People with disabilities are the largest minority group in our country, Yet they are also one of the most underemployed. 
Although 61 million adults in the U.S. have a disability, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities increased from 7.3% to 12.6% in 2020, as compared to a 4.4% to 7.9% jump for those without a disability.

Candidates With Disabilities

The most common reasons for this gap include misconceptions regarding the capabilities of individuals with disabilities, as well not knowing how to accommodate for that disability.
As a result, employers that are unsure of how to best incorporate individuals with disabilities into the workforce can fall into the trap of not adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Misconceptions And The Reason

To avoid pitfalls, employers should prioritize understanding the various forms that disability discrimination can take, move proactively to emphasize inclusion in their hiring practices and be prepared to accommodate an employee’s disability. Employers may inadvertently discriminate against job applicants with disabilities by treating them unfairly due to their condition. An example of this is job listings that use words that risk discouraging candidates with disabilities from applying because they emphasize a physical-activity requirement.

Avoiding Pitfalls

It’s not necessary to excessively characterize or exaggerate the physical demands of a position; simply state the requirements of the position, with the knowledge that someone who applies will clarify how they can meet the requirements with ADA accommodations. Additionally, employers can increase the opportunity for diverse hiring opportunities by listing job qualifications using more general, open-ended language, or using proactively inclusive language that makes it clear the employer is accustomed to providing accommodations under ADA.

Saying No Without Saying No

Many individuals with disabilities won’t apply for jobs that don’t relay flexibility regarding work-from-home or mention any kind of disability policy in the benefits section. 
Keeping these elements in mind when crafting job postings will help encourage more inclusivity and diversity of applicants and help employers avoid discrimination in the hiring process.

Disability Unfriendly

Discrimination can also occur during the interview process when interviewers may feel compelled to ask about the nature or severity of an applicant’s disabilities, such as asking about an individual’s limitations in the workplace or whether they are able to accomplish certain responsibilities. 
Trust that an individual who is applying for the job will assume the responsibility of doing that job and will clarify their need for accommodation if needed.

The Disability Becoming A Reason For Rejection

There are many kinds of accommodations that employers can offer to be more inclusive to individuals with disabilities. Examples include:<ul><li>Additional medical leave to give employees time to attend to their health</li><li>Job restructuring to ensure the employee is able to fulfill job responsibilities</li><li>Allowing a more flexible work schedule for employees to maintain their routine</li><li>Making the office wheelchair-friendly with a ramp and/or automatic doors</li><li>Hiring an interpreter for a hearing-impaired worker or purchasing software to enable a blind employee to perform job duties</li></ul>

Accomodations For The Disabled

Organizational practices for everyone to become more inclusive and enhance the performance of their teams.

teamwork

Teamwork

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

career

Career

communication

Communication

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

Diverse And Inclusive Workplaces

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Corporate Culture

Avoiding Pitfalls When Engaging Candidates With Disabilities  - ERE

These days, many organizations and companies are focusing on their employees' well-being because we've now realized its importance. Workers' well-being is a key factor in determining an organization's long-term effectiveness because it develops workplace resilience.Many are now offering their workers: workplace flexibility, free online counseling sessions, training on empathic leadership, and subscriptions to counseling and meditation apps.

The Importance of Employee Well-being

Future Workplace, a research-based firm, has identified the seven pillars of employee well-being in order to guide leaders on how to prioritize each workers' needs.<ol><li>Physical Well-being</li><li>Career Well-being</li><li>Financial Well-being</li><li>Social Well-being</li><li>Community Well-being</li><li>Emotional Well-being</li><li>Purpose Driven Well-being</li></ol>

The Seven Pillars of Holistic Employee Well-being

Companies that are forward-thinking emphasize the value of everyday practices in improving one's physical well-being. Standing up for short meetings, getting more sleep, and keeping track of what and when you eat are just a few of the behaviors that might help you feel better physically.

Physical Well-being

Increased compensation, enhanced learning & development programs, new internal talent mobility opportunities, and online coaching and resilience training to help employees deal with massive disruptions and new ways of working are some of the policies that employers are implementing to retain workers.

