Blog, culture and engagement | Ambition In Motion

by Malhar Lakshman

Thu 5 January 2023

A manager is a key part of the workplace in almost every company. These individuals help delegate tasks, deal with interpersonal issues, and often determine the goals of the team. However, a manager can often serve as more than just a taskmaster. Managers often boast a wealth of experience which can be passed on to their direct reports.

The Oxford Review referred to mentorship as “knowledge management.” Such a description couldn’t be more apt. Sharing information between both manager and direct reports can be a challenge, which can be rectified with a few different actions.

How to be a Mentoring Manager

1) Learn to ask good questions- good teachers and mentors don’t necessarily always give the answers to their students. Asking effective questions can lead a mentee to a solution without being spoon-fed the answer. It will allow them to become more solution oriented rather than dependent on you.

2) Limit how much time you have available to your direct reports- This might seem counterintuitive, but an open-door policy will never be beneficial in an operations aspect for your company. This will not only leave you overwhelmed, but not allow your direct reports to be self-sufficient. However, scheduling time to meet with your direct reports can be very beneficial as well, since it can give them a feeling of loyalty and being noticed.

3) Be smart with delegation- a good manager should recognize what tasks to give their direct reports, and what tasks they should take responsibility for by themselves. In addition to this, great managers understand to never give a direct report a task that they would avoid themselves.

4) Understand growth- at the end of the day, while a manager will no doubt want to retain as many members of their team as they can, they need to realize that not every direct report will want to remain a direct report for perpetuity. Foster their growth whenever possible, and they will reward you with better quality work, as well as more loyalty. And if they so choose to leave, that’s okay. More individuals will come later down the line.

5) Assume responsibility for your direct reports- If they do something well, acknowledge them. If they don’t necessarily do something well, help them see how they did something incorrectly, and then don’t leave them out to dry. Take responsibility as well.

6) Grow personally as a worker as well- Every bit of knowledge you have as a manager can and should be passed down to your direct reports.

How does a manager appeal to all age groups?

Great managers will often prove to be the best facilitators and mentors within their organization. Different age groups can all have vastly different interests and methods, but with the right helmsman, they can come together and work with high degrees of success. Here are some ideas on how to properly manage this workplace

1) Hold regular 1:1s and foster the prioritization of communication within your workplace. For the first time ever, four generations are in the workforce at the same time. Each of these generations have different expectations and methods to use. This can easily lead to conflict when colleagues are unaware of these differences and try to work by themselves or cooperatively. Employees need to be able to communicate these differences in a healthy manner and choose how to approach a task.

2) Recognizing different peoples work orientations is a vital skill to be an effective manager. Just because someone has more experience doesn’t mean that they want to be a project lead, nor does it mean that they have the necessary skills and personality. Put individuals in positions that they want to be in and will succeed in, rather than positions that they have potential to be in. While learning is a part of a direct report’s job, it should be at their own pace, rather than being thrown into the metaphorical deep end of a pool and being told to swim.

3) Identify that different generations perceive respect differently. Regardless of who they are, no member of a team deserves to feel obsolete or disrespected within the workplace. Fostering a workforce with a wide sense of understanding and mutual respect is critical. The Platinum Rule can be enforced throughout the workplace as well. The more common Golden Rule explains to treat others as (you) would want to be treated, but this is deficient. A generation Z worker may not like to be treated in the same way that a Boomer would. The Platinum Rule says to treat others as they would like to be treated. This creates a better team dynamic and a respectful environment.

While the workforce may be expanding to a scale unimagined before, this can be a good thing for your team. Proper communication and management can allow a team, regardless of age barriers, or any other times of barriers, to be a much more successful team.

by Malhar Lakshman

Thu 5 January 2023

A post-COVID effect in the workplace has been an increased prioritization on individual mental health, which has often led to a phenomenon known as the Great Resignation. The Great Resignation is generally agreed to have started in early 2021, and as of January 2023 is still ongoing. The prioritization of mental health and consequent behaviors have also left managers in unique quandaries. Employees are more likely to resign, take more time off, schedule for more flexibility, or look for a new job.

However, what most people don’t truly realize is how managers are affected by mental health issues, and how they can combat it. As of October 2022, a whopping 76% of executives and managers have reported feeling burnt out or overwhelmed as a result of their work. Now, given the higher compensation, one might argue that the pressure is a part of their job. However, there are a few ways that a manager can not only manage effectively, but also have a better grip of their mental health. These methods are often changes to how a manager chooses to work, as well as some mentality changes.

Preventing your own Burnout

1) Plan for different phases of the day. Not every hour of the day should be treated equally. Now you might wonder why every hour of the day doesn’t deserve equal treatment. The answer to this is quite simple, and can be answered with a question- how do you feel after your lunch break? Some might say drowsy, or a little heavy. Just as worker efficiency can ebb and flow throughout the year, your attention and energy can change depending on the time of day. Schedule yourself accordingly. You know your body best, and if you have the power to choose times to schedule meetings, utilize that privilege. Some people use mornings for the most attention requiring work, which makes sense for them. The caffeine might have kicked in, or they might just be morning people. However, not every individual is that way. Some people feel too impatient after waking up, and something with fine details might not be the best possible thing for them.

2) You can afford to be less reactive, and more passive. Not every issue needs to be dealt with urgently, especially by you as a manager. Sometimes, issues can be passed off to direct reports who are able to handle it with less stress. Consultant David Allen penned a book called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. This book proposes a mindset similar to an email inbox. Think about how you organize that inbox. Some messages might be of a priority, while others simply sit in your inbox. You don’t mandate yourself to respond to every email immediately, do you? It’s a very similar concept.

