Top 5 Must-Know Strategies on Building a Successful Brand in 2022

Brands are becoming increasingly important in the world of business. With the popularity of social media, companies can target specific audiences with products and services that appeal to them. This article explores five steps to prepare your brand for the future according to experts from the best digital marketing West Palm Beach agency. 

Why you should build a successful brand

Online marketing has turned out to be an essential part of the past decade, and it’s going to expand rapidly, especially in 2022, when around 3 billion people are online. Social media will be a significant way for brands to promote their products and services. The challenge with social media is that it is highly personalized, which means that every person’s experience will differ based on preferences, needs, and interests. Brands need to consider this when developing their strategy to be successful.

What is a brand?

A brand is a company’s strategy and identity. It includes what the company stands for, how it views itself and delivers value to customers. Marketing experts often define a brand as an institution-like business or organization with a personality. A brand’s personality gets expressed primarily through its logo, slogan, product offerings, and mission statement.

Types of Brands

Many brands today have marketing plans that vary. Some choose to create a brand based around a specific product, while others attempt to break into the fashion industry by creating unique clothing designs. With new avenues of success opening up, companies need to decide what type of brand they want to be before jumping straight in.

The two types of brands in 2022 are traditional and digital. The traditional brand creates products through its physical presence, while the digital brand can happen anywhere. Classic brands might not be able to expand geographically, but they will still be successful. Digital brands can reach customers in any part of the world, especially if they choose to implement professional services from experienced and well-known digital marketing West Palm Beach agency.

Take time to strategize

As a business, you should take the time to strategize your strategy for the future. This planning process and considering the future will help you decide how to grow your business over time. It will also provide you with a system that can help you make decisions based on what is best for the company’s future.

One of the significant misconceptions of brands is to feel like they are on autopilot. They assume that building a successful brand will happen automatically without effort or thought. However, this is not always the case, and it takes more than just thinking about how you’re going to build your brand to make it successful. There are five steps that you should take before beginning your company’s branding journey:

1: Tell your story.

A successful brand needs excellent storytelling that goes beyond advertising. A good story includes the benefits, how your product or service solves a problem, and why it’s better than what is available. It also requires being visually adorable and engaging to attract attention and intrigue people without realizing they’re being sold.

A brand is a story that tells the world who you are and what you can do. It’s how people come to know your company, the values you hold, and the mission you want to make a difference in their lives. When creating your brand story, make sure it revolves around your values, not just your products.

2: Get to know your audience.

Branding begins with understanding who you are and the target audience. This requires research, a detailed plan, and the ability to listen. Building a brand takes time, but that’s what makes it more successful.

A brand is a combination of thoughts, words, symbols, and images that consumers share in common. The initial step to creating a successful brand is to know your audience. For example, if you sell women’s clothing, you should focus on creating designs that will attract women and make them feel confident. You can make the product intricately detailed with exciting textures and colors.

3: Understand your brand’s appearance.

Start by figuring out your brand. What does it stand for? What are the values of your brand? These are questions that need answers and can be difficult to answer at first. But if you start and keep going, you’ll eventually create a strong brand that stands for something. 

As with any business, branding starts with a vision for your company. What does your company stand for? How can you communicate that to others? These questions will help you develop the type of brand that customers want to purchase.

4: Create a consistent style

When building your brand, it is vital to have a style guide. This is what people will refer back to if they need more information about your brand. It will also help when you have trouble deciding what colors to use for your website or promotional materials. Ensure to stay consistent within the same color pattern and font choices so that all of your brandings are cohesive.

Building a brand is hard work. A great way to begin creating your brand is by having a style guide set in place. You can use this as a guideline for everything, from your logo and design choices to the colors you like to your website. Nevertheless, stay dedicated to your style guide because if you deviate from it without prior approval, you’ll have difficulties establishing your brand identity and sticking to it.

5: Conclusion

To thrive in today’s business world, you have to compose a brand. Without it, you will struggle to reach your desired profit margin. To build a brand that people recognize, follow, and trust, you should take specific steps. These steps include building a website with a solid social media presence and creating content relevant to the target audience.

First, it is essential to state that a brand can be built and maintained through marketing, advertising, social media, word of mouth, and customer service. For example, it’s possible to have products in your product line or company name that are not meant to be sold but instead used as part of the branding process. For instance, if you were building an environmentally conscious brand and wanted a product with natural ingredients that would help promote the cause while collecting data throughout the trial period, using a plant-based shampoo could be one option. 

Second, it’s crucial to think about what your audience likes most and focus on providing them with those materials.

Third, it’s critical to ensure that your brand is authentic and has personality. If you don’t know who you are as a brand already, it’s best to revisit the first two steps to find out what sort of identity is most likable by your target audience.

Financial Advice for Leaders: Managing Your Personal Finances as a Business Owner

Personal money management is a breeze for some people, while it is a daunting task for others. In any case, if you are trying to get out of debt and achieve your financial goals, personal financial planning — such as budgeting, managing your spending, and saving – is essential.  So, what does successful personal finance management entail? These six steps are the foundation for good money management.

