneaky way of changing your language is by increasing your gender neutrality. As yogis say, awareness is the key to solving all human problems. Pay special attention. Don’t refer to anything in gender context of “as women”. Use words like “she” when discussing predominately men’s roles in your casual conversations. Mis-define cultural norms whenever possible. It may not feel like an overt change, yes. It’s not. It’s a behavioral trigger to signal a heuristic misnomer, setting your targets cognitive thinking into action. In layman’s terms: you are planting seeds for change. Reset culturally normative expectations. “Givers need to set limits because takers rarely do.” Rachel Wolchin Yes, women are nurturers. Yes, women are more likely to say yes. But your time management is yours. If men at your organization say no; watch, learn, adapt. You may not have a ton of empirical data on this, but you intuitively know whether your work culture has biased expectations split between the genders. If men are getting faster promotions and expected to work longer hours, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and adapt the same hours. Then speak up when you do. If men hang out at the country club, invite everyone to a less-boring (I mean more gender neutral) activity. No seriously, if you play golf then kudos to you, but we all know the girls tees are positioned differently so we ladies miss out on much of the informal conversations. On the other hand, in many organizations the cultural norms have become harder on women thanks to evolutionary nurturer-by-nature behaviors. A key to short-circuit this with language is to begin saying no more when your boundaries are questioned, and counter it with questioning the boundaries of a male cohort. Here’s sample language if you need extra help: “I’ve worked the past three weekends and it would be great to have one to myself. I’m sure that ____ will fill in the time as he’s had plenty of weekends.” Passive aggressive? Maybe. Effective? Definitely. But this is where equal begins. With the mindset and the language that acknowledges both men and women are responsible for ourselves, our time and our reality. Learn to keep your head up (higher!).  â€œUntil the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter.” African Proverb Don’t get noticed, don’t get fired. Don’t ruffle feathers. This will also lead you down the path of: don’t get promoted, and don’t get thanked. Sounds like it’s time to get recognized. Now a word of precaution before you head down’ this approach. If it feels uncomfortable for you, attend an improv class, a toastmasters, or other training to practice and craft your approach. However, if you were specifically instructed to keep your head down and ride out your career until you receive your gold watch for service, the contextual environment may just not be one for you to thrive regardless of what you do. Three years ago, Peter Diamandis predicted that all of our top companies of today will be out of business in the next 10 years. Since culture is the key tool to competitive success in the near and long term, I predict that there will be a strong correlation between those companies who don’t innovate, and the companies who don’t embrace inclusiveness. It’s all about a fear to change; a death sentence. If you find yourself on a sinking ship, build yourself a raft. For example, Microsoft trains every employee in inclusiveness. A culture like this won’t just give you a better work life balance; you’ll have more meaning and purpose in your life. This guest post was authored by Jessica Higgins Jessica Higgins is a marketing and culture expert whose research and publications help leaders and everyday people understand emerging trends. She was named a Breakthrough Female Founder in 2017 by Huffington Post and her work has been published in Entrepreneur, Thrive Global, Huffington Post, Forbes, CBS, Newsweek, and thousands of other publications, on behalf of herself and the clients she markets under her agency, Digital Unicorns. Prior to creating her marketing agency, she designed the first end-to-end culture design firm, utilizing her marketing and management science experience to develop a new approach to organizational design that includes behavior change. She is a Black Belt in the field of Lean Six Sigma with specialty in systems design (DMADV), a certification in Behavior Design, a Juris Doctor of law, a Masters of Business Management, and Bachelors Degrees in Behavioral Psychology and Political Science.

A Writing Workshop in Resume - How to Improve Your Writing Skills

A Writing Workshop in Resume - How to Improve Your Writing SkillsFor students, taking a writing workshop in resume can help them make their essays stronger. They need to practice, analyze and revise the answers in order to be better writers. It is also important for students to read closely as they want to learn how to present themselves and their answers clearly.A writing workshop in resume allows students to go over the questions and put the answers back so that they improve their student's writing skills. This can also help them clarify the questions in their minds and learn how to write an effective essay. They are taught how to use relevant details that will highlight the statements. The student will also receive writing tips that will enhance the skills.A writing workshop in resume will also let the writer know about the processes of writing a resume. It helps to have a thorough knowledge of this topic. The writer needs to be able to convey the right information. It will help h im build his sentence structures, structure the paragraphs properly and understand the process of composition.The session will also teach the student how to interview his answers. It can be very helpful for the student to realize the importance of composing an answer. This will also let him learn to follow the guidelines to compose the resume.There is also information on how to interview the writer. In this session, the student will receive writing tips such as asking for a reference or sample. This will help the student to find a writer who is good at what he does.Writing workshops in resume will also teach the students about how to understand the structure of a resume. They will also be taught about the information that is required in a resume. For example, they need to make sure that the student can provide references that will support his or her answers. This will help the student to better understand the information that is necessary in a resume.The sessions of writing a resume can also help the students improve their writing skills. The writing class will let the students know that they should review their answers on a regular basis. The writing workshop can also give the students tips on how to improve their writing skills.This writing class can also provide some writing tips. They will let the students know that they should use clear and direct sentences. They should use short sentences and choose the proper words when writing. They can also use a rhythm in their writing and let the words flow naturally.

