The Berserk Work Jerk

          I'm a decent person. I'm not great, I'm not awful. I will treat everyone I meet with humanity, dignity and respect, and I will expect the same from them. But there are two things I consider unforgivable: to scorn somebody who will not or cannot defend themselves, and someone calling me a liar. As a good southern woman, my mama taught me to defend the defenseless and never tell a lie, even when it hurts. But what happens when you're in the workplace with a Class A berserk work jerk, and can't, as my mama would say, have a coming to Jesus moment? Here's what I did.
       
When your coworker is a jerk
           During my high school years, I worked as a pharmacy technician at a well-known retailer. I was a part-time techie that zoomed through training, received my state license in less than a month, and became PTCB in 6 months. I'm a quick learner. So, when a chance to become the spokesperson for our store came for our company's new insurance plan came about, I was promoted immediately by my boss. My supervisor, district manager, and coworkers were all excited for my promotion and supported me 100%. Except one coworker, who we shall call Negative Nancy. Negative Nancy was not a bad worker. In reality, she was a very loyal employee, six time employee of the month, future head technician with over 20 years invested with the company. She was natural born leader who decided that she hated me.
           Because I had come into my own so quickly at this company at the tender age of 17, Negative Nancy suddenly saw me as a threat to her position. Even though I made it clear to her that I had no desire to be Pharmacist or Head Tech, for almost a year, she spread rumors about me, lied to my face about anything and everything, and even convinced my supervisor I was stealing money. This was the biggest shock! My supervisor brought me into her office and set me down, "Briona, it's come to our attention through an anonymous source that there has been money missing from the drawers. Do you remember anything strange happening these last couple weeks?" Thankfully, I was young and naive, so I brought forward all my cash ledgers and showed her where about $20 had gone missing from my drawer. Turns out, Negative Nancy was short on her cash drawer, so she had taken money from mine to make the difference look smaller. She was written up and suspended two weeks. I was told by my supervisor I would be wise to change locations, which I happily did.

If it's a coworker:

1. Be honest. When it comes to your career future, and you're being blamed for something, the worst thing you can do is lie.
2. Assess the situation. If your coworker is willing to take extra steps to make sure you get the boot, either change locations, departments, or jobs. That person is out to ruin you!
3. Don't let the problem fester. If I had understood what was going on, I should have gone to my coworker and tried to reason. If they refuse to settle on anything, go to your supervisor. The thing to remember is that that jerk is still a human being who deserves respect.
4. Keep it private. Would you want a coworker telling everyone that you're a jerk?
5. Make the first move. Be brave, and stop that problem in its tracks. You're not a fairy tale princess. No one is coming to save you.

When your boss is a jerk

            Who hasn't had a boss they hated? The boss that scheduled you last minute, docked you pay for a small mishap, or gave you so much, you had to work through the weekend? What about a boss intentionally set you up to be fired? My fifth job I had, I had a boss that wrote me up for errors my coworkers made, volunteered me to work three holidays in a row, and scheduled me to work the same days I went to class and sometimes during class. My senior year of college, I earned the opportunity to travel to Madrid, Spain for a business case competition. I spent an entire week in a beautiful city doing what I do best, business consulting. Fatigued, but wired from the excitement of the competition, we made our long trip back home. 

             After two delayed flights, we finally got back into the US at JFK international airport a day late. When I received the following text message: "Just so you know, you're working tomorrow at 8." I was used to his jerkiness, so I responded, "OK," to keep from having an argument at 11:00 pm. About an hour after I sent the text, we were informed our flight was delayed 8 hours for an impending snow storm. Letting out a sigh of exasperation, I sent to my boss, "Our flight is delayed 8 hours to Denver, I can't come into work." I received back, "Well s**t." Laughing it off, my team and I found a hotel, and got a few hours of R&R. 

            While waiting in the TSA line, I received the following text, "Where are you?" A little grumpy from lack of sleep, I responded, "New York." The text I received, for the sake of my readers, has been censored,

"What the **** are you ******* doing in ******* NY!?"

"I told you, my flight was delayed."

"Why didn't you ******* tell me!?"

"I did." *sends screenshot of conversation*

"Don't get cocky with me! You knew you had to work today!"

"My flight was delayed."

"That's no excuse!"

"I didn't do it!" * At this point I was furious*

"Excuse me!?"

"I'm in NY, at least 6 hours until I home, and I haven't eaten in two days. What do you want me to do!?"

