Business: 3 Reasons Consultants Should Start Blogging Today

3 Reasons Consultants Should Start Blogging Today

ZIpursky, S. (2015). Consulting Success. Retrieved from: http://www.consultingsuccess.com/3-reasons-consultants-should-start-blogging-today

Excerpts, follow the link to read the whole article. 

For consultants getting into a routine of blogging isn’t any different – it’s great for business if you do it, but it needs to become a habit and it needs to get done!

Personal Branding & Getting Your Name Out to the World

By blogging about what you specialize in on a regular basis you become a known expert in that area.

You Get to Constantly Learn and Grow

Another great reason to blog consistently is you have to stay on top of your industry so you can keep dishing out relevant content that your readers will want to get into. 

SEO Benefits and Being Found Online

The more quality and keyword rich content you put out there the more free traffic the search engines like Google will send your way. Search engines love to provide their users with excellent content on a whole range of subjects. 

Dealing with Narcissists in the Workplace

Strategies for Handling the Toxic Narcissists at Work

Sirota, M. (2014). Om Times. Retrieved from: http://omtimes.com/2014/10/strategies-handling-toxic-narcissists/

The toxic narcissist. Oh my…

We’ve all encountered them at work- those people who are charismatic, popular with the boss, admired by many of their peers but in reality, terrible, awful people.

They ingratiate themselves with the management, shirk their responsibilities, steal work from colleagues and call it their own, take excessive “sick” days, manipulate and exploit others for their own gain, and always manage to be front and center when the boss is giving out complements and rewards.
Many people at work are taken in by their charming performance, but some of us see right through them. It can be pretty annoying, especially if you’re someone who works hard, is conscientious and who has integrity, to watch this type of toxic narcissist do better than you.
So how do you deal with someone like this? 
It depends on the culture of your workplace.

In an enlightened workplace, the boss will finally see through this toxic person and move them out. All you have to do is wait a while and things will go back to normal, with a positive, constructive collegial atmosphere prevailing.

There are, however, many bosses who are easily charmed by a toxic narcissist. They’ll see only the shiny surface of this person and be unwilling or unable to look past their false persona.

In this type of work environment, it would be professional suicide to call to your boss’s attention the fact that your co-worker is lying, cheating, bullying, or whatever terrible thing it is that they’re doing.

It’s also a very bad idea to walk around angry or to act out in any way. The boss will only see the worst of you, and will never be sympathetic to the fact that you’re upset by the injustices occurring in your workplace. You’ll just look bad.

When a boss is charmed by a narcissistic employee it’s as though they’re under a spell. To try and break this spell by complaining about your horrible co-worker is a) impossible, and b) will result in your boss becoming enraged with you.

In the blinded eyes of your boss, they’ll see you as the trouble-maker. How dare you besmirch the reputation of their darling employee?! You’ll come across as jealous and vindictive. Your honest attempts to rectify the situation will be interpreted as petty resentfulness.

You have three choices in such a workplace:

Choice number one: Put your head down and do your job. Try not to leak your resentment or antagonize your narcissistic co-worker and if the boss goes on and on, extolling the praises of this horrible individual, enthusiastically agree with them.

Choice number two: Find a new place to work; one in which the management is more sophisticated and which recognizes a toxic narcissist for the time-wasting, energy-sucking, morale-draining vampire that they are.

Choice number three: Be strategic. Without turning into a monster yourself, find ways to ingratiate yourself with your boss. For example, figure out what they’re interested in – like fly fishing, astronomy or needlework – and subtly let them discover how much of an enthusiast you are for these things.

Having common passions with the boss will begin to endear you to them. As will remembering the names of their children, or any other personal details they might have shared with you at some point. When this type of boss sees you as liking and admiring them, they’re going to be more warmly disposed toward you.

And here’s the not-so-hidden secret in this workplace situation: the boss who is taken in by the toxic narcissist working for them is a narcissist themselves.

When the narcissistic worker butters up their boss in the manipulative way only a narcissist can, it’s most effective when that boss is so self-absorbed and self-important that their ego happily inflates on receiving this disingenuous flattery.

You can choose to stay out of it, quietly doing your job and keeping a low profile; you can look for another job- but there’s no guarantee that your new boss won’t be narcissistic, either, or you can beat the toxic narcissist at their own game, but by doing it in your own, more ethical way.

