The life of an entrepreneur is many things, but relaxed and leisurely it is not. Rarely do entrepreneurs get to enjoy downtime in the same way that their salaried peers do. The entrepreneurial mind is never at rest and is constantly striving for new challenges and new ways in which to hone its skills while developing new ones. Entrepreneurs exist in a constant state of self-improvement and self-development. So even when they take a few minutes for a coffee break, it’s not uncommon to see them restlessly tapping their fingers, twitching their legs and scrolling through their phones.
If you find yourself restless, try these productivity boosting and / or potentially lucrative ways to spend your coffee break.
Take a trading break
In the digital age, trading is no longer the sole preserve of high flying Wall Street types. In fact, virtually anyone can become a trader in their free time. Using trading apps like Metatrader 4 can help to demystify the world of trading and allow you to trade all kinds of commodities with reasonable commissions and very little financial commitment on your part. Instead of spending your downtime on mobile games, why not try your hand at something that could become a potential revenue stream?
Compose some thought leadership articles on LinkedIn
Entrepreneurship is all about building your own personal brand to supplement the brand you’ve created for your business. The more people like and trust you, the more likely they are to see value in your business. Take the time to write thoughtful blog posts on LinkedIn which demonstrate your knowledge, experience and expertise to your target audience and other business leaders. Of course, you can use the same content to post on the blog section of your own business’ website. However you choose to present it, commiting your insights, reflections and musings on your industry to writing can be an extremely useful and potentially profitable way to spend your downtime.
Learn a new language
The world is getting smaller every day, and even if your business doesn’t yet have its sights set on an international market that’s no reason not to be prepared. Learning a language isn’t just a great way to help your business on its way to international domination it’s also a great way to keep your brain healthy and feeling young (just like learning a musical instrument). You’[d be surprised how quickly you can learn the fundamentals of a new language in just 15 minutes a day.
Listen to business audio books and podcasts
We all know what a prolific reader Warren Buffet is, but if you don’t have the time to consume his massive reading list in your downtime, listening to business audiobooks and podcasts may be a more readily digestible alternative.
Try mindfulness meditation
Finally, the busy mind of the entrepreneur is like any other highly efficient machine. It needs to be well rested and maintained to remain at peak efficiency. As such, it may be worth taking a few minutes in your downtime to practice mindfulness meditation. It can not only help you to manage stress and quiet your mind, it can also help you to work more efficiently and prevent the rush of entrepreneurial life from feeling too much.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/pexels-photo-3584084.jpeg12011600StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-14 11:00:252020-02-17 11:24:02Entrepreneurs: Try These Productive (And / Or Lucrative) Ways To Spend Your Coffee Break
Any business should consider the mental wellbeing of its employees. Work is stressful enough without people having to deal with the outrageous behaviors of others. Major depression and burnout cost companies billions of dollars every year. In this context, the stress in the workplace is not something to neglect. From a legal standpoint, employees have the right to sue a business for emotional distress. Here is what you need to know.
Employers Have Double Legal Duties
As an employer, you have the legal duty to avoid inflicting emotional distress to other people. You must use reasonable care to prevent such issues. You are responsible for all your employees’ conduct. Say an employee causes emotional distress to another employee or a client. If you knew and did nothing about it, you are vulnerable to a lawsuit.
Making the Difference between Legal Types of Emotional Distress Cases
An employer must follow the letter of the law and its spirit. You may do everything right and face legal exposure. Some of your employees may have asked themselves, “can you sue for emotional distress” at least once. The answer is “yes,” but it depends on the situation. Most people will not sue you because you are annoying as a person. They will if:
you are a negligent manager;
engage in reckless/outrageous behavior towards them;
your management led to workplace accidents and injuries;
you ignore their complaints.
With burnout syndrome, depression, or sexual harassment, the law is intricate. In this context, you need to know the difference between NIED and IIED.
The best way to move forward is to hire legal aid. It may be hard as a small business to find the right law firm. But, it will save you money in the long term. Most likely, it will protect your reputation.
