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Managing Virtual Teams

Are Virtual Teams Effective? 

Business Man Having Virtual Team Meeting On Video Conference Cal
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Developing a team that works well together is challenging. It’s an even tougher task if you’re doing it virtually. Here are some ways to help you create a team that is functional and effective. 

The Virtual Workforce 

The pandemic drove many companies to shift to a virtual workforce. They found that employees worked efficiently and effectively at home. Companies are now revamping traditional workplace structures. To revamp workplaces, they are integrating policies that allow their staff to work at home. 

More people working from home means that more people need to function in virtual teams. To do so, they’ll have to use technology to communicate and share work with other employees. 

How to Make Virtual Teams Effective 

Managing virtual teams requires effective communication. Use honest communication to prevent misunderstandings and increase the effectiveness of your team. 

Consider taking a communication quiz to see how good your communication skills are. Be sure to listen actively to your team members and avoid multitasking when someone is speaking to you. If your team is a global one, then you’ll want to review your cross-cultural communication skills. 

Communication tools like Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams and Slack come with unique communication challenges. For instance, internet connections are sure to vary, so speak slowly and keep your words as clear as possible. 

Before starting a meeting, confirm that everyone can see and hear you. Give everyone a chance to speak during the meeting and ask them to clarify if they need you to repeat something. Since visual cues aren’t possible during virtual meetings, people are going to speak over one another. Be patient when this happens. 

Building Relationships on Virtual Teams 

Forming relationships on virtual teams is harder than it is in person. One of the reasons for this is that virtual work challenges a person’s ability to activate mirror neurons. Mirror neurons activate when people do things like smile or yawn. 

Researchers believe that mirror neurons play a vital role in building relationships. Tips on how to overcome the problem of forming relationships virtually include: 

• Acknowledging the challenges of working remotely and how it affects relationships 
• Mentioning the successes of your teams 
• Accepting that you’ll be working together with less information about one another 
• Boosting your focus 

Make Time for Virtual Team Building Activities 

To make your virtual teams effective, make time for team building activities. Trivia is an easy team building activity that you can do virtually. Pair two or three team members. Then, ask trivia questions. If you have the budget, offer the winning team members Amazon gift cards. 

This type of activity will help your team members get to know each other better. You could also establish a virtual social hour. During this time, encourage your team to talk about their favorite forms of entertainment. You could also host a virtual game night or set up a time to chat casually. 

Managing Virtual Teams 

Implementing these recommendations will help you manage your virtual teams, making them more effective. If you need direction or support, then contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. 

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Artificial Intelligence

Will Artificial Intelligence Take Away Jobs?

AI
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Films and novels that take place in the future often depict robots as useful machines or machines that destroy humans. These stories often occur in an alternate reality or a made-up future instead of here and now. However, technology is bringing robots into the here and now.

Robots are not coming to destroy humans. Instead, they are coming to change how people work. Will artificial intelligence, or AI, take away jobs? Yes, artificial intelligence and robots will take over some jobs that humans typically do. The good news is that they will also bring new ones with them.

Phasing Out Human Manufacturing Jobs

Robots and automation have gradually taken the place of human manufacturing jobs. In fact, humans have lost about 1.7 million manufacturing jobs to artificial intelligence. On the other hand, advanced technology is expected to create around 97 million jobs by the year 2025.

What Types of Jobs are at Risk from AI?

Experts predict that at-risk jobs include:

• Manufacturing
• Insurance underwriting
• Warehouse
• Data entry
• Customer service

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AI Will Never Replace Some Jobs

There are jobs that artificial intelligence will never be able to replace. AI will not take the place of those who work in a creative, complex, strategic, or emphatic field. These types of jobs include teachers, lawyers, therapists, writers, and management professionals.

AI may help those who work in these types of fields. For instance, a teacher may eventually use artificial intelligence to measure a student’s progress, attitude, and competence. However, AI can’t replace empathy or social intelligence.

Artificial intelligence has yet to master:

• Intricate planning
• Hand and eye coordination
• Managing spaces that are unstructured

AI’s Impact on the Workplace

Today, companies often use AI to complete repetitive physical tasks. For example, Amazon uses them in warehouses to pack inventory and sort it. Car companies also use it in their manufacturing plants to construct automobiles.

The future of work will be humans and robots collaborating with one another. Instead of being in competition with AI, humans can work with it to create fascinating and intriguing new employment opportunities.

It has already increased demand for machine learning engineers, data scientists, and robotics engineers.

There are positions that are starting to form around the technology. For instance, there is a need for AI instructors, workers who have the skills to support data and molding abilities.

In particular, the healthcare industry will benefit from AI. In the coming years, medical facilities will need more healthcare technicians who are trained to work with AI.

Companies like Google and Uber are investing in AI for self-driving vehicles. Once people become more comfortable with this type of transportation, there will be even more job opportunities for machine learning engineers.

