Leadership and Management: 101

Think of all the bosses that you’ve ever had. I mean, EVER.  Even the ones back in your high school days working part time at a clothing store or making fries at the fair. What made them a great manager? What made them a terrible manager? Now, think of coworkers who are supposed to be leaders and examples in your work. What makes you love them, or what makes you respect them less? {Feel free to discuss these in the comments below- but please don’t name call}

Unfortunately, loving or hating your bosses or coworkers is one of the major reasons why people hate their jobs, and a company culture can effect not only the work communication, but even the work that is being done for clients. If you spend over 8 hours a day with a handful of people who don’t respect you, care about you, or even acknowledge you, it’s pretty hard to shake that off on the drive home.  I know this far too well, and I know how hard it can be to overcome a poor workplace setting. I also know what it’s like to go into a job where you love the people, and even if problems arise, you come together instead of pointing the finger. Company culture starts from the top, so proper leadership and management is essential in creating a company in which people want to work for.

I actually found a great infographic yesterday, called “7 Habits of a Highly Ineffective Manager” and you’ll be glad you checked it out, especially if you are a manager. But, this also works if you are a coworker or client, too. {Note: Be aware if you are doing any of these habits. Also, be aware of your employees reactions}

 

 

Continuing Your Education – Online?

Inspired by both my recent obsession in trying to learn everything there is to know about web marketing, and a recent Social Media Breakfast on Social Media and Education, I took it as a sign that I need to get myself in gear in writing this blog post on how to take charge of learning new things outside of the classroom. Whether it’s taking online courses or trying to teach yourself, there are many ways that you can try and complete a degree or just learn more about the one you already got.

So where do you start? You can’t read every blog out there, take every online course, and in industries that seems to be changing all the time by the time Amazon mails you your book things have changed. From my point of view, there are several things that you just have to do to stay on top of the current trends of any industry (and that I have been trying to do!)

5 Reasons Why You Should Know Administrative Work

Administrative work definitely has a negative connotation. Admins end up doing a lot of work around the office that people deem as “busy work.” But guess what!? There are HUGE benefits to being the one that does this work. Below are my 5 reasons (from experience) on why you shouldn’t worry about having administrative work on your resume, and why it should encourage people to hire you.

1. You Will Never Have to Stall Your Work Waiting For The Toner in The Printer to Get Changed. 

It’s borderline ridiculous that something like this would stop your work, but you would be surprised to realize in an office how many people don’t even know where the printer paper is, let alone how to take the toner out. Since your admin assistant probably went home while you are burning the midnight oil, if you are printing something out after hours and the toner runs out, what do you do? If you said “Send the admin an email with instructions to change the toner and print out your document for you”, all I have to say is, Really?! You need to know how do do basic tasks around the office. One, because you are an adult, and it’s called independence. And two, because never having to wait on others means your work gets done in a timely manner, and you won’t miss a deadline because there’s no toner and your admin had a doctor appointment in the morning and wasn’t able to help you. (<- might be dramatic, but you get my point, right?)

Why Just Knowing Microsoft Word Won’t Get You A Job

If you’ve been online lately, you’ve noticed something. There are a lot of programs out there to help in making your job easier. The hard part is learning the system, which of course, makes your job harder in the mean time. I’m sure you’ve also noticed it seems like every other day one company is acquiring another company, selling off one, or going bankrupt. How do you keep up and make sure that the skills that you are learning in your positions will stick?

When I started at my current company, I knew a few off-the-wall business systems and a handful of social media platforms.  I’ve been working full time for about 3 months, and I’ve already learned a handful of great systems that I can’t believe I didn’t know all of their potential before. These are just three, and there’s a TON more. But continue reading to see my most recent choices:

Google Yourself – They’re Googling You

As silly as it sounds, I often google myself. And no, it’s not because I am self absorbed. It’s because I want to keep tabs on what is out there about me. At first, all I found were old track & field stats and some other Kelsey Carver’s who were models, star volleyball players and yes, there was another red-head. But then I saw something really crazy – ME! My Facebook picture to be exact, right there in Google Images. I quickly put my profile on “lock-down” and made sure that only my friends could find me. But then I noticed that the only thing that was showing up for me in my Google search was my old track & field stats, which is less than ideal when looking for a marketing job (unless they want high jump experience.) I wanted employers and professional to find me, so I wondered to myself how I could do that, without having to put my Facebook profile, which was started in high school, out in the open.

So how do you do it? How do you make the information on the internet right? One of the individuals that I have met via Twitter is Kirsi Dahl, and she has some great views on personal branding and marketing. One blog post that I read, (helped me gain inspiration for this blog post) is her post Maximize Your Personal SEO, which talks about how to make sure that when people Google you, the results are relevant (and positive!) to you. I highly recommend that you check out this post. She has some great ideas and thoughts on this.

So how did I put myself out there for employers/professionals to see the real me?