Tag: professional

Emotional Wellness at Work

On February 24, 2022

In Career, Leadership, Nicholas Fainlight

During the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 disease, around half of US workers admitted to experiencing mental health issues. Leaders are certainly not immune to this experience amidst the challenges of running a business. However, the reality is that without a healthy and psychologically sound leader, an enterprise cannot thrive. Take some time to focus on the emotional wellness of your team.

Many people have experienced both ups and downs with emotional health and have learned to manage it better. Two critical practices used are transparency and ownership. It’s natural to focus on the good in life. However, ignoring the bad can allow stress and anxiety to build beneath the surface. Encourage your employees to express frustrations and stressful situations. Excessive negativity isn’t helpful either, but if you promote an environment where people are afraid to be anything less than positive, you might end up with employees harboring resentment.

Being Transparent

Keep your employees in the loop about developments in the company that might affect them. Pandemic effects have led many companies to downsize and change processes, and employees don’t want to learn about these things at the last minute. Your team is often more intuitive than you think–if the management is stressed, they’ll pick up on it. Rather than letting speculation and anxiety build, communicate with them. Even if you don’t have answers or details, just acknowledging that things are stressful and uncertain will help them feel heard.

Taking Ownership

The second key to keeping good mental health is taking responsibility for what goes wrong. When things go wrong, leaders are those who take ownership. As a leader, you have to own up to your mistakes and learn from them. It motivates leaders to hire people with integrity and create companies that excel by attracting and keeping talented individuals.

As a leader, inevitably, you will make decisions that don’t play out as expected. Whether you snap at an employee or make a catastrophic business decision, you must own up to your mistakes and apologize to the people affected. You set the tone of your team, so if you aren’t being honest and taking responsibility for your actions, your team probably won’t either.

These two steps will help you foster a healthy emotional environment in your workplace.

Are These Obstacles Holding you Back from Success?

By Nicholas Fainlight

On February 24, 2022

In Career, Leadership, Nicholas Fainlight

Some obstacles prevent people from becoming influential leaders.

Exceptional leadership can build an outstanding business, but doing it effectively requires a lot of planning and discipline. A leader is expected to keep his team motivated, but helping them stay positive can be challenging. You also have to be able to connect with others.

Not Having a Set Purpose or Goal

One of the most effective ways to motivate people is to have a clear purpose and set goals. This can be communicated clearly to the team and the people around you, and it can ignite passion and drive them to reach their potential. Each team member has their individual talents and personal interests. This makes it hard to maintain a cohesive and well-defined team vision if you can’t unite everyone around a common goal. Disharmony can then develop quickly, which can derail projects and cause long-term damage.

No Connections Outside of Work

Team building and training are also powerful tools to help unify and bond your employees. Having an event or two can help break down barriers and provide employees with opportunities to connect and learn new skills, enabling them to collaborate more effectively. It’s possible to get carried away with too much control over everyone and over-focusing on work-related topics. This can be counterproductive, preventing people from learning and growing and increasing stress levels.

Not Delegating Tasks

Instead of focusing on your personal to-do lists, take a moment to consider what tasks you can delegate to employees. Doing so can help you get more done and motivate them by entrusting them with tasks outside their regular routine. It’s also important to remember that as a leader, you’re expected to provide the people with the training and resources they need to complete the tasks, so make sure you equip your team with what they need for any new projects.

Poor Communication

Communication is key to team success, but it also has to be reciprocal. The people must feel that their concerns will be addressed and that they can express themselves freely. A good culture is also influential in attracting and keeping top talent. It should encourage a positive attitude and foster people committed to continuous growth. Leaders can also help promote this environment by providing opportunities for team members to celebrate and motivate each other.

Inspiring Business Documentaries to Watch

By Nicholas Fainlight

On September 23, 2021

In Career, Investing, Leadership, Nicholas Fainlight

We all know that business is tough, and sometimes we need a little inspiration to keep going. Luckily for us, there are plenty of inspiring documentaries out there on the subject. Whether you want to learn more about how other businesses succeed or need some motivation, these 6 documentaries will give you what you need.