              It wasn't until I got home eight hours later after another delay and getting stopped by security for 'looking aggressive,' that I got the final text message, "Because your lack of responsibility, improper attitude towards your superiors, and failure to report about your absence, you are now terminated." The worst reared its ugly head when I called my family, and my father told me, "Yeah, they called here at least twenty times today demanding you come into work. They know you don't live here, right?"

If it's your boss:

1. Stay professional. Bite your tongue. Never raise your voice. His impaired psychosis is his problem, not yours.
2. Talk about your feelings. Your boss may not even realize he's being a jerk.
3. Get your marching orders and go about your business. The more details you squeeze out of him, the less likely he'll be critical.
4. Ask for guidance, direction, and support. Talk about your goals, deadlines, projects and plans. It shows you're there to work, not shoot the breeze. 
5. Ask, "Then what?" Get over your "I'm nobody's servant," mentality. It says in your job contract you're to perform the duties given to you be your employer.
6. Pay attention to the little things. The majority of the time, the obsessive boss who nitpicks over all the tiny details will trust you if you continually show you're focused on the entire project, both big and small.

New Year's Resolutions for Small Businesses in 2015

Involve everyone in projects 

Everyone from the owner herself to the guy who empties the trash bins over the weekend is invested in your business. They spend their time, effort, and energy into bettering the company or their own jobs. Every employee of a company has the ability to think like an owner. To do so, you have to involve them in the goals, planning and drive employee engagement. You may set the overall direction, but let them be involved in the creation of the outcomes. This is a big key to greater involvement, commitment and success.

Keep goals clear and concise

When goals are created, everyone needs to be reminded of them regularly. As a leader, you must help people keep their goal in mind and remind them of what success looks like. Employee motivation is key. Using bulletin boards to regular conversations in team meetings, find what works for your team, and implement it.

Diversify communication

“I don’t understand, I sent them an email.” As a business owner, communicating key messages frequently is a top priority. You must ensure that the message sent is received. Doing so, your message is heard and drives action.

Listen

In trying to make sure their point is made, or to stimulate a discussion, leaders will often share all of their ideas and then ask the rest of the team for input. This will rarely work. When you want the team’s input and ideas, you must ask questions. Let the team share their ideas as a means of team building. Be patient and give them time. If they don’t think of a key idea or piece of information, you can share it later with greater effect. Nature gave you two ears and one mouth.

Critique with progress in mind

As an awesome leader, you want your employees to improve. However, most workplace feedback is focused on changing past performance.  To be a more effective coach to your team and help them make improvements in their skills and results, give them feedback, advice and wise counsel about what they can do next time. Regularly conduct employee performance reviews to keep your workers feeling secure about their positions.

Be a model. 

Are your behaviors the ones you want them exhibiting? Are your attitude, work habits, and customer focus what you want them to exhibit? Recognizing frustration, laziness, and irresponsibility from the source, you, creates a “pack” mentality in a workplace rather than “every man for himself.”

Increase sales in 2015

If you say you want to increase general sales, even a $5 increase over the year would qualify you as having achieved your company goal. Set a number that is realistic. Look at the last few years of sales and aim for just a bit more growth. The economy will likely allow for a little extra reach in your numbers this year.

Market better through social media and SEO

SEO is the way of the intelligent business plan in 2015.

Become an expert in my field

If you work on personal branding, people have to know your name for it to be successful. The more places you appear, the more people get to know you through your knowledge.

Be more productive

Last year, I resolved to move my analytics department to Google Docs. In doing so, I achieved exponential productivity for myself and my clients. Focus on tools that will help your business operate more efficiently. Pick a few and resolve to fully implement them in 2015.

Delegate your work

Sometimes it just seems easier to do it yourself. Or is it? I delegated a large project onto the shoulders of one of my better employees. It helped me to achieve other goals on a timely basis, and increased the credibility and competency of my employee. If you’re not working on the bigger picture for your business, you’ll never implement growth.

Make the most of technology

Commit to fully using all of your technology solutions in 2015. So many busy small business owners do not fully utilize the technology investments they've made, despite the fact that doing so would likely save them a lot of time and drive up efficiency. There are so many ways that technology can make your life easier once you take the time to fully embrace and learn.

Make customer service a priority

Customer service can make or break your relationship with current and future customers. Looking ahead to 2015, customer service should be a priority for every small business. We see small businesses taking advantage of the cloud to work smarter and make customers happier. Most customers would rather have their teeth pulled than speak with a customer service agent. 

Be SEO and data-savvy

As identity theft and cyber security dominate the headlines, there are ways of making sure consumers feel safe using products and platforms. In 2014, search engine optimization (SEO) firms discovered new ways to uncover this data using several options. Firms will become more creative with how to access and interpret keyword data because it remains a large part of SEO strategy. Knowing how visitors are searching helps firms to better understand their target markets and create a better user experience on the website, which is the foundation of a solid SEO strategy.

