This study supports you turning off Slack for a few hours per day

This study supports you turning off Slack for a few hours per dayThis study supports you turning off Slack for a few hours per dayIsnt it amazing that we live in this world of technology where we can always be connected no matter where we are in the world? Ehh sometimes. It is incredible that teams can be completely remote and still talk to each other all day thanks to communication and collaboration platforms like Slack and then also GChat, Yammer, texting and of course, basic email. However, is being in constant communication actually the best thing for us? According to a new study, maybe not.Research by Harvard Business School associate professor Ethan Bernstein and colleagues, to be published erreichbar next week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), finds that always on may not be the most effective. Intermittently on could actually be more productive, especially for teams.Intermittent alone time can be very productiveThe research team looked at a few differ ent three-person groups that were given a complex problem-solving task. One group never interacted with each other and each person worked on it completely on their own, the second interacted with each other constantly, and then worked together but with intermittent breaks where they worked solo. It was found that the group that worked both together and then apart produced the best results. From the study Groups that interacted only intermittently preserved the best of both worlds (rather than succumbing to the worst). Even though the groups interacted only intermittently, they had an average quality of solution that was nearly identical to those groups that interacted constantly. And yet, by interacting only intermittently, these groups also preserved enough variation to find some of the best solutions, too.The study points out that organizations that excel at creativity work in this intermittent style. Bernstein also noted that some of the more efficient companies have open amtsstu be structures that possess both rooms for groups to collaborate but also small pods or rooms for people to go off and work on their own.Even if you dont work in an office surrounded by people you can still be in constant on, collaboration mode which this study says can hurt not only an individuals productivity but the groups as well. So turning off Slack for a few hours per day can actually be quite beneficial. As we replace those sorts of intermittent cycles with always-on technologies, we might be diminishing our capacity to solve problems well, he wrote. Try blocking a part of your calendar so your colleagues know you are offline.

