5 Early Signs Your Startups Work Culture is Toxic

5 Early Signs Your Startups Work Culture is Toxic Bad culture in an office can interfere with productivity and slow down business growth. It is not only bad for the business but also workers and the leader as well. It can actually lead to serious health issues such as stress, depression, hypertension and others. This is why any startup owner should watch out for early signs that their office culture could be becoming toxic and weed out the bad seeds before any major damage is done. Here are some of the 5 early signs for a soon-to-be toxic startup culture. Increasing communication problems If you realize that conversations between you and employees or among workers have shrunk to a bare minimum, and everyone behaves like they have no idea what’s going on in the enterprise, then you have a problem. This can grow from teams and spread to inter-departments, suppliers, and customers. Some signs could include managers passing unclear information, using other workers to pass important messages, holding back information and others. Also, the workers do not feel free to ask for clarification of such messages. People will tend to keep distance and are no longer interested in giving feedback or suggestions. In such a situation, you’ll find that getting the right information is difficult. In fact, you can get different answers to the same question depending on who you ask. This results in an inability to follow processes, failure to implement policies and lack of trust in the enterprise. If not handled in good time, it can spill over to clients and the startup stands to lose business with the affected customers. Declining motivation among employees If your employees begin showing signs of dejection, consider the possibility that your startup culture is becoming toxic. It is true that demoralization hits at times, but should only be short-lived. If nothing seems to inspire the workers at all, you miss the creative ideas such an individual could have. Help them regain their energy and passion by rebuilding their trust in the leaders and the organization as a whole. How can you do this? As the startup owner, start by recognizing their efforts, encouraging freedom of expression, sharing information, and listening to their grievances. Increasingly cautious employees This can be a very unfortunate situation, but it happens. Employees begin to watch their back before they speak or do something. This is common in workplaces where employees have been victimized before for something they said or did. Also, environments where witch-hunting and backbiting carry the day could drive workers into such a behavior. Curb this situation by reassuring workers that all misconduct or disputes will be dealt with fairly. You can go even further and establish systems that can guarantee fair settlement of disputes. Persistent disgruntlement When a work environment becomes toxic, negative communication within the organization creeps in. You will notice that workers are always murmuring, grumbling and can become sarcastic. It is a show of dissatisfaction and lack of freedom to air their grievances. If not taken care of, the situation can lead employees to show signs of withdrawal, lack of socialization with fellow workers and might eventually quit the organization. Cliques and favoritism In an environment where some people are treated as superior to others, this is a good sign that the work environment is becoming toxic. Nobody wants to feel less appreciated. In such an environment, you will notice that some employees are given preferential treatment openly. Others can steal ideas from fellow workers and go unscathed. There is sexism, racism, and many other forms of discrimination. People can also group in certain ways to intimidate others. To avoid this, a startup should come up with clear rules that emphasize equality and make sure they are followed. Work rules and regulations should also apply to all, not a specified few. Every employee should be appreciated for their contribution to the enterprise. Besides, promotions should happen based on merits and performance, not relations or special favors. What other behavioral patterns in your startup have you discovered could lead to a toxic office culture? Author: Passionate about digital marketing, entrepreneurship, growth and travel, Senko Ðuras is also a co-founder of Point Visible. Loves testing new ideas, projects with unclear specifications and fighting pressure with chill out attitude.

