How to Run a Better Brainstorming Session

How to Run a Better Brainstorming SessionHow to Run a Better Brainstorming SessionWhen done right, theres no better tactic than team brainstorming to boost creativity and generate winning ideas. But theres an art to planning and running an effective brainstorming session. Heres how.A great brainstorming meeting can be a dynamic way to fuel innovative concepts, campaigns and solutions. The problem is that many brainstorming sessions are not great - yet it isnt always easy to tell what exactly differentiates awesome brainstorming techniques from poor ones.The fact is that you cant leave first-class brainstorming to chance managers need to be proactive in preparing for their teams creative-thinking huddles. Here are some ways to plan for and manage brainstorming gatherings to maximize their efficiency and effectivenessTime it rightThe first decision you need to make is when to hold your brainstorming session. One benefit to scheduling a morning gathering is that people will be fresher, with fewer competing distractions and priorities that often arise as the day goes on.If you cant book an early session, though, dont panic. Research has shown that counter to conventional wisdom, those who consider themselves to be morning people actually do their best creative work later in the day, while its the reverse for night owls. So, whichever time you choose, at least some of your team should be at the top of their game when it comes to ideation.Pick your spotAs you select your meeting time, youll also need to pick a distribution policy to brainstorm. Be aware that as with timing, the choice of the best venue in which to idea surf is not black and white. It can be effective to hold an offsite brainstorming session at a coffee shop, a park, or a conference center across town to shake people out of their routines, creating energy and excitement.On the other hand, you dont need to leave company grounds to get good ideas. An advantage of brainstorming in the office is that you can set up a dedicated area, so that your staff will associate that spot with idea generation.Fuel the creative juicesNo one does their best thinking on an empty stomach. Having treats in the room is part and parcel of brainstorming, particularly for creative groups. In addition to standard creative agency fare like coffee (always have lots of coffee on hand) and cookies, it helps to provide nutritious snacks that can circumvent sugar and caffeine crashes. Think protein bars, bagels and fruit for morning meetings, and sandwiches and veggie sticks for afternoon sessions.If youre working in-house, you can also stock your brainstorming room with a work table, white board and comfy furniture - as well as other creative paraphernalia like games and notepads - to encourage inspired ideas.Grease the wheelsWhile great brainstorming involves building on the groups concepts in real time, theres no reason creative directors and other managers cant kick-start the process before the meeting. A few days prior to your session, ask participants to begin thinking about the topics, and request that they arrive with some initial concepts to discuss as a starting point. That way, people will come in fired up with ideas, and youll have a head start in sparking the conversation.Hiring? Check out The Creative Group Salary Guide for average starting salary ranges and the latest hiring trends.Consider the kickoffYour creative team has arrived, and its time for the brainstorming session to begin How you launch the meeting will impact its effectiveness. If youve assigned participants pre-work, thats one way to get team members engaged in the free flow of discussion. Alternatively, if people havent had time to conceptualize in advance, you can distribute notepads or sticky notes and ask the group to spend the first five to 10 minutes of the meeting brainstorming silently on paper.Then go around the room and invite each participant to share his or her top-line thoughts - or post the p apers on the white board so that the room has a visual to stimulate dialogue. Another way to loosen up the groups creative muscles is to begin with a fun sketching challenge or drawing exercise.Create a judgment-free zoneAs part of the kickoff, creative leaders should remind their team that the point of brainstorming is to unearth as many quality creative ideas as possible. Your goal as creative manager and lead facilitator should be to encourage active participation from everyone around the table. For this to work, your brainstorming sessions need to be recognized as a judgment-free safe place for people to share what comes to mind. If people are worried about being criticized or mocked, then they wont reveal their thoughts to the group.Dont allow editing during the brainstorming sessionThe purpose of brainstorming is simply that - to generate as many ideas on a topic as possible, without immediately trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. Managers should ensure that the meeting stays focused on thinking up ideas, not crossing things off the list.Whittling down a brainstorm to the very best concepts can come at the end or during a separate session. Let the team know that everything they throw out there - no matter how crazy it sounds - will be included and documented. When employees know their opinions matter, they will be more likely to share their boldest blue-sky ideas, which just might end up being the ones that stick.Capture it allIn the frenzy of a successful brainstorm, you might be tempted to just go with the flow and hope that the group remembers the essence of the meeting. A far better approach is to capture every idea as its thrown out, writing it down on a white board or large easel pad for all to see. Again, now is not the time to try to figure out if its a good idea or not simply assign a team member to write down the ideas as they come.Creating this visual collection of the words can help inspire other thoughts and keep the mental riffing g oing. After the meeting, the team can compile all the ideas and you can distribute them for follow-up.Know when to quitSometimes, the innovative spirit just isnt there, and the meeting becomes ineffective. As the manager, its important to recognize when the faucet has run dry and to call it quits (for the moment). It could be that youve maxed out the potential in the room and the team has hit a collective brick wall. If its the end of a long day or week when the creative team has been juggling many deadlines and responsibilities, they may be tapped out and need time to rest and recharge. Dont stretch it out if your staff is clearly sapped.Consider regrouping after a short hiatus - such as after a weekend - when people have had a block of time away from thinking about the issue to replenish their creative juices.With some proper preparation, brainstorming facilitators can make sure their idea-generating powwows with creative staff are both powerful and productive. Knowing when, whe re and how to conduct brainstorming meetings is half the battle - so do your due diligence and dont skip these crucial steps.For tips on filling jobs, read our free guide on how to hire top creative talent.