Let your boss see how fantastic you are. Buff and shine and polish your workplace persona until it glows. If you’re not a narcissist, you can’t compete on that level of gamesmanship. You’ll never be as good at trickery as they are, so abandon that strategy before you begin, and find more subtle ways to succeed.

Always make an effort to sit where your boss can see you at meetings. Make frequent but not-too-intense eye contact with them; smile warmly at them; give them a compliment that’s subtle and seems unrehearsed, so you don’t look like you’re trying to curry favor with them. In other words, seduce them, and by this I mean get them to be as charmed by you as they are by your narcissistic co-worker.

You can’t get your boss to stop thinking that your horrible colleague is fantastic, but you can get your narcissistic boss to see you as equally wonderful.

Always have your work done on time, if not early, and find subtle ways for your boss to see this. Be friendly and helpful (but not a doormat) toward everyone at work, and show your boss how likeable and popular you are.

Let your boss see what a fantastic asset you are to the workplace, on both an interpersonal and productivity level. And most of all, subtly let your boss know how thrilled you are to be working for them, which will make them feel really good about themselves.

The interesting lesson here is that the more susceptible your boss is to the charms of a toxic narcissist, the more they reveal their own narcissistic nature, and the easier it will be for you to use this personality weakness of theirs to propel your own success.

You can’t complain about the toxic narcissist, you can’t compete head-to-head with them, you can’t try to use their techniques- techniques that an honest person like you is doomed to fail at- and you can’t ever get into conflicts with them, because they will always win.

If you choose to stay at your job, you can see this dysfunctional dynamic as an opportunity to be clever and strategic and to shine in the eyes of your boss.

Instead of getting upset at the injustice of the narcissist succeeding- and they’ll probably do very well for themselves- you must put that out of your mind: in this, you have no control. Rather, you can take advantage of what you see and use it for your own benefit.

You can recognize the weakness your boss has demonstrated and use it to your best advantage. You can see that in their egocentric haze, your boss will be just as easily taken in by your “non-toxic” strategies for success as they are by the toxic narcissist(s) in your midst.

In this way, the toxic narcissist is a gift, allowing you to discover a chink in your boss’s armor, and paving the way for your own strategies for making yourself look brilliant and indispensable to them.

The World of Work: Stress, Underemployment & Limited Employment Opportunities

The struggles of an educated generation

The Globe and Mail, Nov. 08 2012.

Two recent studies reveal a young, educated workforce that is suffering from Canada’s weak economy. Not only are a substantial number of young people failing to find work that matches their education – and young people have never been as well educated – but they are also unduly stressed by their inability to secure satisfactory jobs.

While we can hope that the economy improves and that these well educated workers are swept up by the growth, there is still a need to ensure the educational offerings of postsecondary institutions have a reasonable correlation to the likelihood of employment.
Canadian youth should not be prepared for a workplace where their skills are not needed. That leads to a high rate of job dissatisfaction; if employees’ range of talents are not put to use, the quality of their work will suffer.

A report released at the end of October by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada concludes that many young people leaving postsecondary institutions are securing jobs in sectors where their learned skills are not being developed into professional abilities.

Though the causes of underemployment are not yet fully understood, the report does find that “some 24.6 per cent of all youths holding a university degree who were continuously employed full-time in 2005 were effectively underutilized”; this was especially true for young people with a bachelor’s degree. It also mentions that “one in 10 youth workers holding a graduate degree were likewise employed in occupations not requiring a university degree.”

Sun Life Financial Inc.’s annual health survey helps illuminate the consequences: Ninety per cent of people aged 18 to 24 say they are feeling excessive levels of anxiety.

“Canada’s weak economic recovery – now in its fourth year since the financial crisis of 2008 – is a driver of remarkably high stress levels, particularly among young adults across the country,” the Sun Life study says. This in turn has contributed to a marked increase in mental health-related long-term disability claims.

There is something to be said for education for education’s sake, but there has to be a reasonable prospect of transforming that knowledge into productive work. A strong economy cannot be assured, but there ought to be some vigilance over the job-prospect claims made for the offerings of post-secondary institutions.

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Youth Unemployment in Canada: Challenging Conventional Thinking? (October 2012). Certified General Accountants Association of Canada.