Increase Personal Brand Visibility with Better Website Referrals - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Increase Personal Brand Visibility with Better Website Referrals - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career After setting up a successful website and publishing great content you want your personal brand to be seen by influencers in your market. What you may not realize is there are a lot of spam accounts set up to clog servers and steal your hard-earned status. Now is the time to do an audit and find out which referrals are fake and which ones are the real deal. Is Your Brand’s Website Receiving a Ton of Referrals? While Google Analytics has a great framework to measure and track clicks and visitors it can become skewed with false information. With security measures in place it is possible to remedy spam referrals and gather more accurate information. Taking the time to do this will produce better results on the search engines, which means greater visibility for your brand. Your personal brand might be surprised after checking your Google Analytics account at the amount of fake or spam accounts. Many of these are out to generate leads for their affiliate links, which can slow down your server and website loading time. There are several steps you can take to identify these bad bots: Look for repeat offenders After taking a look at your website analytics your brand may find that there is a pattern of usual suspects who are appearing in your referrals lists. Many of these websites will appear like spam or affiliates, and do not offer a tangible business or content. Determine whether your website host is vulnerable Hosting companies that offer services at a cut rate may be more vulnerable to spam referrals. This is common with shared hosting companies, and websites that have a custom CMS/shopping cart. If you do engage in affiliate marketing take another look at who you are doing business with as some of these may not be as scrupulous as others. Hire a web developer After taking a look at Google Analytics you may need the help of a developer to help you block the spam referrals and change settings on your server. This is well worth the expense in order to save your search engine ranking, and attract authentic visitors to your brand’s website.   We do this for our clients. In order to optimize your personal brand’s visibility online it’s important to check your analytics at least once a month to determine where your traffic and referrals are coming from. Spam or bad bots can not only affect your server, but some can even steal email addresses, create fake accounts, and even get past our CAPTCHA codes. Once a thorough cleanup has taken place you will start to see better results and higher search engine rankings.

Job hopping How much is too much

Job hopping How much is too much Between the ages of 20 and 30, most people have more than 8 jobs. This is a positive thing for a number of reasons. First of all, Daniel Gilbert, psychologist at Harvard, says that we really dont know what well like until we try it. So having a lot of jobs when you start your adult life is a good way to figure out what to do with your adult life. But, job hopping is a good thing for everyone to do not just twentysomethings because its a way to maintain passion in your work. Frequent changes keep your learning curve high and your challenges fresh. Finally, frequent job hopping, coupled with high performance allows you to build a professional network much faster than someone who stays in one position over a long period of time. And a vibrant network will make finding jobs easier, so job hopping will not be a difficult path. Human resource people complain a lot about job hopping. They say companies would rather hire someone who stays a long time at companies because that will mean the person will stay a long time at their company. Of course this is true. Its clear that job hopping benefits the employee, not the employer. But when the majority of young people are job hopping, and companies are having a hard time attracting young people to work recruiters dont have the luxury of writing people off just because they job hopped. Recruiters write people off because their resume looks like they wont contribute enough to the company. So, the trick with job hopping is to make sure your resume always shows that you make a huge contribution wherever you go. That can be independent of job duration. You can show that you are loyal to a company by exceeding their expectations with your outstanding performance. Loyalty is about delivery. Show that on your resume, the same place you show job hopping. A resume is not a laundry list of job and duties. Its a document about a story. You resume needs to show the story of a person who contributes in large ways wherever you go. Think about this. Someone wrote a great SuperBowl ad, then six months later went to Nike and launched a new shoe thats a success, and a year later went to Google and rebranded some of their software to increase user base 50%. Most people would not care that this person was job hopping. Most people would want to hire this person, even if he only stayed a little bit. Of course, most of you dont have such enormous accomplishments, but you probably do have accomplishments. And you do have a story about how you chose to leave when you did. When I explained my own job hopping, I talked about how I went to companies, launched great, successful software products, and then moved on. I never felt the job hopping held me back, though I always had to explain it in interviews. Thats the thing about job hopping. People want to hear an explanation that makes sense. They dont want to hear you failed, or didnt get along with people, or have no attention span. Not every job will be the pinnacle of success, but a good resume writer can make every job look like it was some sort of success, and that your level of success increased with each hop, because with each hop you got more responsibility. I know that a lot of you hop because you dont know what to do with yourself. But youll probably be able to find some consistent string running throughout all your jobs. Maybe it was customer service, maybe all your jobs were sports-related, youll have to figure out the story. But a good story weaves everything together into something linear, and, if youre lucky, itll point you toward what you should do next.

