Tips For Working Virtually

In the modern era, more and more teams are making the transition to work virtually. This movement to online platforms may challenge management staff and office productivity; however, with the right knowledge it is possible to establish a strong, interconnected, and effective remote team. For years, I have managed global teams through online interfaces, even working long-term with employees I never had the chance to physically meet. Through this blog post, I will share with you my advice for organizations moving to virtual platforms.

Develop and cultivate trust with your manager

This is a primary concern for many managers as they transition to a remote team. Leaders may find it difficult to trust that work will be completed or that their employees will be at their top productivity levels. There is a basis for these fears; some team members will take advantage of this lack of oversight and mismanage their time. However, this is not the case for all employees and by increasing trust through open communication and visibility, teams can continue to function effectively even virtually. Ensure that you and your work are visible with frequent updates to your manager. Send weekly emails regarding your work status and the goals you have met. Stay connected with your team and keep informed about the ongoings of your organization.

Increase communication

Communication is incredibly important to all workplaces, but it can be easy to fall off the grid when working virtually. Make an effort to increase communication with your team through visibility updates and check ins. Additionally, remain present during virtual communication. In the age of Skype and Zoom, conducting online face-to-face interactions are relatively easy, but it can be equally easy to mentally disengage from these calls. Refrain from muting yourself and actively engage in the discussions instead. Remember that your word choice and voice tone matters a great deal when communicating through phone or video calls. I often make an effort to answer phone calls while standing to ensure that my voice sounds strong, confident, and professional. By increasing communication and remaining engaged with virtual meetings, your remote team will stay connected and high-functioning.

Minimize outside distractions

Whether in the workplace or at home, we are all faced with different distractions. Create a list of things that are frequent distractions and work actively to limit them. Whether this means moving to a different space in your house to reduce noise or limiting social media use during work hours. Decreasing these distractions will increase your overall productivity. Designating a room, desk, or even table area as your work space may increase your overall focus and attention during your remote work. Make sure to keep this area clean and organized and ensure that it is removed from possible distractions.

Set important limits

Working from home can blur the boundaries between personal and professional life, causing high-focused individuals to lead long and intensive workdays. To keep a healthy work-life balance, make sure to know when you’re going to log in and out. Keep track of your hours and ensure that you are not exceeding a healthy amount of work. In addition to this, take regular breaks during the work day to hydrate, snack, or even complete small household chores. Similar to meeting with your co-workers in the break room, these brief moments away from work will increase your productivity when you return to your computer. Through these steps, you can create a healthy routine for your virtual work life.

I hope these tips will help you become more comfortable with virtual teams and increase the productivity of your organization. By taking simple steps to increase employee visibility, enhance communication, decrease possible distractions, and create a healthy work-life balance, your remote team will be set up for success.

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

Envision The Team's Potential

When talking about his method for creating beautiful stone sculptures, Michelangelo once stated, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

Starting with a large, untouched block of marble, Michelangelo would take time to envision the final result of what it could be. He would spend time envisioning his masterpiece from all angles and considering all possibilities. After diligent planning and visioning, Michelangelo would take specialized tools to chip away at the marble methodically and refine it until the marble’s inner angel was set free.

While this is a great method for artists, Michelangelo also offers a process that can be applied to the modern workplace. Paralleling Michelangelo’s guidelines, managers can envision future aspirations to help define current goals and create a detailed plan to achieve them

As Michelangelo chips away at the marble, we should chip away at the challenges in the office to remove our employees’ fears, insecurities, and general inefficiency in the organization. This process requires the use of well refined skills, such as effective communication, team building, and employee engagement. This process is not easy and often takes time, but it has the most tangible results. As we carve away menial stress in the work, a rough outline of our offices’ full potential will materialize.

Michelangelo’s process reminds me of an experience I had during my first management job. At the start of my term, my predecessor took the time to review individual members of the team with me, highlighting their personal strengths and weaknesses as well as their professional goals. However, when we came to one team member named Mike, she quickly dismissed him, telling me that he was on a short list of people to be laid off. She described him as an aloof and a low performer, reinforcing the fact that there was little hope for his future with the company.

However, while conducting meetings with my new team, it felt increasingly odd to simply ignore Mike. I eventually scheduled a time to meet with him, and I was blown away by our interaction. Contrary to what had been said, Mike was filled with energy and seemed eager to learn. He passionately discussed his interest in writing business reports and running analytics for current projects. However, when I reviewed his work load, it was filled with highly strategic and relationship building work--the exact opposite of his personal strengths. It was at that moment when I saw the angel in the marble and began to create a plan for Mike with his professional potential in mind. I worked closely with him to create a workload of engaging and challenging projects, chipping away at his dissatisfaction with the company.