Many youth are underemployed and do not use their skills to the fullest potential. Underemployment has dire consequences for Canadian workers and the economy, but its causes are not well understood.

• Underemployment of youth in Canada exists through both the underutilization of skills and labour; however, all age groups are susceptible to underemployment.
• Some 24.6 per cent of all youth holding a university degree who were continuously employed full-time during 2005 were effectively underutilized as they were employed in occupations where employment requirements did not call for post-secondary education.
• The underutilization of skills among youth is prevalent in sales and service occupations and clerical occupations, it is also present in such occupational groups as: technical occupations related to natural and applied sciences, technical occupations in computer and information systems, and assisting occupations in support of health services.
• Youth experience a high rate of involuntary part-time employment. In 2011, the economy was underutilizing the ability and willingness to work of some 4.0 per cent of employed youth.

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National survey reveals 90 per cent of young Canadians are stressed out in today’s economy 
Sun Life Canadian Health Index™ reveals finances and work life are two of the highest contributors to stress. November 05, 2012.

TORONTO, ON (November 5, 2012) – The instability in today’s economy is contributing to high stress levels in young Canadians, with 90 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds experiencing excessive stress and 72 per cent of adult Canadians are feeling overwhelmed, according to the third annual Sun Life Canadian Health Index™ compiled by Ipsos Reid.

Finances and work life are cited as two of the biggest sources of anxiety for all Canadians surveyed, according to the index. Other top sources of stress include personal relationships and personal health issues.

The index also found that the employment landscape in Canada is changing with almost 30 per cent of Canadians saying they are underemployed, under-utilized and not able to make full use of their skills and abilities. Underemployment is highest amongst young Canadians – with 39 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds feeling under-utilized.

“These results are consistent with Canada’s national unemployment rate sitting at close to 15 per cent for Canadians under 25, more than twice the Canadian average” said Louis Theriault, Director, Health Economics at the Conference Board of Canada. “It is more difficult for young Canadians to find permanent full-time jobs that suit their skills and areas of study. Recent job creation has been dominated by part-time work – which is becoming a trend in Canada. This impacts younger workers in particular and contributes to their higher stress level.”

Being Conscious & Becoming Unstuck through Intention

I thought this was a really valuable reflection on how we can become more conscious, shaking loose from our stuck places through intention from the Mindfulness Institute.

New Year's Resolutions: Reflections On Stuckness And Becoming Unstuck

As we anticipate the unfolding of another year, we face wonderful moment to moment opportunities to consciously direct both the development of our brains (neuroplasticity), and who we will become (epigenetics). As the beginning of a new year, January is a popular time for reassessing one’s life – a practice often accompanied by a set of new year’s resolutions formed to address areas of unhappiness. The majority of people soon abandon their intentions; failing to consistently follow through on their resolutions, they lapse into discouragement, self judgement and demoralization, giving up on themselves and their goals.
In order to successfully change any aspect of our lives, it is crucial to be consciously aware of:

1. What we want to change.
2. Why we want to change it.
3. How we are going to accomplish this.

Only with this awareness can we form a clear intention about how we choose to address the situation, and act firmly and decisively in a manner consistent with this intention. Two of the biggest challenges people face in accomplishing their new year’s resolutions are not knowing how to persevere to achieve the change they desire, and not recognizing the areas of stuckness that cause them difficulty in the first place. In my experience the process of transformation begins with reflection – reflection on one’s life with a focus not on the external world, but on taking a very close inventory of one’s internal world as follows:

- One’s  patterns of thoughts, emotions and actions
- One’s attitudes towards self, others and life
- One’s interpersonal interactions and reactions

Without introspection it can be difficult to identify these patterns. Without meditation it can be difficult to realize that they are often just habits we default to automatically; ingrained tendencies that constrict our sense of self and limit our freedom without us even realizing it. 