Searching for Sugar Man

This documentary tells the story of two men who set out to find Sixto Rodriguez, an American singer-songwriter that they had heard rumors about. The film explores how this man became a music superstar in South Africa while his own countrymen knew nothing. This is sure to inspire anyone struggling with their art.

An Inconvenient Truth

This documentary follows former Vice President Al Gore as he shares his concerns about global warming. While it may not be specifically about business, this film will certainly inspire you to think more responsibly and leave a positive impact on the world around you.

The Corporation

This film explores the nature of corporations and how they tend to put their own interests above all else. This is great for business students who want to learn more about corporate culture or those in positions of power in big businesses. It’s sure to give you some food for thought on your career path.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

This is a great documentary for those interested in business history. It follows Enron, one of America’s largest energy companies, as it begins to crumble after its shady practices are revealed. This film will show you how quickly things can go wrong and inspire you to be more honest when dealing with business.

Everything is a Remix

This film describes the history of remixing, especially in relation to media such as movies and music. It also argues that everything builds off of something else, so we should all be more open about our work with each other. This documentary shows how powerful collaboration can be for business people who are willing to share their ideas.

Capitalism: A Love Story

This documentary explores the modern state of capitalism and how it has changed over the years, especially since President Reagan took office. It also looks at some other ways people are trying to improve our financial system to benefit society as a whole rather than just privileged individuals. This is sure to inspire you if you want to have a positive impact on our world.

How To Balance Profit And Purpose In Business

By Nicholas Fainlight

On January 28, 2021

In Career, Education, Finance, fitness, health, Investing, Leadership, Nicholas Fainlight, postgraduate, Technology, Uncategorized

Entrepreneurs need to build business empires while still staying committed to their purpose. A significant number of business people struggle to commit to their purpose while still keeping their enterprises profitable. Businesses need to demonstrate their contribution to humanity while still growing their profit margins. Here are ways businesses can balance profit and purpose.

Go Green

In the past few years, many businesses have shown their commitment to adopting more sustainable production methods. No matter the size, every organization can play a role in reducing its environmental footprint. Surprisingly, the current generation prefers to buy green products. Therefore, companies that will demonstrate high sustainability credentials will gain numerous customers who want to buy green.

For instance, manufacturers can reduce carbon emissions by sourcing closer to home. When raw materials are transported for short distances, it helps cut both transport costs and carbon emissions. Besides, leaders who have a passion for conserving the environment can shift to renewable energy sources.

Find an Inspiration

Walk away from your comfort zone and start doing something new that challenges you. Learn from these things and find inspiration in them

Leverage Technology

Technology is changing every aspect of life, including how consumers interact with brands and how they buy products and services. For example, online sales have doubled in the past five years. Additionally, organizations are using machines to understand customer needs better. This means that businesses must stay on top of the latest innovations to remain competitive in their respective industries.

Share Your Success

Entrepreneurship is a murky journey characterized by ups and downs. Therefore, successive entrepreneurs should consider sharing their experiences with novice business people. When you balance profit and purpose, your impact is significant and tangible, and more consumers will want to be associated with your business.

Understand Your Purpose

Purpose goes beyond providing high-quality goods and services to consumers. It also means that your business prioritizes the common good of the community. For example, some companies such as Unilever have already developed a unique living plan to track their progress of minimizing their environmental footprint. Business leaders should devote time to learn about societal impact and how to improve it.

To change business operations to meet new expectations requires exceptional and visionary leadership. In today’s versatile business world, leaders who will adopt agility will be in a better position to achieve long-term success.

Ways Working From Home Can Cause A Team To Be More Proactive

By Nicholas Fainlight

On November 4, 2020

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight, Uncategorized

As technology advanced, companies began to question whether they should set up their employees to work from home. But, once the health of their employees became a national issue, many companies had no choice but to allow this arrangement. Although it may seem that employees will become less aggressive about their duties, that won’t be the case. Here are the ways working from home will make their team more proactive.