Set your goals

Smaller amounts of money set into investment accounts would help you use your earned cash to generate more income, even if your investment capacity is restricted. Create an investment strategy based on your objectives and timelines. It’s very easy to run out of money if you don’t have a plan since it’s easier to overspen. You can be dissatisfied with your savings if you say yes to many unneeded spending. Having financial objectives will help you keep focused and motivated as you work toward your financial objectives. There is no single correct answer, but you should think about your ambitions and how the money will affect them. Make clear and precise money goals once you’ve figured out your overall income.

Be in the loop with the current situation

The more personal finance knowledge you have, the better. Any new knowledge you gain can be used to change your own finances. Fortunately, there are numerous personal finance resources available. Two excellent sources of information are podcasts and books. Locate materials that will assist you in mastering your specific financial condition.

Track your spending

If you don’t know how much money you spend each month or where it goes, there’s a high chance your individual spending habits could be better. Spending awareness is the first step toward better money management. Use a money management tool like MoneyTrack to track your spending by category and discover how much you’re spending on non-essentials like restaurants, entertainment, and even your daily coffee. You can establish a plan to improve your habits once you’ve educated yourself on them. If you find that you don’t have enough funds to pay for anything you want to, search for ways to cut costs.

Take care of your debt

Because most debt accumulates interest, paying off your debt can take a long time. Consolidating high-interest loan into a lower-interest loan or line of credit may be beneficial in some instances. On the other hand, debt consolidation only functions if you resolve to live within your means in the future. Otherwise, you risk having a debt consolidation loan as well as a new credit to pay. If you must take out a loan, go for the one with the shortest duration. An excellent example of a loan with optimal terms is Noddle Personal Loan. You must pay at least the minimum amount on any credit cards and your monthly needed payments on loan agreements, even if you’re working on paying down another debt. Many people begin with the credit with the highest interest, while others start with the least debt. Staying out of debt will offer peace of mind, and as you pay off your debts, the worry will lessen as well.

Set your monthly budget

Many people find it easy to create a budget that specifies how their income would be spent each month. However, adhering to it can be difficult. Set a budget that you know you can stick to based on your monthly spending patterns and take-home earnings. Setting a strict budget based on significant changes is pointless. Make a budget that fits your way of life and spending patterns. A budget should be viewed as a tool to drive healthier habits, but you should give yourself a reasonable chance of reaching it. That’s the only method this strategy of money management will work. Making a list of possible barriers and solutions to overcome them is essential to goal setting. You won’t slip and falter if life gets in the way of your objectives if you create your contingency plan right away. Breaking down large goals into smaller portions (and lesser sums of money) helps make them a lot more manageable.

Set aside some funds for rainy days

Although it may be challenging to consider putting money aside for saves, it is a smart move to strive to have some emergency funds. If you experience an urgent situation, or losing clients, you should have emergency funds. Including savings in your spending is the greatest method to start this fund. The amount you save will depend on how much additional cash you have, but it’s good to set aside at least 10% of your monthly income in emergency savings.

As an active businessman, you may need to put in that little extra effort to keep track of your individual and business finances. However, managing your money wisely from the very founding of your company will prove to be fruitful in the long term!

How to Start and Run Your Gaming Company with Potential for Growth

The gaming industry is larger and more popular than ever before, presenting plenty of opportunities for generating revenue in this field. However, this newfound popularity has also made the video game sector incredibly crowded and competitive. This means that a brilliant business idea alone might not be enough for achieving success in the industry. Instead, you will need to follow some essential steps that will allow you to create a viable, sustainable, and profitable company with the potential for growth. Whether your goal is to design interesting games, create an innovative console, or even look to the future with VR and cloud gaming, here are some ways you can start and run a successful gaming company:

Assess your knowledge 

Before starting a gaming company, it might be wise to assess your own knowledge and skillset first. Are you a great programmer? Are you an expert in video game design? Do you excel in special effects? Or do you simply have plenty of experience and a passion for playing games? Your background and personal skills could present a great advantage when starting a company. Not only will it be quite advantageous if you ever need to step in and help out during the early stages of your business, but it can also allow you to clearly define the direction you’d like your company to go in, thus increasing your chances of achieving success.

Focus on your finances

Starting a company requires plenty of financial knowledge. From office space and startup costs to payrolls and development expenses, there are plenty of costs to be considered when starting and running a gaming business. That is why it’s recommended to familiarize yourself with the basics of finance, and make a solid financial plan that guarantees success at the very beginning. If you have a large enough budget, hiring a finance professional to develop the best business plan for your specific needs and goals will also be of great help when starting a business.

Build a brilliant team

Putting together a great team is essential for any business, especially when it comes to the world of gaming. Your staff will be responsible for creativity and innovation, development and production, as well as quality assurance, all aspects that are key to success. And remember that your team doesn’t have to be particularly large in the early stages of your business. As long as you have an excellent core team filled with knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced people, you will be able to build a company with huge potential for growth.