Career Well-being

An Employee Financial Well-being Survey found finances to be the top cause of employee stress above their job, their health, and their relationships combined.Employees who have experienced significant financial stress as a result of the pandemic are four times more likely to confess that their finances have caused them to be distracted at work. Companies can help employees plan for the unexpected by providing an emergency savings account that can be automatically taken from their paycheck.

Financial Well-being

According to the American Psychological Association's "Stress in America 2021" study, 61 percent of those surveyed had gained weight since the pandemic began, and 65 percent of those aged 18 to 23 have felt very lonely as a result of the pandemic. Employee Resource Groups (ERG) were formed by HP for remote workers and working parents who homeschool to guarantee that they can interact with one another and share the resources they need as they navigate remote work and homeschooling.

Social Well-being

Employees' ties to their employer, their local community, and the planet will be strengthened if they are given opportunities to participate in their community. According to Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, a global coalition of multibillion-dollar corporations, 66% of member companies gave paid time off for volunteer activities in 2019, up from 56% in 2016. Sponsorship of community activities by employers is a fantastic method to engage and retain employees while also enhancing the planet's sustainability.

Community Well-being

People are suffering their highest levels of stress since the beginning of the epidemic,according to a study, with several stress-related symptoms such as alterations in sleep and increased alcohol intake. One out of every five workers polled believes their mental health is worse than it was a year ago. Companies are consciously de-stigmatizing mental health and establishing new obligations for the hybrid workplace. These commitments to well-being, inclusion, and flexibility reflect a view that work is defined by what you do to achieve results, not by where you go.

Emotional Well-being

Employees increasingly desire to work for a firm whose values align with their own, and purpose grounds organizations in a set of principles. Employees' desire to work for firms that share their values will be a key factor in deciding on a new employment. New hires expect their employer to become actively involved and vocal about the cultural arguments of the day as the talent market heats up.

Purpose Driven Well-being

Easy to implement strategies to revamp work practices in ways that benefit employees’ health

health

Health

productivity

Productivity

timemanagement

Time Management

Wellbeing at Work

Remote working has blurred the line between work and life. This article talks about the contributions of research and sharing it with employers in order to assist their employees' needs better. Leaders now view well-being not just as an employee benefit but as an opportunity to support employees in all aspects of their personal and work lives.

The Future Workplace 2021 HR Sentiment survey found that 68% of senior HR leaders (of which 40% were CHROs) rated employee well-being and mental health as a top priority.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

The Future Of Work Is Employee Well-Being

Always Be Closing (ABC) is a motivational phrase used to describe a <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sale.asp">sales strategy</a>. It implies that a salesperson following the regimen should continuously look for new <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sales-lead.asp">prospects</a>, pitch products or services to those prospects, and ultimately complete a sale.As a strategy, ABC requires that the salesperson be persistent, but also that they know when to cut their losses and move on to another prospect.

Always Be Closing

<ul><li>Always Be Closing is a mantra used in the sales world meaning a seller must always be in the mindset of closing deals, using whatever tactics are necessary.</li><li>The phrase's origins are the 1992 David Mamet-scripted film "Glengarry Glen Ross," which is based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.</li><li>In the modern age, studies show lead generation, customer follow-up, and strategy sessions comprise a greater part of a salesperson's day than "closing."</li></ul>

The Always Closing Sales Mantra

Always Be Closing (ABC) is retail jargon used to describe a sales strategy in which the salesperson should constantly look to complete the sale. It derives from the 1992 movie, "Glengarry Glen Ross."

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

Always Be Closing Sales Strategy

I study the forces that shape work and our attitudes toward it. There are three forces that have been in play since before the pandemic began that help explain why we’re seeing so much turbulence in the workforce now.
<ol>
<li>People are living longer.</li>
<li>They have two or three income families.</li>
<li>There is a shift in the employee's perception towards personal urgency, pushed by the pandemic.</li>
</ol>

Retaining And Recruiting Employees

The combined impact of these three forces is swinging the power pendulum toward employees — who don’t want to just work and then retire, who may start to reject really bad jobs, and who will be paying close attention to what other companies are beginning to offer their workforces.

