Attention to Details as a Job Skill

 

If you’re in the job market, chances are you’ve come across plenty of job descriptions where the requirements say something like, “must have attention to detail,” or some iteration of that phrase. Some of you might even have this desirable quality listed as a punchy bullet point on your resume.
 
Attention to detail continues to top the list for desirable qualifications because it clearly sets up expectations on both sides. You know what a prospective employer wants, and said employer also knows what you can bring to the table. Employees who have exceptional attention to detail, frequently require less supervision, and they don’t tend to make costly mistakes.  
 
Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link
 
According to experts, poor attention to detail not only impacts the individual but the organization as well. We live and work in a world where change and innovation are happening at a pace never before seen. It is easy to get sloppy when a lot is being thrown at you and where you are expected to make speedy decisions.
 
The result of not focusing enough attention on the details can be devastating professionally, and they will also have an impact on the company you work for. If “attention to detail” falls into your “weaknesses category”, and you skip over certain job descriptions for that reason, there are things you can do to improve it.
 
Get Organized 
 
Whether it’s your calendar, your emails, or even your desk, one of the first steps to sharpening your attention to detail is to get organized. Knowing what’s on your calendar for the week ahead will ensure that you don’t miss any important deadlines or meetings. Moreover, managing your inbox and clearing out digital clutter will allow you to prioritize what’s important. 
 

Make Lists 

This may sound like a cliché, no brainer because everyone does it — but that’s probably because it works. The good news is, it’s as easy as it sounds. Make a list of what you need to accomplish and check each item off as you complete it. And don’t think this is an amateur move. Everyone (even surgeons and pilots) needs a list, a well-designed checklist will lead to better outcomes.

Focus – Don’t Try To Multitask 

Attention is a finite internal resource, and research tells us time and again that multitasking is a myth and we’re not really good at it. While multitasking is often glorified, the truth is it splits our focus and diminishes our attention to detail. To maintain your focus, refer to your list (remember) and focus on one task at a time. 

5 Skills to Impress Potential Employers

With the current economic climate, job markets become scrambled – unemployment is higher and competition is even more fierce. Because of this current state, the dynamics of hiring have also shifted.

As you look for a new job, you have to pivot in order to adapt to the current economic and job climate.

That said, here are the top 5 skills that you should have to impress any potential employer:

1. Communication Skills

One of the skills to put on your resume is communication skills. In any kind of job, communication is of utmost importance. Employers are always on the lookout for people with strong communication skills, both external and internal. Representation of the company, which refers to external communication, will depend on how employees communicate during presentations, meetings, emails, calls, and other correspondence.

Internal communication skills are equally important. You need employees who can clearly explain their point of view in a very articulate, professional, and concise way.

Employers are also looking for people who can clearly convey ideas into words. This will involve synthesizing data and translating it into layman’s terms. You can easily show off this skill by writing a good cover letter and speaking well in an interview.

2. Graphic Design

With everyone on social media, employees who have a knack in creativity and graphic design, such as having the skills in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Gimp are all well-received skills that employers will be impressed with. This will come in handy if your company needs to create some social media posts.

This will also be very important when it comes to advertising and marketing.

3. Leadership

Leadership skills come in short supply. Leadership is a skill that comes naturally for some people, and employers look for that. That’s why when employers sniff this out of you, you’ll easily stand out.

Leadership skills include teaching, coaching, supervising, and motivating the people you work with. The ability to motivate people towards a common goal is a skill that employers are very impressed with. So, if you have experience in leading a team or a project, then you should add those into your resume and mention it during your interviews.

4. Confidence

Confidence is also key to have your employer swept away by you. You need to find that balance between not being too arrogant while exuding confidence. If you don’t have confidence in yourself, how can an employer put their confidence in you?

Employers need to see that you’re aware of the fact that you have something to offer on the table. Otherwise, why should they even get you? Candidates with confidence in themselves are usually looked upon with awe by employers.

You can impress any employer with these credentials and skills. In the competitive scape of the job market, impressing employers with these key skills will be your way into your dream job. And if you don’t have these skills yet, it’s never too late to start learning them.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

5. Resilience

What’s the use of all these skills if an employee didn’t build up resilience? Hence, another skill that’ll make you stand out in the eyes of an employer is your appetite for resilience.