Take care of your staff

Having a knowledgeable and experienced team is not enough for success; your employees need to be engaged, motivated, and productive as well. To achieve this, it might be wise to take better care of them as a leader. For instance, you can provide your staff with healthy gamer drinks to boost their performance, especially during the creative, development, and testing processes. By increasing mental clarity, improving concentration, and raising energy levels, such beneficial drinks will enable your employees to be at the top of their game, thus presenting new growth and success opportunities.

Define your brand

Your brand represents your main business goals and objectives, the things your company stands for, and the way it is perceived by your audience. Not only is a strong brand necessary for establishing a reputable and reliable company, but it’s also crucial in terms of standing out from the competition. For that reason, you might want to invest in branding as well, such as developing a good strategy and impactful messaging, making an interesting logo and tagline, and creating a unique “voice” that reflects your brand. These aspects are truly crucial for growing and evolving your business.

Market your business

No company can truly succeed without good marketing strategies, as this allows you to establish yourself as a brand, reach a wider audience, and increase your overall revenue. Begin by performing market research and identifying your target consumers in order to know how to successfully advertise your products. Digital marketing tactics are quite popular at the moment, particularly in the gaming industry, and options like website ads, social media advertising, and even influencer marketing could all be essential for your company’s growth as well.

Learn to accept failure

Failure is an unavoidable aspect of any business, but this might be even more true in the gaming industry. It’s thought that publishers kill around half of all titles deliberately before completion, whether it’s due to development delays, changing markets, or unexpected competition. Having a product denied is not only disheartening, but also a challenging period that leads to disorganization and turmoil within the business. This is why being a flatter, more flexible, and more agile company that knows how to accept and overcome failure will be key to success.

The video game industry is a competitive field, and starting your own gaming company can often be a challenging task. But with enough dedication, perseverance, and the use of the helpful tips mentioned above, you can easily create a successful and prosperous gaming business with plenty of potential for growth.

Why Adaptive Leadership is Essential

Workplaces and circumstances are constantly changing. Because your workload, team members, clients, and finances are always changing, your managerial and leadership style must change as well. 

The terms “management” and “leadership” are not interchangeable. Management is mainly concerned with dealing with complexity, people, and tasks, whereas leadership is concerned with implementing change and ensuring that the team works together to accomplish project goals. The most effective leaders can adapt quickly to changing situations and utilize the appropriate strategy for each occasion. Poor leaders, on the other hand, do the complete opposite and lack to find new solutions in stressful environments, resulting in confusion and chaos. It is vital to clearly articulate the mission goal and allow the team to perform. They must, however, think like a human and still be driven to navigate. 

So, why is adaptive leadership a must-have? 

Let’s start from the beginning. 

What Is Adaptive Leadership 

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Adaptive leaders cope with revolutionary change by recognizing adaptation and technological issues and challenging the status quo through strategies. The difference between a standard leader and an amazing one is their capacity to adapt. It is important to learn the adaptive-learning approach. It’s being an adaptable leader who is capable of managing a member of the team in an organization. In a nutshell, adaptive leadership is a strange mix of leadership effort, perspective, and talents that promotes excellence. Adaptive leadership qualities have the potential to control leaders to places where others are unable to.

Leaders that have an adaptive style are goal-oriented, self-aware, and also have excellent communication and interpersonal skills. They delegate the appropriate responsibilities to the appropriate individuals and give opportunities for professional growth. Since they do take effective action, they rarely do it in a reactionary way without taking into account all potential scenarios. Since they establish flexible groups that welcome uncertainty and transform fear into good outcomes, adaptive leaders achieve greater scores.

Adaptive Leadership Skills 

Adaptive leaders need to have a few skills that will make them constantly evaluate their activities, acknowledging that they will need to adapt and change their actions as they get a better understanding of the results of their choices. So, here are the 5 adaptive leadership skills a leader must have: 

Organization 

Authority figures must be honest and open. Employee perceptions of equal treatment are known as organizational justice. Changes are more easily accepted and understood by management and customers when adaptable leaders offer all the information.

Emotional Intelligence 

Emotions and emotional knowledge to understand and recognize the feelings of others too as your emotions. Adaptive leaders can manage their emotions and empathize with others. Because they have seen the ‘individuals’ beyond the problem, empathy enables leaders to adapt to adaptive difficulties.

Problem-Solving

Rather than the traditional keep dividing strategy, consider how both sides might gain. Working jointly will benefit both different parties and internal employees of the group. For instance, a combination with a competitor may be more advantageous than continuing to spend money in an attempt to outperform the rival.

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Growth 

Embracing education and constant growth is an important part of adaptive leadership. Leaders should not be scared to experiment with novel approaches to solving challenges. They really should support their workers’ invention and inventiveness, even if the answers may not always work.