Why BizOps Is the Perfect Accelerator for Your Career

Why BizOps Is the Perfect Accelerator for Yur CareerWhy BizOps Is the Perfect Accelerator for Yur Career Its hard to think of a geschftliches miteinander function that has had a more meteoric rise in the past couple of decades than business operations, or BizOps. While the idea of using data to make better decisions and drive business impact is far from new, having dedicated BizOps roles and kollektivs is. Just 15 years ago, BizOps roles were only beginning to appear at leading tech companies - now, they can be found everywhere from 10-person startups to Fortune 500 organizations. And for good reason tasked with cutting across traditional cross functional boundaries to help companies set strategy, improve performance and drive results, BizOps gruppes are able to have an outsized impact on the success of their organizations.But BizOps doesnt just present a tremendous opportunity for companies - it presents a tremendous opportunity for yur career as well. Offering you the ability to shape company direction, collaborate with a wide variety of cross-functional stakeholders and gain a unique understanding into the drivers of business performance, BizOps can help prepare you for just about any role you might be interested in.I recently chatted with a couple of my colleagues at Glassdoor to explore how working in BizOps had impacted their careers - read on below to hear about their jurneys. (And if you like what they have to say, consider joining us the Glassdoor BizOps team is hiring )One of the things that makes BizOps so unique is that you dont need one particular background to succeed in it - in fact, having a team with diverse backgrounds will only help you come up with more innovative business solutions. Those who do thrive in BizOps tend to be people with strong analytical curiosity and strategic thinking, said Andr Keiser, a Manager of Business Operations here at Glassdoor. Its also important to collaborate and develop strong cross-functi onal relationships in order to help drive initiatives forward and execute.Andr came to us with a degree in Physics & Economics and prior work experience at a management consulting firm and a small Enterprise SaaS startup, where he worked on projects from customer success to data science, marketing, product management and more.Ultimately, I realized I love the combination of business strategy (my consulting days), analytics (my Physics background) and operational work (my many startup hats), creating a recipe for business operations, Andr said. I was especially drawn to Glassdoors Business Operations team, which maintains a strong functional alignment within the organization, deeply embedded in the teams they support.Today, Andr specializes in supporting ur Self-Service business division.Our Self-Service business is fast-paced and quickly changing as we continue to improve the product, so we get immediate feedback in our metrics and directly from customers when we make any changes. I love coming in each day, diving into recent trends and partnering with cross-functional teams to drive incremental improvements which we can then monitor on a regular basis, Andr said. At the end of each month and quarter, its been remarkable to look back at our growth and determine what our next priorities should be. I also always continue to be impressed by my colleagues both within BizOps and across the company, from which Im sure to learn something new each day.In the two years that Andr has been with us, BizOps has allowed him to work with executives, develop and present key business strategies and have a hands-on role in a number of different projects.Ive had the opportunity to take on many growth opportunities ranging from developing our Growth Sales plan, working on our annual strategy review through our five-year strategy and now function as the Business Operations lead for our Self-Service Business unit, Andr said. Through these projects, hes had regular exposure to o ur executive team and even the opportunity to present to our Board of Directors.While Andrs tackled a number of different projects, the consistent theme throughout his tenure at Glassdoor has been growth.Glassdoor has provided me with exposure to a variety of company functions and challenges that a scaling business needs to solve. Ive worked through new product updates, partnered with marketing to ramp digital and offline advertising, implemented pricing strategies, monitored key pilot projects and rethought our go-to-market strategy. These experiences have pushed me to further develop my analytical skills, strategic thinking and operational know-how, as I look to take on strategic leadership positions further in my career, Andr shared.And hes certainly not alone in this regard - my teammates have not only progressed upwards within BizOps as our team continues to grow, but many have made lateral career moves into leadership positions at the company in B2B Product and Marketing, A ndr added.Take, for example, Leah Karlins - a Product Manager at Glassdoor who started out on the BizOps team. Although she had a strong background in strategy and analysis coming out of her MBA program, working on Glassdoors BizOps team allowed her to apply that prior knowledge on a day-to-day basis.I literally learned nonstop during my first year on the team. I was initially given the challenge to turn around the financial performance of one of our products whose sales were slipping. This involved close partnership with stakeholders across Sales, Marketing, Product, Operations and many other teams to figure out what wasnt working, and then identify and implement solutions. I made a ton of mistakes along the way, but really appreciated the crash course in how to grow a business line, Leah said. Midway through my first year, I was asked to take over our pricing function, which required building a new set of analytical skills and a deeper partnership with our sales leadership. And t hen several months later, I had the chance to help launch a new sales innovation initiative, which gave me the chance to practice longer-term strategic thinking and project management . Every time I began to feel like I had mastered something, I had a new opportunity to continue growing.After a while, however, Leah began to carve out her niche in product.Product was definitely an area that I was interested in, but frankly I didnt have enough exposure to it prior to joining Glassdoor to know whether it would be a good fit for me. However, as I began partnering with our product team to explore growth opportunities for some of our employer products, I got really excited about the potential to innovate and improve our product suite in ways that would create unique value for both employers and job seekers, Leah said. So, after years of being an advisor and business partner, I decided I was ready to take a more active role in driving product decisions and working with engineering and des ign to build new products and features.After Glassdoors acquisition by Recruit last year, the company made an increased investment in product - so when leaders began to discuss building a dedicated team for the product Leah had long been focusing on, she saw an opportunity to transition into a more product-centric role.I started having conversations with mentors about what my long-term career path at Glassdoor might look like, and whether product management might be a future option for me. I ended up having a series of brainstorms with a couple of our product leaders about our product strategy and the vision for this new team, and those turned into an offer for me to join the team as PM, Leah shared.Although Leah has been thriving in her new role as a product manager, she still cites her background in BizOps as invaluable to her career.My time in BizOps gave me exceptional visibility into our overall company strategy and priorities, so I feel like I have a great sense of where we are headed as a business and how my particular product fits into that. I also had the opportunity to work closely with many of our go-to-market teams and get a ton of valuable feedback on our customer needs, sales positioning and areas for improvement, which directly informs my product roadmap, Leah said. And finally, I developed strong relationships with many incredibly talented folks on the BizOps team and beyond who I still rely on for both formal and informal advice and collaboration.Whether youre hoping to climb up the company ladder or explore new fields altogether, the fundamentals that you learn to master through BizOps - data analysis, strategy development, cross-collaboration - will serve you in nearly any role. Add to that the exposure you get by working with both higher-ups and the soft skills you hone through project management and presenting, and youre well-positioned to move into whatever job title or field that youre interested in.If youre an intellectually curio us, data-driven person with a knack for critical thinking, consider looking into BizOps - it might just be the perfect next step for your career.Want to learn more about joining the BizOps team at Glassdoor? Learn more about the team and find our open job listings here This article was originally published on LinkedIn . It is reprinted with permission.

