Other Animal Careers

Other Animal CareersOther Animal Careers

The most productive time that you can manage

The fruchtwein productive time that you can manageThe most productive time that you can manageOur quest for productive time can easily turn into a distraction.The best ideas dont happen when you are busy letting yur calendar dictate your work. Most ideas show up when we are doing nothing.A ttigkeitsunterbrechung is a moment for reflection?- ?we make room to notice things.Just like music. Without silence, the various notes will all feel the same. Utilizing silence for very brief (less than a few beats) or for longer periods creates a different impact on the listener.Distractions dont help. The quest for productivity can make us suffer from self-imposed jet lag, rather than help us.When we are constantly looking at our phone screen, our attention shuts down. When we jump from one activity to the next meeting, we are distracted from being free.A stopp equals freedom?- ?we liberate our mind from obligations. We let goof busyness.A Pause Life and SilenceSilence isnt just the canvas upon w hich music is painted. Its one of the colors on the composers palette.?- ?All AboutJazzVisual Design is another example of the importance of silence. The white space has more importance than the typeface or images. You dont pay attention to it. But its the white space what helps you appreciate the rest of the elements.White space is like glue?- ?it connects all the elements through balance. Silence is the real sound of music. Empty spaces play a critical role in building the right atmosphere in architecture and space konzept too. The white space is not wasted space?- ?it adds depth to the design.The same happens to our creativity. When we free our mind we make room for new ideas to show up unexpectedly.A pause amplifies our perspectives?- ?it becomes alearning experience.The Incubation PeriodTake a walk with a turtle. And behold the world in pause.?- ?BruceFeilerAt a previous job, we ran an experiment recess at work. It was based on the notion that mental breaks can positively impac t performance. A small pause helps us switch gears and get recharged.After a couple of months, we validated the hypothesis that recess can have a positive impact on the adult world.Thats a perfect example of our paradox with pausing.We value the effect it creates but our knee-jerk reaction brings us back to an always on behavior.Our society values busyness. Its perceived as a synonym of productivity. We valuedoingmuch more thanthinking. Keeping our calendars cluttered is a like a schwimmbadge of honor?- ?we dont protect our reflection or thinking time.Consultants, lawyers, advertising agencies, accountants charge their work by the hour. This reinforces our crazy relationship with time?- ?most companies pay services based on quantity, not quality. When time is the unit to make money, we end up prioritizing quantity over quality.To stop?- ?to think, reflect or decant?- ?is associated with negative financial consequences in a time-driven economy.In the 70s, GMs employeeswere not allowe dto stop the assembly line because of financial implications. However, the automated process was too fast and the workers didnt have enough time to do their job causing a lot of frustrations and flaws.Japanese automakers, on the other hand, prioritized quality over everything. Special groups were tasked to oversee manufacturing andanyonecould stop the process by just pushing a button.Japanese automakers defeated Americans. Even worse, GM ended with a record of car recalls, not just frustrated workers.Pausing is an intrinsic part of Japanese culture.Take landscapers, for example. Before they design the walkways in a new park, they take a break. They let people walk freely across the park. After some time, by simply looking at where the grass is worn away, they build the paths?- ?they just follow the way people choosenaturally.A pause as an incubation period?- ?what feels like a waste of time (or money) is a major win in the long run.A Club You Dont Want toJoinHe who can no longer pau se to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead his eyes are closed.?- ?AlbertEinsteinIf you are running a startup?- ?or any fast-growth/ challenging company?- ?you probably bought into the notion that endless handwork is the formula to succeed.All the productivity gurus feed this idea. From the5 AM club, to formulas to increase your performance by x or the notion that your first 100 days will make or break your business.Watch out. You could end suffering from self-imposed jet lag quotingCraig Ballantyne.All these beliefs are based on the principle that working more is the formula for success. And that the same formula will work for anyone in any situation.Let me give you an example The power of showing up.If you want to succeed, you have to show up. Like any motivational phrase, that means nothingwithouta context. And thats a problem. Highlighting a nice phrase here onMediumand then tweeting it, wont create any real impact in your life.If we dont pause to reflect on its real meaning. If we dont stop to challenge its message. Whats the real impact of any inspirational advice?I do encourage people (myself included) to show up too. But not at any cost. Showing up in bad shape is pointless. If youve worked for more than 14 hours or your mind has run out of gas. Whats the point of starting your day at 5 AM after?Showing-up requires pausing from time to time too.Listicles Make You Busy, NotSmartDont get caught by modern gurus that are trying to maximize your productivity at the expense of enjoying living. And Im not talking about work/ life balance which is another modern paradox.Old time philosophers appreciated the value of pausing. They turned it into an art. Taking time for a walk, to reflect. Archimedes had his Eureka moment when stepping into a bath.Managing your emotions is more important than time management, according to breakthroughresearch on procrastination. It will make your life more joyful and productive. Ill dive deeper into this topic in a fu ture post.Self-proclaimed gurus love to show-off how they can write a daily post in less than an hour. But then, they expect you to buy their seven things that will change your life forever as the perfect formula.Cody Roylewrote a very smart post on that matter. He invited authors to provide people with frameworks rather than lists. Instead of dictating what people should do, share the roadmap.Let them design their own journey.This is my framework todayregain the value of pausing.Take Your Time.Now.Learning to value pausing is not a motivational gimmick. A pause provokes a change of behavior.Silence in music is so important and fundamental like a white canvas for a painter, the pauses in between words for a poet, stillness for a ballet dancer or empty spaces for an architect.Whats your pause? What does it mean to you? How can it help turn your work into art?Turn a pause into a high-performing act.This article first appeared on Medium.