A Stretch-By-Stretch Guide to Office Yoga

A Stretch-By-Stretch Guide to Office Yoga Staying active at work is a predicament that affects pretty much anyone who works in an office or at home. From an evolutionary point of view, we’re not really meant to be spending long portions of the day sitting down; we should be out foraging for food, killing animals and other activities that involve us being on our feet.  But things change. And the fact of the matter is that a huge number of us now spend most of our working days sat staring into a computer screen. And, somewhat unsurprisingly, it’s not good for our health. Some may even call it a modern day epidemic. Whats the risk? The NHS agrees; research has found that an inactive lifestyle can lead to a 112% increase in the risk of diabetes, a huge 147% increase in cardiovascular events (heart problems to us lay people), and a 49% increase in death due to any cause. That’s pretty morbid, but no less shocking.  And according to The Lancet, inactivity costs the world the not-exactly-small amount of $67.5 billion every year. That’s roughly the total GDP of Costa Rica. What are the  options? So we’re sat down more at work, not taking lunch breaks, watching more TV when we get home, exercising less. It’s no surprise we’re all about to keel over, so  what can we do about it? Well there’s plenty in all honesty. There’s always time outside of work to squeeze in a bit of extra exercise if we really put our minds to it, but it’s during work hours we could all do with a bit of kick up the backside to get moving. This is where this infographic from JFK Binding might be able to help a little. Focusing largely on the topic of office yoga, it details several yoga exercises you can do at work to keep a little more active.  Now you might be thinking yoga at work is a bit of an odd concept, but it’s not that uncommon anymore. Just take a look at this article on America’s healthiest companies and check how many are offering yoga classes for their employees. Time to consider yoga The  benefits of yoga are numerous, including improving your posture and balance, increasing blood flow, upping your heart rate, and even helping you sleep better. So if you do have the chance to have a go then it could be well worth your while and really help combat the negative effects of sitting down all day. However, you may well feel a little self-conscious stretching here, there and everywhere whilst your colleagues are beavering away at work, so the graphic has handily also given some readymade excuses you can hand out to your work mates in case they gives you a few funny looks. So if you’re doing the seated backbend, just tell them you’re celebrating sending an amazing email, or if people are giving you the side eye in the middle of your desk shoulder opener, just say you’re looking for a contact lens on the floor. So what else can you do to get more active at work? There are some pretty easy quick fixes that will get you up and out of your chair, such as stand up or walk around when on the phone, taking the stairs instead of the lift, and walking to a co-worker’s desk instead of emailing them. Just doing these little things will help get your blood flowing and probably help you concentrate more at work. Big companies are getting better and better at providing such opportunities for their employees to stay healthy whilst at work, as it benefits everyone in the long run. For example, Google provides on-site fitness classes and even a bowling alley, whilst Twitter runs CrossFit classes for its employees. General Electric even have a 24/7 health hotline and they make smokers pay more in health care contributions. So what could you do to stay active at work? It will make your healthier, happier, and it might just even save your life. About the author: Chris Thomson is a digital marketer who writes about productivity, health wellbeing. He enjoys a good walk on his lunch break.

How Many Bullet Points Per Job On Resume

How Many Bullet Points Per Job On ResumePeople who are familiar with a resume need to ask this question, 'How many bullet points per job on resume?' And there is one way to figure out how many bullet points are in a resume. The number of bullet points in a resume is what gives it its 'elegance.'Although all resumes are different, most have about twice as many bullet points as other resumes. This is because bullet points are an effective tool for an employer to have when doing their research into your qualifications and work history. In fact, some employers do not even consider a resume without a wordy format.But how do you find the answer to this question? One great thing to do is to use an online resume review site. Most resume review sites are free to use, so you should do this and then visit each site to see if you can get the answer to this question. Some sites offer a free trial, so use them for a few days and you will have found the one that answers your question.Other sites of fer a membership where you can download career tools and use those tools in generating resumes. This is a good idea if you have tried everything else and the basic information has not worked for you.You should also be aware that some employers ask for more than just a wordy format for how many bullet points per job on resume, or they will not hire you. Some employers do not understand that the use of bullet points is a helpful tool in making a professional resume.When you find the number of bullet points, you should follow the format that was used by your college degree program or community college coursework. In this case, it is usually four. You should also consider using the number of your years of work experience and perhaps your education and any publications you have been published in.How many bullet points should you use? This really depends on your goals and personal preferences. There are some great companies that offer a number of different resume formats, but you should c hoose the one that works best for you.The number of bullets in a resume is a big part of the interview process. And, you should use them correctly and keep in mind that how many bullet points per job on resume is important, not only in a technical sense but for the purpose of being professionally written.

