by Laura Heinemann | Feb 4, 2016 | Uncategorized
Making a great first impression to connect with others… a task business scholars and professionals have attempted to understand and perfect since, what seems like, the beginning of time. Without a doubt, your first impression on someone has an enormous impact on how you are perceived and your chances of creating a lasting connection. Research has shown that most people will decide if they like you within the first 7 seconds of meeting. 7 seconds – that’s it! In that measly amount of time, someone will rapidly evaluate you on a variety of characteristics, including your smile, eye contact, gait, gestures, voice, and posture. If the initial impression is positive, you’ve succeeded. Congratulations. But if the first impression is negative, studies show the other person will spend the rest of the conversation attempting to internally justify their initial reaction. Basically, a negative first impression makes winning them over an uphill battle. So how do you leave a strong first impression that will not only entice someone to like you, but will encourage a lasting connection and rewarding relationship? It is an elusive question that frightens some and baffles others, but fret no longer. Here are some easy pointers that will ensure you leave a great impression and connect with anyone. Be aware of the way your present yourself. Your gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions, posture, gait, etc. These might seem like small aspects of meeting someone, but they have a lasting impact. Uncross your arms, seem enthusiastic, maintain eye contact, and face towards the person speaking to ensure your physical impression draws people in. Smile! Don’t be afraid...
by Laura Heinemann | Jan 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
We all have experienced it at some point in life: passive aggressive behavior. Defined as the indirect expression of hostility, passive aggressive behavior can feel omnipresent at the workplace if leaders don’t actively work to prevent it. It can take many forms including a negative attitude, procrastination, stubbornness, sarcasm, gossip, withdrawal, unusual behavior, or the repeated failure to complete tasks. If passive aggressive behavior isn’t addressed, the costs to a team or an organization can be great. Decision making slows down. Resentment between team members grows. Communication breaks down. Potential risks are not identified. The organization becomes incapable of functioning at the highest level possible, and for individuals within the organization, the unaddressed conflict festers into animosity, disloyalty, stress, and sometimes departure. Team leaders and managers must be proactive by preventing passive aggressive behavior quickly in order to avoid the unintended consequences. Here are a series of strategies for handling passive aggressive behavior effectively in a team or organization: As a leader, reflect on your own feelings around conflict. Do you avoid conflict? Do you address conflict at the appropriate moment? Spend some time thinking about the biases you might hold towards conflict and resolution, and start developing a plan for addressing conflict more directly. Your understanding and ability to address conflict is 50% of the solution. Make team members feel comfortable openly expressing contrasting views. Explicitly encourage engagement and develop ground rules to maintain professionalism and healthy disagreement. Anger should be expressed in a factual, non-judgmental way. For example: “I’m concerned that we are not sharing all of our opinions. I would like everyone to share their thoughts...
by Laura Heinemann | Jan 21, 2016 | Uncategorized
Wall Street banking jobs have traditionally been some of the highest paying and most sought-after jobs for new college graduates. However, in recent years Wall Street’s culture has led to a slow and steady talent drain as more and more people choose startups and the Silicon Valley over banking. The problem for banks stems from many things, but one of the biggest problems is the culture. Social-media and technology companies are attracting new talent by appealing to their desire for global experiences, high levels of responsibility, reasonably fast advancement, a strong sense of ethical standards, innovative management techniques, and an attractive work-life balance. In order to compete, Wall Street must make changes to its culture. According to The Boston Consulting Group, these changes should be the immediate focus: Ensure that basic people-management disciplines are carried out. These include soft metrics (such as pulse-check-based overall satisfaction) as well as harder metrics (quality-of-performance reviews conducted at regular intervals). Create Personalized learning and development plans that offer training across silos and divisions and also provide necessary compliance content. Recognize that many high-performing individuals (such as traders) may not necessarily be effective people managers, and that forcing them into such roles can be detrimental both to the individuals themselves and to their subordinates. Address next-generation concerns such as better approaches to work-life balance (perhaps through part-time or flexible working policies), greater mobility, and opportunities for social initiatives (such as social-impact leaves of absence). Evaluate alternatives channels for recruiting Millennials. Build a more rigorous approach to managing career paths (including full transparency on titles and promotions). Reinforce active performance management and outplacement (aside from...
by Laura Heinemann | Jan 14, 2016 | Uncategorized
According to professors Edward Deci and Richard Ryan from the University of Rochester, employees work for six main reasons. Three of the reasons tend to increase performance, while the other three hurt it. The six main reasons people work are: play, purpose, potential, emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia. Here is a breakdown of each reason: Good (or Direct) Motives: Play is when you are motivated by the work itself. You work because you enjoy it. A teacher at play enjoys the core activities of teaching — creating lesson plans, grading tests, or problem solving how to break through to each student. Play is our learning instinct, and it’s tied to curiosity, experimentation, and exploring challenging problems. Purpose is when the direct outcome of the work fits your identity. You work because you value the work’s impact. For example, a teacher driven by purpose values or identifies with the goal of educating and empowering children. Potential is when the outcome of the work benefits your identity. In other words, the work enhances your potential. For example, a teacher with potential may be doing his job because he eventually wants to become a principal. Bad (or Indirect) Motives: Emotional pressure is when you work because some external force threatens your identity. If you’ve ever used guilt to compel a loved one to do something, you’ve inflicted emotional pressure. Fear, peer pressure, and shame are all forms of emotional pressure. When you do something to avoid disappointing yourself or others, you’re acting on emotional pressure. This motive is completely separate from the work itself. Economic pressure is when an external force makes you work. You work...
by Laura Heinemann | Jan 9, 2016 | Uncategorized
Executive Assistant We are looking for an individual with an entrepreneurial spirit: confident, intelligent and dedicated individual who is focused on making improvements and finding solutions. Someone who is detailed-oriented and proactive – willing to take the initiative to ask, learn, and make things happen. If you are looking for a part-time position that requires handling multiple requests, prioritizing and responding quickly and efficiently to team members and clients, let us know. Key Responsibilities: Manage day to day operations of office Plan and schedule meetings and appointments Manage projects and conduct research Prepare, edit correspondence, reports, and presentations Make travel and guest arrangements Financial: data entry, prepare invoices, make deposits Plan and coordinate events, workshops, conferences Provide excellent service to clients Maintain professional demeanor in all situations The ideal candidate will be a super creative team member and highly attentive to details. Other skills needed: 2+ years of experience in a business environments with administrative experience. A university or college degree Quickbooks Online Previous event planning experience preferred Must be able to work in a collaborative team environment. This position is 20 hours a week; hours and days flexible. If you are interesting, please email your resume. Entera+Partners Consulting is a boutique consulting firm poised for growth. We are dedicated to long-term relationships with our valued clients whose brands are synonymous with excellence, service, integrity and innovation....
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