The Impact

In the short term, many people are still deeply anxious about the health implications of going back to certain types of work. This extends to low-wage workers, who say their concerns about their mental and physical health are nearly as high as their concerns about covering monthly expenses.It seems to be as hard to predict the future today as it has been since the start of the pandemic. Still, there are three points that every executive should be considering now, as they think about recruiting and retaining employees:

The Employer Fights Back

Companies and leaders must soon realize that when people want more autonomy to live a multistage life, the organizational variable they most treasure is flexibility— flexibility about both where they work and when they work, flexibility to take time off to explore, flexibility to launch a small company or work for a not-for-profit.

Employees Want a Healthy, Future-Oriented Way of Working

By bad jobs are the jobs with long hours, low pay, no training, tough bosses, and poor prospects. When unemployment is high, many people have to take such jobs. 
But as the labor market tightens, people pay more attention to their ideas about what could be, alternative ways of working, and better jobs they could seek out.

Bad Jobs Are on Their Way Out

Right now, there is a huge swell of experimentation going on. 
Companies are designing talent practices that, for example, enable people to work from anywhere three months a year, or to seldom come into the office, or to bundle their working hours into just three days or string them out over seven.

Other Companies Will Change the Playing Field

Forces that have been in play since before the pandemic began can help explain today’s turbulence in the workforce.

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

business

Business

Why It’s So Hard to Keep and Recruit Employees Right Now | Lynda Gratton

What’s the worst part about working at your company? Is it a lack of growth and development opportunities? Or perhaps impossible deadlines? Or ambiguous and chaotic organizational structures? If you want to ensure that any new hires are going to succeed, you need to assess their ability to survive and thrive amidst these negative aspects. If your company tends to assign projects with unrealistic deadlines, you owe it to yourself to hire people that can handle that without cracking under the pressure.

Hiring Resilient People

Of course, in an ideal world you would fix all of your organization’s negative aspects. But let’s be honest: The typical talent executive does not have the political wherewithal to snap their fingers and make those changes. 
So you’ve got to play the hand you’re dealt, and that means hiring people who can handle these tough situations.

Tough Hires For A Tough Job

How do you actually assess whether someone can handle impossible deadlines, for example? Simply ask the question, “Could you tell me about a time you faced an impossible deadline?” or, “Could you tell me about a time your boss gave you an impossible deadline?”If you want to hire people who can survive in chaotic and ambiguous environments, you could ask, “Could you tell me about a time you faced competing priorities?”

What To Ask

We discovered that most interview questions have phrases at the end of them that ruin the questions’ effectiveness. These phrases include, “How did you solve it?” “How did you overcome that?,” and, “How did you successfully come through that?”We’ve completely lost the opportunity to hear about their failures and struggles because we literally told the candidate to only share their successes.

Ruining  A Question

humanresources

Human Resources

How to Hire People Who Can Survive the Worst Parts of Your Company  - ERE

Never without a drink in hand, mouthing words to every song on the DJ’s playlist, interspersed with loud whooting. Sound familiar? No? Well, here’s another striking clue — they’re every introvert’s walking nightmare, pulling them out from the shadows and onto the dance floor. Beware, for even bosses aren’t spared.
If you really want to look out for them, be the hero who waters down their drinks every now and then. You’ll be doing the whole office a big favour!

The Party Animal

And now we’re onto the opposite end of the party animal spectrum where our workaholic is, hunched in the darkness, face illuminated from the light of their monitor, typing furiously. These are the (possibly unfortunate) beings who are saddled with meeting delivery deadlines in the holiday season.
They can be handled by unleashing the above-mentioned party animal upon them!

The Workaholic

The nervous newbie is your office’s typical newcomer, someone who is new to your office dynamics. They’re trying to figure out what to say and how to behave, and this can worsen if they happen to be of a shy disposition themselves. That said, you can also find the odd enthusiastic party person in this category as well. But despite their exuberance, they still remain new and probably lower down in the pecking order, which makes their needs common.
So, make them feel included! Strike a conversation, ask them about their favorite music and food, just do your bit to bring some holiday cheer.