3) Preserve your work hours, and even more importantly, your off hours. You will not be as efficient if you are always working. A brain is like a muscle- if it is taxed or worked, it needs to have time to recover. While emergencies happen, for the most part of the normal work cycle, you do not always need to be on call. Stick to the nature of the off-hours. Don’t check emails, don’t draft any, and don’t worry about getting work done. Relax, and get yourself into a mindset for the next day.

4) Set firm boundaries with when you are accessible and when you are busy. If you keep an open-door policy, you will become overwhelmed by the amount of requests that come your way. Create a specific set of hours in which you can deal with issues brought to you, and do not keep the metaphorical door open any longer than this. While this boundary may seem harsh, you cannot help others if you have problems of your own to address. Therefore, setting this boundary will benefit you in the long run.

5) Prioritize what you do per day. If you’ve ever meal-planned before, it’s a very similar psychology. You can’t achieve everything you want to in one day, so you have to plan the tasks you have to do per week across the entire week.

6) Avoid micromanaging things. Your staff was picked either by you or your predecessors for a reason. Having this faith in your staff will be much more rewarding and efficient than doing it all yourself. Your primary role as a leader is to help enable your staff.

7) Find your anchor points. In the case that you need to take a break, or a leave of absence, you need to make sure that your team will not be left high and dry. Have a second point of communication, and don’t be afraid to make subleaders.

8) Finally, don’t be afraid to recognize if you need help. Plenty of managers, as well as plenty of people take extended breaks to work on their mental health. It is always more than okay to do something to work on yourself. A manager functioning at 50% is much worse than someone who is healthy and capable of making difficult decisions. Be communicative with your team and your peers, as well as senior leadership to allow for a smooth transition due to your leave.

Mental health as a manager can always be scary at first. After all, you’ve been conditioned to always put your direct reports first. And that’s completely okay, as long as you remember that you need help occasionally as well.

by Grace Tripathy

Thu 5 January 2023

Have your team members been acting differently or producing lower-quality work? Maybe there's an increase in requests for sick days or your direct reports seem disengaged during meetings? Unfortunately, all of these could be the early signs of team burnout.

Burnout is quite common in today’s workplace. Two-thirds of full-time workers report experiencing burnout on the job, and it’s a phenomenon that impacts employees across all industries and roles, not just people in senior positions or traditionally high-stress jobs.

However, there’s hope: as a manager, there are several ways you can mitigate the impact of burnout on your team.

How do you identify team burnout?

It’s critical that managers identify the signs of burnout early on. However, it’s important to note that they aren’t always easy to identify.

You may assume that an employee has been missing deadlines or coming into work late because they are simply lazy. Or that the unusually negative, critical team member is simply in a “bad mood.” But these actions can be signs of burnout.

It’s also important to keep in mind that employees can experience burnout in their personal lives, which can carry over into their work. Managers shouldn’t assume that an employee is immune from burnout just because things at work aren’t busy.

To help you better identify the signs of burnout, look at the common physical, mental, and emotional symptoms below:

Physical symptoms of burnout

● Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion

● Loss of productivity

● Fatigue

● Loss of appetite or change in eating habits

● Lack of sleep

Mental symptoms of burnout

● Constant worry and anxiety

● Inability to focus clearly

● Increased mental distance or apathy

Emotional symptoms of burnout

● Feelings of negativity or cynicism

● Irritability

● Emotional fragility or heightened sensitivity

● An increased tendency to start arguments or make harsh comments

While these signs can be used to identify burnout in individuals, the same evaluation can also be used to assess teams. If multiple team members seem to be suffering from any of these symptoms, or if your team seems to be experiencing a general loss in productivity, there’s a chance that they may be experiencing burnout.

How to help your team deal with burnout

Once you think you’ve identified burnout on your team, how do you manage it before it becomes problematic or long-term?

1. Understand the root cause

Before you take any action, take the time to understand the root cause of your team’s burnout. This will not only help you identify how to best help your team, but it’ll also demonstrate that you’ve noticed they’re not being themselves and want to help them overcome this obstacle.

There are many potential contributing factors: a heavy workload, lack of leadership, no clarity around roles or expectations, and unfair treatment are common work-related causes of burnout. Of course, there could also be other factors outside of work that contribute to your team’s burnout such as financial or family-related stress.

Here are a few tips to help you identify the root cause:

● Have in-person conversations. Even though your entire team may be experiencing burnout, have conversations on an individual basis. 1-on-1 conversations are a good opportunity to address your direct reports' wellbeing. Addressing the entire group can be intimidating and make it difficult for members to open up. So schedule time for every employee and try to understand what they’re going through. Each person may also be able to share their perspective as to what’s happening at a team level.

● Ask questions. Keep in mind that it may feel scary for employees to open up about their struggles in the workplace, especially to their managers. They may fear repercussions or worry about being perceived as less hardworking than other team members. If your employee seems to have a hard time starting the conversation, approach them with empathetic questions, such as, “What’s on your plate right now that’s overwhelming?” or “Where are you feeling the most stress?”

Other strategies can make it easier for people to open up about their experiences, too, such as ensuring confidentiality or connecting the employee to a third-party expert (such as a coach or therapist) that they may feel more comfortable working with. Sometimes, your employee may not feel ready to open up, and that’s okay too. Don’t force them to talk if they don’t want to but let them know you’re always available whenever they’re ready. Tools like AIM Insights can help leaders accomplish this goal.