Dont ask me where Im from ask what drives me

Dont ask me where Im from ask what drives meDont ask me where Im from ask what drives meWhere are you from? is a question I hear often.When I am in California, the state where I have lived since I welches 13, went to high school, college, and graduate school, worked for my entire career, owned property, and have been raising my kids, the answer goes one of two ways.Sometimes, I pause to consider what to say. This makes people visibly uncomfortable, because they realize the question is either difficult or inappropriate.Other times, without missing a beat I say, I am from here. I am Californian. I grew up in San Francisco. This leads to either awkward silence, or further inquiry about where I am really from and attempts to learn my precise heritage.After all, my name is Olga. While I welches in Ukraine, I welches a proverbial plain Jane. I was one of seven Olgas in a class of 28. In the United States, I am either the only Olga or one of the few Olgas people have met in person. And fr om what I hear from others, I have a distinct non-American accent. This combination makes people believe theres no way I could possibly be from here - from San Francisco, from California, from the United States. And so they inquire, unsatisfied until they hear an answer that fits their assumptions.After witnessing this awkward exchange a few times, usually at parties, my American husband explained that the Where are you from? question is merely an innocent curiosity, part of polite small talk. It is meant to be a prompt for me to share who I am. According to him, there is no need to stop being my articulate self and create needless awkwardness.He told me that the answer is simple I was born in Ukraine.But its not that simple.And Im honestly not trying to be awkward. I just cant control this reaction. It is naturally there, especially now that I can anticipate the natural awkwardness that follows.And although it may be asked innocently, the question itself implies that I am not from here, whatever here means. It implies that I am a foreigner - a very integrated one, but still foreign. The question implies that I dont belong, at least to some extent.Thats a really difficult reality for someone who spent her formative years in California to grasp. After all, I was an American teenager in an inner city school. I grew up with the American teen culture of the nineties, with baggy clothes, bare midriffs, and boy bands.I definitely didnt have a Ukrainian experience. I have been in California longer than I have been anywhere else. So although I was born in Ukraine, I feel that I am from California.But thats not what people want to hear, my well-meaning husband pointed out to me.Why should I care about what people want to hear when it comes to my identity? It is mine, not communal, after all. Isnt the question meant to uncover who I am? Why should I live up to their expectations?Because it is polite, my husband explained.Polite? I am surprised. Its mostly misleading, I protested. Since when is lying polite?He disagreed. Olga, Ukraine is where you are from. It is where you were born.Yes, it is where I was born. But I dont think that is where I am from. Its not where I grew up, where my identity was formed, or where I built my career and family.Our conversation quickly descended into a classic Socratic questioning - that happens when lawyers marry each other. I point out to my husband that according to his logic, if I were born in an airplane flying from Ukraine to the United States, I would have to tell people I am from the airplane. Wouldnt that cause an uncomfortable silence?I have had similar discussions with non-family members as well.For example, a well-meaning vendor who was pitching his geschftlicher umgang to my department asked me the Where are you from? question when he met with me and my then-manager for the first time. This caused reaction number one - a very pregnant pause as I considered how to answer his question in a way that wo uld not jeopardize our professional relationship.My manager later asked me why answering the question was so difficult. I dont think Ive ever seen you be that speechless, he commented.Well, how often are you asked where youre from? I asked him.He could not think of the last time people asked him this question, even though he was born in another state and spent less time in California than I had. Thats my point, I told him. People assume that you are from California, even though you are not. But you belong nonetheless.Others have pointed out to me that it is merely polite to have a conversation that flows in a predictable way. They believe I shouldnt make people feel like theyve asked me a dumb question. But on some level, it is a dumb question. It may be a natural and easy question to ask. But it is certainly a wasted question.Even if I gave you a polite answer and told you where I was technically born without an awkward pause, your understanding of me as a person will not be enrich ed if you ask where Im from. All that tells you is where I was born, why my name is unique, and why my accent sounds foreign. All it does is put me in a simple box, labeled not from here.If anyone actually wants to get to know me, they should ask me a question that requires more than a five-word answer.Dont ask me where Im from. Ask me what drives me.I would be happy to share my passion for startups, gender equity, visual arts, and justice. I will happily tell you how law and public policy fit into my personal and professional lives. Ill gladly explain how my passions influenced where I choose to work, how I like to contribute in my community, and how I raise my children.This way, we wont have a short, to-the-point conversation. Instead, we can have a long, deep, and meaningful conversation. And youll have a glimpse at who I am as a person, not as a category that neatly falls into a box.Where I am from is not the same as what as drives me. In fact, knowing where I was born will only give you a minuscule glimpse as why I get up in the morning. Because where Im from doesnt tell you where I am now, how I got there, or where Im going.So, why not ask me this question? Why not get to know me as a person?If you ask me, Olga, what drives you? Why do you get up in the morning?, I will certainly not stumble. And I will never be speechless.I will give you a very rich answer about my goals and hopes. Ill tell you about how I would like to leave the world in a better shape than I found it. Ill even share my complete mission statement, with values and concrete steps I take every day to get there.Of course, you dont have to engage in this deep dive about Olga. We can just get down to business or have a superficial discussion about the weather. But either way, dont put me in a box as part of small talk.This article was originally published on ThriveGlobal.com.Olga V. Mack is a Vice President of Strategy at Quntstamp, the first decentralized security auditing blockchain platfo rm. In the past she has held various roles at ClearSlide, Visa, Zoosk, Pacific Art League, Wilson Sonsini, and Yahoo. Olga founded the Women Serve on Boards movement that advocates for women to serve on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies.