NIED – Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
Employees can sue for NIED when someone else’s negligence leads to their emotional distress. The proof varies from state to state. These are the general provisions when making a case:
The employee must prove that the defendant (employer) engaged in a negligent activity.
The employer is open to an NIED suit if he/she willfully violated a statutory duty.
The plaintiff suffered significant emotional distress (as described by the law). They must prove its occurrence, persistence, symptoms, etc.
The plaintiff’s emotional distress is a direct consequence of the defendant’s negligence.
Example: Employees can sue within an NIED framework if a piece of equipment fell and nearly crashed them.
IIED – Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Bad behavior opens the door to an IIED suit. There are no guidelines on what represents extreme, reckless, or outrageous behavior. It is why IIED is hard to prove in court. Don’t misjudge the courts and lawyers, though. An IIED claim must target conducts that go beyond the usual workplace insults, threats, or annoyances. They should not exist, either, but they do not pack a big punch in court. What comes with heavyweight is the following combination of factual elements:
The employer/their agent’s conduct was deliberate and reckless. And there is proof to back up this claim.
The defendant/their agent engaged in extreme or outrageous behavior (and the plaintiff can prove).
This conduct led to an employee’s emotional distress.
The employee can prove the causality and the severity of the distress.
Example: You are open to IIED claims if you neglected an employee’s complaints regarding sexual harassment. Your failure to respond to numerous notices for months will most likely put you in the defendant’s chair.
In IIED claims, fright or shame can fall under the umbrella of “emotional distress.” As we said above, you are responsible for the conduct of all your employees. Consider promoting a safe working environment. Remove any risks of sexual harassment, bullying, shaming, emotional abuse, social isolation, etc.
Can You Put a Price on Your Employees’ Feelings?
If an employee wins an NIED or an IIED claim, you have to pay for damages. The payment is relative to the severity of the emotional injury. You should consider legal advice in such cases, even if you are a small business. Many NIED and IIED cases settle outside of court. You need to know your rights, your employees’ rights, and the methods you have to make their lives better and safer.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/youtuber-2838945_1280.jpg9151280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-14 07:00:362020-02-14 08:55:11Can Your Employees Sue You for Emotional Distress
In modern business, we have become very used to our reliance on digital technology, to a degree that might have been unfathomable even a couple of decades ago. All kinds of businesses use it nowadays, from making processes easier to complete to managing important business systems.
However, as much of a boon as technology can be to your business, it could also put you at some risk. Without the right management and the right choices of technology at your fingertips, your tech could end up making your business more, not less, inefficient. Here are a few risks to consider.
Tech’s role in the team
It’s undeniable that technology has made it much easier to stay connected and stay in touch across greater distances, whether it’s with the team all coming together to collaborate or to work with remote workers outside the office. However, without effectively structuring how you use tech to communicate with your team, it’s easy to have a disorganized jumble that leads to the increased chance of misunderstandings and errors. Project management software is an efficient and effective way to better communicate through tech, while Cloud storage software is making it much easier to share resources more quickly than emailing or sharing physical hardware.
Be aware of the risk of downtime
The more tech you incorporate in your business, the more of a vulnerability it can become. Indeed, it is likely to be the most versatile and the most valuable tool in your arsenal, but that means that it can also become the crutch your business stands on. Take it away, and chaos can follow. Downtime can lead to major costs, as your team’s ability to do their work can freeze in place. Read more here about the managed services that can help you proactively approach those potential problems. As well as finding fixes for existing vulnerabilities, you should also consider putting together a disaster recovery plan. As such, if something does go majorly wrong, then you have a plan and a path to get you back to full strength as soon as you possibly can.
Tech should reduce your work, not added to it
When you’re bringing tech into the workplace, you’re likely to use it to change your processes and adapt your workflow. However, you need to look more carefully at precisely how it changes that workflow. Read here about key performance indicators you can use to measure the effectiveness of your technology. For instance, are you getting your work done more quickly or slower than before? Are there more mistakes are fewer? Before you roll out new tech implementations across the board, test them in a smaller setting to see how you get on with them. If everything seems legit, then you can go on to introduce it to the rest of the team.