2. Be an advocate

As a manager, one of your most important roles is to serve as an advocate for your team. This means making sure your direct reports are well taken care of and supported. This is especially true when it comes to burnout. Depending on the reason for the burnout, the way you advocate for your employees can take on different forms. Here are a few examples to inspire ideas:

● Protect their time. If your team suffers from a heavy workload, one of the best things you can do is protect their time. What does this look like in practice? If someone approaches you to see if your team can take on a project, push back or say no. Also, let your team know that it’s okay to turn down work themselves if they feel overworked – this will empower them to regulate their own workloads.

● Provide access to relevant resources. Regardless of the root cause, burnout can have very serious mental health consequences. Connecting employees with resources, such as information about wellness programs or wellbeing guides can be helpful. However, as a manager, you should also know that you’re not expected to be a mental health professional. So don’t hesitate to point your employees to an external source of mental and physical health support, whether that’s in the form of a healthcare professional or therapist.

3. Demonstrate compassion and empathy

Compassion and empathy are useful tools for the workplace – especially when dealing with issues like burnout. There may be times you get frustrated with your team, or they get frustrated with you as you overcome this obstacle together. This is totally normal, so remind yourself to view the situation through a compassionate and empathetic lens. This will make it easier to get through the challenging times together. Below are ideas for how to demonstrate compassion and empathy:

● Don’t take it personally. It may be tempting to view your team’s burnout as a personal failing, but that’s not the case. At the end of the day, many factors can lead to burnout, no matter how hard you try to prevent it. So, when practicing empathy and compassion on your team, make sure you’re applying it inwardly, as well.

● Think about what’s best for the team. A useful way to practice empathy is to ask yourself: what’s best for the team? The answer may vary by individual. What’s best for some employees is to take a vacation or personal leave and unplug for a bit. Others might need to clarify work priorities or have something taken off their plate. For some, it may be to support them if they decide to quit their job. This option can be challenging, but sometimes leaving an unhealthy work environment is the best thing employees can do for themselves and making sure that you’re supportive about their decision is the best thing that you can do for them.

by Grace Tripathy

Fri 23 December 2022

With changes occurring in the economy, many companies are laying people off, many times in waves. This can impact the morale of those that are left.

When employees are spared, they feel relieved for a little bit before they start thinking and worrying about the next wave: “Will I be next? I better start looking for a job elsewhere; What am I going to do?”

Thoughts like these are the symptoms of a syndrome, the survivor syndrome. The effects of this syndrome will cause a sharp decrease in employee engagement and productivity. Recent research through Velas Coaching has shown that after layoffs, employees often report reduced commitment and performance.

While some may feel lucky to still be employed, others may experience mixed feelings. They may be relieved to still have a job but simultaneously guilt-ridden about the suffering of former colleagues who were let go.

This type of “survivor guilt” is normally associated with the emotions people experience after facing a traumatic event or accident that looks at the lives of others, but it can also happen after corporate layoffs.

It’s not uncommon for the employees left standing to wonder, “Why did I make it, but they didn’t? or “How am I going to face my friends who were released knowing that they’re in a bad financial situation while I’m still employed?” Survivor guilt may be made worse by a perception that the company failed to recognize or reward trusted colleagues and friends and instead eliminated them.

Studies by the Harvard Business Review show that nearly three-quarters (74%) of employees retained after a layoff saw their productivity decline after it, while 69% said that the quality of their company’s product or service deteriorated. When these respondents were asked why they felt that way, they expressed feelings of guilt, anxiety, and anger.

The good news is that workers who felt that their managers were visible, approachable, and open were more than 70% less likely to report a productivity drop, and 65% less likely to report a decline in the quality of their organization’s offerings. These numbers show that leaders can make a big difference in helping retained employees deal with their survivor guilt.

As a leader you probably are asking yourself: “what can I do to help my team go through that dreadful layoff cycle?” Here are three suggestions:

1- Before the layoff cycle starts – Fight for your team

You may have heard the story of Bob Chapman, the former CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, a family owned company. In 2008 at the bottom of the recession, the company was hit very hard, and they lost 30% of their orders very fast. The board decided that they needed to save money and pushed for layoffs. Bob refused, so he came up with an idea, a furloughs program. Everyone was going to take an unpaid vacation so everybody will suffer a little as opposed to a few who suffer a lot. Guess what happened to the morale of the employees? It went through the roof. If you have the chance, protect your team at all costs and make sure they know you are doing it.

2- During the layoff cycle – Conduct them with empathy

As employees process the layoff cycle, they start to believe that the company they work for does not care about them, that they are pawns, merely a piece that can be easily sacrificed for the company’s sake. But it doesn’t have to be this way. As a leader, your ability to communicate effectively and regularly with your employees is invaluable in the long term. Much of how employees perceive a layoff depends on how much information is shared, and where it is coming from; it should come from you.

● Listen and acknowledge their fears

● Ask how your employees are doing and respond with empathy

● Make sure you validate or dispel the “rumors” out there, fast

● Make sure you are available, open-door policy

● Don’t hide the truth

3- After the layoff – Lead by example

When you perform a layoff, you’ve probably harbored feelings of regret for having to lose members of your team and feel anxious about the light in which survivors see you. Now you are managing a team of survivors, the lucky ones who didn’t get laid off. Therefore, you need to set a positive tone but also be realistic. Good fortune doesn’t make good performance.