Perform security audits

Next year will be a crucial time for companies to make sure their data stays protected. The rise of targeted attacks seen against corporations has made this a realistic concern. When it comes to investigating potential bugs, it's best to look outside the company and leverage domain experts to probe for risks, examine policy, and suggest fixes. The company I currently work for performs an audit yearly. Expanding the scope of audits due to the new types of security risks and escalating threats observed is the best way to prep for a possible attack.

Be aware of employee fraud

Adopt a code of ethics for your workers. Set a strong tone that fraud will not be tolerated at any level of your business. Draft and approve a code of ethics that includes concise compliance standards that are consistent with promoting ethical behavior across the organization. Require each employee to read and sign the code of ethics as well as contractors who work on behalf of the organization. Your employees are the other half of what sets a company’s reputation.

Become more adaptable

As mega-retailers continue their quest to steal market share from other big-box retailers, smaller online businesses need to be better competitors, both from a price, customer service and marketing standpoint. This includes identifying true points of difference and showcasing these points in marketing and branding, delivering personalized experiences, and so much more. The economy and the community are built up by the success of small businesses. 

Top Attributes Employers Look For

         Each job position is different, so every employer is looking for very specific things on your resume and in interviews that make you the best candidate for a position. However, after years in Human Resources in various industries, there are 16 attributes that employers are looking for. Although these aren't guaranteed to get you every job you apply for, they will make you in the top three for best choice.

1. Ability to communicate

        This is more than the ability to speak well. Every great candidate has the skills needed to communicate in both verbal and written form. Listening is also a big portion of being able to communicate well.

2. Intelligence

         Great candidates have the knowledge needed to follow assignments, remember verbal and written instructions, focus on the current task, and follow through on actions. What gives a great candidate a more competitive edge is being able to generate realistic ideas and to be an efficient problem solver.

3. Self confidence

         No one wants to work with the coworker who refuses to participate because they don't believe that have anything to contribute. Nor does anyone want to work with the arrogant coworker who only wants to pursue his own ideas. A happy medium to aim for is a worker who has the talent to lead and  to follow happily. 

4. Willingness to accept responsibility

         A great candidate does more than volunteer to complete a task. Great candidates should have the initiative to recognize a problem and fix it without instruction to do so. An awesome coworker to work with will understand the balance between success and sacrifice. There are only results equal to the amount of sacrifice you provide.

5. Leadership

         Anyone can say that they are a leader. It's crucial that if you say that you are a leader you have real life examples of leadership. For example, I'm an active member of Toastmaster's Inc. I would say in an interview that I'm a leader because I'm the VP of Education; coordinate club, area, and district level speech competitions; and take care of all new member affairs.

6. Imagination

         One of the greatest assets of this generation's college graduates is that they have the greatest capacity for innovation and creativity compared to previous generation's. Having the talent to imagine new ways to increase efficiency and to build revenue for a company makes you an invaluable candidate for a company. 

7. Flexibility

         An awesome candidate is very adaptable to change. Whether it's a transfer to a new location, new position in the company, or given new tasks to complete in the middle of a current project. It's best to make a list of what you're not willing to change before going for an interview. Be wary though, most companies will only make regular exceptions for school, certain religious holidays, and medical reasons. As unfair as it is, I have looked over and have been surpassed myself by candidates with more open schedules.

8. Interpersonal skills

         If you say, "I have great interpersonal skills," at an interview, you've held up a big sign  that you don't. The phrase interpersonal skills makes every recruiter cringe and all your coworkers judge you horribly. It's like saying, "I'm the most humble person I know," to a priest. The reason is because interpersonal skills is a combination of active listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, public speaking, accountability, and self-management. Something to say instead would be, "I'm a very good with verbal and non-verbal communication, but I'm building my public speaking and self-management by-" then have an example of a situation where you are a good communicator.

9. Self knowledge
         This includes you likes, dislikes, morals, values, physical and spiritual health. A candidate who wants to be a cashier because of this, that, and the other is much more impressive than a doctor because your parents wouldn't let you be an actor.

10. Ability to handle conflict
          This is tricky because every occupation has an implied amount of stress. If it is your dream to be a stock broker, but are bad with deadlines and personal accountability, you would save yourself a lot of hair-tearing-out by rethinking your career goals.

11. Goal achievement
           Recruiters love to hear about how you want to change the world for the better, but they really want to know how you plan on doing it. How did you plan your project? What were your obstacles? How did you handle them? What was the outcome? Did you achieve everything you set out to do?