Increased Performance

Managers and supervisors often feel they have to make their presence and opinion known to their staff throughout the day. They do this in hopes it will keep employees from slacking off on the work that needs to get done. But, when employees are constantly observed and critiqued, it causes them to work in response to your actions rather than by their initiative.

Working from home gives them more opportunities to make choices for themselves. And, it empowers them to tackle issues without interference. With the weight of reaching their goals lying more on their shoulders than before, they will rise to the occasion and perform better. Also, because they will feel appreciation for your trust, your team becomes dedicated to efficiently handling their time and goals.

Increased Productivity

Whenever your staff can predict how every day, week, and month will go, they will become bored with their work. It can be hard for them to continue with proactiveness when there are no longer any challenges with getting their work done. Your team won’t maintain productivity when there is no variety with their responsibilities.

A home-based office takes away monotonous tasks like a daily commute and getting dressed, so more time and energy is given to genuine work tasks. Without being in a traditional office, employees may be able to use unconventional tactics to make their day more interesting. They will have to find their ways to keep themselves comfortable and motivated. Just the challenge of being productive while at home stirs up their creativity and problem-solving techniques to be more productive.

Increased Talent

In traditional settings, management can evaluate the skill level of their staff during performance reviews. The normal rhythm of the year will stay in place until that season comes about. But while working from home, supervisors can see their teams in a new way.

The unexpected curve-balls of a home setup will highlight what each team member is better at than others. Plus, the management team will have less distraction so they can better see how each team member behaves.

White tabletop, calendar, cup of coffee, nicholas fainlight managing your schedule as young professional

4 Tips for Handling Your Schedule as a Young Professional

By Nicholas Fainlight

On May 28, 2018

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight

When you’re in college, you might think that you have a busy schedule and you’re prepared to juggle obligations and run on limited sleep. However, once you graduate and become a young professional with a full-time job, you’ll realize that you’re incredibly busy, but it’s different from what you experienced during college. When you’re in college, you have a clear path and schedule; you take classes at specific times, you have regular meetings, you do stuff with your friends who live nearby.

As a young professional, you’re spending at least eight hours at your workplace and then have a limited amount of time for your other plans. It’s up to you to plan your own schedule. You have to coordinate with friends’ schedules, find volunteer opportunities, discover networking groups and events, and make up your mind on what should be a priority and how you want to spend your time. For college students who thrived on being involved, having so many options on top of working full-time can feel a little overwhelming. Here are some tips on how to handle your young professional schedule and make sure you’re doing what you really want to do.

Prioritize events

The first step to take for managing your new, busy schedule is to prioritize your commitments and what you want to get involved in. If there’s a cause particularly important to you, make a charity that works with it your main philanthropic focus instead of trying to get involved with a variety of organizations. If you want to spend time visiting your family above everything else, plan around those visits. Decide what your focus is and how you want to spend your time and then work around those events.

Get plenty of rest

When you’re spending hours at work, going to the gym, attending a networking event, volunteering, and hanging out with friends, you probably feel like you cannot waste a second of your day sleeping more than necessary. However, being well rested is key to being able to manage a busy schedule; you’ll feel more inclined to stick to commitments and excel at work if you’re not short on sleep.

Talk to your friends

If you’re struggling to find time to fit in all the activities in your schedule and hang out with your friends or significant other, talk to them. Find out what each others’ schedules are and consider participating in events together. Attending a networking event together can be fun and help you branch out from your comfort zone. Volunteering together is a great idea and can be something you make a regular occurrence. It’s harder to stay in touch with friends once you graduate, so make the extra effort.

Plan ahead

You’ll feel much more on top of your schedule when you make the effort to actually plan ahead. Take time at the beginning of each week to look over your schedule so you’re aware of everything that’s happening in the week ahead. You don’t want to be caught off guard by an obligation or event you forgot. Add meetings and events to your phone’s calendar so you get reminders and write them down in a physical planner. You’ll be (and feel) more organized and do not have to stress about remembering everything.