Kick your leadership skills into high gear and focus on transitioning your surviving employees toward a new brighter future. Make employee engagement your number one priority, creating a safe space for your employees to succeed.

Organizations that invest time, money, and attention helping the remaining employees stay engaged are much more likely to succeed after a layoff than see diminished productivity. How your remaining employees perceive you are handling the process will set the tone for renewed trust in the relationship. If you handle it with integrity and empathy, you will minimize and perhaps eliminate adverse impacts of the survivor syndrome on your team.

by Malhar Lakshman

Wed 21 December 2022

Generation Z, also known as Gen Z, is a term used to describe individuals born any time between 1995 and 2010. With over 61 million of these individuals slated to enter the workforce in the next five to ten years, it is natural that many of the older workers already present in the workforce are a little apprehensive on how to work with these newer –and younger- workers. However, almost a third of the workforce by 2025 will be Generation Z. Therefore, understanding how to work with them will prove essential for any manager. The first factor with managing this younger generation is to recognize their wants and needs.

The Wants and Needs of Generation Z

James Colino, the CEO of Sheetz, states that “(Generation Z) has been subjected to political, privacy, technological and gender issues that have shaped how they think. Rather than giving them a pass on performance, it is required that leaders take the extra time to acknowledge differences, be inclusive, and find solutions that work for both customers and employees.”

Sheetz has been noted to be within the top 50 workplaces for Generation Z at both the entry level as well as within the corporate side of management. Colino has correctly stated how Gen Z prioritizes topics and how they’re treated.

Gen Z is the least inclined to plan to stay in their job. In a study made by greatplacetowork in conjunction with Pell, only 77% of workers agreed with the statement that they would plan to stay at their job. In contrast, the next youngest generation, the millennials, are of a much more resolute mind, boasting a strong 88% stating that they plan to stay in their jobs. Generation Z workers tend to prefer jobs that have some form of additional meaning, rather than just a salaried position. In addition to this, they are less likely than older generations to accept profits and pay under the opinion that they receive a fair share of profits and pay. It is important to recognize why Generation Z works, and what they choose a job for.

Deloitte has researched several of the top reasons that Generation Z workers have chosen their current job. 32% of workers strongly prioritized a high level of work-level balance. 29% chose to prioritize learning and development opportunities. 24% chose to fight for higher salaries. Finally, 23% of these individuals chose a positive workplace culture. Many of these workers also have hefty expectations about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, also abbreviated as DEIB.

For Generation Z, work doesn’t just have to do with a way to kill time, but rather a way to support both them and their hobbies, and often satisfy some form of larger desire they have, such as philanthropy or charity. Understanding how to enable these needs can be a way to connect to these younger workers and have more loyal workers. DEI in the workplace shares great insight on how to properly foster loyalty in teams.

What does Generation Z want within their Workplace?

Generation Z has multiple aspects of a proper workplace that they feel is indispensable to their working career. According to Pew Research, Generation Z is more diverse than any other before it, especially in the professional working industry. One in five Generation Z workers identify as LGTBQIA and is less composed of Caucasians as previous generations. As mentioned before, this generation strongly prefers diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the workplace. Generation Z also has a few other things that they like to be modeled within their workplace as well.

· A fair workplace- Gen Z has grown up with media and experiences explaining nepotism in great depth, such as in history classes, their part-time jobs, and elsewhere. Showing that promotions are awarded fairly, and that no employee is held in higher regard than everyone else for no reason can have a drastic impact on these workers’ perceptions of you as a manager.

· A fast-paced workplace- Generation Z has been through multiple major world events as they have grown and matured. This list of events includes multiple pandemics, such as Ebola and COVID-19, 9/11, the rise and fall of ISIS, multiple natural disasters, and so much more. Generation Z has been conditioned to be extremely flexible and adaptive to trauma and occurrences. Similarly, they expect a workplace that is quick and easy to adapt to challenges. This makes them much better with problem-solving, if everyone around them is equally willing to rise to a challenge and adapt.

· Involvement in major decision making- While not all decisions being made are ones that entry level workers should be involved in, there are certain decisions that anyone should be able to have a say in. This falls back to the Goreman Leadership styles, under the democratic leadership method. The democratic leadership styles state that any member can come in with an idea and can determine whether or not the idea is worth going forth with by using a consensus amongst other members, along with a final ruling by a leader. Democratic Leadership is particularly useful at getting team member involvement and retaining staff, but has a flaw in its speed, often taking time to come up with decisions. However, since Generation Z is such a fast-working collective, they can overcome this hurdle easily.

· Mentorship and Nurturing- Generation Z is by no means a “soft” generation, or unable to conduct networking. However, due to their fast paced and rapidly changing surroundings, they often need a hand in approaching certain cultures, or could be in use of a mentor. Fostering growth in these individuals can be rewarding and will make a dramatic difference to them. Remember that your experience is a privilege that not everyone has been afforded yet. Use it to help the person who may one day help others down the line as well.

All in all, Generation Z has a burning desire to work, but not just for themselves. With this in mind, and the resources stated above, use this information to make a workplace better suited to this younger demographic. By no means should this workplace exclude older people, but it should be a bridge between the two demographics. Understand that Generation Z will soon make up an even more significant part of the workplace, and that your actions could change the way that workplace looks.

by Grace Tripathy

Wed 21 December 2022

“Work Hard, Play Hard.” We’ve all heard this term countless times. Oftentimes, it’s plastered on core value statements and repeated by colleagues as a badge of honor, supposedly as motivation for balancing work and play.

