7 Tips to Create an Effective Team

To ensure success in today's workplace, building effective teams is essential.  Successful teams are able to produce results greater than if each member was to work individually.  Here are seven tips to implement to create an effective team in the workplace:

1. Build a team with the right skill set
While it may be tempting to build a team based upon relationships and complementing personalities, it is important ensure the team has the right skill set.  If the skills required to accomplish the task are not present in the team it will be extremely difficult to produce optimal results.


2. Begin with a clear purpose
Clarity is crucial.  Vagueness of goals decreases the effectiveness of teams.  How is it possible to achieve the end goal if it is unknown what it is?  By creating clear goals and developing a common purpose team members are able to work together to accomplish these goals instead of trying to further their own agendas.


3. Establish norms
By establishing norms you are deciding which behavior is okay and which is not.  Is it acceptable for team members to be ten minutes late to meetings?  Are you allowed to talk about the project with people outside of your team?  Establishing norms ensures everyone is on the same page.


4. Build trust
If team members lack trust they may be more willing to withhold information which is detrimental to the team.  By building trust team members feel safe to share comments and ideas with others.


5. Encourage conflict
Most people believe conflict is bad.  However, lack of conflict signals apathy and disengagement.  It is important to focus on creating cognitive conflict not affective conflict.  Affective conflict is interpersonal conflict and has a negative impact on teams.  Cognitive conflict, on the other hand, encourages teams to critically think about ideas and is beneficial to teams.


6. Incorporate humor
Sometimes working on a team project becomes too tense and serious.  Alleviate the intensity with humor.  Engage in simple pranks.  Laugh about mistakes.  Watch a few YouTube videos.  Incorporating humor allows team members to take a step back and refocus on what is important. 


7. Establish buy-in
By establishing buy-in, each team member becomes more fully committed to producing results. Buy-in can be established by listening to and implementing ideas and feedback and creating a sense of fairness when making decisions. Team members feel a greater duty in pushing the team to success when they are personally invested in the results.

Surviving Valentine's Day Single

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm going to share a few tips on how to survive the day as a single person.  Whether you love love, hate the reminder of your singleness, or are just apathetic about it all, hopefully you can find something to improve your day.

1. Throw a Party!
Go out to dinner.  Have a movie night.  Go bowling.  Host a game night. Whatever you do, invite all your single friends and have a grand time!

2. Have a Night In
If partying isn't your thing, or you have no friends, treat yourself!  Order take-out, cozy-up in a blanket, and have a Netflix marathon.  Buy those shoes you've been eyeing online.  Finish a craft project.  Cuddle with your pint of Ben & Jerry's.  Take the night to focus on YOU.

3.  Serve Others
Even if you don't have a valentine, you can help someone else who does!  Take your co-worker's shift at work so he can take his girlfriend to dinner.  Help your best friend make cookies for her husband.  Or you can make cookies and give them as valentines to your friends and neighbors.  Buy flowers and hand them out to random people.  Strive to make someone else's day a little bit brighter!

4. Improve Yourself
Begin a new hobby.  Read a book.  Tackle a challenging recipe.  Do something that makes you better than you were yesterday.  If you dislike being single on Valentine's Day, set goals on how you plan on changing your relationship status for next year.  Maybe you will talk to that cute boy in class.  Or take a country swing-dancing class.  Or find the positive things in life.  Others are drawn to happy, ambitious people.  Focus on improving yourself and have fun along the way.

Whether you're spending the night in or out, with friends or by yourself, enjoy it!  Don't let others' happiness make you miserable.  By doing more of what you enjoy, happiness will follow.

Sochi 2014

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, have not begun flawlessly.  Journalists and reporters arrived to Sochi only to discover conditions were far from optimal.  Hotel rooms were incomplete, water was unsafe, and some roads were unfinished.  Naturally, reporters did what they do best, and shared the news with the world with their various news agencies and Twitter accounts.

One journalist who is not even in Russia is capitalizing on what he likes to call #SochiProblems.  Twenty year old Alex Broad, a journalism student in Toronto, created the Twitter account @SochiProblems during an otherwise slow news day.  His account consists of retweets from journalists in Russia and his own witty commentary.  The following tweets are only a sampling of what this account has to offer:

No water for you! #SochiProblems #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/JHWyOU82bf
— Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 4, 2014

Who needs walls. #SochiProblems pic.twitter.com/QUgMHqW4Zy
— Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 4, 2014

@HarryCNN but it's a nice room. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/o6KH3fjR1y
— Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 4, 2014

We got $50 billion to prepare for the #Olympics but we thought the buddy system in every bathroom was still a good idea. #SochiProblems.
— Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 5, 2014

I see @barryap1 broke his doorknob... #SochiProblems #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/NkUeP0Pd64
— Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 5, 2014

Luckily for @jianghomeshi, I have extra lightbulb but need doorknob in return. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/s67850uTuj
— Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 5, 2014

@SochiProblems has really taken off in the past three days.  It was started on February 4, 2014, and now (February 7) it has over 275 thousand followers.  This official Sochi 2014 Twitter account trails behind Sochi Problems by over 100 thousand followers.  It will be interesting to see how the games play out -- hopefully the $51 billion spent for the Olympics will be more evident in the the events than the hotels.