Drone Insurance - What You Need To Know

Drone Insurance - What You Need To Know Whether youre hiring a drone operator for your project or are a drone operator who is asking yourself, What insurance do I need for my drone business?, this article will get you pointed down the right path. I asked The Drone Insurance Guy, Evan Garmon, what are the keys you need to know. Note that I am not providing insurance advice and you should consult your insurance agent for your specific needs.   Evan has specialized in insurance for drone operators and so you should consider him as a resource when trying to sort out your options. Heres what he said. What is Drone Insurance and Why is it Necessary? Drones (otherwise known as UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are here to stay and will change the airspace as we now see it.   This innovative technology does not come without risk to the operator and to the general public, hence the reason UAV insurance is now an insurance product. While operators in much of the United States (except for Minnesota) are not required to have a policy in place to cover commercial operations, it is still wise to have liability coverage. When contracting a UAV operation whether it be for aerial photography of real estate, marketing purposes, inspection, or any other currently unknown uses, there are a few things to look for when asking for proof of coverage and the insurance certificates of UAV operators. What Insurance is Needed and How Do You Confirm Needed Coverage Are In Place? The Form.   UAV insurance certificates do not look like the standard Acord 25 form that most see when asking for proof of coverage.   UAVs are primarily insured on adapted aircraft policies and have a separate insurance certificate that can apply.   The form number is the Acord 21 and will have a summary of the drones insured on the policy. Confirm Insurance Is Current.   If youre hiring a drone operator you should verify the policy is currently in force by calling the insurance agent on the form and verify the information is accurate and up to date. Make Sure The Specific Drone Being Used Is Covered.   When looking over the aircraft coverage section, ask the operator if they will be using the unit displayed in the box or any of the other units that may be shown on another page of the certificate.   An FAA registration number or UAV serial number may be displayed in the box, but make sure that the unit the operator intends to use is the same on the certificate. $1,000,000 Limit Suggested.   UAV policies currently on the market typically cover bodily injury and property damage due to a UAV crashing into a person or property.   The most common limit is $1,000,000, but some policies may be written for $500,000.   As best practice, Harpenau Insurance Agents do not recommend UAV operators insuring their drones liability for less than $1,000,000 since most contracts require a minimum $1,000,000. Damage to Drone Coverage Section.   Section two of the UAV policy has available coverage for the UAV itself with limits as high as the operator needs.   This limit will be displayed in the Aircraft Hull limit box and will vary from unit to unit depending on the value the operator wants to cover their unit at.   While not completely relevant for many to verify, it may be an indication of the operators ability to quickly purchase another aircraft in the event of an accident, thus requiring extended time to complete the work until they can either get the funds to replace the downed unit, or go purchase another one. Other Coverages.   Other coverage that may be shown on UAV certificates will be: Medical payments coverage for small accidents that may require a trip to an urgent care clinic. Premises liability coverage that will insure that if something happens to someone or their property while the UAV is operating and  does not cause the damage, accidents can still be covered.  Personal injury coverage is a misnomer and is actually coverage for lawsuits involving invasion of privacy, libel slander, and copyright suits.   This is an important coverage to make sure the operator has due to the public perception of drones spying on people. Additional Insured.   While many request operators to show only proof of coverage, having specific language in an agreement to be added as an additional insured to the UAV policy is a great risk management practice for contractors of UAV operations to implement.   Being added as an additional insured is often no cost to the operators and will make sure that if an accident occurs, you operation will have coverage under their limits as well. Official Policy vs Insurance Certificates.   It is important to note that just because the coverage is on the certificate as well as any special language in the description of operations box, it does not mean the representation is part of the official policy.   Certificates of insurance are issued as a matter of fact for information purposes only.   If you have questions about the operators coverage, discuss with their insurance agent the coverages they have in place.   Some policies will not recognize additional insured status until the agent reports the request to the insurance carrier. For More Information Or Insurance Questions For Your Specific Situation Drones are here to stay and will soon be a more common part of life delivering package, recording events, and possibly saving lives with medical device delivery already being tested.   If you have questions about drone insurance or would like to learn more about insuring drone operations, please contact Evan Garmon at  naeunm Evan Garmon is an Insurance and Risk Management Professional at Harpenau Insurance Agency in Indiana.   Since 2015, Evan has specialized with insuring UAS operations across the United States.   As a hobby drone pilot himself, Evan loves hearing clients stories and chatting about the latest technology.   With a solid team backing him at his agency and partnered insurance carriers, Evan is proud to be a one stop insurance solution for his clients. Other related posts you might want to check out 7 Drone Service Hiring Tips For Residential Real Estate Agents [From Drone Operator-Insiders] Hot To Get Your First Paid Drone Gig [18 Brief Case Studies] Photo credit:  Foter.com