Close scrutiny and contemplation of our internal and external patterns while letting go of attachment to them can help us to become aware of areas of stuckness within ourselves. Consider which of the areas listed above you might have degrees of stuckness in. As you go through the above inventory you might choose to itemize each area of stuckness, as well as:

- Where or when the stuckness originated
- How it has helped and/or hindered you
- Why you have chosen (consciously or unconsciously) to continue this pattern
- Whether you choose to take the steps to become unstuck from this pattern at this time

Once your inventory has been compiled, the process of transformation has begun! This process works with awareness in the present moment as well as with life affirming attitudes, and is no different from any other mindfulness work. For ease of application, it can be conceptualized in 5 easy steps:

1. Identify the area of stuckness along with its when’s, where’s and why’s.
2. Set a clear intention of how you would like things to be different. Consider all the alternative possibilities of thinking, perceiving, reacting or interacting. Internally rehearse these and envision their outcomes.
3. Notice how your stuckness may neglect or ignore any of the mindful attitudes – non-judgement, patience, acceptance, letting go, beginner’s mind, kindness, generosity and compassion. Experiment with applying these attitudes to the area of stuckness.
4. Practice noticing when your thoughts, feelings or behaviours are no longer aligned with your intention. This is rather like noticing when the focus of awareness is no longer on the breath in the breath-awareness exercise.
5. Reconnect with your intention and realign your thoughts, feelings and actions with this intention.

Just as with any other mindfulness exercise we set our intention, we practice noticing when we have lost our alignment (focus) with our intention, and when we discover that our thoughts, emotions or behaviour have wandered, we gently but firmly re-align them with our initial intention. This decreases the conflict between conscious intention and unconscious habitual patterns, freeing us from the limitations those patterns carry and allowing us to take a more active role in consciously creating our life. This also helps establish consistency between intention and action, and leads us to peace. And through this process, applied moment by moment to our observations of ourselves and our interactions with the external world, life itself becomes a meditation practice, with each moment full of creative possibilities. May 2012 be transformational for you!

Catherine L. Phillips, MD, CM FRCP(C)

The Real Challenges for Women's Career Advancement

It's interesting that articles and research studies continue to be churned out year after year which continue to situate the "blame" on women for not getting ahead as much as men in the workplace. Rarely is there any analysis of the way that traditional corporate environments continue to limit, and even punish, women because of their gender. 

Canada will soon be dealing with the immense problems associated with low birth rates in every area. Women specifically have borne the costs of being the ones who take time off work to have children and give them the best start to life by staying home to take care of them. Yet, studies continue to provide evidence that women's careers take a hit because of this and that they often don't catch up in terms of career advancement and salaries. So even in 2011, women are being essentially punished due to biological factors they have no control over. 

I've been thinking about the fact that women going into business for themselves is a growing demographic and I've been pondering why that is. This is a personal issue to me as well, because I'm an enterpreneur and business woman who left "secure" public sector employment to start my own business. I felt trapped and stifled and found out early on that the majority of public sector jobs lead nowhere fast.

One of the conclusions I have come to is that corporate life and organizations are failing women. In spite of years of analysis, encouragement to "change corporate culture" and advocacy to assist more women in moving higher up the ranks and increasing numbers of women on Boards, the numbers reflect the majority of organizations have done little to improve culture and advance more women in their careers. 

Instead of blaming women, like the article below, which does have some valid points, there needs to be much more analysis of how organizations are failing women and that, as a result, more and more women are taking their knowledge, skills and abilities and setting up businesses that will give them the respect and balance they are seeking in their lives. 

The latest reports from Catalyst, (no relation to my business) linked below, explode the myths that women employing the same career strategies will enjoy the same success and advancement as male counterparts. Key findings included that men moved higher up the ranks and that their compensation increased over women and the gaps in salary were significant, although the individuals studied used the same career advancement tactics and there were no differences as to continuous time spent in the workplace (no time taken off for personal, or family needs, such as having children). 

So boldy, I'm going to conclude that it isn't just "organizations" that are failing women, it is the men in those organizations, that are at every level of authority, that are failing women. They are failing their wives, their daughters, their granddaughters. If after decades of women fighting for equality and parity in the workplace women have made so little progress, the only conclusion one can make is that the majority of men who advance to senior positions have little interest in equality and opportunity for women and that they will use their power and authority to continue to oppress and limit women's opportunities for career advancement and equal pay. 

The ramifications of this structural inequality and oppression is going to come home to roost as more and more women of the 21st century leave behind these limiting, stifling and unrewarding organizations. They are taking their wisdom, skills and abilities with them to organizations that do offer them more recognition, opportinities and advancement. They're also starting their own businesses, where women can shine and feel recognized and valued for their expertise and work and more often, lead the kind of healthier, more balanced lives that modern women want and deserve.

