Articles

Career Advancement Corporation periodically posts articles that will help job-seekers everywhere.

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Creating Glass Walls: The Value of Transparency in the Workplace

Posted on May 19, 2010

As a manager or business owner, you look for honesty and openness from your employees. Why else would you entrust them with the completion of mission critical objectives for your business? The same level of candor should work in the opposite direction. That is, managers should practice the same kind of open and honest communication with their employees to encourage a collaborative and, ultimately, more productive working atmosphere.

Here are a few suggestions for how to incorporate a transparent communication strategy in your business.

1. Commit to regular communication with your employee base to discuss the state of the company.

You can define “regular” in a way that makes sense for your business (monthly, quarterly, biennially, etc.). Just make sure that when it’s on the calendar, it stays there. When employees see that you aren’t constantly rescheduling your communication with them, they will be more confident that downward communication is important to you. Whether the communication comes in the form of an “all hands on deck” in-person meeting or a company-wide conference call, make sure that all employees (from your hourly, frontline staff to your most seasoned salaried employees) participate together.

2. Let employees guide the talking points for this communication.

By sticking to a regular update schedule (e.g. monthly, quarterly, etc.), you can encourage suggested topics a week or two in advance to guarantee you address the most important issues on your employees’ minds. You’ll certainly want to convey the company’s financial status, but remember, transparency isn’t just about the bottom line, so don’t be afraid to address topics like health & fitness, healthcare, or other cultural aspects of the business.

3. Deliver quality-centered feedback to employees on a regular basis.

Develop a well-defined quality assurance program, one that combines recognized evaluative metrics and a consistent delivery method. With a QA structure in place, you can ensure that candid interactions happen between manager and employee on a regular basis. If implemented correctly, a QA program empowers workers with good habits, recognizes top performers, and provides ample justification for future promotions or terminations.

We’ve all heard of the “glass ceiling,” the image of a workplace where employees have no upward mobility, but can clearly see who is immediately above them. As we dispel that hierarchical model, let us consider replacing it with one of “glass walls,” a professional atmosphere where we see all the cards on the table, where employees flourish because they are active participants in the mission of the business and have an equal voice in realizing this mission. The suggestions above are just a few ways you can promote this ideal of transparency at your business, and they can be the starting point for a highly collaborative and productive workplace.

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Culture is King: Creating a Positive Working Atmosphere for Your Employees

Posted on May 11, 2010

In the sports world, people often refer to it as “team chemistry,” a strange alchemy that occurs effortlessly in a clubhouse or locker room and somehow galvanizes a group of individuals around a common goal.  Players and coaches cannot explain it, but they all seem to recognize it as integral to the team’s success. Unfortunately, in the business world we can’t sit idly by, expecting this “chemistry” to infuse our cubicles and boardrooms.  Company culture (i.e. “chemistry”) is something managers and business owners must work intentionally to create, and it is by no means easy.  When done successfully, however, the effect is a satisfied and productive workforce that can turn a business from good to great.  Here are two suggestions to encourage culture creativity at your business.
 
 
1. Encourage Healthy Employees
 
Part of providing excellent company culture is realizing the workplace is about more than just work.  Yes, we want our employees to be as productive as possible, but more and more business owners are realizing that happy, healthy employees are ultimately more productive than their distressed, inactive counterparts.  Promoting physical fitness in the workplace is a great way to work towards this end.
 
Not every company can provide an on-site fitness center, but they can promote wellness by offering stipends for gym memberships or by sponsoring health initiatives within the company.  Smoking cessation classes, “Biggest Loser” style weight loss competitions, and cooking clubs are a few popular initiatives that seek this overall goal of “wellness.”  Ultimately, one of the best things you can do is convince your employees that it’s okay to take an hour during the day to focus on simply being healthy.  This assurance produces a sense of freedom that can be just as beneficial to employee wellbeing as any workout.
 
2. Reward High-Performers
 
Inside the workplace, a well-defined incentive and recognition program can do wonders for company culture.  These rewards need not be purely financial; in fact, the best of them often aren’t.  Quarterly trips for top performers to local attractions like sporting events or amusement parks might seem a bit hokey, but they get people out of the monotony of the office and foster cross-departmental relationships that make for a convivial working environment.  For a less costly option, consider catered lunches on-site where star performers can interact with upper management in a casual setting.  Whatever your reward program is, make sure your criteria for selecting “top performers” gives all employees a reasonable opportunity to be selected.  The more people that are able to enjoy these fun events as a result of hard work, the better their overall attitude toward work will be.
 
 
This brief sketch above is a glimpse of the way creative managers and business owners have made their workplaces a fun destination for their employees.  Hopefully, these suggestions provide the impetus for you to begin working intentionally toward promoting a positive company culture in which people truly enjoy their work.  When this is the case, you’ll come closer to discovering that elusive chemistry that is the precursor to great success.

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Using Social Media RIGHT.

Posted on April 20, 2010

We can’t say enough how important networking is. We’ve talked about informational interviewing, social networks, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings. However, we want to talk a bit more about how to harness the power of the ever-expanding social networks for your career’s wellbeing. Many people use facebook to tell the world about their breakfast sandwich or their hourly mishaps. This is an effective way to annoy friends and contacts with pointless information. However, other people use facebook to thank people for meeting with them, to comment on stories, notes, companies, and pictures. This is the beginning of a strategy to gain something from facebook instead of just using it.

For a facebook profile to be useful, there needs to be interaction. That’s the whole “social” part of the “network.” So if someone spends their entire time blasting their friends with personal updates about the trivial moments in their lives, they are only broadcasting boredom, and not encouraging interaction. If someone is posting interesting facts relative to their field and common enough to be enjoyed by an outsider, they’re going to start wrangling comments and interaction. Once the relevant dialogue starts taking place regularly, they begin to appear as somewhat of an expert in their field. It’s then easy to post occasionally about looking for a job or needing employment, because all their friends know they’re an authority on the subject. If their friends hear of an opening, they’re already going to think about their contact who knows so much about the industry in question.

The other huge benefit is that doing research to find information and examples to begin conversations, helps that person actually gain new knowledge and brush up on topics they may have found rusty. So tell your friends about what you do, not what you eat or that the rain made your socks wet. It’ll make you a better facebook friend.

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Temping to Succeed

Posted on April 14, 2010

Let’s face it, jobs are hard to come by right now. School districts are cutting back to 4 day weeks, companies are insisting employees take a day off during each pay period, and while government bailouts seem to keep making headlines, we haven’t felt much of a relief as citizens. However, as resources seem to be dwindling, the amount of work continues to pile up. So many companies are looking for solutions shy of full on help, and they are looking at temps.

So why temp? 5 years ago you may have thought that temping was an alternative to full-time work. However, it appears that it’s becoming more of a gateway to full-time employment. You see, companies look for temps because they have work to be done, but not enough to constitute a full time position. Yet more than 50% of the time, a company will turn a CAC temporary position into a full-blown permanent position. They do this because when a temp begins to show leadership and an opportunistic behavior, the company will give them more responsibility and tasks. Before long, the temp and their duties become indispensable.

If you’re currently trolling craigslist and monster for job opportunities without luck, you should consider the benefits of temping. Temping jobs are easier to find, FULL of networking opportunities, and pay a lot better than being unemployed does. Give CAC a call if you’re in the market for some opportunities in your future.

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CAC Ranked with Most Reliable Companies

Posted on April 08, 2010

St. Louis Small Business Monthly ranked us in the Most Reliable Companies for April. We’re honored to be recognized for our diligence and dedication to our clients and candidates. Read more about it here.

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