Technology can, indeed, be what prepares your business for the next level of success, by reducing mistakes, increasing productivity, and helping the team collaborate. However, you should always be aware of the risk that comes from managing it poorly, too.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/coding-computer-data-depth-of-field-577585.jpg9001200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-13 11:00:372020-02-13 10:31:42Is Tech At The Root Of Your Inefficiency?
There’s no denying that we all have to look at making changes if we’re going to overcome the problems that climate change poses to the world and the people in it. While there are things that individuals can do to have a more positive impact on the natural world, the truth is that the most important changes will be the ones that companies make. They are disproportionately responsible for causing damage to the environment — indeed, only twenty firms are responsible for a third of all emissions. If you’re a company owner, then it will, of course, be nowhere nearly as impactful, but it’s still important that you’re taking steps to make your company greener. It’ll be better for the environment, and for your business, especially as consumers are increasingly likely to avoid companies that cause harm to the environment.
But how can you do this? We take a look at a few helpful tips below.
Find Your Flaws
First thing’s first: you’ll need to find your flaws. You won’t be able to figure out how you can improve things until you know where you’re going wrong. Begin by taking a look at your current operations and identify the practices that are causing environmental damage. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, then you can hire an outside expert to do it for you. It might be that you have one especially bad practice that is severely harming your company’s green credentials.
Working From Home
There are many benefits to initiating a ‘work from home’ program at your company — it can boost employee happiness and productivity, and it’s also better for the environment. How so? Well, it takes a lot of energy to have people in the office. Apart from the energy for lighting and electricity and so on, there’s also the impact of having all of your staff members driving to work. If your staff can work from home, you’ll reduce your carbon footprint, and your company’s finances will receive a boost too.
Green Initiatives
If it’s not possible to have staff working from home, then take a look at starting initiatives such as cycle to work and ridesharing programs. It’s much better to have four people riding together in one car, rather than in four cars!
Reduced Packaging
Even companies that are generally green can run into problems. Take, for example, the packaging for their products. This is normally a secondary concern for most companies, and, because of this, is where many fall down. To ensure you’re not using more materials than necessary for your packaging, take a look at the services that product packaging companies can provide. They’ll help to make your packaging more efficient.
Reviews and Updates
Finally, remember that your move towards having a greener company is never finished. There are always ways to improve! The best way to do this is to periodically review and update your operations, so that they eventually move to become carbon positive — that is, they have a positive impact on the world!
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/white-3-blade-windmill-under-cloudy-sky-744344.jpg8001200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-12 16:00:262020-02-12 12:15:06How to Further Reduce Your Company’s Carbon Footprint
The success of every business depends on the efficiency of employees. If you are facing some challenges due to inefficiency, it is possible to change the situation. Achieving maximum efficiency in employees is the greatest challenge for most business owners and managers. These are people with different temperaments and views; therefore, you expect clashes before finally convincing them on how to be better. However, the benefits of efficiency in business are greater than any challenges you may encounter.
How to Improve Employee Efficiency
Be bold enough to delegate
Delegating work in your business is not as easy as it sounds. You want to know how everything is running. Although handling everything by yourself is an excellent way to ensure quality, in the long run, it becomes a waste of time.
Give some of the responsibilities to someone who is qualified and consider training or guiding them on how to handle the job. You will not only create time for yourself but also allow employees to gain leadership skills.
Invest in team building activities
While most businesses focus on making their customers happy, it would also be a good idea to give employees a good treat. Keep in mind that your employees are the lifeblood of your business. Therefore, you can talk to professionals from camp staff training Dallas offer team building activities. These activities will bring your workers together, help them communicate better, build trust, resolve conflicts, and enhance cooperation in teamwork.