Transferable skills alone wont win that job

Transferable skills alone wont win that jobTransferable skills alone wont win that jobHeres how to sell transferable skills to new employers and land a job in a new industry.Massive layoffs and fewer jobs in many industries mean its possible (if not likely) that youll have to leave your industry or specialty area. Many job search experts and career coaches say transferable skills will help bridge the gap, but what does this phrase mean if youre the one receiving the pink slip?Heres how to transfer your current skills to win your next jobStart with your transferable skills, but dont stop there.You are not your job title.If youre facing a layoff or youre already there, dont limit your identity. You are much more than a job title. Actually, this rapidly changing, fluid job market makes it dangerous to tie yourself to a title.Begin by viewing your work experience as a platzdeckchen of competencies and roles that you have mastered and that can be useful from one occupation or industry to another. This is what is meant by the term transferable skills. They afford you versatility and adaptability, and they open up new possibilities.But selling the skills alone is not enough.Tie benefits to each transferable skill.Sell results instead of skills. Especially today, skills are just a commodity.Employers buy results and are less impressed when a candidate promotes a laundry list of skills. Therefore, you should define how those transferable skills have been assets to your employers.Another way of looking at this is to ask yourself, How am I an asset to a companys balance sheet? Focus on how your work either helps the company make money or save money. Think beyond even your skill sets and job duties, and list every possible example of how you have helped to save time for your employer (Time equals money).By including several specific achievements, you separate yourself from your competitors and are much more likely to gain the attention of your next employer.Sit down with a legal pad and write down all of your achievements from current or past jobs. For example, if youre looking for a job as a project manager, make a list of your completed projects and ask the question, So what? after each one. What youre after is the achievement.Focus on the end result, the benefit to the client or employer as a result of something that you did or contributed.How did the client or employer benefit? How was someones life made better? Ideally, we want to end up with an answer as close to dollars as possible. If necessary, make an educated guess, as long as youre comfortable with the figure.If you cant put it in terms of dollars, then how about using a percentage? Achieved a 25 percent time savings by reorganizing the front filing system.If not a percentage, then how about a number? Reactivated 155 client accounts.Now review your list. Try to come up with a solid list of five or more achievements. Ideally, pick those to which you can attach a measurable result.If you ca n include a concise list of five to seven good achievements that emphasize return on investment (ROI) generated by something you actually did, youll score a lot quicker than just by trying to sell a laundry list of transferable skills.Sell these skill + benefit packagesEducation and transferable skills, while valuable, do not translate into benefits. Once youve taken some of those skills and tied a benefit to them in the above exercise, its now time to define yourself in one concise statement or sentence.Ask yourself what you can do for this employer that your competitors cant. You have a unique set of skills, experiences and talents. Now turn them into a unique selling proposition for the employer. A good USP says, Heres what I can do for you by highlighting one major benefit that you bring to this employer.Often called a personal branding statement, your USP provides the first impression of who you are and what you offer a potential employer. This is also how you describe yourself in any networking meeting you attend. A good USP will get you remembered and put you on the to-call list.A unique selling proposition is deceptively simple, yet it can be really tough to come up with one. It is a one-sentence description of the essence of you. This is your brand, your slogan - so take the time and thought to develop the right message for yourself. That one sentence should say three very important things 1.) Who you are 2.) your biggest strength and finally, 3.) the biggest benefit that you bring to the employer.For the greatest impact, that benefit should be something measurable. And the very best measure is dollars.Here is an example of a USPHands-on Operations Manager with strong people and team-building skills who has helped produce revenues of $2.8 million with a 22 percent margin for my previous employer.Notice that this simple sentence covers all three elements we discussed and ends with a desirable benefit that most any employer would love to have.SummaryIf you have to look beyond your present industry or job title for your next position, identifying those transferable skills is a good exercise. But remember Its only a starting point. Take a step further and think about how each of those skills actually benefits your employer. Then demonstrate how each of those skills answers an employers specific need and how it has made life better in some way for them. That means turning those skills into achievements and finally, summarizing them into a one-sentence USP that can stop a potential employer in their tracks and whet their appetite to know more.