Employers will look for people who have overcome problems and coped with changes gracefully. Employers usually assess this through your experience and during the interview. Don’t be afraid to talk about your hardships and how you overcame them because these are things that’ll also make you stand out to any employer.

Sacrifices needed to have a Better Future

This is one of the most difficult things to give up because it is so deeply embedded in our cultural narratives that it becomes the standard by which we measure our lives. Even as entrepreneurs we have collectively agreed that fame and fortune are the markers of success. 

But, giving up other people’s definition of success is incredibly liberating and ultimately leads to the fullest expression of who you are and what matters to you. It’s not a one-time thing. It’s a daily habit of comparing less and creating more. “Success” doesn’t just mean what the larger mob of society says it means: lots of money, fame, and fortune. Many people with fame, fortune, and money have terribly empty, imbalanced lives. 

Your success isn’t defined by what other people say. 

No one can define your success but you. If you continue to let others tell you what success is, you’ll never reach it. 

“The most successful people I know are not busy. They’re focused.” - Jeff Goins, best-selling author 

How you spend your days is how you spend your life. 

A lot of people love being “busy.” They wear it as a badge of honor. When you ask them how they’ve been, what’s the response? “I’m so busy,” they lament.  

But it’s a subtle brag. They like the feeling. But when you’re busy, you don’t really do anything — just because your calendar is full of meetings, appointments, and commutes doesn’t mean you’re actually making any progress towards your true goals.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link 

Reinvesting your free time is one of the most important ingredients to your success. 

If you’re working a full-time job, with a commute and family and bills, you don’t have a lot of free time. If you’re like most people, the precious little free time you do have is spent on entertainment and distraction, not learning, and growing. 

This is low-level thinking, and it will lead you to a, frankly, low-level life. 

But true success requires sacrifice. A common misconception many of those sleep-when-you’re-dead hustle-entrepreneurs claim is that you need be working all the time. 

The truth is you need to work your butt off — for a time. After you’ve spent the time creating your life, you can sit back and enjoy the work you’ve done. 

5 simple tactics to adapt businesses for Social distancing

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has created uncertain times for just about everyone, including business owners. People are getting a lot of information from a lot of different places, but ‘social distancing’ is one recommendation that just about everybody seems to agree on to help slow the spread of the virus.

The goal is to slow the spread of the disease, “flattening the curve” to give healthcare organizations a better chance of providing care to all the people who need it.

I have dedicated my career to resolving many challenges facing entrepreneurs and business owners during trying times such as these and many others.

Sometimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

Whether you’re a small services business like an accounting or consulting firm, a high-traffic business like a financial institution or an entrepreneur of an independent business, here are 5 important actions that you can consider to help keep you, your customers, and the community at large safer while practicing ‘social distancing’ in your business.

First, arm your customers and employees with more information. The CDC offers a number of printable factsheets you can display at your place of business, informing people about the need for social distancing and how diseases like COVID-19 are transmitted.

Second, Physical contact is the fastest and most common way for viruses to spread. Do what you can to limit physical contact between people at your location. Do not shake hands. Do not hug. Find another way to greet people that involves no direct contact – do the cross-arm bump or greet with a Big smile! Everyone understands.

Third, Replace in-person meets to meetings virtually. In most cases, it’s not too difficult to replace a simple meeting with a video conference or a conference call. Pick a platform that will suit your meeting needs. If it’s a small committee meeting, Google Hangouts will fit the bill. If you need to host a webinar or large meeting, try Microsoft Teams Live Events or Zoom meetings.

Fourth, allow remote work and transition to a remote work setup, if possible. If any of your employees can do their jobs from home, let them work from home. The need for many businesses to operate as dispersed teams also presents an opportunity to go paperless. You don’t have to go into the office for a form or report if you can access it remotely.

Fifth, enable flexible scheduling. For employees who must be physically present, consider staggering your work schedules. This way, you can have a smaller number of employees present at your location at any given time.

Aligning Actions to Your Company Culture

Click on any business news feed and questions like “How Strong is Your Company Culture” or “How to Create a Winning Company Culture” would pop up.

But there’s one key piece of advice that’s missing from the conversation - All too often, companies and their leaders talk the culture talk without walking the walk. And because an organization’s cultural agenda is essentially a foundation and starting point for its strategic agenda, any disconnect here can become a significant problem.