The Value of Offering Paid Internships

The Value of Offering Paid InternshipsThe Value of Offering Paid InternshipsAlthough there are still a large number of unpaid internships, many organizations are recognizing the benefits of having educated and professional students fill their temporary hiring needs through paid internships. Benefits to Employers and Interns One of the benefits of internship programs is that companies and nonprofits get to try out these temporary employees for a brief period with no commitment. If an intern turns out to be a motivated star player within the organization, the company has the chance to offer the intern full-time employment once the trial period is completed. Having interns come in for brief periods of time offers employers help in meeting their future hiring needs. Employers bedrngnis only learn the interns aptitudes and abilities but are assured that the intern knows what they are getting into since theyve become familiar with both the work involved and the business environment. Al l of that ultimately means higher retention for new employees and lower employee turnover for employers. When it comes to internships, employers have an opportunity to attract talented students by offering a salary or monthly stipend. Cash is an incentive for interns to do a better job. Creating Equal Opportunities for Students Paying interns also assures an employer that they are not overlooking successful students who cannot afford to work for no pay or to pay for college leistungspunkts to complete an internship during the summer. Many employers require students to receive credit for the internship instead of pay, to justify that the student is receiving some type of benefit for doing the internship. The problem with this approach is that many students cannot afford to pay for college credit if they are not paid for the internship. Students doing internships during fall or spring semester can usually roll their internship in with their college tuition but if they do an intern ship during the summer, they have to pay the college a per-credit-hour fee. Some colleges have initiated transcript notations as a way to show their commitment to honoring the value of an internship experience without requiring the student to pay any college fees. Transcript notations can be used when an internship does not qualify for credit or if a student elects not to do the internship for credit due to additional tuition costs required by the college. College Funding More and mora colleges are putting together programs that offer students a stipend or provide other funds for those doing unpaid internships for the summer. It is a great incentive for students to get experience in the nonprofit sector while being able to make some money to help with their living and college expenses. The Praxis program at Smith College is a good example of what some schools are doing to provide assistance to unpaid summer interns. Some colleges offer alumni the opportunity to fund internships, and that arrangement is beneficial for everyone. Alumni get the chance to assist students from their alma mater, the school gets good press for helping students get relevant work experience prior to graduation, and students gain the knowledge and skills they will need to put them on par with or ahead of the competition when entering the job market. The Future of Paid Internships All in all, most in this field believe that we are going to see more employers willing to pay their interns a salary as internships become more of an integral part of the employee hiring process. We should also see more colleges that are willing to provide some form of compensation to help students who are taking an unpaid internship. These changes will help level the playing field for students who couldnt afford to accept an unpaid internship or whose employer requires them to receive credit to do an internship.

What Experts Are Not Saying About Free Resumes and What This Means For You

What Experts Are Not Saying About Free Resumes and What This Means For You Things You Should Know About Free Resumes There are a couple of general guidelines for showcasing your experience and abilities on just a couple of pages of text. All you need to do is discover one you like, click on it, and begin writing. Whatever you will need is there on the plan page. The majority of the templates are offered by named, resume writing specialists and thus the quality is extremely good. If youve been at it for a couple of years, locate a template which allows for increased detail of your prior responsibilities and experience. Also be certain to tailor the document to the job youre applying for. Its thus important that you know the type of skills that need to get listed on a resume so the document becomes a complete one. ur easy resume builder service does not demand advanced technical expertise, which means that you can concentrate on spending time sifting through your great achiev ements as you decide what things to include, as opposed to on attempting to work out the way to use our new program. Up in Arms About Free Resumes? Make aya you receive the information youre looking for. Make sure you keep it simple yet with all important info. Please be sure that you enter relevant contact info. Your contact information is only going to be shared when you decide to respond to an employer. The Secret to Free Resumes A basic resume is also simpler to read. Resumes dont need to take so much of your time but still shouldnt be neglected. Fill In Resume Do It Yourself theres no need to employ an individual or company. You need all of the assistance and resources it is possible to get. If youre a software developer looking for employment, you have to first give your resumea facelift. So if you would like to locate a millennial, look at posting your jobs on a website with a mobile app, like Indeed. In addition, you might also find select cities, where it is po ssible to post jobs at no cost on Craigslist. Looking for resumes is completely free and unrestricted and doesnt require an account. Indeed they are visible to employers so that they can let you know about jobs you might be interested in. A Functional Resume or Skills Resume is intended to highlight your abilities and accomplishments on top of your resume instead of grouping them below the jobs or positions you have held as in a chronological resume. The upcoming free resume template was made in the shape of a brochure. Resume templates are one method to guarantee structure behind your resume. Our templates are designed to be customizable to any business and are wonderful for any of the 3 resume formats. Employing a resume template has turned into an acceptable and smart practice for numerous factors. Free Resumes Secrets That No One Else Knows About Career profiles offer an overview of your subject of specialization and useful skills giving employers a general idea about w hat you can actually do. If youre targeting work outside the defense arena, youll need to civilianize your military language to demonstrate your abilities and experience match the employers needs. With a Indeed Resume you are able to make your abilities and experience visible to employers and provide them an effortless way to get in touch with you about relevant jobs. If youre targeting work within the defense business, dont hesitate to use military jargon. If you have the right training and skill, then youre in a position to reach your target in an effortless method. The response is yes in the event that you wish to. The Most Popular Free Resumes Our top-rated tool is similar to working with a professional every step along the way. You do remember that you have to stand out and it feels like nothing can assist you with achieving that when you use a template. To save a whole lot of heartache later on, make certain you use our resume builder to create a document that could be e asily transferred to different job applications. Our resume builder is the quickest approach to create a resume that can help you get your fantasy job.