Artificial Intelligence Makes Jobs Better

Artificial intelligence won’t be decreasing the available jobs for humans. Instead, technology will improve how people work by doing tasks that humans aren’t able to do well. For information on how to help your team accept AI, contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute.

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Increase Productivity

Productivity Secrets of Rishi Sunak

Prime Minister
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The U.K.’s Newest Prime Minister

Before he was appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak was a member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before entering politics, he was a successful entrepreneur and business owner. How has he managed to accomplish so much at his young age? Here are some ways to increase productivity you can learn from him.

1. Accept Accountability

Don’t try to duck accountability when you make a mistake–even a massive one. Embrace it so you can move on. When you take responsibility, you learn and grow. 

In a 2019 interview with the BBC, Sunak described losing money for clients as a financial analyst. “It was stressful,” he said.

But that was also what he liked about the work: “It’s very directly accountable. You’re responsible for your investments and either they are good, or they are bad, things work out, or they don’t. There’s nobody else to blame, and there’s nowhere to hide.”

Taking on more responsibility can seem a little frightening at first. What if you mess up? That kind of thinking will keep you stuck. When you accept the risk and take accountability for the outcome, you will increase productivity.

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2. Get Hands-On Experience

When you’re trying to understand people’s concerns, it helps to have a shared background. That allows you to cut quickly to the core of what matters to that person or organization because you’ve lived it yourself. 

Sunak grew up with a father who was a doctor and a mother who owned a pharmacy. He helped his mother out in the store, which taught him how to think like an entrepreneur.

“My first job was working on a shop floor, I come from a small business family, and I have spent my entire professional life in business,” Sunak said. This experience helped him understand the concerns of voters in a largely rural area with small businesses and family farms.

3. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

If you want to learn how something is done, you can save time by seeing how someone else has done it. You increase productivity by adopting good ideas.

When he was Chancellor of the Exchequer—like the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury—Sunak wanted to expand the U.K.’s apprenticeship programs. One of the first things he did was visit the U.K. headquarters of Microsoft, which has a thriving apprenticeship program. Sunak talked with Clare Barclay, head of Microsoft UK, to learn how Microsoft did it.

“I was delighted to see first-hand the positive impact that apprentices can have on companies large and small,” he told a newspaper. By learning from this successful example, he had a blueprint for his own plans. 

Rise to the Top with Our Help

At the Productivity Intelligence Institute, we work with leaders in government, politics, and business. If you’re ready to watch your productivity rise to new heights, contact us.

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Brain Hacks

Brain Hacks for Anxiety Relief

Anxiety Relief
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For many professionals, the pressure of their daily responsibilities can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. Not only will anxiety make it more difficult for you to perform your duties, but it’s also terrible for your health. To succeed in the modern business landscape, you need to make clear-headed decisions, so check out these three simple brain hacks to reduce anxiety and take back control of your life.

Keep a Journal

Writing about your troubles can be extremely cathartic and provide much-needed context for your negative feelings. In a 2018 study, subjects reported decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression after a month of recording daily journal entries. The patients in the study only had to write for 15 minutes per day to see significant mental health benefits. Clearly, journaling is one of the quickest and easiest methods for anyone to tackle their anxiety, so you should try to set aside a little time every day to write about your feelings.

Meditate

Meditation is a straightforward yet effective way to reduce anxiety and clear your mind. To meditate, you simply need to sit upright, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing as you let your thoughts wander. According to a recent study, employees who meditated for just 10 minutes per day claimed to feel less stress and anxiety after a 16-week period. This makes daily meditation one of the most feasible brain hacks for the busy entrepreneur.

Exercise

Cardio, resistance training, and most other kinds of exercise release endorphins and other stress-relieving hormones. Because of this, people who exercise often tend to feel less anxious. If you want to get the most out of your workouts, then you should consider incorporating high-intensity interval training (HIIT) into your workout routine. Researchers have found that six 40-minute HIIT sessions per week can significantly reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Although HIIT was found to be more beneficial than other types of exercise, any workout will reduce anxiety to some extent. The most important thing is finding a workout plan that you can stick to.

Don’t Let Anxiety Hinder Your Success

Stress and anxiety can make life extremely difficult and hamper your workplace performance. Fortunately, using even one of these easy brain hacks will help you feel happier and more confident. Life’s too short to struggle with anxiety and other negative feelings, so check out our other guides on neuroscience and productivity if you want to overcome stress while achieving more at work.

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Principles of Success

The Neuroscience of Setting Goals

Smart Goal Setting
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Running a business without goals is like driving a car without a destination. If your organization lacks concrete goals, then how can stakeholders gauge the effectiveness of your current strategies? How will employees know what to do when you haven’t set any clear targets? Goals don’t just give your employees direction, but they also make difficult tasks easier to achieve. Effective goals are a vital component of any organization’s success, so check out this guide on the neuroscience of goal setting to make better goals for your company.