Character 

If something isn’t working, adaptive leaders are willing to change direction. The adaptive leadership approach necessitates being open to receiving feedback. Also, value diversity and recognize that everyone has a different way of approaching problems.

Why Companies Need Adaptive Leadership

The simple answer is that: the market is changing and must adapt well-organized strategies that will meet you, your customer, and your worker’s needs. 

And the long answer is that most companies are still mostly using old-gen hierarchical structure designs with little innovation, although technology is rapidly advancing, and the gap is growing at a quicker rate than it has ever been. So, most leaders still operate under the traditional approach of maximizing their companies’ performance and meet market requirements for consistent quarterly outcomes, while attempting to develop in circumstances that prioritize efficiency above innovation. Finally, institutions no longer function within their circle of interest according to their vision and values. Instead, they nowadays are part of bigger eco-systems of partners, influencers, geographic firms, agencies with which they must collaborate to succeed. 

Melissa Mauro, a content marketing manager at TrustMyPaper, says: “Technology is currently greatly exceeding societal adaptation, and the gap is widening rapidly. It is becoming increasingly important to accelerate and close the gap between social/organizational adaptation and technological advancement.”

Source 

The bottom line is that, although the world changes at an unprecedented rate, and the market environment is becoming more complicated with eco-systems as the fresh level of observation, organizational social models are trapped in a traditional model that is still hierarchical in many ways, dull to adapt, and therefore unable to stay current with the speed of development. That’s why we need adaptive leadership to adapt to the changes and provide new solutions. And leaders surely have unique and individual leadership styles. Each of them takes on the leadership style that makes good sense to them. A leader’s style of leadership can be based on mutual respect if he or she is working with an individual who is capable of completing the desired task and has the essential skills to do so.

Summary 

Adaptive leaders are more likely to be able to handle both optimization and innovation at the same time, and they may build their companies to support this versatile competence. And adaptive leadership is all about the 4 A’s: 

• Adoption – because learning must be constant and answers can be adjusted as needed.
• Anticipation – leaders must focus on future options, trends, and needs. 
• Articulation – several requirements must be met to create communal knowledge and support for change.
• Accountability – incorporating complete transparency in judgment and responsiveness to criticisms and comments. 

A company must be built or have the capabilities for flexibility and responsiveness to continuously change and improve. Adaptable leadership will accomplish both. Adaptive leaders seek to optimize performance while also focusing on innovation to increase production and be market disruptors.

Written by:

Nicole Garrison is a marketer, researcher, and business coach. She enjoys teaching others how to run a business, build plans, and use marketing tools to achieve success. In her free time, she provides SupremeDissertations services and reads books.

How To Ensure Your Employees Are Treated Equally and Fairly

 

 

We often hear a lot about the importance of equality in the workplace. Equal treatment, equal pay, equal opportunities for advancement are all vital to the continued success of not just an employee, but for a business as a whole. However, many employees are also looking to be treated fairly, opening up the discussion of equality in the workplace even further. While fairness and equality might appear to be the same thing, they’re distinctively different and it’s important that companies strive for both at every level of their organization.

 

As managers, leaders, and HR staff, this means employees are expecting you to make the workplace environment one where the office policies are clearly stated and applied equally and fairly across the board. They also expect changes to be made if an individual or group is being treated unfairly. This is especially important as the world has finally started being more aware of what Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)  are forced to deal with at their place of work on a day to day basis.

 

So, how can companies and leaders ensure that their policies are not only providing opportunities for equality, but also fairness?

Equality Isn’t Always Fair

Equality is not always the same as fairness. Equality, while important, can leave out factors that contribute to an employee’s role within the company. Being fair involves considering all of the circumstances and making appropriate decisions based on those circumstances. Employees’ needs differ depending on their circumstances and equality can often leave out specific needs. Equality is like supplying every employee a work laptop, fairness is giving a visually-impaired employee a laptop with braille.

Always Be Prepared for Change

Every employee, wherever they work, wants to be shown by their employer that they’re valuable, their opinions and ideas matter and that they have equal opportunities for professional development and growth. This means that issues such as favoritism in the workplace can wreak havoc on employee morale and can breed resentment toward the company which is another reason why it’s important to treat all employees fairly in the workplace. 

 

It’s not only important to have policies that promote fairness and equality regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, and age, but it’s imperative to enforce those policies equally too. Taking a look at current policies and identifying where improvement is needed is one way to make favoritism less likely to occur. Are there any rules that favor a particular group of employees over the other? Are all employees aware of the company’s rules and policies, including disciplinary actions? Is there any room for questions or different interpretations within the company’s handbook? It’s also necessary to look at who is being hired and who is most affected by injury, job loss, and discrimination within the company. 

 

Being a fair manager means that “When you treat your employees fairly they focus on navigating the challenges in front of them. They feel respected, cared for, and they develop trust in you as a manager. Instead of focusing on gamesmanship or one-upmanship, employees focus on working towards individual and group goals.” When employees are respected and treated fairly, the whole company is often able to operate as a cohesive team with equal responsibilities and better communication. Moreover, fairness and equality not only contributes to better meeting these needs but can also protect vulnerable groups from getting injured on the job. 