Bringing in the Young Guns Some Tips on the Twenty-Somethings - Spark Hire

Bringing in the Young Guns Some Tips on the Twenty-Somethings - Spark HireSo much of the news concerning the todays workplace surrounds the different generations currently making up the work force. The general sentiment is the baby boomers are moving into retirement and Generation X and Generation Y have to fill in for this outrageously large group of workers.Millennialsin particular are hitting the scene with a different work ethic, new life goals, and different perceptions on the working world.Because companies are lowering the mean age of their employees with ansicht young hires, the scramble is on to find the most qualified, educated, and teachable twenty-somethings. Maybe for some managers, all of themillennialsbegin to look the same. They have the same expectations of their employer, similar goals for upward mobility, and the same tech-savvy skills that make your eyes spin. So how does a manager pick out the gems? Here are a few things to keep in mind with the twenty-somethings youre welcoming into your business.In his article on Relevant.com, writer Eric Tippen suggests that many twenty-somethings suffer from a lack of attention span. Thanks to our instantaneous culture, some young people find it difficult to settle down to a single task for a lengthy period of time. When going through the hiring process, watch for candidates who are able to sit still throughout the interview. Do they shift their weight constantly? Look around the room often? Look up and down at their hands or cross and uncross their arms frequently? Such body language could be a sign that theyre having difficulty staying tuned in.Another side effect of our digital age is that many twenty-somethings are more acquainted with communication via the internet or their phones than any of fasson of communication. Even though they participate in normal human interaction with parents, teachers, and friends they are more skilled at emailing, texting, skyping, and tweeting. A valuable twenty-some thing employee will know how to remove themselves from their desk and their computer to engage colleagues face-to-face when a situation calls for it, and in some instances, do so simply because they can in lieu of sending yet another email.Similar to the point above, the various forms of communication that allow twenty-somethings to type what they might typically speak has inevitably taken a toll on their phone skills, such as speaking on the phone with a customer or coworker. Can this individual speak well over the phone? Do they know the social norms surrounding a typical phone conversation, like how to begin one, and how to end one without being awkward?The digitally-entrenched qualities of the newest work force offer both benefits and drawbacks to the work place. As a hiring manager or human resources professional, it will be up to you to spot overcompensation via technology for lack of average working and communication skills. The balance is difficult and the search can be long , but be assured that the right employee does exist, one who can stay focused, look you in the eye, and excel at more than having fast fingers. Your company will be stronger for taking the time to root them out.Have you noticed a short attention span among your twenty-something applicants? Do you handle young gun candidatesdifferentlythan candidates from other generations? Please share in the commentsnamen Courtesy of Flickr byEmily Rachel Hildebrand