Study When bosses looks at their phones, it undermines employees trust

Study When bosses looks at their phones, it undermines employees trustStudy When bosses looks at their phones, it undermines employees trustWhen youre holding a phone in yur hand at work, you may nod and speak at the right intervals, but employees read your smartphones presence as a sign of your disinterest, a new study inComputers in Human Behavior found.ResearchersJames A. Roberts and Meredith David called this behavior phone-snubbing, or phubbing, which they defined as the extent to which a supervisor uses or is distracted by his/her cell phone while in the presence of subordinates.Study Phone-snubbing increases employees mistrustWhen the 408 employees and supervisors surveyed answered affirmatively to statements like, My boss places his/her cellphone where I can binnensee it when we are together and When my boss cellphone rings or beeps, he/she pulls it out even if we are in the middle of a conversation, that correlated with negative ratings on statements like I can rely on my su pervisor to keep the promises he/she makes.Related from LaddersNew neuroscience reveals 2 rituals that will make you more mindful6 reasons recruiters say theyll toss your resume in the trash10 ways smart people work less and get more doneIn fact, three-in-four employees surveyed showed a lack of trust in a boss who phubbed them. When our bosses prioritize their phones, we feel like they do bedrngnis prioritize our professional development - and our productivity and engagement suffer for it. Employees who did not trust their phubbing bosses had a 5% decrease in employee engagement.Hellooo?When we see our boss tapping on a screen in front of us, we wonder, Hellooo? Is she even listening to our idea? The presence of a phone is enough to derail our self-confidence. Employees who are the victims of phubbing are less likely to feel that their work is valuable or conducive to their own professional growth, and employees who work under the supervision of an untrusted, phubbing supervisor t end to have lower confidence in their own ability to carry out their job, David said.The ability to get things successfully done goes down when your employees dont think youre really listening to them. You may think scrolling through your phone during meetings is harmless, but when youre the boss, the presence of smartphones can undermine your work relationships with employees.Making your employee feel fully heard begins with putting down your phone and giving them your full attention. Your Slack messages and emails can wait.Detaching from phones begins with being mindful to their addictive qualitiesIts not necessarily all our fault that were attached to the hand to our phones, though. The apps and features within our phones have been built to be addictive. Google, Twitter, and Facebook workers have recently admitted that their devices do not always have our best interests in mind - theyre designed to keep us engaged at all costs.Even Facebook recently admitted that using its socia l network is not always good for our mental health. In a recent corporate blog post that cited outside studies, Facebook researchers acknowledged that passively consuming information via social networks like Facebook makes people feel bad about themselves.Its one more reason to pocket your phone when youre talking to co-workers.Thats the paradox within these addictive smart devices - they help us instantly find and connect to one another but when we bring them into our physical work interactions with one another, they can also make us feel more disconnected and alone.