After frequent meetings to check up on his personal goals and accomplishments, I slowly began to see Mike’s true capabilities and revealing the angel within the marble. Through this process of introspection, planning, and action, Mike transformed from a distant, hopeless employee to a shining star on my team. This process helped me envision my employee’s unseen capabilities and lead to the overall enhancement of my professional team. The power of foresight can guide leaders through a myriad of affairs, encouraging critical thinking and defining individual and team goals.

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

Be an Effective Leader: Start By Being a Hero

The term hero conjures up a variety of images in one’s mind. From comic book drawings of strong individuals defeating evil counterparts to modern movies depicting teams of super human beings saving their cities, these Hollywood heros are different from the individuals I am referring to. My vision of a workplace hero aligns closely with the Greek definition of the word, “the protector.” As a leader in the workplace, one’s primary role is to protect their team. A workplace that feels safe and well guided will function more efficiently and productively, increasing employee satisfaction and company results. Lead by a manager who is actively concerned about the well being of those in their workforce, these employees will rise above their counterparts, fueled by the energy of their leaders. With this, there will be an overwhelming amount of trust established, allowing for personal and professional growth in the office.

Additionally, a hero provides their team with a sense of hope. This is an integral aspect of leadership, as hope has been proven to increase workplace engagement and satisfaction. In a recent Gallup poll which asked employees “whether their leader at work made them feel enthusiastic about the future,” of those who strongly agreed, nearly 70% were engaged in their work (Gallup). These statistics illustrate the importance of hope in the workplace, demonstrating the effect of inspiration on workplace engagement.

As leaders, we can inspire hope by focusing on our employees, evaluating their daily challenges and praising their strengths. Through this, a hero emphasizes the power of the individual, inspiring those on their team to work towards their fullest potential. Optimism also springs from a sense of stability in the company. We can facilitate this by creating a solid foundation and business strategy for our teams and reinforcing a long-term company vision.

As a hero, we take on the task of protecting, guiding, and inspiring our teams. These responsibilities, in turn, produce a safe, engaging, and creative workplace fueled by future aspirations and goals. With these ideas in mind, the culture becomes part of the strategy, interwoven in the company’s success and tied to their community. This stresses the importance of an empathetic, attentive, and proactive leadership, highlighting the positive effects of becoming a hero in the workplace.

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

How to Create a Buzz on Social Media Before Your Book is Launched

This article was published by the Writer's Digest

We are in an exciting age of publishing where authors can take control of their story and act as the writer, publisher, and even marketer for their book. As a new author, my focus was putting my heart and soul into my writing; however, through my journey of launching my memoir Breaking Vases, I learned that finishing the manuscript is only 50% of the work. The other 50% is promoting the book. When it comes to advertising, social media is one of the most powerful avenues available and provides us meaningful ways to engage with readers and generate anticipation for our work.

Here are seven tips to create buzz for your book through social media:

1. Monthly Updates: Share monthly status updates with your followers to make them eager to get their hands on your book. Starting six months prior the launch date, post short videos or written posts sharing your progress and details about why you decided to write your book. Make sure your posts not only convey your hard work, but the meaning, emotions, and value your book offers.
2. Engage Your Network: Request input from your followers through interactive questions and polls regarding thing like book titles, design, or any other creative elements along the way. People love to share their opinions, and in return they feel invested in your project.
3. Assemble a Launch Team: Reach out to your network to find supporters of your work who would like to be part of your launch team: a group that will read your book prior to launch, provide their input, write reviews, and share your posts on social media to drum up support. In return, think of a special gift for them, such as signed copies of your book or complimentary access to a workshop or program that you offer.
4. Start a Countdown: As your launch date approaches, start a countdown to inform your followers and create excitement. Generate buzz the day of the launch by sharing multiple posts and showing selfies of your launch team holding your new book. Maybe even include a live stream to encourage participation from your audience.
5. Share Reviews: Share the reviews that you received from your launch team. Select and creatively arrange phrases that align with your book’s message, value, and uniqueness. Additionally, tag the reviewer. Include their pictures next to the quote and make them feel special. Tagging is essential since their network will also be alerted of your post, expanding your reach.
6. Provide Excerpts: Read through your manuscript and highlight paragraphs that you believe would catch the readers’ eyes. Post these phrases in a thoughtful design to give your audience a sneak peak of what’s coming. Make these mini releases exciting, as if you are unveiling small secrets of your work with your followers.
7. Post pictures, pictures, and more pictures: As you get closer to the launch date, share pictures of you writing, pictures of your family helping, and pictures of your launch team and any other pictures of the behind-the-scene experience. Visuals are key to helping inspire excitement for your book launch.

Two sites that I found helpful for creating professional looking social media images are Canva.com and BookBrush.com. These websites have beautiful templates that you can utilize to create many of the branded posts I described.