3 Strategic Ways to Find Green Jobs

3 Strategic Ways to Find Green Jobs3 Strategic Ways to Find Green JobsThe countdown to Earth Day is winding down and all week were going to be blogging about green jobs and green ways to work. Today, well focus on how to find green jobs.First, lets dispel a common mythIn order to find green jobs, you must be an environmental scientist, or you should have majored in environmental studies. Absolutely not While we applaud people who devote their studies and professions to in-depth environmental activities, any person in any profession can find green jobs and greener ways of working. Heres how.3 tips to find green jobsLook for companies whose main line of work is environmentally-related.These include nonprofit environmental organizations, solar and wind technology companies, environmental science centers, think-tanks, watershed and water resource agencies, government agencies, health and beauty companies, farms and farming co-ops, conservation organizations, museums and educational insti tutions, waste management companies, and information technology companies, among others.In order to run successfully and smoothly, these environmentally-focused organizations need a variety of support staff in human resources, finance and accounting, government relations, administrative assistance, management, and other areas that require no previous environmental experience.Look for companies who place a great deal of emphasis on environmental sustainability.There are several ways to find out whether or not a company is truly green.Read through company websites to see if they are green certified through the Green geschftliches miteinander Bureau or other certification agencies. is proud to be green certified through the GBBCheck out the companys mission/vision statement. Do they mention anything about sustainability or the environment? Some companies will even craft a separate mission statement dedicated to their green efforts.During the job interview, ask them straight-out to talk about their environmental efforts. Whats their office recycling program like? Do they actively encourage employees to avoid commuting by car and instead to walk, bike, or ride public transit to work?Look for telecommuting jobs that allow you to work from home.Working from home can be one of the greenest ways to work for a number of reasons. It lessens the amount of office space a company needs to heat/cool, light, and clean. It allows you to completely control your carbon footprint while working because you control your heating/cooling, lighting, recycling, paper usage.You can make your home and home office mora energy-efficient with weather stripping, window caulking, and insulation, as well as CFL or LED lightbulbs, and office plants which reduce CO2. People might look at you funny if you walked into a regular office with a caulking gun and yards of insulation. And of course, theres the big one no more commuting, which lessening your gas consumption and carbon emissions, and givi ng you more time for work or personal pursuits

How to Pick the Best Type of Leadership

How to Pick the Best Type of LeadershipHow to Pick the Best Type of LeadershipHow does a leader act? You may have an idea, but there are many different schrifts of leadership, so when you are ready to lead, you dont have to look like the other leaders you know. You can look like you. You can pick the best types of leadership that work for you. Thats a big relief when you already have a ton on your plate in your new leadership role. Daniel Golemans Harvard Business Review Study, Leadership That Gets Results identified six types of leadership styles. Here they are The pacesetting leader This leader says Do as I do, now. Many people think this is what a leader looks like. The downside is that if youre always doing what the boss says, there isnt much room for your innovation.The authoritative leader This leader says Come with me. Goleman found this leadership type is best when there is a need for a new vision. For instance, if the company is dealing with change. These leaders inspire wor kers towards that new vision.The affiliative leader