 

While certain fields of work are more labor-intensive and thus have more opportunities for severe injuries to occur, it isn’t just the kind of work that is harmful. Oftentimes, there is an unequal amount of pressure to work in unsafe conditions, especially for Hispanic workers and other minorities. When the work environment and policies are centered around equality and fairness, employees are not only likely to be more productive and have higher morale but it can help protect workers from injury. 

Fairness Benefits Everyone

Working towards maintaining a fair and equal work environment is also vital to a business’s clients. Cultural diversity in the workplace not only benefits the company and its employees, but it could potentially save lives. For example, while discussing the dangers of a lack of representation, particularly in healthcare, some professionals explain that “A lack of cultural diversity in healthcare can lead to many problems, including stereotyping and unequal patient treatment — particularly in cases where cultural differences in healthcare expectations lead to poor patient outcomes. Indeed, negative results are arguably inevitable when there is an underrepresentation of cultural and ethnic diversity in leadership and throughout training.” 

 

Cultural diversity can be hard to achieve when a manager is constantly undermining, discriminating against, or holding BIPOC to a different standard than the other employees. A business is likely to have a higher turnover rate if its employees believe they are being treated unfairly. This can also lead to new talent avoiding the company for fear of discrimination. Businesses with such a lack of diversity are likely to suffer losses financially and, in certain fields such as healthcare, could be putting their clients at risk.  

 

One way to ensure that employees are treated fairly is ingraining that importance into the company culture. Make it something so valuable that the company, managers, leaders, and employees are always striving for fairness and equality. This will make the work environment a more welcoming place to report and discuss areas of discrimination or unequal treatment. It will also encourage employees to voice their opinions more to help further improve policies and practices. 

 

It’s never too late to start enacting change that will help ensure employees are being treated both equally and fairly. Having an open, ongoing dialogue on how to improve company policies and how leadership can deliver said policies appropriately can help businesses stay committed to being a welcoming, equal, and fair place for everyone.  

How Promoting Health in the Workplace Helps Your Employees Productivity

A recent study conducted by the Social Market Foundation links the happiness experienced by workers to heightened productivity in the workplace. There was a 12% to 20% increase in work productivity in another study, which has prompted the claim that a happier worker is a more prolific worker in his or her workplace. With that said, there are countless implications of benefits to companies that can raise production by evoking authentic happiness in their employees.

On the other side of the coin, unhealthy employees will have a harder time being happy if they are struggling to achieve wellness in the workplace. If the focus were to shift to more investments in their employees’ wellness, businesses would see not only see the benefits of increased productivity, but workplace health promotion would lessen the employee absenteeism and presenteeism. By promoting workplace health, employers can encourage morale among workers and keep the retention rate of its valuable employees high.

Across the country, an increasing number of companies, particularly workplaces with 50 or more employees, offer a minimum of one perk to their workers that promote health and wellness. More attention by employers has also shifted to programs that deal with stress tolerance and stress management, physical fitness, controlling blood pressure, weight control and nutrition, cholesterol reduction, and even addresses chronic back pain. But what else can companies do to improve their workplace environments?

Benefits of Workplace Health Promotion

Encouraging things as simple as hydrating and sleeping will help your employees show up to work as their best selves. Your employees benefit from such programs and ultimately gain more happiness on the job, which carries over into the lifestyle choices at home with their families.

The positive effects of workplace health and well-being programs are also shown to increase engagement among team members, cultivate a cohesive company culture, and elevate the production rate of workers. Research suggests that healthier and happier staff are 12% more productive. Related to this, when in place, it makes sense that wellness objectives and initiatives lead to fewer days of disability leaves or callouts for sickness.

When your workers are healthier, they tend to be happier, and the occurrence of absenteeism is not so frequent. Employees in good health have an intrinsic motivation to remain at work. As research continues to reveal the link between the mind and body when it comes to healing, employees who are less stressed can also heal faster when they have a positive disposition. Also, practicing gratitude has shown to have tremendous impacts on a person’s risk of long term illness.

When it comes to your organization’s bottom line, consider that for the flu alone, in the U.S., 17 million workdays are missed at an estimated $7 billion loss in productivity and sick days. Also, take into account the rise in workers’ compensation rates and health insurance premiums. The health of businesses depends on seeing to it that measures get made to help employees remain well, with an estimated 25% reduction in those costs when employee wellness practices and programs are instituted.

The Significance of Inhibiting Presenteeism

Across from absenteeism is presenteeism, which is when employees come into work despite feeling sick. It’s terrible for business when employees work while under the weather because it can decrease productivity since workers aren’t able to perform at their best.

By working when sick, employees also deprive themselves of much needed rest which could help them to recover in less time. During cold and flu season, for example, those seemingly dedicated staffers who come into the workplace ill spread germs that could make others sick and further lessen productivity.