There is no argument with working hard - it’s vital for any company to succeed. Without unwavering determination and an auspicious work ethic, your competition will out shadow you in a moment's notice.

But employees today aren’t interested in playing hard. They are interested in balance and work/life integration. The concept of play hard can have many connotations. By saying work hard, play hard, we are directly or indirectly communicating that all of our time must be at work or with work colleagues. Essentially, if we are working hard and then spending our free time playing hard with our colleagues, we are not allocating any time for ourselves to reset and recharge. On top of that, the notion of “play hard” also has many connections to partying and drug use/abuse which is not conducive to a balanced culture.

The term “work hard, play hard” is a major red flag when being stated as a part of a company’s values or mission statement.

“Play hard” glorifies a degenerate culture. Picture a group of suited bankers wearing loose ties, in a loud nightclub, spending a lot of money on bottle service, and making morally questionable decisions; then, showing up to work the next day hungover and reveling in party stories while “working.” These actions only work against the employees, owners and investors of the company.

“I have nothing against drinking and do my share. And there are plenty of TaskUs events where we serve alcohol. However, I do not want to promote constant partying as an important part of our company’s culture, whether intended or implied,” Jaspar Weir, President of TaskUs, said.

It creates social pressure to drink with your colleagues or be left out. Not to mention that being hungover and tired at work is unproductive. In general, getting wasted around your colleagues just isn’t a great idea.

It perpetuates the tech-bro stereotype that startups, and even well-established companies, desperately need to change. Companies fostering toxic work environments, especially poor treatment of women, and fraternity-like cultures of heavy drinking and partying play a role in this stereotype. Employees, amplified by media cycles, are screaming that this behavior will not be tolerated.

So, no more play?

No, we should all have fun!

Work Hard, Play Hard connotes that work itself is not fun, and all play happens outside of the office as a way of evening the scales between the doldrum of work and the excitement of what play can entail. We spend way too much of our waking adult lives in an office. Therefore, it’s in every company’s best interest to focus more on creating fun work environments that people enjoy, and ultimately promote employee engagement and better business results.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spend nearly 40% of their day working - more than any other single activity in their day. Happiness makes people more productive at work, according to the latest research from the University of Warwick. Economists carried out several experiments to test the idea that happy employees work harder. In the laboratory, they found happiness made people around 12% more productive.

Employers must provide meaningful, quality interactions with employees where they can relate to one another on a personal level. This gives managers insight into why a normally productive teammate is falling behind due to underlying personal life stressors. It allows us to all be human together and enjoy time together at work.

Here are a few ideas for how to create a fun work environment:

Celebrate Small Wins

An essential aspect of a fun workplace culture is where people feel good about themselves and their work. While appreciating major accomplishments is necessary to increase employee morale, celebrating the small wins can be just as effective.

An employee has always been helpful to his team members. When an employee stayed late to cover a sick colleague’s work. When someone always comes to work on time. Or keeps his workplace immaculately clean. The tool AIM Insights measures this metric and calls it organizational citizenship.

Such day-to-day acts should not go under the radar and be appreciated as such.

It will indeed impart some positive vibes, laughter, team bonding and establish an overall fun working environment.

2. Ask employees what they want

The best way to create a fun working environment is to ask your employees about what they want. There is usually a generational and positional gap seen between the manager and the team members.

Thus, what you may consider fun at work might not necessarily be so for the employees.

Therefore, consider it an excellent practice to ask or gather feedback from the team about what you should do to make the working environment more fun.

More often, you’ll find that they’ll be more than happy to help you since it benefits them as well. Also, it will provide an excellent bonding opportunity between the manager and the team members.

3. Team Building Fun Activities

Team building activities that involve some strategy, skills, and team members working together can be incredibly effective in creating a fun work environment.

Such fun activities provide a plethora of benefits, including:

● Aids the team members into honing their strategic skillset.

● Promotes team bonding through activities such as icebreaker questions.

● Helping combat work pressure and stress.

● Increase in creativity and confidence levels.

● Inspires better communication between team members.

● Such fun activities help to bring team members together and actually bond over something that all enjoy.

This creates a sense of camaraderie and that their colleagues can be friends. Perhaps, the most crucial benefit is that the learning and collaboration developed during such team-building fun games can help in the actual working environment.

Having fun without hard work does not promote good business. Ditching the “work hard, play hard” mantra and focusing more on creating a fun work environment doesn’t mean people are happy, but it is a step in the right direction to allowing employees a fun expression of their job, in a safe and responsible manner.

by Malhar Lakshman

Thu 8 December 2022

Financial Managers often oversee other workers within their company’s finance departments, while also assigned several tasks of their own. These managers are often responsible for the creation or delegation of some of the following tasks, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.

· Preparing Financial Statements, business activities, and forecasts

· Monitoring financial details

· Supervising Employees in Financial Reporting and budgeting

· Reviewing Financial Trends

· Analyzing market trends

Most importantly, financial managers are often responsible for advising senior leadership in terms of decision-making for business processes. Most of their decisions are data-driven and require strong analytical skills. However, since many of their ideas come from aggregate functions and data, they are strongly dependent on making sure that they have their intermediate functions and data given to them. This work is often passed down to direct reports, despite its high importance, and often serves as a method of determining whether an employee is deserving of a promotion.