A man and a woman in business clothes walking next to one another, no faces shown, image used for Nicholas Fainlight blog on the importance of having a mentor

The Importance of Having a Great Mentor

By Nicholas Fainlight

On December 7, 2017

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight

It does not matter what you are doing in your life, you could always be improving. To seek out the help of another is a sign of maturity and can make a serious difference in your future. Put another way, having a great mentor is a real sign of maturity and a great way to grow in whatever area of life you need to, particularly in your professional career.

Mentors provide you with new knowledge

The first inescapable benefit of having a mentor is the fact that they can provide you with knowledge that you do not currently possess. They have walked in your shoes in the past, so they know what it means to do what you are attempting to do, even if you don’t work in the same industry. You can bounce questions off of them and see what knowledge they can pass on to you.

Motivation is key

Inc.com wants all of us to make sure we fully appreciate the fact that mentors can provide us with the motivation we need to keep going and crush our goals. Simply motivating a person to stay on the right path and keep striving for greatness is a huge asset in and of itself.

No one gets to climb a mountain all by themselves. They need others who to push them along towards the summit. If you attempt to do it all yourself, you will likely not make it very far. Having a mentor means that you can get over the difficulties and struggles to see things through to the end because you have some guidance along the way.

Get unbiased opinions from them

Mentors may provide some people with unbiased opinions about the things they are doing. We all have ideas that are interesting from time to time, but we may not know what to do with that creative energy. Is the idea a good one or not? Is it actually sustainable? These are questions that can only be answered by someone who provides honest and unbiased feedback.

A mentor is a person you can rely on when it comes to getting the feedback you seek. They provide insights about the ideas and thoughts you have that you may not have been able to think of yourself. Only when you hear those thoughts can you grow and expand on the ideas you previously had. Even better, when you have an idea that is not a good one, it is a great thing to have a mentor in your pocket who can tell you that.

Group of people sitting around a table with papers and computers, image used for Nicholas Fainlight blog about great networking sites

6 Great Professional Sites for Networking

By Nicholas Fainlight

On December 3, 2017

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight

No matter where you are in your professional career, networking is a vital part of ensuring success. Whether you’re looking for a new job, new employees, or advice, networking is the way to meet new people. Building an online presence and creating a professional look can be incredibly beneficial to your professional career, especially if you’re just starting out in your field.

LinkedIn

Obviously LinkedIn is the most obvious on this list. LinkedIn has almost 500 million members, so you know you’ll have the opportunity to connect and follow some of the most influential thought leaders from all over the world. This website allows you to fill in plenty of relevant information on your profile about your job and education history, any publications you’ve appeared in, and various other categories. There are also lots of sites that allow you to connect your LinkedIn, including lots of job search platforms.

Levo

While this website was originally started and directed toward young professional women, anyone can join and utilize it. Like LinkedIn, you can provide a variety of information about your professional and educational background, but there’s also more room for creativity and creating a unique look to your profile.

Beyond.com

This site isn’t nearly as large as LinkedIn, but it’s definitely useful when it comes to making connections and finding job opportunities. You can search positions by industry and also check out industry-specific content. You can make an account for free and enjoy many of Beyond.com’s benefits, but you can also purchase a monthly premium membership that features a few extra features.

Google+

You may have thought Google+ was not longer relevant, but for many industries, this website is their preferred platform. Whether you use Google+ as a social site or for more professional pursuits is up to you, but you can join various communities and contribute to collections on specific topics.

AngelList

This website is geared toward investors and those looking for investments, but anyone can join and use AngelList. If you have projects you’ve worked on and significant professional experience, AngelList is a great site to utilize.

Facebook

Facebook may be the last social network you’d expect to see on this list, but it can certainly be useful for networking. There are lots of groups and pages you can follow on Facebook that encourage networking, often for specific industries and niches. Take time to explore the groups and see what fits your professional career and interests. Just remember, if you’re using Facebook for professional reasons, make sure your profile is professional!