How to Decide Whether to Go to Journalism School

How to Decide Whether to Go to Journalism SchoolHow to Decide Whether to Go to Journalism SchoolFor those who want to be journalists, the question of whether to go to journalism school is a big one. And the merits of journalism school is a hotly debated issue among those in the field. Do you need a graduate degree in journalism to be a great journalist? And, more importantly, will getting a graduate degree in journalism really help you land that first journalism job? All questions you need to ask yourself if youre trying to decide whether or not to go to journalism school. As it turns out there are very few mediajobs that require you to have a graduate degree in journalism. In general, there are very few media jobs that require any kind of graduate degree. Unlike medicine, law or even teaching, media jobs rarely require an advanced degree, just certain skill sets. So why go to journalism school? Well, there are pluses and minuses to J-School, as its dubbed in the media world. Ive bro ken down the pros and cons so you can decide whether its the right fit for you. Advantages Some of the biggest perks of journalism school are the connections it offers. While learning invaluable skills about what journalism is and how to craft and report stories, youll meet professors who likely have strong ties to the media world. This means a professor could pass your resume on to an old friend who works at The New York Times or simply give you an inside tip that the Times is looking for metro reporters. This is the kind of help that will land you jobs. Additionally, youll make connections with fellow students that may also help your career, either right away or down the line. In short, J-School offers great opportunities for career networking that are hard to get without years in the industry. The other big plus of J-School is that, while its not required for entry-level jobs, many employers nonetheless like seeing it on a resume. If youre up for a reporter position at a new spaper or hoping to land an editorial assistant job at a magazine, you might edge out a competitor simply by having gone to J-School. Another advantage of J-School is that it gives you on-the-job experiencethats hard to get anywhere else. Sure, you may have written a few stories for your college newspaper or penned a press release at that internship you had brde summer, but J-School will leave you with polished stories. Its also quite possible that, while youre in school, you might write a story that gets published in a local paper or magazine. This is important because having stories that demonstrate your writing abilities- clips, as theyre called- is essential to landing jobs. Often with reporting jobs, employers will ask to see a resume, cover letter, and clips. Disadvantages The big downside to J-School is its cost. Because entry-level journalism jobs are notoriously low-paying, its tough to go into the field with debt, and J-School is expensive. Furthermore, a journalism d egree might help you land a job, but it by no means guarantees you one. And, since journalism is a very competitive field, you have to take into account the fact that you might not land a job right after you finish graduate school. You also wont be able to use your journalism degree as a bargaining chip for a higher starting salary. If youre applying for an editorial assistant job that pays $27,000, youll make $27,000 whether you went to J-School or not. So, before you decide on journalism school, consider your financial situation. Can you afford it? Can you get a scholarship? Do you already have debt?? Schooling Options If you do decide journalism school is right for you, there are a number of programs you can enter. Its often said that Columbia and Northwestern (which houses the Medill School of Journalism) have the best programs, but dozens of schools across the country offer graduate degrees in journalism, many of which are very well-respected. Also, most schools have specia lty programs- in magazine writing, criticism, TV reporting, etc.- so, if you know the specific area of journalism that interests you, pay attention to what the school offers. Unlike law schools and geschftliches miteinander schools, which are exhaustively ranked year after year by magazines likeU.S. News World Report, J-schools are, well, not often ranked. That said, look at Wikipedia for a list of major J-schools

Productive Strategies for Summary in Resumes That You Can Use Starting Immediately

