Why “How We Do Things Around Here” Or Company Culture Will Make Or Break You

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women stressedCompany culture matters and it always has done because it is literally the invisible glue that holds everything together and can be defined as “how do we do things around here” in teams, companies and even in societies. If you have fit and flow and it makes sense to you how things are done, you will probably experience little to no friction in your job around how you like to work and therefore will unconsciously feel happier at work.

So how do you spot culture if you are interviewing? It is hard but the difference between now and previous decades is that you have a window into it via social media and opinions of people who work there as well as sites like theglasshammer.com which offers a day in the life views into big firms.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work

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Taking Your Development Areas and Working On Them

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working on a computerThe theme these past three weeks from me has been dividing the tasks you like from the tasks you don’t like at work to help you work towards ensuring your next job is a very good fit ( from the perspective of the details of the work itself, cultural fit is something we will talk about next week!)

Ascertaining what you are not so good at at work is really important as then you can spend time developing yourself with or without formal development or learning programs at your company (it is great if there are programs to help you). However, how do you know what you are bad at? Well, you could have received feedback formally in a review or informally but sometimes the tasks you like least are often the ones you are least developed in and you just know that some of the elements of your job you could do with strengthening your muscles in ( see last week’s advice)

Write a list of what you want to master and carve out time to spend real time to practice – for example: budgets or excel – a lot of this can be self taught. Then there are less tangible areas such as networking which we will talk about for the month of October in this column. Good Luck!

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work

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Conquering What You Are Not So Crazy About At Work!

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thought-leadershipLast week we talked about making lists of the tasks that you do everyday. By now, if you did that exercise, you might have spotted that there are a few things on that list that you do not enjoy doing or that you feel you are not so strong at doing. The trick is to understand how important they are to your growth and to your overall success. Rank them as a priority in your success and then nominate a time in your calendar (daily, weekly, monthly * however appropriate) and really stick to plowing through those tasks. Make them a priority, and think about ways to enjoy them ( ranging from doing them with a team member to treating yourself to a nice coffee or something while undertaking it).

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work

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Taking Steps Towards Doing What You Love

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Women-working-on-tabletIs what you do everyday, close to what you want to do? It can be an overwhelming question. Make a list of the tasks that you would like to do all day, literally a blow by blow look at what you actually do task by task. Make sure you spell out what it is you would do to fill the hours, for example: find sales prospects by mining linkedin or review documents regarding the team deal. Be careful to understand that titles or one sentence strategy can be misleading, for example: being responsible for the group’s compliance may be your remit for sure but not helpful at letting you know what you like doing.

Step two. Make a list of tasks that you would like to do.

How do those lists compare?

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work

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Career Tip Of The Week

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working from homeChanging companies? Do benefits and company policy matter in this decision?

Yes. Due to the USA having the same maternity support as Papua New Guinea ( i.e. very little), it is essential that you choose an employer in the USA who offers maternity leave if you are planning in the short, medium or long term to have kids. Check leave for adoption, spousal leave etc and remember that there are companies who operate with excellent leave and offer support around re-entry and flexible work. For any country in the world- check for additional perks and cultural norms around time off.

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work

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Career Tip Of The Week

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People around a laptopThis Week’s Tip Is….

Know the difference between a stretch assignment or an opportunity to develop your skills and over-promising work that you don’t have time, support or perhaps the skillset to do since this affect your reputation.

Work with your boss and sponsors to secure useful projects or tasks that are supported. Ask yourself about time, skills and institutional support as a checklist before you say yes.

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com is you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work

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Career Tip Of The Week

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thought-leadershipThis Week’s Tip Is…..

Beware of job myopia. Do you know the bigger picture?

Becoming a Leader or a senior executive usually requires having a holistic and bigger picture view of the business and the industry that you are working in.

When meeting with someone in your firm or a client, remember to ask broader questions that can advance your knowledge in this area as well as talking about the direct issue at hand.

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work.

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Addressing your skill blindspots | Career Tip Of The Week

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Women workingThis Week’s Tip Is….

Addressing your skill blindspots.

Many people who I coach talk to me about gaps in their professional development ( either their firm doesn’t provide it or there is something specific that they want to develop that isn’t necessarily easy to learn in a course).

Make a list of the tasks or areas that you feel you need to be better at. Writing it down ( identifying it) is the first step to making a plan.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com is you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work.

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All jobs have tasks that we prefer over other tasks | Career Tip Of The Week

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women salesThis Week’s Tip Is…..

All jobs have tasks that we prefer over other tasks. Be honest with yourself, how strategically important are the tasks that you are avoiding? If they rank highly either for your current role or as a development skill, then consider setting time aside formally in your calendar to undertake them on a regular basis as habit can be a great way to embrace them.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

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Career Tip of the Week

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Women workingThis Week’s Tip Is…

Do you have so many meetings in your calendar that you don’t have the time to do the actual work?

In a world of constant contact of live and virtual meetings and a flurry of emails to answer, it is hard to find time to do uninterrupted work sometimes.

Schedule time in your calendar every day to not be disturbed and resist the temptation to check your email during that time. Let people such as team members or managers know that you are working on a project and will get back to them later that day. Manage expectations and stay focused on productivity in this time.

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work.

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