Ensure communication is effective
Communication is the key to the success of any business. Nowadays, it’s even easier, thanks to advanced technology. You can install several apps and reach everyone working for you with just a single tap on your smart gadget’s touch screen. Apart from easing communication, most of these apps are free and allow low-cost voice calls. What’s more, you can have meetings and conferences online.
Set goals and stay focused
Goals keep employees focused. If your business has no goals, there is nothing defined to achieve. This will make them less productive. To increase efficiency, have a list of things that must be accomplished in day or week and check to see if they accomplished what you expected them to.
Incentivize employees
According to a recent study by Harvard Business Review, employees are driven to increase efficiency when offered incentives and rewards. You should take time to recognize and appreciate employees who perform exceptionally.
Most business owners think of increased budgets when incentives are mentioned. However, appreciating employees is not just about money; you can do it in many other ways. This may include:
Additional holiday days and paid sick leaves
Allowing them to go home earlier or buying them lunch
Always mention someone who performs very well when addressing annual meetings
Honor efficient employees publicly
Get them good parking spots
Upgrade work equipment for them
Empower Your Employees
While you may have the authority to decide what needs to be done to increase efficiency in your business, it is always a good idea to consider what your employees want. Have meetings or discussions to iron out areas that may be raising concerns. It’s also important to boost employee morale to get the most out of them.
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Entrepreneurs: Try These Productive (And / Or Lucrative) Ways To Spend Your Coffee Break
/in Entrepreneurship/by StrategyDrivenThe life of an entrepreneur is many things, but relaxed and leisurely it is not. Rarely do entrepreneurs get to enjoy downtime in the same way that their salaried peers do. The entrepreneurial mind is never at rest and is constantly striving for new challenges and new ways in which to hone its skills while developing new ones. Entrepreneurs exist in a constant state of self-improvement and self-development. So even when they take a few minutes for a coffee break, it’s not uncommon to see them restlessly tapping their fingers, twitching their legs and scrolling through their phones.
If you find yourself restless, try these productivity boosting and / or potentially lucrative ways to spend your coffee break.
Take a trading break
In the digital age, trading is no longer the sole preserve of high flying Wall Street types. In fact, virtually anyone can become a trader in their free time. Using trading apps like Metatrader 4 can help to demystify the world of trading and allow you to trade all kinds of commodities with reasonable commissions and very little financial commitment on your part. Instead of spending your downtime on mobile games, why not try your hand at something that could become a potential revenue stream?
Compose some thought leadership articles on LinkedIn
Entrepreneurship is all about building your own personal brand to supplement the brand you’ve created for your business. The more people like and trust you, the more likely they are to see value in your business. Take the time to write thoughtful blog posts on LinkedIn which demonstrate your knowledge, experience and expertise to your target audience and other business leaders. Of course, you can use the same content to post on the blog section of your own business’ website. However you choose to present it, commiting your insights, reflections and musings on your industry to writing can be an extremely useful and potentially profitable way to spend your downtime.
Learn a new language
The world is getting smaller every day, and even if your business doesn’t yet have its sights set on an international market that’s no reason not to be prepared. Learning a language isn’t just a great way to help your business on its way to international domination it’s also a great way to keep your brain healthy and feeling young (just like learning a musical instrument). You’[d be surprised how quickly you can learn the fundamentals of a new language in just 15 minutes a day.
Listen to business audio books and podcasts
We all know what a prolific reader Warren Buffet is, but if you don’t have the time to consume his massive reading list in your downtime, listening to business audiobooks and podcasts may be a more readily digestible alternative.
Try mindfulness meditation
Finally, the busy mind of the entrepreneur is like any other highly efficient machine. It needs to be well rested and maintained to remain at peak efficiency. As such, it may be worth taking a few minutes in your downtime to practice mindfulness meditation. It can not only help you to manage stress and quiet your mind, it can also help you to work more efficiently and prevent the rush of entrepreneurial life from feeling too much.