This leader says People come first. When a company is going through a tough time, this style can serve you well in relationships. But Goleman cautions that too much focus on nurturing leadership can result in weakened performance. The coaching leader This leader says Try this. When developing a leadership pipeline, this type of leader shines. This is someone who looks for personal strengths and helps develop them. However, this leadership style wont work if the team doesnt want to learn.The coercive leader This leader says Do what I tell you. Goleman says this is a last resort leadership style because it alienates team members. If there is an actual emergency, this approach works great, though. Otherwise, stay away. The democratic leader This leader says, What do you think? This works great when you need new ideas- which is often. But it fails miserably in an emergency. You can see that different occasions exist when each type of l eadership style is effective. Which style is best for you? These are questions you need to ask yourself to see. What Is Your Natural Leadership Style? Its easiest, of course, to embrace a leadership style that fits your personality. If youre naturally a coalition builder, a democratic or affiliative leadership role may fit you the best. If youre naturally a bossy jerk, a coercive leadership style may appeal to you. This is the style that may naturally attract you- but dont think that just because its your nature to lead one way thats how you should lead. What Does Your Team Need? This is more important than your own natural leadership style. How will your team respond to each style? What do you need to accomplish the work? If you need to implement a tedious plan that senior leadership laid out before and there is no room for change, then pacesetting might be best. But if youve had a rough year and changes need to happen, democratic leadership might be your best bet. Your tea m may respond positively to your attempts to involve them in the planning and decision making. Actually, sit down and think through what your team needs from yourleadership style. What Does Your Boss Want? This is especially important if you are new to this role. Why did she hire you? Was she looking for you to continue where the last manager left off or did she hire you because she thought youd take the team in a different direction? Its important that you know so that you can select your best leadership style. You can, of course, make changes (unless your boss is a coercive leader), but your awareness of your bosss expectations can help you focus on what you need to do. Is Your Current Style Working? If your employees are happy and engaged, youre meeting or exceeding goals, and your bosses are happy with your performance, great. If any of those are not true, however, check your leadership style. You may need to change your fundamental leadership styles. Of course, a mismat ched leadership style isnt the only area you can fix, but its a good place to start. Why? Its always easier to change your own behavior than to get others to change their behavior. Can You Get Help to Change Your Style? Sometimes it is as easy as saying, you know, it doesnt work when I give detailed instructions and make everyone do exactly what I want, Im going to allow more freedom. But often its not quite that simple. First, you need to recognize how you are managing and then you need to figure out how you need to manage. You should reach out for help and support from your boss or your Human Resources department. If possible, executive coaching can make a huge difference in helping you navigate these difficult leadership style approaches and choices. The types of leadership really do make a difference. Make sure that you are using the one that works best for your situation, and youll see work relationships and output improve- even if they were great when you started your jour ney to pick your best types of leadership styles. - - - - - - - - - - - - Suzanne Lucas is a freelance journalist specializing in Human Resources. Suzannes work has been featured on notes publications including Forbes, CBS, Business Insider and Yahoo.