Fast Track Your Career Success, Instantly - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

Fast Track Your Career Success, Instantly Improve your chances of promotion and success on the job, starting today. Some employees spend years getting a single promotion, while others zoom their way up the ladder of success. What does one have the other doesnt? Better technical skills? Better soft skills? Because success in your career is an all-important component of your future happiness, its worth taking a look at those questions. The pace of your success partly depends on your understanding of office politics and human nature. No matter where you are in your career path, there’s always room for improvement. Success Tips to Boost Your Career Here are a few tips you can implement immediately to fast track your career. These concepts worked so well for me that they yielded single raises of as much as 25% in the corporate world. These principles work. Show some positive attitude savvy! That’s probably the most important thing you can do besides showing up for work every day. Never grumble about your pay, your hours, or anything else. Griping never won anyone a raise. Never criticize your boss, or any senior manager. Don’t moan about circumstances at your office. If there are things you don’t like, decide whether you can live with the angst or not. Should I go or should I stay? Make a list of pros and cons. Maybe you have an idea that you can turn into something great. Rick Smith wrote about how he did just that in this article in Business Week: “Take Your Career from Good to Great.” Ask yourself if you’re in the right environment to bloom. When I was in my 20s, I changed jobs 5 times in 5 years.   I worked diligently and was a model employee. I gave every company a year to promote me; if not, I moved on.  But always, I was a positive person. I quadrupled my salary in 4 years’ time. Dress Up to Move Up the Corporate Ladder Look at the image you’re creating. Are you a slob who throws yourself together in 10 minutes in the morning? Dont be surprised if youre passed over for promotions. People who are well dressed and well groomed get respect in the office. That should come as no big surprise. Look at our obsession with health, fitness and beauty. Dress up to move up is more than a cute saying. Do the most you can with what nature gave you. Build solid relationships. Work on building positive, personal relationships with all staff members and colleagues. No matter how much energy, initiative or smarts you have, if co-workers and bosses in the office detest you, you’ll likely never see the inside of executive team meetings. The idea is collaboration, not competition. Be considerate. It sounds hokey, but the Golden Rule fits in the workplace quite well. Analyze the communication method your boss prefers: telephone, email or face-to face contact. Study that communication style and mirror it. Examine how your boss makes decisions. Become your boss’s trusted ally. Meet regularly. Ask him/her: “Are there ways in which I should be showing more initiative?” Take as much responsibility off them as possible. Do anything you can to make their life easier … could be something as simple as offering to bring back a sandwich for lunch. The idea is not so much schmoozing as showing basic common courtesies to someone you care about. Successful People Set Themselves Apart Distinguish yourself. Don’t hang around at the coffee bar constantly making idle chatter. Be careful not to spread vivid details about personal matters regarding your family or fondest dreams. Very few co-workers can be trusted with that kind of information; it’s too tempting to make it a subject of gossip. It also makes it difficult once you are promoted and those same individuals work for you, if they know every intimate facet of your life. Distinguish yourself also by having a sense of urgency about the way you move your body. Walk briskly; carry things with you. Move crisply. You’re someone with a mission and a purpose! Success seminars teach people to imagine they have all they envision in terms of money and accomplishments, then to interact with others as if it were all true. This builds huge self confidence from inside out. People are drawn to those who exude self confidence. Best Success Advice Your career status will affect your earnings, your ego, your accomplishments, your social contacts and even the attraction (or retention) of a terrific lifes mate! If youre not satisfied with raises, promotions and results you’ve been getting at work, perhaps you should change the way you think and the way you act. Your success or lack thereof ultimately depends on you. You are the CEO of your own corporation and no one has a more vested interested in the outcome of your career than you do. Do everything possible to have maximum career advantage. About author: Teresa Brashear grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from California State University. She is a mom, a HR manager at an IT company, and a successful writer at ResumeBros.com. She loves to spend time working in the garden, learning French and Chinese, and playing volleyball.

Ask Dana Job seekers goals are often too small or too broad when aiming for perfect job

Ask Dana Job seekers’ goals are often too small or too broad when aiming for perfect job Why cant I get a job in the industry of my choice when I have so many years of experience? My career challenge is securing employment in my field of sports public relations. I have 15+ years of freelance experience in public relations, marketing and communications working with NFL Players. However, I seem to have hit a brick wall securing an executive managerial position with a major sports sector such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, just to name a few. I am always asking myself, what other skills sets or education do I need? I have two master’s degrees, an extensive corporate background working in administration, and have worked with more than 20 NFL players and non-profit organizations. In addition, I have several recommendations that compliment my work. So the question: Why am I having such difficulty securing employment within the sports industry? Advice from Dana: Well, I don’t have experience with every industry, however I assume our readers can substitute their target career position in place of “public relations/marketing for professional sports teams.” The following are the steps you can take to make any fundamental change and expand the definition of your target career move. Think of a dart board. Many job seekers’ goal definitions are either too small or too broad. Please don’t tell me, “I can do anything!” Step 1 Separate your goal into two categories: function and industry. The most important one to consider when job searching or changing careers is function which, in this case, is public relations and marketing. The simplest way to think about this is, “What tasks do I want to be doing between 8 and 5?” Also, be crystal clear about your desired function. In your case, I frankly don’t know what an “executive managerial position” is. That is not a job; jobs fit into functions. Step 2 Now, expand the definition of your desired industry. In your case, it is clearly the sports industry. However, you may be too narrowly defining the sports industry. Just pro sports? What about collegiate? Do this: list the entire ecosystem within the sports industry. What about agents/agencies, the advertising agencies that the teams hire, and other types of companies providing services to the sports industry? Grab a few industry trade publications and see who is advertising in them. Step 3 Expand your industry view. Some industries are not hiring much right now so the options will be limited. Plus, remember the higher your level, the fewer the positions, right? Picture a pyramid. Aim at other industries, learn about them, and you will find fascinating positions! During my 30-year sales and marketing career, I moved from technology to office supplies to containerized shipping to photography to digital printing to computer software! Now, re-boot your efforts. It’s not all about what YOUR background is. It’s how you present yourself to fit THEIR job opening.