In addition to this, a manager cannot truly start or submit their work until this intermediate work is completed and handed it. With the necessity of this work, financial managers often utilize software platforms known as Human Resource Information Systems, or HRIS for short to track productivity and task competition rates. Most of these systems also make attempts to track feedback but are often lacking in this regard. This is where Ambition In Motion can come into play in a very effective way.

Ambition in Motion provides a product and service known as AIM Insights. This service is a platform that integrates with the already present HRIS systems and is meant to improve worker communication, engagement, and retention. AIM Insights can be of use to most financial managers by addressing several problems that they face within their everyday careers.

AIM Insights can track when a goal is completed. This can enable these financial managers to have the highest possible efficiency when working on goals by being able to put aside certain tasks with confidence that they will be notified when things they are dependent on are completed. No need to check with a direct report every few hours to see if something has been completed yet! AIM Insights can automate this process and eliminate the tedious step of rechecking repeatedly.

AIM Insights provides a highly developed executive coaching program, with renowned experts available to consult about business decisions. Using the data that the managers themselves have provided, these experts can advise on what they would do differently, and how the manager could improve. For example, say a manager has one direct report that is highly skilled at cleaning strings of data, with another direct report highly skilled at accounting. In the pressure of a looming deadline, a manager might assign work that isn’t necessarily suited for each direct report. The expert might be able to see things differently, due to their objective and educated background, and consequently, create a more comfortable working environment for the direct reports. Since AIM Insights is also a third party, these mentors are not privy to workplace dynamics or personal problems, and as such, can provide a more clear and more unbiased opinion when it comes to making business decisions.

AIM Insights can also be a source of feedback for a manager. Many times, managers wish that they had more honest and direct feedback, but since their direct reports are worried about consequences, they may not be as open with their feedback. AIM Insights provides a rating system and requests feedback from direct reports as they submit their work, thereby eliminating a human interaction requirement from this feedback submission process. A quote from Kari Ardalan, a Vice President of Scaled Success at Zendesk explains just how effective this feedback submission is:

“At first I was a little nervous getting started (using AIM Insights) because I didn't know how my team would receive the survey. But after using the tool, I am learning so much more about my team that I didn't know from our previous 1:1 conversations and it is helping me connect with my team on a deeper level”

Improving the quality of feedback submissions can allow a manager to make more educated and informed decisions, while also allowing them to get to know their direct reports much better. Increased engagement has been shown to occur when interpersonal relationships are stronger in the workplace. Workers realizing that their boss pays attention to them, and their responses can give them a sense of acknowledgement and recognition that will then improve their engagement rates.

This feedback can also allow a manager to realize what jobs their employees prefer or what work they struggle with. This can allow a manager to make their business processes more efficient, as well as open a potential education avenue for their direct reports.

Overall, financial managers face multiple challenges, but interpersonal relationships and interdependency problems can be easily avoided. Contact Garrett Mintz for a free demonstration of AIM Insights and see how well this can work for your business.

by Malhar Lakshman

Thu 8 December 2022

Human Resources Managers are some of the most integral parts of a business and employee life cycle. Their duties include recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training employees, addressing interpersonal concerns, terminating employees, and administering employee benefits. These jobs require high amounts of administrative duties, along with reading and aggregating of data.

As a result, most companies, if not all companies, are large enough to warrant having Human Resource professionals or departments utilize software platforms known as Human Resource Information Systems or HRIS for short. HRIS systems are designed to help organize most of the data required to accomplish HR tasks. However, most of these systems to not have a way to validate the data, or to edit it to be in the most convenient format for the readers. This is where Ambition in Motion can come into play.

Ambition in Motion offers a service known as AIM Insights. This service is most frequently used by Operations Managers to increase worker engagement, worker productivity, and goal-setting skills. However, this product can be applicable to any form of manager, whether it be a construction manager or a proprietor of a start-up.

AIM Insights is able to integrate with most frequently used HRIS systems and can also be of use for Human Resource Managers. Here are some of the ways that Human Resource Managers can use AIM Insights.

How AIM Insights can help HR Managers

1) Onboarding Assistance for New Direct Reports- When a new worker joins a company, while they might know who they directly report to, they might not necessarily know how they fit into the company, along with their corporate hierarchy. On top of that, using the organizational chart found through Microsoft Teams or Slack can be very time-intensive and tedious. AIM Insights can provide easy-to-understand organizational charts through the platform itself, which can easily be distributed.

2) Performance Tracking for Performance Improvement- When an operation manager chooses to put an employee on a performance improvement plan, most HR leaders will mandate that HR is consulted to make sure that the company is best protected in terms of legal matters. When HR has access to the productivity rates and task completion rates of the direct reports, it assists them in finding legal precedence and benchmarks to help ensure that the plan is warranted and legal in order to avoid wrongful termination suits or similar problems.

3) Getting Employee Feedback and Engagement Rates- Human Resources Departments often rely on employee testimonials as an attraction option for hiring decisions and also for determining the quality of management. AIM Insights has been stated to have produced more genuine and honest feedback from direct reports. Burt Tellier, the Vice-President of North West Rubber, who are customers of AIM Insights, has stated the following: “(They) were looking at the tool and were taken back at the feedback (They) were receiving. People were willing to reveal more in (AIM Insights) than they were when chatting with them face-to-face.”

4) Provided Communication Templates- AIM Insights provides communication templates and can create a standardized format of official communication within an office. For a Human Resources manager, this should be worth its weight in gold. A clear and concise delivery of a message that will be formatted the same across departments means that an HR worker doesn’t have to scrutinize memos as closely, since there would be a predetermined format.