With well-being initiatives and workplace health promotion strategies in place, employees will make their health more of priority and take preventative measures to remain healthy and not inadvertently cause a productivity decline by not taking of themselves. Take, for example, U.S. food service workers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in their 2014 study that there is a high prevalence of presenteeism among employees in the industry, with 12% of flu-infected workers showing up for work despite diarrhea and vomiting.

Ways to Promote Health at the Workplace

These are a few ways some companies promote wellness throughout their organization:

Access to nurse advice lines

You may want to consider having a yearlong nurse advice line that is available 24/7 to staff. Nurses either via phone or the Internet can answer health questions and offer non-emergency assistance to help workers identify illness and know how to manage symptoms and diseases.

Even if you don’t want to extend personnel in this way, still your organization can be a resource of health information for your employees. For example, you could publish a monthly newsletter dedicated to health, new medical research and other health news. Or you could ask medical professionals in your area or your insurance company to host wellness fairs that introduce holistic approaches, mental health and other health services.

Manage air quality

Ensuring there is proper ventilation for indoor spaces is another way to keep your workers healthy. Poorly ventilated indoor spaces, in particular, with all the volatile organic compounds released from office furniture and equipment, could contribute to what is known as sick building syndrome, which could be counterintuitive to any wellness promotion by making employees ill and less productive.

Mindfulness Training

According to reports, 40% of workers say their jobs are “very or extremely stressful.” Workplace stress can manifest as emotional or physical harm in response to inadequate resources or unbalanced capabilities with an employee’s needs. An excellent tool for managing stress and encouraging relaxation is mindfulness training.

Mindfulness practices can help workers reclaim balance, which could have immediate effects on increasing their productivity. Employees will be more engaged and focused on completing day-to-day tasks. Mindfulness is a type of meditation that staff could use every day along with breathing techniques or yoga, which would bring the practitioners to the present moment while working for greater efficiency.

Fitness Amenities

To promote health and wellness in the workplace is a benefit in itself, but could go hand-in-hand with incentives and benefits like paid memberships to a gym or spa. Just as monetary rewards boost motivation and cultivate employer appreciation, offering these types of fitness associations will encourage employees to remain active, which is key to good health.

An on-site gym, when it’s feasible, will let workers workout together and regularly. One of the reasons many employees don’t take time to exercise is because they are too busy. However, by allowing flexibility in employees’ schedule for a half hour to go to an on-site gym or join an exercise class, it will be convenient and motivate them to keep physically active and boost anti-sedentary attitudes and productivity.

Have a discussion with your employees about workplace wellness. Allow for feedback, questions, and discover what issues concern or interest your staff. If you don’t have any programs in place or looking for ways to get started, you can contact your company’s health insurance provider to see if your group plan offers wellness training. Some providers may have educational materials that you could distribute to get the workplace wellness conversation started among your employees. Promoting health on the job and developing a well-being program for your workers doesn’t have to be complicated. Still, there are many resources available to take advantage of so your workers can be healthier, happier and more productive, which is a win-win for your business.

Image Source: Pixabay

How to Build a Positive and Healthy Company Culture

If you think back to the different companies you’ve worked at over the years, each likely left a different impression on you. This is because every company has a different company culture consisting of different of unique values, ways of operating, and management style.

Company culture matters because it not only helps create a unified workforce, it can also be a key to success. In fact, Deloitte’s core beliefs and culture survey discovered 94% of executives and 88% of employees agreed that distinct workplace culture is imperative to run a business successfully. The survey also found a correlation between those who described themselves as being happy at work and their company having a distinct culture.

Positive company culture can lead to more engaged employees who are fully-present and passionate about the work they do. After all, ultimately, employees want to have a positive experience when working at an organization — and it’s your job as a leader to provide that. HR plays a significant role in creating an office culture as it begins with hiring candidates whose beliefs and values fit into that culture. As Jessica Herrin, founder Stella & Dot states; “shaping your culture is more than half done when you hire your team.” On that note, here are ways you can build a positive and healthy company culture.

What is Company Culture?

When you think of company culture, what first comes to mind? Perhaps it’s a state of the art gym and having access to unlimited snacks, or maybe it’s the daily flexibility and laid-back atmosphere. While these can be elements of company culture, there is so much more to it.

Edgar Schein, author and former MIT professor defines company culture this way: “Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization’s view of its self and its environment.”

In essence, company culture is about deciding what your values and beliefs as a company are and ensuring you have a team of people ready to live by them. Harvard Business Review concludes that there are six components of great corporate culture, which include:

1. Vision
2. Values
3. Practices
4. People
5. Narrative
6. Place

When all of these elements are fused together, you should have a differentiated culture, improved performance, and a lasting organization. But how do you go about creating a company culture that supports the fulfillment of your overall mission and business objectives?

Hire the Right Team

Your staff are the people that will embody and create the company culture, so they’re a good place to start if you want to improve it. It is imperative that you hire new employees based on cultural fit as they will create your company culture.