Four Ways Women Stunt Their Careers Unintentionally

Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath & Mary Davis Holt, October 19, 2011. Harvard Business Review. 

Having combed through more than a thousand 360-degree performance assessments conducted in recent years, we've found, by a wide margin, that the primary criticism men have about their female colleagues is that the women they work with seem to exhibit low self-confidence.

Looking back through scores of interviews we've conducted in the course of training and coaching engagements, and returning to the 360 reports, these are the four specific low-confidence behaviors cited by managers (male and female alike): 

• Being overly modest  
  Not asking
  Blending in
  Remaining silent   

Read the whole article here. 

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Women in Senior Management: Where Are They?

The Conference Board of Canada, August 2011
Report by Louise Chenier, Elise Wohlbold 

 

Women in Senior Management—Strategies for Creating an Environment Where Women Thrive

 

Exploding Myths About Why Women's Careers Lag Men's

Nancy M. Carter and Christine Silva, October 2011  

Catalyst: Changing Workplaces. Changing Lives.  

 

Catalyst's latest report on high-potential women and men with MBAs reveals that "doing all the right things" to get ahead works well for men, but does not provide as great an advantage for women.

The fourth report,The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead?, tackles persistent myths about the gender gap. Career advancement strategies used by women and men were compared to determine if using the same strategies ultimately leads to the same career outcomes. Findings revealed that:

• Men benefited more from adopting proactive strategies.
• When women did all the things they have been told will help them get ahead—using the same tactics as men—they still advanced less than their male counterparts and had slower pay growth.

Social Media Policies: For Business & Private Practice Professionals

I've been receiving some interesting articles and policies that make suggestions for guiding the use of social media for those in private practice and business. This is obviously of concern to me since I'm a user of social media, both as a personal user and as a marketing and business tool.

Here are a couple of good links to check out:

Anatomy of a Social Media Policy

Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton, October 14, 2011, Social Media Today. 

Over the past 24 months, my phone rings on an almost daily basis with clients, colleagues and friends in a panic about something to do with social media. That led me to start working with organizations to help them develop and then roll out social media policies for their organizations. Through researching and reading over 150 social media policies for corporations, hospitals, universities and non-profit organizations and helping my clients develop their own organizational policies, here’s what I’ve learned. 

Read the whole article here.  

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Social Media Policies: Necessary but Not Sufficient
Courtney Hunt, February 24, 2011, Social Media in Organizations.

Every organization needs to think about and be prepared to manage the risks associated with operating in the Digital Era. It doesn’t matter whether social media is part of the organization’s strategic agenda, or if the organization itself has any digital presence. It also doesn’t matter how large the organization is, whether it’s for-profit, BtoB or BtoC, or which industry or sector it operates in. To put it simply:

If you employ people, you should have a social media policy.

• Recent “What Were They Thinking?” Examples
• The State of the Social Media Policy-sphere
• The Legal Landscape
• Guidance for Leaders

Read the whole article here.

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An Example of a Private Practice Professional's Social Media Policy with Clients
Dr. Keely Kolmes, April 26, 2010.

Workplace Happiness & Leadership Tips

Some articles that resonated for me.

The 5 Drivers of Happiness
Jessica Pryce-Jones, The Source, The Wall Street Journal.

Excerpt:

Our empirical research, involving 9,000 people from around the world, reveals some astonishing findings. Employees who report being happiest at work:

• Stay twice as long in their jobs as their least happy colleagues
• Spend double their time at work focused on what they are paid to do
• Take ten times less sick leave
• Believe they are achieving their potential twice as much

And the “science of happiness at work” has big benefits for individuals too. If you’re really happy at work, you’ll solve problems faster, be more creative, adapt fastest to change, receive better feedback, get promoted quicker and earn more over the long-term.

Drivers:

1. Contribution

2. Conviction

3. Culture

4. Commitment

5. Confidence

Read the whole article here.

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10 Secrets of Successful Leaders

Kara Ohngren, Entrepreneur, Oct. 17, 2011.

Excerpts:

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”

1. Assemble a dedicated team.
2. Overcommunicate.
3. Don’t assume.
4. Be authentic.
5. Know your obstacles.
6. Create a 'team charter.'
7. Believe in your people.
8. Dole out credit.
9. Keep your team engaged.
10. Stay calm.

Read the whole article here.