5) Removal of Recency Bias- Managers frequently have to write performance reports about their direct reports. These reports are often read by Human Resources when making choices on laying off workers. However, these reports often fall victim to a phenomenon known as recency bias or the “what have you done for me lately” bias. Recency bias is defined as a cognitive bias that favors recent events over historic ones. An example of this would be how a lawyer’s final closing argument in court is said to be one of the most important moments in law due to it being the last, and therefore favored, event that the jury hears prior to being dismissed to deliberate. Since AIM Insights requires that managers file feedback on each individual task and goal as they are sent in, it allows objective feedback free from recency bias.

6) Discrete Outside Experts- Ambition in Motion provides third-party experts to assist with business decisions and to receive feedback. Employees are much more likely to be honest with their opinions with individuals who aren’t necessarily interacting with them on a daily basis. In addition to this, AIM Insights can create executive coaching relationships with their highly qualified experts. AIM Insight executive coaches include Management PhD holders, Cognitive Psychologists, and many other high level fields. This mentorship relationship can provide an invaluable opportunity for your Human resource managers.

7) Saves HR Work- AIM Insights is focused on improving employee engagement and retention. Employee Engagement rates have been observed to plummet before an employee leaves. With AIM Insights, a focus is placed on engaging with employees, and thereby mitigating the risk of employees leaving. While a manager is often responsible for driving the culture of a workplace, HR can often help motivate employees as well.

Human Resources Managers often have to make several difficult decisions, while also making sure that their company is well protected at the same time. Using tools such as AIM Insights can allow them to automate certain tasks, gather more objective data, and make educated decisions based off of all of this.

by Grace Tripathy

Thu 8 December 2022

Managers don’t just freely hand out promotions. They’re actively observing employees and looking for specific signs that an employee is ready for a promotion. They weigh multiple factors and don’t make those decisions lightly. They’re constantly evaluating performance and monitoring progress.

One of the first ways a manager identifies a promising employee is by looking at how little or how much direction they require from their supervisors. The first people in line for promotion are excellent self-starters. They’re the ones who take initiative without being prompted.

Secondly, they look at the numbers of their top candidates for a promotion. Numbers and statistics are by no means the only factor that managers look at, but they carry a lot of weight. Managers look for employees whose performance and impact at work is quantifiable by some means. That can be by looking at sales figures, year-over-year performance, customer service scores, or dozens of other metrics. It’s important that you identify what metrics are important to the future job, as those are what you’ll be measured on.

Other metrics used to measure an employee’s performance include:

Level of execution in work
Quality of work completed
Level of creativity
Amount of consistent improvement
Customer and peer feedback
Sales revenue generated
Responsiveness to feedback
Ability to take ownership
Percentage of tasks completed on time
Being on time and on budget

However, even after conducting all this forecasting on how an individual may be successful in a promotion, sometimes the promotion doesn’t work out, or isn’t the right fit.

What happens when you give a promotion - and then choose to take it away?

As you progress in your career, it's natural to want to climb the ranks at whatever company you're working at. So, when you finally manage to land a promotion, it's a career milestone you'll be sure to celebrate.

But what happens if you get a promotion only to have it snatched away after the fact? It's been known to happen. In some cases, your company might offer you that title change, and then renege before you've even had a chance to work in the capacity of your new role. In others, you might spend weeks, or even months, doing that new job only to have it taken back because your employers realize that it may not be the right fit for you.

Promotions in the workplace should be positive. They create new and exciting opportunities for employees and the businesses that they work for. They are, however, like all aspects of people management, subject to complications. Are you aware of the risks involved when promoting an employee?

Too often employers promote someone because they are good in their current role, but it then turns out without the necessary skill set for the new role.

However, from a manager and employer perspective, taking back a job promotion is never an easy process in the workplace. How can we best give promotions, knowing fully that they will work out, and avoid the possibility of having to renegotiate the terms of the promotion?

SOLUTION: Temporary Addition of Responsibilities

What is a temporary addition of responsibilities?

A temporary addition of responsibility is the assignment of an employee to additional tasks, with two possibilities of outcome:

The employee returns to their previous position upon the expiration of the temporary action.
If a temporary addition of responsibilities is made permanent immediately after the temporary period ends, the employee is officially promoted with a new title.

As opposed to giving someone a new position and having the reputation of the role, a temporary addition of responsibilities allows an employer to give additional duties to an outstanding employee on a trial basis and then assess how the employee is in the new role.

This sets the expectation of “if it works, then we’ll make it permanent, otherwise you can be moved back to your original position according to the trial basis,” allowing the concept of a temporary addition of responsibilities to do wonders in mitigating the risks of promoting the wrong person to a new position.

How do temporary promotions reduce risks surrounding promotions and demotions?

There are many risks associated with demoting an individual after a promotion. Demoting an employee may be one of the most awkward and difficult conversations you’ll have with someone on your team. Unless an employee approaches you to voluntarily request that they step back from their current responsibilities, it’s never easy to tell someone that they’re moving down the organizational hierarchy. After all, this can involve:

● Fewer responsibilities

● A less prestigious title

● A loss of managerial status

● A reduction in pay

It can be demoralizing to the employee.