Social media is the best tool that we have as authors to promote our books before, during, and even years after the launch date. Use it and have fun with it! Continue to communicate the unique value that your book offers, and encourage your followers to read, review, and recommend your book. Your time spent engaging with your readers online will pay dividends in audience growth, increased sales, and continued buzz.

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

D&I for Law Firms: Tips for Attracting Diverse Attorneys

Throughout the world, countless law firms have been making an effort to create more inclusion and acceptance in their practices, utilizing a variety of innovative and unique methods to increase diversity in the workplace. These firms illustrate a myriad of procedures which we can employ to plant and grow seeds of diversity within our own organizations. A large amount of the diversity initiatives revolve around two main points: attracting and retaining talent. Here, we will explore what three firms are doing to recruit women, people of color, and other minorities. 

Scholarships

 In an effort to empower minority groups, many law firms create scholarships and fellowship programs for incoming law students, undergraduate students interested in law, and even high school students. The firm White and Case highlights this point with their program at Cristo Rey New York High School. Here, the firm allows high school students to work in their offices as a part of a Corporate Work Study Program, giving students the chance to gain experience at a nationally renowned firm and earn up to 70 percent of the cost of their education. These opportunities allow young struggling students to explore the environment of a firm while financially sustaining their educational endeavors. Additionally, firms like Winston and Strawn LLP have generously given over $565k in diversity scholarships to minority law students. By providing financial assistance, these firms take ownership in empowering individuals to follow through with their dreams of becoming a lawyer. These scholarship programs help to remove the economic burden and allow minority students to focus on their studies, leading to higher graduation rates for diverse students.

Mentorships

Alongside financial support, it is equally important to devote time to diverse law students and job applicants. Winston and Strawn LLP have illustrated their dedication through their Diverse Associate Sponsorship Program. This initiative connects high-potential minority and LGBTQ associates with sponsors from the firm’s Executive Committee. Through this process, individuals are given a chance to form connections and learn from senior-level partners, encouraging diversity in the upper ranks. Through this program, upper-level executives are also presented with the opportunity to form bonds with minority members of the firm, opening their eyes to potential struggles faced by these individuals. With this program, both parties gain invaluable experiences, growing from their connections with one another. Incoming diverse individuals receive valuable advice and unique advancement opportunities through this mentorship, boosting their careers and increasing diversity through the ranks of the firm.

Job Fairs

Another method to increase diversity in the workplace is by participating in job fairs targeted towards minority groups. The firm Arnold and Porter demonstrates this through their involvement in diverse job fairs. This form of outreach encourages students of varied backgrounds to apply to law programs and firms, illuminating the possibility of a future in law to individuals who may have never previously considered it because of their race, religion, or gender. Here, organizations is intentional in creating connections with diverse students, learning more about their potential application pool. Local job fairs geared towards women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals provide a great point of contact for firms and diverse students. Law firms which utilize this opportunity form strong ties to the unique groups in their area, leading to a higher rate of diverse hires. 

Community Outreach

Community involvement is an integral way to continue to enhance the firm’s brand image, support local minority groups, create a lasting change, and increase diversity within the field of law. Arnold and Porter follow through with this initiative through their support of charitable and nonprofit organizations which focus on advancing rights for a variety of minority groups. By supporting these charities, whether through financial contributions or volunteering time and other resources, the firm generates a positive change in their community, furthering the lives of minority groups. Through this involvement, the law firm not only gains more recognition with women, people of color, and others in need, but also the whole community! This initiative is great for large and small law firms alike, as any attorney can volunteer time to local organizations, spurring a change in their surrounding environment, networking with valuable charities, and empowering minority members of the community. 

Through these practices, law firms from around the nation have devoted their resources to increasing diversity and the pipeline of talent for recruitment. From long lists of scholarships dedicated to people of all nationalities, races, and religions to mentorship programs, these organizations place a high priority on hiring lawyers with unique backgrounds, experiences, and talents. It is important to focus on the moment, placing effort into empowering young minority individuals now in the hopes of creating a diverse pipeline! While all initiatives may not lead to diverse hires within a specific firm, these methods increase diversity across the industry, increasing inclusion and acceptance. The process of investing in minority and focusing on diverse hires is an instrumental part of increasing diversity. However, the topic of diversity entails much more than simply hiring a wide range of individuals, firms must also work on the retention of diverse attorneys. This requires a different set of methods, focused on maintaining and empowering minority groups throughout the law firm. We will discuss this topic and highlight more law firms taking steps towards retaining diversity in the next blog of the series.

Holiday Team Building Activities

Whether your small business gathers for simple festivities or a large team pot-roast, it is a wonderful idea to utilize the holiday season to increase employee engagement, interpersonal communication, and overall office morale.

Incorporate some of these fantastic holiday party ideas for your next company function!