The Nervous Newbie

Always going around armed with a (DSLR) camera, this person takes their social media duties a bit too seriously. Indulge them and you’ll see yourself featured on the company’s social pages in the best lighting, holding a sparkly drink strategically, in a very flattering pose. Rub them the wrong way and your pictures would be a meme template on the team’s Slack group for ages to come.
You may want to attempt to separate them from their camera and probably get them to enjoy the actual party for a bit.

The Social Marketeer

Now on to the final persona of the party, the Influencer. As a sign of the times we’re in, every office, and therefore, every party is bound to have an influencer or two. This person is at the party with a mission in tow — that of leveraging the event on their social media accounts. To them, the world’s a stage and they’re the one and only star of the show.
Slickly ask them to put their phone away for just a bit and ask them to be present in the moment. You might get a glazed stare in return, but it’s definitely worth a try!

The Influenzaaa

It is the season for office parties, so here is a compilation of 5 UX-styled personas you meet at these events to help you navigate these tricky waters.

5 Personas You Meet At Every Office Party (And How to Meet Their Needs!)

Accelerated work experiences or AWEs include any work format that compresses productive activity in time or space to deliver a result much faster than would otherwise be possible. 
Popular methods include pomodoros, hackathons, design sprints, Scrum sprints, rapid prototyping sessions, design thinking crash courses, and Startup Weekends, among others.

Accelerated Work Experiences

As work has become ever more digital, distributed, and asynchronous over the past few decades, we have basked in our newfound freedom. Now we can work anywhere, anytime! And thus we find ourselves working everywhere, all the time. 
The splintering of the experience of work into a million tiny pieces has made us stressed out, frazzled, and distracted. It has robbed us of many of the inherent pleasures of work: the bliss of deep concentration, the satisfaction of starting and finishing something in one sitting, and the fulfillment of working shoulder to shoulder with peers.

The Logic Of AWEs

A MESA is a 5-day, intensive work sprint delivered on behalf of a client, usually a large company or other organization. MESA Co. gathers 12-16 participants (which they have found to be just the right number) in beautiful, often exotic locations around the world, seeking to create the ideal environment to focus on and solve a complex problem that the organization is facing. 
The participants are split more or less evenly between employees of the client company, and outside experts and makers, who offer outside perspectives and hands-on skills.

The MESA Method

Here is the basic premise: the world is only getting more complex. This means there will be fewer and fewer proven solutions to problems. What we need is not a new and better solution, but a method for creating solutions quickly, in response to changing conditions.
At the same time, the most talented people are increasingly mobile, picky, and in demand. It is going to be ever more difficult to tie them down with full-time employment.

The Premise Of MESA

The only way to solve the world’s most complex challenges is by working with the best in the world. 
And the only way to do that is to keep the time commitment short, remove every obstacle to them creating value, and create an environment and a team where they can do the best work of their lives.

The Best In The World

The goal is to create a brief, but very intense working environment where a small group of carefully chosen participants can build something tangible to advance a mission or cause that they care about. 
The method takes advantage of rapid prototyping tools, software-as-a-service, and modular templates to build something real and functional that embodies the knowledge and experience of everyone at the table. This prototype is used not just to demonstrate the viability of a solution, but to build consensus around a new direction for the company.

Blending Man And Machine

The client is a “problem owner” responsible for an important challenge that they can’t solve on their own. Perhaps their main product is no longer resonating with a younger generation of consumers. 
Their marketing channels are outdated and obsolete, but they are afraid to cannibalize them with new ones. They could be tasked with revitalizing a product line in the face of major technological shifts. Or it could be a social mission, meeting the needs of an underserved population under tight budgetary constraints.

The Problem Owner: The Client

Day 1 is a “download day” dedicated to getting all the relevant information out of everyone’s heads and “out on the table.” This includes the external participants, who were chosen for their specialized expertise in the industries, markets, and technologies thought to be most relevant.On Day 2, the carefully worded “mission” is unveiled, drawing on the discoveries from the day before to frame the problem owner’s problem as an inspiring, yet feasible challenge. The second half of the day is spent generating a small set of ideas to prototype.

The Structure Of MESA: Download And Mission Day

Day 3 is for prototyping, which includes small groups writing copy, making mockups or landing pages, building demos, or producing short videos or presentations to demonstrate the viability of the ideas from the day before. 
It is on Day 3, once people have to start making real tradeoffs in the making of the product, that the real constraints arise.