A job interview is a good way to help you hire for culture fit, but you have to go beyond the information you find on their resume. Ask questions that will give you a sense of their values such as what motivates them to do their best work, or whether or not they’re still friends with old colleagues. Behavioral assessments are another good way to see how they approached work situations in the past and if they’ll fit well with your team.

Once you hire the right people, you also have to familiarize them with the new culture. Shoe and clothing retailer Zappos did this by creating The Culture Book, which consisted of employees’ definitions of company culture. This is a single example of how you can get new recruits to understand your company, what you value, and how to function within the confines of these beliefs daily.

Prioritize Job Satisfaction

Satisfied employees are likely to be happier, better engaged, and more productive. For this reason, if you want a positive company culture, you need to ensure your employees are satisfied. Monster composed a list of top ten companies based on worker satisfaction, and one member of this list includes a holding company run by Warren Buffet. Just a few of the reasons his company made it there are reportedly because of the fun atmosphere, great leadership, diversity, and flexibility.

To achieve employee satisfaction, you need to find out what their needs are and how you can help them create a balance between work and their personal lives. Know that it also doesn’t have to be a guessing game as you can get feedback directly from your staff to enhance their employee experience. For example, if you receive feedback that there isn’t enough opportunity for growth and development, you could put training programs in place. If not, your most valued employees could choose to resign in favor of another company where they see themselves growing. Seeing as turnover causes employers hundreds of thousands every year, it’s a cost worth avoiding.

Next, acknowledging employees for the contributions they make to your organization is important. Research by Gallup found one of the main reasons an employee leaves a job is because they don’t feel appreciated. Recognize yours in a way that’s meaningful to them, such as by verbally praising them or sending out an email. For those that like to be recognized with rewards, you could offer employee stock options or another form of physical of financial incentive. It’s a way of rewarding them for helping the business meet their objectives which can have good returns in terms of productivity.

You can learn more lessons about company culture from successful organizations like Apple, Virgin, and Airbnb. Two key lessons incude the golden rule — essentially, focusing on how essential it is to treat your staff how you want to be treated. Doing so not only ensures your employees are happy, but it’s also a way to preserve the reputation of your company.

Lead by Example

When it comes to company culture, it’s critical that you lead by example. Good leaders should be able and always willing to listen and show empathy, as these are integral components of a healthy business setting. Being empathetic towards employees sends a message that their feelings matter and they are seen as well as heard. This, in turn, can help you develop a staunchly loyal and more connected workforce. Additionally, you’re teaching them how to behave and treat others within your company. When you see others embodying positive company culture, champion and encourage them.

Building a positive and healthy company culture isn’t a single day’s work. It requires the upholding of core values and consistency, and at other times, it requires tearing down values or old traditions that don’t resemble the company culture you’re aiming to build for the sake of integrity. At the end of the day, positive company culture is an impetus behind a thriving business.

Image Source: Unsplash

How to Fast Forward your Employee’s Career

Your employees’ professional growth doesn’t happen overnight. Developing people’s skills needs investment of thought, time and love in order to create meaningful change. Ideally a manager becomes a mentor. They provide guidance and coaching to evolve employee skill-sets, knowledge and confidence. With managers acting as the catalyst for progression, we’ve pinpointed five ways to effectively advance your employee’s career path.

Align your business goals

When you’re working closely with your employees, don’t forget to feed back the “bigger picture” to them. You can coach people in leadership qualities all day long but it’s pointless if you’re not communicating why. Employees motivation to excel can diminish if they don’t feel valued or believe they can create an impact for the company. Realistically, how empowered would your employees feel if they’re given the freedom to make smart, informed decisions however they still need to run their ideas by you before making moves? Communicate the objectives and company goals before anything else, and provide freedom for them to actually reach these.

Create a career development plan

Having conversations around career progressions is the first step in gauging employee development, but it’s important to follow up with implementing achievable objectives. This encourages employees to formulate their goals so they can actively execute them. Create a space where you can collaborate openly on short-term and long-term career goals and most importantly how these can be achieved. If you’re not sure where role progression can evolve, check out Search Party’s Career Path Tool to see all possible options.

Articulate expectations

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is a popular technique to setting and communicating goals and results in organisations. The main purpose for OKRs is to connect the company, team and individual’s personal objectives to measurable results, ensuring everyone is moving in the right direction. The structure is fairly straightforward.

• Define 3-5 key objectives on company, team or personal levels. These must be qualitative, ambitious and time bound.
• Under each objective, define 3-4 measurable results based on growth performance, revenue or engagement.

When OKRs are a place and remain transparent across all teams, employees have complete clarity of knowing what’s expected of them and have something to work towards. Defining these can take into account career progressions or onboarding new responsibilities or projects and when you’re able to measure you’re also able to mentor. No wonder OKR’s are loved by tech giants like Google, Twitter, and Oracle. It’s a proven process that genuinely works.