Therefore a temporary addition of responsibilities is a policy that every company should adopt in order to mitigate the risks that come with promotions and demotions in the workplace.

by Grace Tripathy

Sun 20 November 2022

In the United States, 45% of businesses don’t make it past five years. 65% don’t make it past ten years. Yet everyone who ever starts a business backs themselves to beat the odds. Is it possible to predict if a business will be a success or a failure in its future?

Recently, there have been many layoffs in the US, specifically within technology companies. There are 159 million people currently employed in the US, and in the past month there were 1.3 million layoffs.

“There have been several thousand high-profile layoffs in the tech sector in the past couple of weeks. While this is unfortunate, it is useful to keep in mind that the labor market is significantly larger and has been overall healthy,” Bledi Taska, chief economist at labor market consulting and research firm Lightcast, said.

Today’s economic uncertainties have fueled an unstable job market and created an unsettling environment in the workplace – where the lack of transparency, internal politics, the growing number of siloed departments and hidden agendas have made it more difficult to trust yourself, let alone others. What appears to be an endless path of disorganized chaos is now “the new normal.” As such, we must become mentally tough and learn to anticipate the unexpected.

Employees must approach the workplace through a lens that can detect potholes of distrust while staying focused on seeing and seizing the next opportunity.

How Does A Company Decide Who Will Be Laid Off?

There is no one formula that companies use when they need to let go of staff to cut costs. Some organizations may subscribe to the “last one in, first one out” model. Management prefers to keep the long-time staff and pink slip the new employees who just started at the company.

Leadership wants to field the best team. They’ll protect the “A-players” and let go of those who are not top performers. People with highly specialized skills that are hard to replace may be overlooked for dismissal, whereas workers that possess talents that are easily replaced are not safe.

Will You be Affected by a Layoff?

If you are in a revenue-generating division, the odds are high that you’ll be safer than the people working in a cost center. It’s a cold reality that employees and groups that bring in the money generally have more leverage than others who can’t point to adding dollars to the bottom line. In tough times, businesses need people who can ring the register. Those who may be terrific workers, but are not revenue-centric, may have a more challenging time holding onto their job.

Human resources may weigh in on decisions of who stays and who will be shown the door. They’ll search through personnel records to review performance reviews, look for any recommendations and see if a person committed infractions, violated rules or has a history of causing problems.

The chief financial officer and accounting team may crunch the numbers and determine that senior employees will be culled. Older workers, on average, tend to earn more than younger staff members because of years of experience. It's not fair, but their higher compensation places a target on their backs.

It's convenient for the company to say they are just dissolving a unit that has many senior people with sizable pay packages. The business can downsize to fewer highly compensated professionals instead of many mid to junior staff members.

There needs to be a better way for employees to make more strategic evaluations of their employers. From an operational and business perspective, you should be able to predict that your employer will be able to pay your salary, commit to the number of hours per week that you sign on for, and be able to maintain your employment given the success of the company.

How To Identify an Employer You Can Trust

1. Reach out to current employees

Even though initiating conversations with current employees might feel a bit awkward at first, the payoff is well worth it. Talking with them is the absolute best way to discover if a company’s branding/messages are accurate and trustworthy. Plus, you’ll get a chance to learn if their interview promises align with their everyday actions.

For example, you might expect your potential employer to provide updated training to any employees affected by automation or innovation.

Don’t just network with your soon-to-be boss or hiring manager. Reach out to potential co-workers. Those who are in the trenches will be able to share if leaders follow through with employee feedback, honor their mission, fulfill promises, etc.

2. Research the company’s societal impact

Every prospective employer is vying for top talent, which means they’ll try to make the business look as appealing as possible. Many are doing this by expanding their employer brand and focusing on something all candidates agree on, making the world a better place.

If you browse the company’s social feed or website, you might see stories sharing how they’ve served the local community, or posts featuring employees’ opportunities for volunteering. But it’s important to understand that they’re creating the narrative they want you to see. What’s their true societal impact?

Social media is good at distorting reality. So, turn to Google and do your own digging: Research the company’s title, leaders’ names, etc. to learn if your prospective employer presents accomplishments in an honest, trustworthy manner.

3. Compare reviews to the career site

Piggybacking off the idea that businesses want to appear as appealing as possible, be wary of company career sites. Each one is designed to draw you in and make you feel connected. A prospective employer will share its best features, such as:

● Competitive pay

● Amazing benefits

● Flexibility

● Work-life balance

● Paid time off

But before you get too excited at the thought of having found your dream job, check out a few review sites. Glassdoor, for example, is a great place to find company reviews from current and former employees. Compare those reviews to the career site promises to measure the truth behind employers’ claims.

4. Ask the right questions during an interview

The interview isn’t just about proving how well you fit with the company, they also need to prove that they’re a good fit for you. Use the time you have together to let them know that employee-employer trust is a critical factor in your decision-making process.

Be direct in your questions and focus on what’s most important to you. For example, if you want to know you can trust the employer’s promise to deliver career development and opportunities to advance, ask for specific examples of how they’ve done this in the past. Then, take things one step further and ask how they plan to provide the same to you (should you receive an offer).

Trust is a two-way street; be transparent in what you have to offer, and your prospective employer will likely do the same.

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Knowing how your employees are feeling at work can drive success metrics for HR leaders that can have a huge impact on the bottom line

The Most Effective Way to Determine Somebody is Ready for a Promotion

Knowing when somebody is ready for a promotion is not easy so having a system for testing whether a rising star is ready is critical to getting the timing right

How to Avoid Getting Laid Off

Tips on what you should look for in your next employer

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