Prototyping

Day 4 is focused on more advanced prototyping, taking the most viable prototypes to a basic level of functionality. The leader pushes to bring the fidelity of the prototype as close to reality as possible, including real code and functional backends whenever possible.
The further toward reality it moves, the more hidden constraints and priorities will come to the surface.

Advanced Level Prototyping

Day 5, the final day, is focused on wrapping up loose ends and preparing the final presentation. MESA Co. is adamant that the final deliverable cannot be just a presentation (or a report or briefing), but rather the presentation is a vehicle for delivering and explaining the prototype that was created. 
The presentation is ideally made to senior leaders of the company, or other stakeholders who will demand a high level of rigour. This is what creates a real sense of urgency and meaning around the deadline, and brings out the “productivity magic” of the last two days.

The Finale

Where MESA shines is not in the explicit – the rules, structures, schedule, checklists – but in the tacit, the subtle, and the sublime. 
They have found a way to use these subtle touches not just to create a memorable experience, but to produce results that more heavy-handed methods can only dream of.

The Magic Is In The Details

The table represents the intersection of pleasure and commitment. The pleasure of family and friends sitting together and sharing a meal in the evening. And the commitment of getting down to business, of giving everything you have to the task at hand.Tables and the meals we eat on them are enveloped in rituals. From the way the table is set, to how the food is served, to how people sit and prepare themselves for eating, to how the food is actually eaten. Hundreds of these small rituals give us prescribed behaviours that we know will lead to the outcome we’re after – getting fed.

The Meaning Of MESA: A Table

There is a deeper purpose to these rituals that is easy to miss: they imbue the entire experience with significance. They make the process of getting calories into our bodies much more than the sum of its parts: an affirmation of our values, a time of connection with the people we love most, a reminder of what really matters at the end of a hectic day.

The Purpose Of The Ritual

MESA seeks to reintroduce and translate some of these rituals to the world of work. But not just for nostalgic purposes. It recreates them from the ground up, focusing them like a laser on one thing: producing results. It is a reinvention of the rituals that once bound us together in a shared purpose, working toward a common cause, but adapted to the modern context.

Adopting For The World Of Work

The experience begins with the venue. MESA Co. very carefully chooses locations that support the results they are trying to produce. The venues almost always have a “wow factor” to inspire the participants with an environment that stimulates all the senses. Entering the venue as a group and seeing the meticulously laid out table gives you a sense of the gravity and importance of the mission you are about to undertake.

The Venue

The table is, of course, central. It is laid out with precise measurements down to the centimeter, in order to put people just close enough to work together, while giving them enough space to work. Each place at the table has a name on it, like a wedding where every seating assignment is carefully chosen. The setting includes just the essential materials needed for the week, often including a notebook, pen, and bag. Even the color scheme is chosen with intention, often purposefully clashing with the client’s official colors to avoid the “business as usual” attitude.

The Colours And The Shapes

Every element in the space is chosen with intention: the chairs are comfortable for long hours of sitting and working; bags are collected in a central location so they don’t get in the way; the food is prepared simply and to avoid afternoon crashes; there are no clocks, giving the experience a sense of timelessness. There is a “Leave Me Alone” wall – a grid of pockets with participants’ names on them, where everyone is asked to leave their phones to remove the temptation.

No Clocks

The real purpose of all these decisions and rituals is to change participants’ behavior, away from the counterproductive habits we’ve developed, and toward a more focused way of working that is rarely possible in a distraction-filled workplace. As you find yourself in an environment purposefully free of the usual triggers and hooks, with a full staff dedicated to protecting you from every distraction or discomfort, your creativity is unleashed. People respect rituals more than rules, because rituals give us something meaningful in return for our compliance.

Rituals Not Rules: Changing The Context

Coming back to the everyday world, I’ve begun to notice a phenomenon everywhere: as soon as one person in a group takes out their phone or computer, everyone else is much more likely to do so as well. It only takes one person to check out for the atmosphere of human presence to start being sucked out of the room, like an airplane cabin with a punctured window. And once that air is gone, it’s very hard to bring people back.A quick glance at your notifications seems so harmless, but it communicates something unmistakable to others: there is somewhere you’d rather be, mentally if not physically.