1. Holiday Mapping

Want to increase diversity and cultural awareness in your workplace? Here is a fun idea. Simply print out a large map of the world and place it on the floor. Throughout the activity, a leader asks a series of interactive, geography-oriented questions, prompting co-workers to travel to different places on the world map.

Question examples include:

• Where are you spending the holidays?

• Where is your dream place to travel during the winter season?

• What holiday traditions would you like to learn more about?

Have fun with the questions and create your own. Use this interactive game to learn more about your team members, their diverse cultures, and holiday experiences!

2. HGTV Gingerbread Homes Edition

Love spending your winters cozied up on the couch watching your favorite HGTV shows? Bring the fun to your office holiday party with this entertaining game. Purchase (or make) a few gingerbread house kits for your co-workers. Divide the office into teams and race to create the most intricately designed gingerbread house. (This is great for large and small workplaces as teams of 3-4 can easily decorate a whole gingerbread house together while in larger offices, bigger groups can work on individual aspects of the home (Example: two individuals work on the walls while another three work on the roof) and put together their final product in the final seconds.) These activities spur moments of teamwork and insight creativity in the workplace.

At the end of the hectic house-building time period, line up the newly created gingerbread homes for judging. Encourage each team to present their creations in the style of an HGTV House Hunters reel. This funny and imaginative presentation is sure to bring a few smiles to your teammate’s faces. After each group has spoken, present a “SOLD” sticker or a similar award to the best home!

3. New Years Vision Board

If your workplace is looking for something more glamorous this season, consider a New Years themed function. With glitter and fancy outfits, this event wouldn’t be complete without some resolutions! Use this opportunity to highlight office objectives and individual goals for the upcoming year with a New Years Vision Board. If there is a large end goal in the upcoming future, make that the centerpiece of your vision board and utilize the room around it for your team’s gameplan. Create a cork board with enough space for everyone’s aspirations and encourage your team members to create and decorate sheets of paper with their future professional ambitions.
Once everyone has finalized their goal statements, begin placing each objective on the cork board. This can be followed with a short conversation about individual goals!

Bonus: Use a string to connect similar goals, encouraging teamwork and increased conversation in the upcoming year. By literally and metaphorically intertwining objectives, this activity will bring your team closer!

4. Multicultural Holiday Trivia Night

Does your office have a competitive drive? Try out a holiday trivia night featuring seasonal traditions from around the world! Assemble your work force into groups and keep track of points as you quiz them on the origins of Hanukkah, Tibetan holiday traditions, and the world’s Christmas delicacies. Through this activity, your office will grow more inclusive, learning more about diversity and culture.

Unsure where to find fun Holiday facts? Use links like these:

• Green Global 75 Christmas Traditions Around the World

• National Geographic Holiday History Quiz

• List 25 Unique Winter Traditions

5. Memories Slideshow

While this last activity does not require immense audience participation like the previous few, creating a presentation that showcases the years achievements will surely increase morale in the workplace. The slideshow should highlight the companies achievements, individual successes, and fun moments from throughout the year. Feel free to edit in some holiday music and include funny pictures for some laughs in the crowd!

As the end of the year approaches, these activities provide a wonderful way to learn more about your team, form strong team bonds, and acknowledge the achievements of the past year. Make good use of this time to show your appreciation for your co-workers, and have a happy holiday season!

"Every Eagle Needs a Push"

When I first moved to the US, one of the first phrases I heard that stuck with me was every eagle needs a push. Something about this phrase spoke to me, and it was later that I discovered the story behind it and even a book written about it.

In the world of eagles, mama eagles build their nests at the tops of mountains to hatch and grow their eaglets. These young eagles grow in treacherous conditions, shrouded in mountain mist, foliage, and other wildlife while their mama stays nearby to protect them. 

However, when it is finally time for them to learn how to spread their wings and learn how to fly, the mama eagle gathers her squawking eaglets, and one by one, with no warning, she pushes them off the mountain! 

Now, you may be thinking, how cruel of the mother! But in reality, the initial push – as challenging, terrifying, and risky as it may be – is exactly what these eaglets need to develop sinewy, strong wing muscles and take flight. 

In my coaching work, I meet people everyday that have been metaphorically trapped on their own mountaintops for many, many, many years, and they have not yet mustered the courage needed to build their wings and fly. They are haunted by fear, which results in them losing themselves and missing out on opportunities. Whether it’s through our own will or with the help of a coach, we need to push ourselves into the unknown. 

For those of us in leadership roles, this lesson applies toward the teams we lead as well. Our team will thrive as long as we continue to push and challenge them into uncharted territory. As leaders, we need to be like the mama eagle. Imagine how scared she must feel when she pushes her babies off the mountain. She has to put immense trust in their capability to soar because it is the only way to empower them to discover their potential. 

It may be frightening, but in the end, there is no greater feeling than the unbridled sensation of growth, so why not take the leap?