12. Competitiveness
           Employers want candidates who can get along with everyone, but there needs to be a healthy dose of competition both between coworkers and with external companies. As much as we like to talk up that business is for the greater good of humanity, it's still a game of thrones.

13. Vocational skills
           Also known as technical skills or hard skills, these are any talents and aptitudes specific to an occupation. A candidate who completed a two year apprenticeship in mechanical engineering is miles ahead of the competition for a job position than someone who went to college.

14. Direction
           For my first 'real job,' I was asked, "Why do you want to work for our company?" I replied, "I have a personal career goal to become a Project Manager within 10 years, and to become a Business Analyst within 25 years. This company is directly relevant to that goal, and I plan on challenging myself to learn the trade and to gain as much direct work experience with you." I was hired the next day. For recruiters, a candidate with specific goals and a detailed plan to achieve that goal is a diamond in the rough. It shows planning, assertiveness, self-management, time-management, competitiveness, self-knowledge, and accountability all rolled into one answer.

But First, Lemme Take a #BusinessCard

          The most controversial object in the business world is the business card. Should your company have one? Does it replace a resume? What should be on a business card? What color should it be? I'm a strong advocate for the humble business card. This tiny 3.5" x 2" piece of paper can tell you everything you need to know about a person or business! But there are some solid rules you need to follow, and even more rules that are fun to break.

          First off, there is only certain places on a card that you information should reside. On the image below is a reference to that space. Everything about your company should fit into a 3.25" x 1.75" space on the front and back. 

          The next rule that is unavoidable is that your card should have a defined template. The ten examples below will work for any company and are the standard templates a business card should be set up as. The only companies that should break this rule are people with very extroverted personalities or anything having to do with design.

          The third and final absolute rule is the color scheming. Every color holds a general effect in the human psyche. For example, blues show serenity and calm while pinks are loud and boisterous. Use a color scheming that reinforces the message of your company's goal.

   Now that those boring rules are out of the way, let me introduce the exceptions! There is no limit to the creativitiy and awesomeness of a business cards. The more creative, the better.

Graphic Artist

Butcher Shop

Cheese Shop

 Lock Smith

Packaging

Laser Printing

Advertising Agency

Bakery

Pilates Instructor

Salesman

Computer Service

Artist

Personal Trainer

Not So Common Reasons To Be Fired

          Terminated position, fired, burn notice, or sacked, call it whatever you want. With job security being at an all time low in today's job market, it seems like everyone is paranoid of being let go from a company. Even if employee turnover rates (the amount of time between an employee being hired and fired) were minimal, we have all had the feeling of dread after a bad performance report. It's not as bad as you think. Most reasons employers have for terminating employees are 100% avoidable.
                  Excluding the obvious reasons for being sacked, such as sexual harassment and criminal activity, the following is an exhaustive list of ways to be let go from a position and how to avoid them.

• Drunkenness or being hungover
• Professionalism and productivity are at their worst only after a night out with friends. If you want to go out every night and black out from drinking, it's your choice to do so. However, showing up to work drunk or extremely hungover creates a bad reputation for the entire company and bad blood with customers.
• Engaging in office gossip
• Did you hear that the boss's secretary hooked up with a competitor's CEO last Friday at the Christmas Party? Gossip is very fun and very annoying. Leave the gossip and drama at high school. If you're not fired for being a Nosy Nancy, most employees will quit once in a lifetime job positions because the office setting was too catty. It's not just women. Testosterone pumped "my car is bigger than your car" sessions are just as, if not more, off putting than gossip.
• Excessive social media
• Did you know that the incognito window and clear browser history do not erase computer records in your companies intranet? Over 33% of employers admit to disciplining workers for excessive social media use. But how do you know how much is too much? Any easy thing to remember is your time on social media should only be 1/16th of your work day. If you work 8 hrs/day, only be on Facebook for 30 minutes. 
• Trash talking company and/or coworkers
• Whether it be on Twitter, at the water fountain, or at a party with friends; word gets around. Despite the fact we all survived elementary school, there are still tattle tales among us. Any passing phrase from "I thought his choice was extreme" to "My boss is a f*@% s%#$ pie" will get you anything from a write up to a termination. 
• Being hard to get along with
• Those of you who think you need to be a jerk to be an executive, your days are numbered. I once let an employee go for making faces when her supervisor walked by. Everyone has secretly given their boss the finger under the desk at least once in their career, but it's consistent insubordination and bad attitudes that will get you kicked out the door.
• Lying on resume
• Stretching the truth that you were manager at your last job when you managed mail will get you fired quicker than you can say, "Do you want fries with that?"
• Emailing and communicating in all caps
• WHEN YOU DO THIS IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE YELLING, DOESN'T IT. AS AN OFFICE 101 RULE, THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST PETTY OF LEGITIMATE REASONS TO BE FIRED.
• Vigilantism
• When I worked as a waitress in high school, I knew this girl who only received a $0.48 tip. She then ran outside and threw the change at the party's car. My boss wouldn't even let her back in the building. Cracking under the stress and acting out in the name of personal justice is a big no no.