5 (Lame) Excuses for Not Focusing on Your Career

5 (Lame) Excuses for Not Focusing on Your Career Imagine you’re 90 years old and looking back on your career. Will you be recalling it fondly and knowing that you did everything you could to have the career you wanted? Or will you have regrets about how you spent your time and energy and resources? The answer depends on whether you’re giving your career the attention it deserves right now. If you’re like many of my colleagues and clients â€" or frankly, like me back in the day! â€" you’re probably so busy producing results that you let your own needs fall by the wayside. Perhaps you’re selflessly dedicating all of your time and effort into serving your clients. Maybe it’s all you can do to finish the crucial tasks on your to-do list before racing back home to spend time with family. And it can feel selfish to make your career a priority when your inbox is overflowing. Whatever the reason, it’s all too easy to put your career last. But if you have ambitious career goals, that's a mistake. What if your career would flourish if you put in just a little bit more of the right kind of effort? What if your lack of attention to your career makes it less likely that others will push for you? You spend most of your waking hours at work and your career is too important to leave to chance. The 5 most common excuses for not investing in your career To help you determine if your career is at risk of neglect, here are the top five excuses I hear for not focusing on your career and why they can backfire. Let’s see if you recognize yourself in any of these. I don't have time We all have the same 24 hours in a day. But have you noticed that the most successful people seem to have enough time to accomplish and even surpass their goals? Why not let that be you as well? This is about placing a priority on the longevity of your career. So stop being selfless and start putting up boundaries to protect your time and focus on your career as well as other things that matter to you. Stop being selfless and start putting up boundaries to protect your time. I don't have money Sometimes career development requires a financial investment, and this is a worthwhile one. Unless you’re at risk of not feeding your family and not having a roof over your head, the lack of funds is no excuse. An investment in yourself is never wasted, and when you have some financial “skin in the game”, you’re more likely to feel and stay committed. You can create a budget for personal career development and have fun figuring out how you’re going to invest each year! And you could also make the case to your employer to provide some or all of the funding. I don't know what to do next Why focus on your career when you don’t even know what that next step looks like? Well, when you’re not sure what your next career move should be, that’s exactly the time when you need to carve out the time, energy or resources to help figure this out. Get help and talk to people, whether that’s mentors, coaches or others you trust. Take time to experiment and reflect. I'm not worth it If you’re thinking you’re not worth it, or that nothing will work for you, it may mean that you’re afraid to fail. In the words of Homer Simpson, “the first step to failure is trying”. So if you don’t try, you can’t fail. But if you don’t believe in yourself, it’s hard for others to believe in you enough to push you forward. The more you invest in yourself, the more confidence you will generate. It's not my responsibility Many people get lulled into the false belief that it’s the company’s responsibility to look after your career. It’s understandable, especially when they start you out on a training program. But if you’re waiting for your employer to come up with ideas and funding for your career development, you could be waiting for a long time! No one cares as much about your career as you do, so take ownership of your career. You owe it to yourself The more senior you are and the more senior you want to be, the more you owe it to yourself to pay attention to your career. If you hear yourself in any or all of these five excuses and they’re holding you back, it’s time to stop short-changing yourself and your career. Take a moment to step back and reflect on what kind of investment you want to make in your career. Are there relationships and networks to build and expand? Would obtaining further training or a degree help you advance? Are there skills to develop and experiences to get under your belt? Would a coach or mentor help you speed your progress? Is there a stretch assignment or promotion to make the case for? Doing your day-to-day job is crucial, but it’s the focused investments you make in your career that will bring long-term success. Which excuse is most familiar to you and what is one action you will take to shift out of that frame? Leave a comment and let me know. PS â€" I used to be in both the “No Time” and “No Money” camps. Now that I’ve re-prioritized and worked on my money mindset, I’m making some cool investments in my career development. My latest endeavor is taking a course in Conversational Intelligence ®, or C-IQ. Can’t wait to share what I’m learning, so stay tuned!