Productive Strategies for Summary in Resumes That You Can Use Starting Immediately Ok, I Think I Understand Summary in Resumes, Now Tell Me About Summary in Resumes To begin with, lets deal with the simple fact that its merely a huge block of text that nobody will read. Luckily, theres elendhing like a small bit of inspiration to receive your creative juices flowing. The very first thing which you want to do is go back and examine the job which youre applying for and determine your intended audience. When its your very first job, and never very formal, you may have considered trying something quite easy. The Little-Known Secrets to Summary in Resumes If youre a CFO, an expected employer doesnt have to understand the facts of your position for a staff accountant 15 years back. Consider how having multiple positions at precisely the same workplace will influence that. fruchtwein significantly, it aids the hiring manager quickly grasp the reach of the applicants experiences. The resume summary is simply a bridge to have the hiring manager in your experience. The Argument About Summary in Resumes Part of the reason is the fact that it lists your objectives, not your qualifications. In some instances, a job posting might attracts a couple of hundred resumes. The absolute most efficient summaries target one career objective. Focus on Your Goal they are targeted on one career goal. Key Pieces of Summary in Resumes Also, personalize each resume to be sure you match the terminology employed in the posting. Based on what kind of job that youre looking for, you will have varying wants. As a member, youre get business analyst job alerts sent straight to your inbox so that you can waste no time applying to the ones that youre most interested in. Scan the work description. Top Summary in Resumes Choices Its arduous sufficient to keep the employer involved with studying the key web page. Opening a resume with blocked information isnt such a good idea. In the shape on the internet page you must indicate that the selection of pages you require, the kind of paper, your deadline and extra info if needed. For a first-time job, you truly do not wish to go over one page in length. The Benefits of Summary in Resumes Attempt to do a little bit of research on the business youre applying to since the majority of the companies have various values. There are not any requirements for anything particularly, like listing your jobs and dates. Use the in depth human resources job description that will help you with your human resources resumes. To steer your path to the very best truck driver jobs, it can help to have a complete and customized resume. Summary in Resumes - the Story Resume summaries are rather underrated. This summary ought to be placed at the peak of your resume, right below your name and contact details. An executive summary is a brief statement at the very top of your resume that quickly summarizes what makes you th e ideal candidate for the job. Your summary of qualifications should incorporate a fine assortment of examples which make your resume really stick out. A well-written one is going to impress on the hiring manager the methods by which you are a perfect candidate for the job. Another way to ensure youre giving hiring pros what theyre searching for is to be specific. The main aim of an expert summary is to produce your most important abilities and experiences immediately noticeable to hiring managers. Simply stick to the directions and ideas, and youll learn precisely how to capture the attention of hiring managers. Make certain its tailored to not merely the position, but the business too. First content as you may have realized, you will find a lot of writing companies its possible to detect on line. To begin with, consider the work description to see whether it indicates the form of skills the provider is seeking. For each position, youre want to include your job title and business name. Based on your degree of experience and the jobs youre applying for, what you decide to concentrate on in your resume summary can fluctuate. On the flip side, the moment the work applicant has strong experience, there is not any need to depend on the academic training any longer and it doesnt need to get mentioned. Technically, a resume summary is not anything more than a brief introduction of what your professional standing is, and the way you want to use accumulated skills and experience to add to the organization that will gradually hire you. An overview of qualifications is utilised to highlight the range of work experiences youve built up as time passes. Its rather simple to tell the difference. A strong summary statement at the peak of your resume can increase the possibility of them noticing what youve got to offer from the beginning. When writing your statement, it is necessary to contemplate where youre in your professional progression. Knowing the fu ndamental steps of writing a good resume does not indicate you have to write alone. The Summary section, particularly, may be an immediate clincher in evoking interest if its done well. Done sloppily, the very first person LI summary can obviously switch off the recruiter who might see the tone too informal or too personal. Consider your professional summary as ateaser for the remainder of your resume.

The Ultimate Good Online Resume Writing Service Trick

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