ib by kacharagadla

Want to create a high-performance team? Want to limit the amount of time you spend settling squabbles between team members? It turns out those two issues are closely related: Our research shows that on top-performing teams peers immediately and respectfully confront one another when problems arise. Not only does this drive greater innovation, trust, and productivity, but also it frees the boss from being the playground monitor. I first saw the connection between high performance and peer accountability years ago when consulting with a very successful financial services company. It had an unparalleled return on capital, breathtaking sales growth, and the highest customer renewal rate in the industry. In my first face-to-face meeting with the CEO, whose name was Paul, and his direct reports, I committed a major faux pas. I discovered halfway through the meeting that I was calling the wrong guy, “Paul.” It was an innocent mistake. When it was time to begin, one member of the executive tea...

To be your most productive self, take a step back from your work. Between working,  exercising  and spending time with family, you may think you’re giving yourself enough  breaks , but what about during work? Taking breaks throughout your work day is vital to maximizing  productivity . Think you don’t have time? Even a 30-second break can account for an increase in productivity. There are different strategies for a work-break balance too, and it’s important to find the one that is best for you. For example, try out a 25/5-minute split -- that means work in 25-minute blocks and take five-minute breaks between. If that doesn’t work for you, there’s also 50/10 minute split. What you do during your breaks is just as important. If you only have five minutes, eat a healthy snack, read an article or even try to solve a Rubik’s Cube. When you have 10 minutes, make a coffee run, tidy up your desk or watch a TED talk. If you’ve got more than 10 minutes -- take a wa...

Social media is playing an increasing role in the way companies run their business, including how they hire. According to CareerBuilder,  60% of hiring managers  check out applicants’ social media presence as part of their screening process and over 25% of employers report terminating or reprimanding an employee due to social media faux pas. You can argue about whether it’s right or fair for hiring managers to snoop around on your social media accounts. Clearly, they are doing it anyway. This means that you have to be vigilant. I  asked my readers over at Twitter  what career killing mistakes applicants and employees should avoid on social media and got dozens of replies. Here are the best responses. 1. Being dramatic, combative or insulting “We all have those moments. You post something and some rude person tries to call you out, or you see a post denigrating a friend. In those moments, you might want to give somebody a very public piece of your mind. ...

You are a well-brought-up person with perfect manners, or at least you aspire to be. You probably know that the rudest thing you can do is to call out, mention or acknowledge another person's bad behavior! When someone is rude to you, the best thing to do is to smile and ignore the impolite behavior. As a well-brought-up person, that's what you will do when you run into rudeness on the job search trail. Sadly, I can almost guarantee that you will run into rude interviewers asking terribly impolite and intrusive questions. Here are five of the most insulting questions an interviewer can ask  you. All five of them are very common. Interviewers are  badly trained. Somewhere along the line, somebody taught them that in the business world, it's okay to ask people questions you would never dream of asking someone you were meeting for the first time in any other setting. We would never presume to ask someone at the gym, the grocery store, a block party or a place o...

“Genius clubs” to channel older workers’ talents. Mandatory retirement — at 80. A “dynamic” work/life path, instead of today’s linear path. The end of the expectation of rising pay as you age. Volunteering: the new status symbol. Unions for older workers. These are some of the fascinating forecasts I’ve just heard regarding the future of work for Americans over 50. These predictions I just received from experts, which I’ll elaborate on shortly, are part of Next Avenue’s month-long series on the future for Americans over 50 to celebrate our site’s fifth anniversary. Our previous pieces: “ The Future of Health for Americans Over 50 ,” “ Personal Finance Forecasts for Americans Over 50, ”  “ How People 50+ Will Live in the Near and Distant Future ” and “ What the Future of Adult Learning Will Look Like .” Coming up: The Future of Caregiving for People 50+. To help set the scene, let me share what  Roy Bahat , head of Bloomberg Beta and co-chair of  The Shift Commissi...