Can Your Employees Sue You for Emotional Distress
/in Managing Your People, Talent Management/by StrategyDrivenEmployers Have Double Legal Duties
As an employer, you have the legal duty to avoid inflicting emotional distress to other people. You must use reasonable care to prevent such issues. You are responsible for all your employees’ conduct. Say an employee causes emotional distress to another employee or a client. If you knew and did nothing about it, you are vulnerable to a lawsuit.
Making the Difference between Legal Types of Emotional Distress Cases
An employer must follow the letter of the law and its spirit. You may do everything right and face legal exposure. Some of your employees may have asked themselves, “can you sue for emotional distress” at least once. The answer is “yes,” but it depends on the situation. Most people will not sue you because you are annoying as a person. They will if:
With burnout syndrome, depression, or sexual harassment, the law is intricate. In this context, you need to know the difference between NIED and IIED.
The best way to move forward is to hire legal aid. It may be hard as a small business to find the right law firm. But, it will save you money in the long term. Most likely, it will protect your reputation.
NIED – Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
Employees can sue for NIED when someone else’s negligence leads to their emotional distress. The proof varies from state to state. These are the general provisions when making a case:
Example: Employees can sue within an NIED framework if a piece of equipment fell and nearly crashed them.
IIED – Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Bad behavior opens the door to an IIED suit. There are no guidelines on what represents extreme, reckless, or outrageous behavior. It is why IIED is hard to prove in court. Don’t misjudge the courts and lawyers, though. An IIED claim must target conducts that go beyond the usual workplace insults, threats, or annoyances. They should not exist, either, but they do not pack a big punch in court. What comes with heavyweight is the following combination of factual elements:
Example: You are open to IIED claims if you neglected an employee’s complaints regarding sexual harassment. Your failure to respond to numerous notices for months will most likely put you in the defendant’s chair.
In IIED claims, fright or shame can fall under the umbrella of “emotional distress.” As we said above, you are responsible for the conduct of all your employees. Consider promoting a safe working environment. Remove any risks of sexual harassment, bullying, shaming, emotional abuse, social isolation, etc.
Can You Put a Price on Your Employees’ Feelings?
If an employee wins an NIED or an IIED claim, you have to pay for damages. The payment is relative to the severity of the emotional injury. You should consider legal advice in such cases, even if you are a small business. Many NIED and IIED cases settle outside of court. You need to know your rights, your employees’ rights, and the methods you have to make their lives better and safer.
Is Tech At The Root Of Your Inefficiency?
/in Managing Your People/by StrategyDrivenHowever, as much of a boon as technology can be to your business, it could also put you at some risk. Without the right management and the right choices of technology at your fingertips, your tech could end up making your business more, not less, inefficient. Here are a few risks to consider.
Tech’s role in the team
It’s undeniable that technology has made it much easier to stay connected and stay in touch across greater distances, whether it’s with the team all coming together to collaborate or to work with remote workers outside the office. However, without effectively structuring how you use tech to communicate with your team, it’s easy to have a disorganized jumble that leads to the increased chance of misunderstandings and errors. Project management software is an efficient and effective way to better communicate through tech, while Cloud storage software is making it much easier to share resources more quickly than emailing or sharing physical hardware.
Be aware of the risk of downtime
The more tech you incorporate in your business, the more of a vulnerability it can become. Indeed, it is likely to be the most versatile and the most valuable tool in your arsenal, but that means that it can also become the crutch your business stands on. Take it away, and chaos can follow. Downtime can lead to major costs, as your team’s ability to do their work can freeze in place. Read more here about the managed services that can help you proactively approach those potential problems. As well as finding fixes for existing vulnerabilities, you should also consider putting together a disaster recovery plan. As such, if something does go majorly wrong, then you have a plan and a path to get you back to full strength as soon as you possibly can.
Tech should reduce your work, not added to it
When you’re bringing tech into the workplace, you’re likely to use it to change your processes and adapt your workflow. However, you need to look more carefully at precisely how it changes that workflow. Read here about key performance indicators you can use to measure the effectiveness of your technology. For instance, are you getting your work done more quickly or slower than before? Are there more mistakes are fewer? Before you roll out new tech implementations across the board, test them in a smaller setting to see how you get on with them. If everything seems legit, then you can go on to introduce it to the rest of the team.