How to Work With Someone You Dont Trust - The Muse

How to Work With Someone You Dont Trust - The MuseHow to Work With Someone You Dont Trust Once, long ago, I worked at a rapidly growing tech company. For all intents and purposes, the organization was nailing it, sending consultants out all over the country to work with organizations on problem-solving tech-related issues. All sounds great, right? It only took a few months for me to begin noticing things I was far from comfortable with.Client projects would be scoped to leave out key pieces of the solution, so that when the company delivered work the client would then need to re-engage us to deliver the chunks that were missing originally. It landlandseemed to be an unspoken sales tactic, but whatever it was, it smacked wholly of dishonesty and a distinct lack of respect for the client and the employees.In your company, maybe youve seen some similar shady underminings. Maybe youve seen someone fix up a report so that it reads better for the C-suite or for investors. Maybe youve overh eard a manager using personal attacks to get people in line. Or maybe youve seen a married colleague in an affair with another co-worker.Which brings us to the idea of integrity.Researcher and author Bren Brown defines it like thisIntegrity is choosing courage over comfort choosing what is right over what is fun, beinahe, or easy and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.Hits the nail on the head, doesnt it? I know you know integrity when you see it. But what do you do if you find yourself working with someone who lacks it? Here are three ways to deal1. Own Your StoryWhen you see someone do something that, in your eyes, lacks integrity, its easy to leap straight to judgment.The leaders of that company I described above? I told myself they were awful people of the worst order, and that they had zero right to be running a company. Watch people manipulate facts or just make something up as part of their work? You might tell yourself that theyre fundamentall y dishonest and be convinced that its inevitably all going to unravel. If you discover two co-workers carrying on an extramarital affair, you might be disgusted and wonder how they can live with themselves.Your brain weaves a narrative that puts you in the right and others squarely in the wrong, and thats the story you tell yourself.Theyre wrong. Theyre bad. Youd never do something like that, so youre right and good.Youve heard it before, but its worth repeating No ones perfect. And your story may not even be the whole story. It rarely is. Instead of letting your assumptions drive the narrative, take what you know to be true and see if you can take a step back to assess untapped feelings of your own. When you notice yourself leaping to conclusions, getting fired up, or labeling people as wrong (and yourself as right), think about these three questionsWhat story are you creating? Take a hard look at what emotions are getting stirred up and the story youre wrapping around them, even i f- especially if- it makes you uncomfortable.What if you let go of that story and the drama? What might happen if you took a mora generous point of view? Shedding light on these questions can help take your focus out of the drama and avoid the blame game. Sometimes, in doing that, you can learn something insightful about yourself.2. Plant Your FeetWhen someone you work with displays a clear lack of integrity, some common options includeSucking it way down deep and pretending like you never saw anything.Instigating a fight. How dare they?Dropping a trail of insipid little breadcrumbs that you hope will blow the lid off it all.Its hard to know what to do in the face of someone whose character you find questionable, but a more fitting response to a lack of integrity is to honor the boundaries of your own integrity.This comes down to what youre willing and able to compromise on, and what youre not. If being complicit in something untoward makes your skin crawl, then understand that plan ting your feet and saying that you cant be part of it is the right thing for you. If the thought of watching a continuing unethical practice goes totally against what you believe, then know that privately voicing your discomfort to a manager will be the right thing to do. Or if doing nothing while seeing a close colleague fall deeper into an illicit relationship flies in the face of what friendship and support mean to you, then offering a friendly ear may be entirely appropriate. On the other hand, if you arent close enough to offer support, then perhaps your boundary of friendship will tell you not to meddle or make things more complicated.When you recognize the values that are in your bones. those things that matter most to you, youll know in your gut what you need to do. What are the things that matter to you most, the things that would turn you into someone you didnt like or respect?Theres no purpose in being pious or self-righteous about this stuff, but when a lack of integrity is impacting your day to day, at the very least, you owe it yourself to respond based on your own boundaries and strength of character.3. Professionalism Doesnt Preclude HonestyWhen faced with a situation thats less than squeaky clean, professionalism might suggest that you keep your head down and stay focused on the job. Dont rock the boat. Steer clear. Stay out of it.That makes some sense. The workplace isnt a social club or a family unit, its a place of work, a place where results trump personal preferences.But these days, we all know that an organization works best when the people inside it work together with shared values and vision. When the people in a workplace choose comfort over courage, when they choose whats fast or easy over whats right and when they profess values instead of actually practicing them, the organization is doomed.The notion of professionalism as keeping your head down or towing the party line is dead. In todays world, professionalism demands that you act honestly and courageously when you see something that lacks integrity.Youre absolutely right to talk to a manager or raise it with the individual involved if you see something dishonest in an organization that professes to value honesty. Be sure to suggest a different, better approach in your team meetings if you observe something unethical thats becoming the norm. Or lay out how someones toxic behavior may be impacting others if you see someone operating with a lack of respect even let the person know that a different voreingestellt of behavior is necessary for everyone to do great work.This doesnt mean being a tattletale it means demonstrating courage and asking for a better way. It doesnt mean resorting to condescension it means striving for openness and discussion. It doesnt mean adopting the attitude of a judge, but it does mean expecting a baseline of behavior thats founded on respect.Speaking up requires courage, of course. It demands you make yourself vulnerable. Thats some thing that will always feel uncomfortable, but if it also feels right, then youre on the correct path.Fact is, the workplace will always feature people with a lack of integrity, because there will always be people who are struggling to find their way- and thats really what a lack of integrity is.Perhaps the only way to work with people like this is to work with them from integrity.It always starts with you. But ultimately, if you still feel compromised or if your performance suffers after youve found the courage to honor your own values and integrity, then it may well be time to use that integrity of yours once more, and start looking for a new job.Photo of woman looking upset courtesy of JGI/Tom Grill/Getty Images.