The Real World: Everyday Problems With Notifications

I believe that people naturally want to focus, but only if that focus will be protected and respected. They want to give their best, but only if that effort will be put to good use. As the idealism of wanting to do a good job collides with the fragmented reality of modern schedules, we become resigned, gradually coming to resent the environment that seemingly won’t allow us to excel. What I see among MESA participants is a sigh of relief, followed by an unbelievable explosion of creative energy.

A Place To Focus

For years I’ve written on this blog about new ways of working that allow people to bend time, space, and the human mind to their advantage. How do I have

creativity

Creativity

product

Product & Design

Introducing the MESA Method: Creating the Ideal Work Experience - Forte Labs

A successful job interview hinges on a great story. A great story takes the audience on a journey. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
<ul>
<li>The “before” version of you was met with a challenge that forced you to learn, grow, and ultimately do something differently.</li>
<li>You made a decision you never would have made before.</li>
<li>Sometimes you succeeded. Other times you failed. Either way, you walked away with a lesson. You survived a challenge and emerged as a more powerful version of yourself.</li>
</ul>

Tell A Story And Get Hired

We’re all human, and sometimes we don’t always slay the monster — that doesn’t mean we aren’t heroes. Telling your interviewer stories of both successes and failures will help you stand out as an emotionally intelligent and a self-aware candidate.

A Self-Aware Candidate

If you’re one of the people seeking a new work opportunity, then you’re probably prepping for a job interview (or a few).
You don't have to spend all your time memorizing facts about the company and your role. Learning as much as you can about the company you’re interviewing with is smart, but everyone does this. The interviewer knows what their company already has, and they’re looking for what you can add.

Interview Time: What Not To Do

Are you Googling “tips for a successful job interview” and reading the top articles? 
Rehearsing “your greatest strengths and weaknesses?” Yawn. Instantaneous boredom.

Don't Stay Up Late

Without the context of how you show up when it counts, you won’t impress the interviewer. 
Your impression will stay at the surface level, leaving the interviewer with no emotional reaction to compel them to take a deeper look at you.

Don't Share Facts Without Context

We’re all familiar with the most popular interview questions:<ul><li>“Can you tell me about yourself?”</li><li>“What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?”</li><li>“Can you explain a challenge you overcame?”</li></ul>Every situational question your interviewer asks you can benefit from a great story. And understanding how to tell an authentic story about yourself in a way that leaves a permanent mark — in a way that allows your prospective employer to really see you — is the key to standing out

A Successful Interview Is A Story Well Told

A great story takes the audience on a journey. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end. 
The “before” version of you was met with a challenge that forced you to learn, grow, and ultimately do something differently (the beginning). You made a decision you never would have made before (the middle). Sometimes you succeeded. Other times you failed. Either way, you walked away with a lesson. You survived a challenging and emerged as a more powerful version of yourself (the end).

The Journey

Every one of us has faced challenges at work. Your task is to unpack some of those moments — something few of us have taken the time to do — and practice relaying them in a compelling and authentic way.Maybe you saved the day by speaking up when you saw something unjust. Maybe you salvaged a client account with a fantastic idea. Maybe you supported your coworker through a difficult day. Or maybe from time to time you’ve failed, walked away recognizing your mistakes, and are a stronger and more strategic performer as a result.

The Beginning: Choose a story that left a lasting imprint on you

When you share your story during an interview, you’re trusting your interviewer with a handful of unique details about your life and identity. That extension of trust is far more likely to be met with trust in return than a series of rehearsed responses.

The Middle: Bring the interviewer into the memory with details

Your goal in sharing your story during an interview is not to portray yourself as amazing all the time. The last thing you want to do is come off as a one-dimensional, cartoon hero. (That’s likely what every other job candidate is doing.)If you want to distinguish yourself and make a real impression, you need to display the fullness of your character. As in our original example, you can do this by choosing to balance your stories of success with a story or two of failure

The End: Don’t just be a hero — be vulnerable

Vulnerable authenticity tells your interviewer that you won’t show up to work every day pretending everything is always awesome (a false reality and untruthful in the long run). And that means that anybody who works with you won’t have to show up as one-dimensional, either. 
Suddenly, your interviewer can relax because they are talking to a human being and not the caricature of one. A successful interview is a memorable one. Vulnerability is memorable.