Advertisers' Christmas

Super Bowl Sunday is like Christmas for advertisers. Except all the bad ads are the relatives you hate seeing.
— Jeremy Schumann (@JeremySchumann) January 31, 2014

This tweet couldn't speak truer words. Just like the relatives you love, everyone is excited to see the brilliant ads that have been created.  This year, people are able to spend a few extra days with these beloved relatives.  How is this possible?  Some companies have opted to release their Super Bowl advertisements early.

While releasing the advertisement early may seem crazy considering the size of the audience on Super Bowl Sunday and the millions of dollars paid for a single spot, it's actually a pretty smart idea.  The Internet has an even larger potential audience than that of the Super Bowl.  It also fosters communication about the company and product and garners anticipation for the arrival of the commercial.

Commercials that have already been released are creating a buzz on social media.  This is exactly the type of reaction advertisers and companies want.  Here are a few of the commercials that will be viewed during the big game:


   
   

Digital Sharecropping

This week Envolve, a local marketing company, guest lectured for my social media class.  They covered a variety of topics, but one of the more interesting ones they covered was digital sharecropping.

via

So, what is sharecropping?  If you're like me, you have heard the term, but may have forgotten what it means.

Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on the land.

Digital sharecropping is the same idea.  When an individual or company engages in social media websites, in essence, they are borrowing the "land."  Although you are the one to upload all your information to create your own profile, social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are allowed to dictate their terms and policies.

This has become a problem for companies.  Many use social media to boost their brand presence, market their products, and communicate with customers.  For example, a few years ago, large brands had hundreds of thousands of Facebook "likers" viewing and interacting with their posts.  Facebook changed their terms and conditions which changed how visible posts became to people who already opted-in to "liking" them. Over time, organic visibility of posts has sharply declined.  In order for a company's content to reach customers, Facebook requires the company to pay sponsorship for the post.

Your company is at the mercy of social media websites' terms and policies.  It is a misconception to think social media is free; it is becoming increasingly more expensive to reach customers.  When choosing a marketing strategy for your company, don't put all your eggs in the basket of social media.

7 Tips to Grow Your Blog

Everyone has something they want to share with the world.  Blogging is a great way to share your ideas because you can reach hundreds, even thousands, of people with the click of a button.  Unfortunately, people need to be aware of your content before they can benefit from it.  Here are a few simple tips to market your blog and expand your influence:

1. Content is King
Make your blog worth reading.  Find something you're passionate about and talk about it. It may be sharing tutorials on how to do something, being clever or witty, or sharing thoughts and experiences that make people go, "Hey, me too!"  Really, the possibilities are limitless.

2. Distribution is Queen

It was once said, "Content is king, distribution is queen, and she wears the pants."  No matter how interesting, thought-provoking, or life-altering your content is, it doesn't matter if no one reads it.  Market yourself!  Take advantage of social media.  Your traffic will increase dramatically once you start sharing links to the posts you worked so hard on.

3. Connect with Other Bloggers

Something that goes hand in hand with distribution is connecting with other bloggers.  Search for blogs similar to yours.  Make thoughtful comments.  Don't just say, "Great blog post!  Follow me back?"  Nobody cares.  If you make a comment specific to their blog that shows you actually read their content, the other blogger will be more willing to show you the same courtesy.

4. Make it Pretty

First impressions are everything.  Think about it.  How much time are you willing to spend on unattractive websites?  Chances are, not that long.  Give your blog a nice design, whether you learn HTML and coding yourself or you pay someone else to do it.  Make posts attractive by adding pictures and breaking up the text into manageable paragraphs or lists.

5. Be Conversational

Write as if you were talking to your reader in person.  Be personable.  Ask your readers questions and invite comments.  Let your personality shine through your writing.

6. Be Consistent

Keep readers coming back by writing consistently.  Readers will stop checking your blog if there is rarely new content.  Update frequently.  Some bloggers find it helpful to create a personal schedule of when to post, especially if their blog features certain series.

7. Introduce Yourself

Create an "About" page.  Give readers a place to see what you and your blog are all about.  Make it interesting and unique.  What makes you different, better, or special?  This page allows readers to connect with you on a personal level.  Make sure to leave contact information so readers can contact you with any questions or comments.