Acing the STAR Method

Acing the STAR Method Acing the STAR Method One youve been in the throes of a job searchyouve experienced all different kinds of interviews some good and some bad. The most challenging interview is often one where the interviewer doesnt really know what to do or which questions to ask. Its hard to get your points across when the interviewer isnt asking you the right questions, or when they get off topic.Lotsof candidates also dread competency-based interviews, even though theyre pretty straightforward. The interviewer asks you to describe a situation in which you had to use certain skills not what you would do, theoretically, in a hypothetical situation, but what you actually did. Most people can talk at length about what they would do all it takes is reading a few case studies. But its hard to make up specific details and to keep them all straight, so competency-based questions add an extra layer of credibility.The trick, of course, is to develop a response that tells the recruit er what they really want to know. Having a specific structure to follow helps. TheSTAR techniqueis a method of answering competency-based questions that gives you a chance to shine (get it, like a star).What is the STAR method?The acronym STAR represents the four components of a good answer Situation, Task, Actions, Results.SituationThis is where you set the stage. Its your opportunity to describe in detail the what and the why of whats to follow. Why were you asked to do this particular task, and what made it so important?Example When I worked as a product manager for XYZ Corporation, there was a time when sales of our best-selling dog food seemed to hit a brick wall. This particular dog food had been doing well for years, growing both in terms of sales and market share. When sales suddenly dropped, we needed to figure out why.TaskThis is where you describe your specific role in the situation.Example I was put in charge of finding out what happened so that we could address the prob lem.ActionsNext, describe both the actions you took and the thought processes behind them. A lot of people struggle with this part and, ironically, it can be harder when youre more experienced, because youve internalized that knowledge but the more details you can provide, the better your answer will be.Example I decided I should start by finding out what our customers were saying, so I spent some time on social media. I looked at both our Facebook and Twitter accounts, and I did a few hashtag searches to find out what was trending. It turns out that some consumers had confused our brand with one that had just issued a recall after a number of dogs became very sick. Once the incorrect reference was out there, it spread through social media, and consumers stopped buying our product. So I put together a social media campaign to get the facts out there. We used all of our channels Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc. to spread the word. It took a few weeks to see results, bu t our sales did recover, and we ended up increasing our market share by 6%.ResultsWhen it comes to results, be as specific as you can. Focus on the type of metrics that would be most relevant to the job youre apply for.Example My content strategy and implementation increased traffic by 225% and conversions by 10%. What do I need to successfully answer STAR questions?The whole point of the STAR method is to weed out posers by requiring a level of detail that cant be faked. So the more detail you can give, the better names, dates, facts and figures, etc. Review your resume or portfolio ahead of time so that you can speak confidently about several situations that demonstrate the skills required by the job youre applying for. While the prep work may seem intense, theres no better way to showcase what youve accomplished and what youve learned from it.