Technology can, indeed, be what prepares your business for the next level of success, by reducing mistakes, increasing productivity, and helping the team collaborate. However, you should always be aware of the risk that comes from managing it poorly, too.
How to Further Reduce Your Company’s Carbon Footprint
/in Tactical Execution/by StrategyDrivenBut how can you do this? We take a look at a few helpful tips below.
Find Your Flaws
First thing’s first: you’ll need to find your flaws. You won’t be able to figure out how you can improve things until you know where you’re going wrong. Begin by taking a look at your current operations and identify the practices that are causing environmental damage. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, then you can hire an outside expert to do it for you. It might be that you have one especially bad practice that is severely harming your company’s green credentials.
Working From Home
There are many benefits to initiating a ‘work from home’ program at your company — it can boost employee happiness and productivity, and it’s also better for the environment. How so? Well, it takes a lot of energy to have people in the office. Apart from the energy for lighting and electricity and so on, there’s also the impact of having all of your staff members driving to work. If your staff can work from home, you’ll reduce your carbon footprint, and your company’s finances will receive a boost too.
Green Initiatives
If it’s not possible to have staff working from home, then take a look at starting initiatives such as cycle to work and ridesharing programs. It’s much better to have four people riding together in one car, rather than in four cars!
Reduced Packaging
Even companies that are generally green can run into problems. Take, for example, the packaging for their products. This is normally a secondary concern for most companies, and, because of this, is where many fall down. To ensure you’re not using more materials than necessary for your packaging, take a look at the services that product packaging companies can provide. They’ll help to make your packaging more efficient.
Reviews and Updates
Finally, remember that your move towards having a greener company is never finished. There are always ways to improve! The best way to do this is to periodically review and update your operations, so that they eventually move to become carbon positive — that is, they have a positive impact on the world!
Techniques to Improve Employee Efficiency
/in Talent Management/by StrategyDrivenHow to Improve Employee Efficiency
Be bold enough to delegate
Delegating work in your business is not as easy as it sounds. You want to know how everything is running. Although handling everything by yourself is an excellent way to ensure quality, in the long run, it becomes a waste of time.
Give some of the responsibilities to someone who is qualified and consider training or guiding them on how to handle the job. You will not only create time for yourself but also allow employees to gain leadership skills.
Invest in team building activities
While most businesses focus on making their customers happy, it would also be a good idea to give employees a good treat. Keep in mind that your employees are the lifeblood of your business. Therefore, you can talk to professionals from camp staff training Dallas offer team building activities. These activities will bring your workers together, help them communicate better, build trust, resolve conflicts, and enhance cooperation in teamwork.
Ensure communication is effective
Communication is the key to the success of any business. Nowadays, it’s even easier, thanks to advanced technology. You can install several apps and reach everyone working for you with just a single tap on your smart gadget’s touch screen. Apart from easing communication, most of these apps are free and allow low-cost voice calls. What’s more, you can have meetings and conferences online.
Set goals and stay focused
Goals keep employees focused. If your business has no goals, there is nothing defined to achieve. This will make them less productive. To increase efficiency, have a list of things that must be accomplished in day or week and check to see if they accomplished what you expected them to.
Incentivize employees
According to a recent study by Harvard Business Review, employees are driven to increase efficiency when offered incentives and rewards. You should take time to recognize and appreciate employees who perform exceptionally.
Most business owners think of increased budgets when incentives are mentioned. However, appreciating employees is not just about money; you can do it in many other ways. This may include:
Empower Your Employees
While you may have the authority to decide what needs to be done to increase efficiency in your business, it is always a good idea to consider what your employees want. Have meetings or discussions to iron out areas that may be raising concerns. It’s also important to boost employee morale to get the most out of them.