This becomes more likely as companies grow and evolve. As it can result in messes such as the crisis of lawsuits. To make sure culture continues to inform and align with everyday thought and behavior — especially as companies grow and evolve — Dan recommends consistently using these 4 checkpoints to evaluate your organization’s actions and decisions at every level, each step of the way:

·      Taking care of customers
Does this decision support our values and culture around how we care for our customers and their needs?

·      Economic performance
Will this decision contribute to our profit and sustenance?

·      Competitive advantage
Does this decision help us maintain our competitive advantage and differentiate ourselves meaningfully from the competition?

·      Corporate stewardship

Is this decision in line with our business ethics and values of integrity and service?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no” it’s time to stop and rethink before acting upon any of these.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

The Ripple Effects of Thank you

A recent study showed that expressing gratitude affects not only the grateful person, but anyone who witnesses it.

Researchers and social scientists studying gratitude have found that being thankful and expressing it to others is good for our professional health and happiness. Not only does it feel good, it also helps us build trust and closer bonds with the people around us.

These benefits have mostly been observed in a two-person exchange—someone saying thanks and someone receiving thanks. Now, new research suggests that expressing gratitude not only improves one-on-one relationships but could bring entire groups together - inspiring a desire to help and connect in people who simply witness an act of gratitude.

When people witness an expression of gratitude, they see that the grateful person is the kind of person who notices when other people do kind things and actually takes the time to acknowledge them—meaning, they’re a good social partner. People who are responsive as social partners are really desirable people.

When a grateful person actually takes the time to step outside of themselves and call attention to what was great about the other person’s actions—that’s what distinguishes gratitude from other kinds of positive emotional expressions.

It’s easy to imagine how this should work in a workplace, where people are actually attending to and acknowledging other people’s good deeds and kindnesses. A whole group of people could be inspired to be kinder to one another, and, through this interwoven kindness, the group itself could become a higher-functioning group and a progressive company unit.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

Training Techniques to turn Large Teams into Decision-makers

We’ve all been part of a group training session where you walk away feeling like your time was wasted. More often than not, you may have found yourself in a room with a lot of people who felt the same way.

It’s close to impossible to have a productive group discussion when there are 100 people in the room. When a training group is too big, employees don’t have a chance to participate, and few are able to have their questions raised or concerns voiced. That leads to a work culture where people don’t feel empowered to make decisions, a crucial skill that defines good teamwork.

If your company has a large number of employees, it’s imperative you learn to adopt specialized training techniques that allow everyone the opportunity to contribute.

The end result is employees that become valued, confident decision-makers.

Over the years, studies have found large training groups equals more distraction and dissatisfaction. When employees aren’t engaged in meaningful activities, it often means less productivity, reduced motivation, and individuals that don’t feel like they’re part of the bigger, decision-making body.

As a result, companies end up wasting time and money—especially when they use outdated, boring teaching methods.

The next time you have a group training, ditch the traditional lecture or PowerPoint pitfall. Instead, find a teaching method that focuses on the participants by allowing employees to learn together.

Have training techniques with large groups that are fun, interactive with unique ways to teach your team new skills while empowering them to be more efficient policymakers.

Rather than have everyone discussing openly, a different technique could be a kind of team-building exercise. You can start by asking your group, “What is our biggest issue?”

Next, give everyone a few minutes to think about a problem. Ask them to write down their thoughts on sticky notes, keeping the specific task in mind. For example, ask them to write down why that issue is important.

Next, have each employee place the sticky notes on the wall. From there, everyone works together to sort the notes according to what they feel is most relevant, important, or useful.

During the exercise, there’s no discussion. This lets team members see where they agree or disagree with others. In addition, the “problem” isn’t just one person’s idea—everyone actively participates.

This is a fast and effective way to get employees working together to identify challenges while making decisions as a group.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

Every large group training session can benefit from facilitators—people that guide or direct individual teams during discussions or exercises.

These are the people who prompt participants with questions or conversation starters. They also monitor the group activity to ensure everyone has a chance to talk or share their ideas. Of course, having more facilitators also allows for more groups with fewer people, which gives each attendee more individualized attention and time to participate. Co-facilitators work extremely well when there’s specific domain knowledge being discussed.

In my experience, employees don’t dislike team exercises. What they don’t enjoy is not being able to make the decisions that allow for positive change and growth.