The 30-Second Trick for Google Doc Resume Templates

The 30-Second Trick for Google Doc Resume Templates The Little-Known Secrets to Google Doc Resume Templates No matter what you would like to customize, theres a tool and a means to do it. Another useful built-in tool is the automated spell checker. Theres no limit to the range of individuals who can see the document at any moment, updates are created in real time, and there arent any difficulties with document duplication. Well, to begin with, everyone would have the capacity to access any of their files at any location. If you own a lot of special, specific needs in your payslip template, or if your needs change often, it is essential that you pick a template which is able to grow with you and that you may easily tweak. When it come to selecting a payslip template, there are a great deal of unique choices and choices you may have to make to make certain that youre using the best one for your company needs. The Google Doc Resume Templates Chronicles There is a bit blue butto n at the cousine of every screen. Actually you can take advantage of your Google account. The ideal thing about Google Docs is its absolutely free If you dont have a Google account, go right ahead and create one. Blogger is the winner when it has to do with setting up a completely free blog. Facebook is an example that many of us are acquainted with. The Little-Known Secrets to Google Doc Resume Templates Among the secrets to success in business is to be aware of what your clients want, and that means you can deliver it. For $50 youll get your merchandise into the ClickBank marketplace, which ought to make it possible for you to receive it sold relatively quickly. Everybody is testing out the most recent and most helpful tools from the worlds most gigantic online powerhouse. For example, a small company might simply require some workstations and a couple sekretariat apps to systematize its processes. Things You Wont Like About Google Doc Resume Templates and Things You Wi ll Many such businesses provide varied packages with various features, among which a user can select the one which suits his needs best. The world wide web has tutorial after tutorial on the way to make a budget on Excel. Numerical data on the opposite hand, are best manipulated by means of spreadsheets programs. Office Suite Every business should have an office program suite. Understanding Google Doc Resume Templates Since youll get your personal designed PDF files with minimal work An eBook is a PDF file thats sold as a remedy to a certain issue. Because PDF format is more portable with compact dimensions and can be looked at in precisely the exact same way as the original across nearly all platforms. When you are in possession of a large amount of files to be transformed, youre going to be end up with exhausted fingers. It is possible to also upload any sort of text files it is possible to work on then. On the GDocs screen the quantity of files is listed on top on the ri ght hand side over the files list. So youll have to compare the quantity of files in the zip folder with the range of files in GDocs. Google Sites also enables you to customize permissions, so you may demonstrate a client solely the appropriate portion of a project website, and tailor employee access to your institutions intranet. A flexible, customizable web-based database is the important building block for virtually any business moving forward into the remainder of the 21st Century. Another feature of the internet account is the intelligent means of organizing mails. Writing content it is becoming an increasingly popular option for making money. Google Doc Resume Templates - What Is It? Phone Options Aside from multitasking, another amazing advantage of Android is the fact that it delivers a plethora of options. Widget Android OS provides some widgets on its home screen that make it possible for you to access the settings without any difficulty. Google Notebook is a st raightforward but powerful on-line notebook. Cost Effective If you are bored of using basic phones and you need to delight in something better at a reasonable price, you may choose to go for an Android phone. No matter the sort of business youve got, Google probably has a cheap or absolutely free tool you may use, and Google for Entrepreneurs is an excellent method to find out whats out there and explore your choices. Firstly, you should understand what youre likely to sell info about. If youre comfortable with sharing your content then there isnt any harm in it. The issue, historically, has become the issue of identity ownership. The Advantages of Google Doc Resume Templates veranstaltung Management Software Event software is beginning to play an essential role in the organisation and management of events. Users have the ability to search their chats. Content Websites are unquestionably huge.

