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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Category Archives: Better Business

August 5, 2015 Tapped out? Nap it out!

The evidence is building. Taking a nap in the middle of the day can help you rejuvenate, concentrate, be more productive, and boost your creativity. Furthermore, we need it! According to Salary.com, “Americans have the longest working hours in the industrial world. Twenty percent of adults say they are so sleepy that it interferes with their daily activities. Eighty five percent of 30-something women report feeling tired on a regular basis.”

On the economic side, tired employees are a drain on the economy. One study found that sleepy employees constitute a $150 billion-a-year drain on American businesses in the form of lost productivity, health care costs, and employee absences.

But will naps really solve our chronic exhaustion? According to several scientific studies, yes!

NASA recently determined that “a 26-minute nap can boost workplace performance by 34 percent.” Also, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that “with a nap, brain activity stays high throughout the day; but without a nap, brain activity declines over the course of a day.”

Of course there are alternatives to taking naps. You could load up on sugar or caffeine, but you’ll need to sustain the high level of stimulants in your body in order to keep alert. And they might not even work all that well in the first place. According to WIRED magazine, “sometimes caffeine actually makes you perform worse.”

Although several progressive companies have embraced a “nap culture,” napping is still frowned upon in many traditional workplaces. If that’s the case for you, try bringing to light the benefits of power naps to your co-workers or boss. Ask your superior if s/he would mind if you took a twenty minute nap in the afternoon to power up.

Of course, if you have a private office, you could simply shut the door and catch a few Z’s. Just make sure you’re doing it responsibly and that you don’t oversleep. The typical recommendation is 10-30 minutes, otherwise you’ll wake up groggy (and anything beyond half an hour is frankly overkill).

What if you can’t seem to find a good way to catch a power nap in the workplace? Focus instead on getting a good night’s sleep. Cut the caffeine after noon, invest in light-blocking window shades, and try to get eight hours of undisturbed rest.

Happy napping!

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July 22, 2015 “Don’t Buy Our Loyalty” (On Millennials and Altruism)

The next generation of leaders can’t be bought. In traditional business thinking, if you give an employee a raise every once in a while, that’s enough to keep him or her around. Not so for Millennials. According to Forbes Magazine, “They [Millennials] long to be part of something bigger than themselves… Millennials want to lead a balanced life. They want to be happy at home and happy on the job – money is somewhat secondary.”

Additionally, a recent study showed that a whopping 92% of those born between 1980 and 2000 (commonly known as the Millennial or “Y” generation) believe that business success should be measured by more than profit. They want to know that their company is doing good and they want to be a part of it.

I’ve written a past blog post about what motivates Millennials, but this time I’m going to narrow my focus and concentrate on one big motivator: altruism.

Simply put, Millennials care. They’ve been raised volunteering at church and community events, they go on Habitat for Humanity trips, they discuss issues like poverty and social injustice in their classrooms. When all that takes a back burner in the workplace, it can be a bit of a shock for them. They might ask themselves, “Where are all the people who care?” Or “Why doesn’t my company have a heart?” Or “Am I really doing the kind of work I should be doing?”

On the flip side, Millennials are attracted to companies that actively care. 88% of Gen Y women and 82% of Y men believe it’s important to be able to give back to community through work.

What are some things your company can do to engage Millennials (and other caring employees!) in altruistic activities? Here are some ideas:

  • Create a program in your company that rewards good behavior (good attendance, outstanding leadership, team collaboration) with money that goes to a charity of choice.
  • Sponsor fundraisers (such as a 5k run for charity)
  • Create drop-off areas at work to donate used clothing or food items
  • Allow your employees paid time off for charitable work (and keep a board that tracks and celebrates all the different organizations your employees are volunteering for)
  • Promote green living:
    • Provide incentives for biking, ride share, and public transportation
    • Create an eco-friendly cafeteria with reusable or compostable plates, cups, and eating utensils; a compost bin; and locally/sustainably sourced food
    • Provide water bottle refill stations next to drinking fountains
    • Get an energy audit and make the recommended changes. Keep track of your energy savings on a chart that everyone can see
  • Start team fundraising/volunteer work competitions
  • Work on having an open line of communication with your employees so they can bring their altruistic ideas to you!

Margaret Smith is a career coach, licensed Insights Discovery practitioner, founder of UXL, and co-founder of the TAG Team. You can visit her website at www.youexcelnow.com

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July 15, 2015 Why We Should Ditch the Pecking Order at Work

I recently watched a highly inspirational TED Talk by Margaret Heffernan, former five-time CEO and “management thinker.” She begins her talk with a study about chickens, performed by Purdue University biologist William Muir. In short, he found that flocks comprised of “superchickens,” or the ones that were the highest producers, tended to fail. They would turn on each other and peck each other to death. The control flocks (groups of average chickens–some high-producing, others not), ended up doing much better and producing the most eggs by far. This is a lesson, Heffernan says, that we can apply to any typical organization.

Many companies make the mistake of pouring resources into the few “super employees” and attempting to groom an elite group to carry the company. This, Heffernan says, often leads to “aggression, dysfunction, and waste. If the only way the most productive can be successful is by suppressing the productivity of the rest, then we badly need to find a better way to work and a richer way to live.”

So, what does make teams successful? According to an experiment conducted by MIT, successful teams were found to have the three following characteristics:

1. High degrees of social sensitivity to each other

2. No one voice dominated the successful groups–the members all contributed roughly the same amount

3. The most successful groups had more women in them (the scientists who conducted this study are not certain why this was the case, but one reason could be that women typically score higher on empathy tests)

In short, groups that are highly attuned and sensitive to each other work better together. Ideas can flow and grow. People don’t get stuck. They don’t waste energy down dead ends.

Heffernan goes on to examine specific ways that companies have encouraged teams to work together and bond. Some companies discourage drinking coffee at your desk–instead, you’re encouraged to go to a common room, take a break, and talk to fellow employees while enjoying that cup of coffee. Other companies have office vegetable plots where people can go and pick weeds or water plants when they need a break. All these little connections lead to a big concept: social capital. Social capital is “the reliance and interdependency that builds trust” and it takes time to really grow and build that trust.

The main lesson from all of this is that we are all valuable components of the team, no matter our I.Q. or level of creativity. Diverse teams that are encouraged to grow, share their thoughts and opinions, and lean on each other are the most successful. It’s time to forget the pecking order and embrace collaboration.

For the full TED Talk, please click below:

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