Actively identify new opportunities within the organisation

When employees begin to seek new experiences or want to build their portfolio of skill-sets, 9 times out of 10 they’ll leave their current organisation rather than take on a new role in a different area within their current company. And it’s no surprise that losing talent and re-training new starters is timely and costly for managers. However this behaviour can be avoided if there is real encouragement and facilitation of internal transfers. Speak with the individual about what skills they would like to gain or areas they wish to excel in and then identify all possible new opportunities and paths they can explore within the organisation. Mentors are those who can look beyond their own areas or personal needs for growth opportunities, even if it means they’re losing a great asset.

Encourage developmental assignments

Developmental assignments come from the opportunity to initiate something new that an employee takes the majority of the reigns with. Internal projects, new product lines or championing a change such as adopting new technology or a restructure in workflows are all great ways to allow employees to step outside of their comfort zones. These kind of initiatives are the gateway into harbouring new skill-sets and embracing areas not usual to their daily tasks. Enabling employees to lead or manage side projects or totally new initiatives are the stepping stones into project management fields and opens a huge number of doors into other leadership roles.

Although most CEOs understand the importance of employee development, the sad truth is that they don’t devote the necessary time into excelling them into greater things. But the proof really is in the pudding. The more effort you put into developing employees, the higher the employee retention, productivity, engagement, turnover…the list goes on!

If you’re unsure as to where career progression can take you or your employees, Search Party have developed a nifty Career Path Tool. Simply type in your current role, and see how careers of people who’ve been in your shoes developed. Or, type in your dream job and see which paths can take you there. Check it out and let us know what you think!

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Originally published by Search Party on 29 August 2016.

Benefits of Using Humor in the Workplace

How can you benefit by making your everyday office life more fun?

Why should you use humor at the workplace?

Using humor in the workplace has many benefits. Office humor can come in many different forms – it can be an office joke, prank or funny employee awards event.

Any event, no matter how big or small, infused with humor can brighten up a regular, everyday life at the office and bring a smile to everyone’s face.

The benefits of using humor in the workplace

Besides making you and your colleagues feels good and less stressed, using humor at the workplace has many additional, proven benefits. Dr. David Abramis at Cal State Long Beach has studied fun at work for years.

He discovered that employees who have fun on the job are more creative, more productive, better decision-makers and get along better with co-workers. They also have fewer absentee, late, and sick days than people who aren’t having fun.

Therefore, the main benefits of using humor at the workplace are:

• Increased employee engagement
• Increased employee productivity
• Lower absenteeism
• Decreased turnover rates.

These are certainly some very good reasons to have some fun at the office. Aren’t they?

Rules for using humor at the workplace

A good office humor is the one that everyone can enjoy and laugh about. Be careful not to go overboard and hurt somebody’s feelings or embarrass or humiliate your coworkers.  

How to introduce humor at your workplace?

Here are 2 great ways to introduce humor to your workplace:

1. Funny employee awards
   
   Turn your old, boring “Employee of the month” award into something much more fun! Check out our list of ideas for funny employee awards!
2. Funny office pranks

   There is nothing that can bring out so much fun and laugh like a well thought office prank. When was the last time you enjoyed making a practical joke on your co-workers? If you’re looking for inspiration, check out our list of the top 20 office prank ideas!

How to Make Your Employee Awards More Engaging?

Check out our this simple idea to make your employee wards more engaging and fun!

The best way to make your employee awards more engaging

If your annual employee awards have become a bit stale and you want to make them more engaging, here is a simple, yet effective idea – add a bit of humor!

Funny employee awards should definitely be a part of your employee recognition program. Awarding your employees in a humorous, lighthearted manner will boost your office morale and keep your employees motivated and engaged.

4 ways to make your employee awards more engaging

1. Add a bit of humor

“Employee of the month” award is so…well, boring and way to common. Get creative and add a sense of humor to your awards! If you need some inspiration, check out our list of the 20 ideas for funny employee awards. Have fun with your awards, but make sure you don’t go overboard. Be thoughtful and careful not to embarrass your employees.

2. Include your employees

Ask your employees for their input on your employee awards. Ask them what type of employee awards they would like to see in your company. Make sure to implement all of their ideas! Also, find volunteers who are into the idea and let them help you plan and prepare the event.  

3. Get together and celebrate

Turn your employee awards ceremony into a party! You can geo fancy and set up a red carpet outside the meeting space and have one of your employees posing as a paparazzi photographer as the guests arrive. If your company culture is casual, host your employee award ceremony at the office, with a couple of snacks and drinks, one Friday afternoon.

4. Get creative with awards

Get creative with your awards! Certificates are so expected. Instead, do something surprising! Hand out interesting prizes or trophies. If you don’t have a budget for great prizes, don’t worry.

The prizes don’t have to be expensive. Go to a dollar store and pick out a variety of low-cost items related to the award itself. For example, a keychain flashlight can be a great award for your employee whose positive attitude shines even in the most darkest of times.