Sitting Near a High-Performer Can Make You Better at Your Job

Sitting Near a High-Performer Can Make You Better at Yur JobSitting Near a High-Performer Can Make You Better at Your Job The people we sit near at work inevitably impact our day. They may brighten our mood or drive us crazy.Whats mora, our work neighbors can actually change how well we do our own jobs .Researchers looked at the 25-foot radius around high-performers at a large technology firm and found that ansicht workers boosted performance in coworkers by 15 percent. That positive spillover translated into an estimated $1 million in additional annual profits, according to new research from Dylan Minor , an assistant professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at the Kellogg School.Of course, the flipside is that badeanstalt eggs impact their neighbors, too. Negative spillover from so-called toxic workers is even mora pronounced- sometimes having twice the magnitude of impact on profits as positive spillover. Yet, while this toxic spillover happens ver y quickly, it also dissipates almost immediately once that worker is either fired or relegated to the far physical reaches of the company.Which means that companies potentially have a very cheap way to boost productivity - simply shift some desks around- as opposed to relying on expensive training and recruiting, Minor says. In an era where companies are experimenting with open floor plans and other nontraditional seating arrangements, the stakes can be high. Minors research provides tangible takeaways for leaders thinking about how to group their staff.Companies are realizing that, wow, spatial management really does matter. Lets put some more work into thinking about how to do it well, he says.This research grew out of previous work by Minor and coauthor Michael Housman of HiQ Labs that focused only on toxic workers . Using data from consulting firm Cornerstone OnDemand , the researchers analyzed more than 58,000 hourly service workers at 11 well-known firms. They found tha t a toxic workers negative financial impact- $12,800 by their calculation- was far greater than the financial boost that comes from a superstar.Minor and Housman presented their findings to the firms involved. A technology company in California that was part of the study approached the researchers afterward and asked if they could drill down deeper into the data. How, the company wondered, did physical proximity impact spillover?Weve known since kindergarten that who you sit next to can matter, Minor says.But its notlage so simple. People are not uniformly good or bad at their jobs many excel in some areas and are average or below average in others. In todays world, most of the jobs we do are very much multidimensional, Minor says. Were not just putting widgets together one piece at a time.So what did physical proximity do when employees work was approached in a multidimensional way? To explore this, Minor and Housman got two years worth of detailed information on the performance of more than 2,000 workers at the tech firm. They picked two measures of performance- speed and quality- and gave workers a ranking of either high or low for each.They also defined toxic workers the same way as in their previous research, as anyone whose behavior was so bad that they were fired. Toxic workers ended up comprising about 2 percent of the workers studied.Then the researchers literally mapped out where each employee sat and analyzed how each persons work shifted over time as their neighbors changed.Having a high-performing neighbor is a bonus for everyone. Employees who ranked high on either speed or quality boosted the performance of those within a 25-foot radius.The impact was particularly strong on those who were matched with someone who had a complementary skill. In other words, if Bill is rated high for speed and Bob is rated low, Bobs speed will improve when he sits near Bill, more so than if they were both already speedy workers. The same holds true for quality.And, crucially, Bills speed will not be dragged down by his