Vulnerability Is Memorable

An interview is easily won by telling a story, in which there is a beginning and end, with you as the hero.

Stop Googling “job interview tips” and master this skill instead.

The Best Job Candidates Are the Best Storytellers

Being replaceable—a concept various company executives and business management books have promoted over the years—isn’t as precarious as it sounds; it just means that someone else at your workplace can do your job. That doesn’t mean the work isn’t important, or that you aren’t the best person for the role. But if you want to move on, you’ll have more luck getting promoted if there’s already a successor able and ready to take on the role.
Being considered irreplaceable on a team might sound good on paper—but it can actually put your career in a rut and stifle your opportunity to advance. Plus, it doesn’t actually benefit the company if you’re the only person who knows how to do your job.

Replaceable Doesn’t Mean Redundant

Being replaceable means that you’ll share knowledge and skills related to your role with other employees, which ultimately benefits the company and demonstrates to supervisors that you have leadership skills. 
Conversely, thinking of yourself as indispensable can be dangerous if you’re overestimating your worth to the employer.

Assuming You Are Indispensable Is Dangerous

If you’re a micromanager that’s always checking in, you’re telling the team that they don’t have the same level of skills as you to do the job. 
You might think you’re being indispensable and securing your role in the organization, but you’re likely demonstrating that you’re not a very good boss, which in the end makes your job less secure. You’re also more likely to burn out.

Micromanagement

<ul>
<li>Put everything in writing: Every process, task, or policy related to your job should be written down and stored in a drive where others can access it (ideally with a date or version number). </li>
<li>Support and train your colleagues: If no one else can do your job, flag it as a concern with your supervisor. </li>
<li>Delegate: Avoid the trap of thinking you need to sign off on every last task, especially when a colleague or direct report clearly has the skills needed for the job.</li>
</ul>

How To Be Replaceable

Why You Actually Should Make Yourself Replaceable at Work

What do you do when you feel stuck on a problem? Often asking a friend or family member for a pair of fresh eyes ends up being the best way to solve your issue. Even just explaining the problem out loud can help you generate new possible solutions.
Likewise, when you and your colleagues are feeling stumped about what to do, bringing in someone new to the organization can often be just the thing you need. While that new employee might stumble on a creative solution that has eluded everyone else, they are more likely to provide a great catalyst for generating new solutions.

A Fresh Pair Of Eyes

Part of what makes new employees valuable in problem solving is actually what makes it harder to work with them in general as they get acclimated to their new workplace. They just don’t share the assumptions and culture of the organization with everyone else. That can make it hard to explain things to new people. They don’t know how or why things are done the way they are.

New Hires Don't Share The Assumptions

New employees will end up asking a lot of questions about why things are done the way they are. Those questions reveal situations in which the initial reason why a procedure was put in place no longer holds.
These questions can also bring to light cases where people were sure they know why things were done as they are, and only realize the gap in their knowledge when asked to explain it.

New Employees Ask The Right Questions

New employees also bring a different base of knowledge than the one that has been applied to the problem so far. Even if describing the problem doesn’t change anyone’s view of what needs to be solved, this new knowledge has value. New employees should be encouraged to suggest things they know that seem related to the problem.The recommendations they make will trigger new thoughts in the entire team. Applying this new perspective to the problem will shift everyone out of the current way of approaching it, which is then likely to lead to new insights.

New Hires Have Different Knowledge

New employees also haven’t learned all the local jargon. Every organization has acronyms for units and procedures and other words that refer to particular individuals, clients, or processes. Those words carry a lot of assumptions with them that become part of the shared culture of everyone on the team.Because the new employees aren’t steeped in the local lingo, everyone on the team will be forced to change up the words they use to describe a problem. When talking to the new employee, people will have to explain the jargon terms, and so they will also use lots of synonyms.

They Use A Fresh Language

New employees can be great catalysts for solving problems that have long plagued a company.


3 reasons why new hires are so good at solving problems

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