          What you are fired for no reason? In most of the US, workers are generally considered “at will” employees. At-will means that you or your employer can terminate your job on a moment's notice for any reason, whether good, bad, indifferent or for no reason at all. The law in most states presumes that an employee is at-will unless the employee can prove otherwise. Unless the termination violates federal or state law, company policies, or an implied contract, there is very little that an at-will employee can do to protest a termination without a reason.

          But it's not what you think. An employee may not be terminated if the termination violates fairness and good faith in transactions and dealings with others. Breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing happens when an employer terminates an employee on bad faith. For example, if an employee can show that an employer indicated that the employee would be treated fairly at their company, and that the employee’s termination was unreasonable, this is a breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Courts have found that this type of indication can be shown by employer affirmations such as continuous pay raises and excellent performance reviews.

          The bottom line of employee termination is that both the employer and the employee have rights of employment. The employer has a right to fire an employee, but an employee has a right to be treated fairly. The thing to remember is to treat others as you would want to be treated, keep work at work, and we all heard what you said about the accounting department.

A Quick View of What to Wear to An Interview

  

  

Is Creativity Dead?

         I once lead a workshop with local business CEOs from some very successful sales corporations about human resource management, building synergy, and cultivating innovation. If you ever want to keep an executive's attention in a meeting, get them to compete with each other in a game. They practically knocked each other over to have the best ideas to have employees cooperate with each other, how to run the best meetings, how to be a better leader, and even how to show employees appreciation. 

         Near the end of the meeting, I said the most fearsome thing to adults, "Let's do a creativity exercise." Eyes the size of dinner plates, I heard the usual excuses, "I'm not very creative," "I hire people to do that," "Oh, is it 3 pm already?" Every time I lead these "Leadership Building" classes, I always ask myself, "Is creativity dead in business? Are we doomed to have future leaders whose only goal is to get rich and die?"

Here's what I had my executives do:

Using the circles below, draw as many pictures as you can in one minute. Whoever has the most gets a *insert prize*.

          

          I've gotten suns, moons, faces, animals, and even one very interesting circus scene from a previous R&D manager. The point of the exercise was not to compete of who had the best ideas or the most drawings. The exercise is a simple way to get the creative juices flowing. 

          I truly believe that the most difficult part of innovation is thinking of a solution in a creative way by inspiration. Creative inspiration comes regardless of brainpower, but is more relevant to life experience, on-the-job knowledge, and observation. Many companies will delude you to think that creativity is a finite source that is only gifted to certain people, but this could not be further than the truth. 

          Imagine that creativity is a deep aquifer beneath the human conscious. Every aquifer has a well in order to take from it. If the pump is rusty and unprimed, very little creativity will come from it. However, if the pump regularly used, inspected, and primed on a daily basis, there is a massive influx of creative energy that can be accessed and used at a moments notice.

          Creative exercises can be a complex as building mental strength and power, or as simple as drawing a picture using circles. The objective isn't to break the glass ceiling with a profound idea, the objective is to make yourself think in a way that ideas can freely come. The harder your try to force an idea to come, the less likely you are to find an idea. 

Here is an exercise for you to do right now:

Take out about ten items from your drawer, purse, bag, or whatever you have with you and create a new use for them. 

          I did this exercise in another Building Leadership class for Business Administration student and it was by far the most hilarious experience of my life. One group of very well dressed men created out of only paperclips a device to hold your beer when you're drunk. And it worked! Another group made a Ziploc bag into a Anti-Walk of Shame emergency kit. These students weren't afraid as coming across as uncreative or personally judged, they thought of an existing problem and made a solution for it.

          Creativity in business is far from dead, but it is running stagnant. As business owner, entrepreneur, or college student who should be studying for exams, you must use your creativity daily in order for it to always be primed to its potential. It is possible to be a CEO of a business and also be an idea designer. You just have to remember to keep your mind primed.

Want more creativity boosters?

HOW: Design Exercises for Inspired Designers 

PsychCentral: Creativity Boosters          

You The Designer: 7 Effective Creativity Boosters