Justin a firm belieber in the value of education

Justin a firm belieber in the value of education Justin a firm belieber in the value of educationPosted September 13, 2013, by Andrea Riddell Juggling school, hobbies and friends can be hard for the average teenieager. But for someone like pop idol Justin Bieber throw in a global tour, four number one albums, Selena Gomez and over 41 million Twitter followers keeping all balls in the air suddenly seems impossible. Despite all odds and baby-daddy scandals, the Canadian teen sensation proved he was a belieber in the importance of education, graduating from high school last year. Bieber continued his education while touring, gaining his high school diploma via a distance education program. Lets hope its helped him brush up on his cultural history, too. The doe-eyed popstar gained (even mora) notoriety when he famously referred to the Popes iconic Vatican residence as the Sixteenth Chapel. Thirty online credits later, and the teen sensation has hip-hopped his way to success, graduating from his hometown high school, St Michaels Catholic Secondary School in Stratford, Ontario. But the YouTube prodigy is definitely not the first to take advantage of online study. Bieber joins a sortiment of heavyweight eLearning alumni, including James Franco, Jessica Alba, Kristen Stewart, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lil Wayne. Distance education has become a popular avenue for Hollywood, young and old, to continue learning as they dodge the paparazzi. Franco, in particular, has gone from professional actor to professional student to now professor, thanks to the powers of distance education. Studying online to gain his BA at UCLA, Franco then moved on to complete his masters degree at Columbia via distance, proving to everyone that he was more than just a pretty face. Gaining an education online has become common practice not only for the A-listers keen on developing their minds as well as a fallback plan, but also for regular Joes schlepping it out in the real world. Technology h as turned eLearning from the out-dated mailout system into a virtual world of webinars, forums and 24-hour support. And, as life has changed to its complicated, studying online has become the preferred mode for a lot of people who want it all a family, a career and an education. In Australia, the trend towards off-campus study has increased since the early 1990s. Today, almost one in four students studies by distance, including those who mix on- and off-campus study. Postgraduate students sit in the drivers seat of this trend, as most school-leavers and undergraduate learners prefer face-to-face teaching. As the millions of people who have now taken at least one online class can attest, however, youre never short on e-support. Most online course providers, aware of the social isolation attached to distance learning, have a range of student portals, forums and intranets designed to bring students and tutors together. With participants logging on to student communities from all over t he world, you never know who you might find yourself in a class with perhaps even the Biebster himself So whatever your professional pursuits accounting, hospitality, teaching or pop chart domination youre bound to find something that suits your lifestyle. When it comes to studying online, take a page out of Biebers book, and never say never.Bachelor of ArtsStudy modeOn CampusPayment optionsHECS-HELPUpfront paymentCourse guide+ FREE eBrochureEnquire erreichbar Photography assistant sample resumePhotography assistant sample cover letterCareer Insider StoriesJonathan Treagust - World Vision AustraliaInterested in becoming a?Human Resources OfficerManagement ConsultantMarketing OfficerCommunity WorkerCounsellorPopular Career Searcheslist of government funded courses melbournegovernment funded courses darwinhow to become a diplomat in australiahow to become a politician in australiahow to become a music producer in australiaArts Humanities CoursesBachelor of Arts (Arts Management)En quire Online Enquire OnlineBachelor of Contemporary ArtsEnquire Online Enquire OnlineGraduate Certificate of Development and Humanitarian ActionEnquire Online Enquire OnlineBachelor of Health Sciences/Bachelor of ArtsEnquire Online Enquire OnlineAndrea RiddellRelated ArticlesBrowse moreCAREER INSPIRATIONNicki Bloom wins 2008 Patrick White Playwrights AwardNicki Bloom, playwright and Artistic Director of production company nowyesnow, is the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Patrick White Playwrights Award.International StudiesTourismWhere in the world can international studies take you?One of those transferable degrees, international studies is a great option for anyone looking to learn about the world, around the world.ArtsCareer counsellor10 majors you might not have considered for your arts degreeFrom criminology and sport studies to mathematics and music, we take a look at 10 majors from The University of Queensland you might not have considered for your arts degree.