slower-moving neighbor.The beautiful part of it is that when we put these people together, theyre not going to materially suffer on the area of strength, Minor says. Theyre only going to improve on their area of weakness.This idea of matching people with complementary strengths makes sense when the skill in question is something that has a finite upper limit, like speed, Minor explains. But for other skills, like creativity, where there is no true upper limit, it might make sense to pair people with the same strengths so that their positive spillover keeps nudging the other to do more and more creative work.Toxic workers are really, really toxic. And they infect their neighbors very quickly.Once a toxic person shows up next to you, your risk of becoming toxic yourself has gone up, Minor says. And while positive spillover was limited to about a 25-foot radius, with toxic workers, you can see their imprint and negative effect across an entire floor.Keep in mind how narrowly the researchers defined toxic- someone who is fired for their behavior. This means that simply sitting near someone who gets fired means you yourself are now more likely to commit an act heinous enough to merit firing.And this toxic spillover happens almost immediately. The researchers saw neighbors go bad, so to speak, as soon as that toxic neighbor showed up. Whereas positive spillover that boosted speed or quality generally took a month to impact a lower-performing neighbor.Why is negative spillover so much more powerful than positive? Minor believes it is line with many other psychological studies that show that, negative effects have more of a magnitude than positive effects. For example, losing $100 is more painful than winning $100 is joyful.But even among the toxic, there is reason to be reassured, Minor says. Once theyre transferred or fired, your risk pretty much immediately subsides. Plus, he adds, most people are not toxic .Next the researchers explored why spillover happens. Are people learning good or bad behavior from their neighbors or is something like peer pressure at work ?They reasoned that if employees were learning from those nearby, then the positive or negative effects would continue after their influential neighbor left. But the data showed that both positive and negative spillover were fleeting.While this is unfortunate for positive spillover- wouldnt it be great if the improved employee continued being awesome forever?- it is good news in the negative department.You could have this other kind of model where people learn how to become a criminal or a jerk and then they stay a criminal or a jerk, Minor says.The researchers findings provide some tangible advice for managers.In addition to measuring spillover, Minor was interested to find that, at least among the hourly workers he studied, there really was no such thing as a worker who is highly skilled in everything.Theres not really th at quote unquote superstar, he says. Its more a story of finding different specialists in a way that you can pair them together.He advises leaders to think about what strengths they want in their employees and then narrow that down to the two or three most important ones. Then leaders should decide whether to pair people with similar or complementary skills near each other, based on whether the skills have an upper limit, like speed, or do not, like creativity.You can actually measure a lot of this stuff and be pretty scientific about putting together an optimal spatial management of the organization, Minor says.Yet much of the changes in office layouts have not been done scientifically. Minor is working with the same firm now to look at the pros and cons of open floor plans. Other offices are experimenting with different nontraditional seating, he says, like nomad workers, where people have no fixed desks and just roam around.Architects are trying all kinds of crazy stuff, Minor says. There are all kinds of theories behind it, but so little research.Previously published in Kellogg Insight . Reprinted with permission of the Kellogg School of Management.