How Do Goals Affect the Brain?

Good goals have a real effect on the inner workings of the brain. According to a recent study, when someone is pursuing a high-quality goal, the different parts of their brain coordinate more efficiently. As a result, the individual has greater motivation and confidence as they try to complete complex tasks. Motivated employees are a huge asset to any company, so you should set the right goals if you want your workforce to operate as efficiently as possible.  

What Are the Qualities of Effective Goals?

Firstly, goals must be measurable. If you want your sales team to sell more of a certain product, then you need to set a clear quota for them to meet. Simply telling your employees to sell as much of that product as possible will not help them succeed. On top of that, your goals must include deadlines. Otherwise, employees won’t act with a sense of urgency. Finally, goals should be achievable. If you set your sales quota too high or expect your employees to meet an unrealistically tight deadline, then they won’t feel confident about their ability to meet your expectations. This will negatively affect their performance, and sales numbers will likely decrease.

How Does Goal Setting Benefit Your Company?

Workers can’t provide good results if they’re not working towards anything in particular. Your employees need leadership, and good goals give leaders within your organization the necessary framework to set strategic targets, break down large tasks, and delegate critical work to the best people for the job. By setting high-quality goals, you give everyone in your organization a purpose. Moreover, your workers’ ability to achieve the company’s goals provides important information about the feasibility of their targets and the effectiveness of the organization’s processes. If you find that certain teams constantly fall short of their goals, then you can analyze the reasons for their failures and make the necessary changes for underperforming teams to achieve more. Without good goals, your team’s strengths and weaknesses would not be so apparent, so you would not be equipped to improve your organization’s processes.

Reach Your Targets With the Right Goals

A person’s attitude can have a massive impact on their ability to complete a task. With that in mind, you should always give your employees effective goals to feel confident about their work for maximum productivity. As an enterprising businessperson, you’re always looking for new ways to streamline your organization’s processes, so check out our vast collection of in-depth productivity articles to set your company on the path to success.

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Thought Leadership

How to Use Thought Leadership to Build Your Business Brand

Thought Leadership
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Build Your Company’s Brand With Thought Leadership 

Thought leaders promote discussion among their audience and direct conversations about trending topics in ways that provide value for everyone involved. By becoming a thought leader, you can distinguish your brand by making the public see your organization as something more than a simple provider of goods and services. In this competitive market, you need to make your business stand out in every way possible, so check out these four ways to bolster your organization’s thought leadership.

Expand Your Social Media Presence

According to a recent poll, the average person spends over two hours on social media platforms every day. This presents a great opportunity for your company to engage with people across the world. Your marketing professionals should maintain active social media accounts on as many platforms as possible, engage in relevant public discussions with other users, and make intelligent posts about hot issues to increase your company’s authority to the public.

Provide Evidence

You know that your company is good at what it does, but what have you done to make the public feel the same way? People value evidence more than ever before, so you need to leverage this attitude to position your organization as a leader in its field. You should reach out to popular bloggers and influencers, perform scientific tests on your products, and solicit endorsements from acclaimed professionals in the field to increase the credibility of your organization’s goods and services. When people associate your brand with quality, they’ll be more inclined to listen to your message and spread the word about your company.

Know Your Audience

To become a thought leader, you must understand your audience. Which aspects of your goods and services appeal to them? What traits do they respect and disrespect in a company? Where does your target audience spend their time? By learning about your organization’s most important clientele, you can tailor a message that resonates with them and makes the right people look up to your brand.

Regularly Produce High-Quality Content

A strong social media presence is integral to any organization’s success, but it isn’t the only factor contributing to your company’s status as a thought leader. To promote meaningful discussion and maintain public interest, your organization should produce engaging videos, insightful articles, and other content on topics that relate to your field and interest your audience. Combining exceptional content with an active social media presence will greatly strengthen your organization’s credibility in the collective consciousness.

Bring Your Company’s Message Into the Spotlight

Establishing your organization’s thought leadership can have a huge snowball effect that will contribute to your brand’s success. Whenever someone hears about people, products, or events in your field, their thoughts will naturally gravitate towards your organization’s goods and services. You want your company to succeed, so check out Productivity Intelligence Institute’s expert-level content for more ideas on how to reach a wider audience and improve your organization’s processes.

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Increase Productivity

Productivity Secrets of Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry
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When you think about business productivity, Tyler Perry’s filmography probably isn’t the first thing to come to mind. However, in contrast with most movie producers, all of Tyler Perry’s films have been extremely profitable, so it’s worth examining the factors contributing to his consistent success. Although Tyler Perry is primarily a filmmaker, his productivity secrets can help professionals in any industry thrive. With that in mind, you need to check out these three important aspects of Tyler Perry’s creative process if you want your company to increase productivity and stay ahead of the competition.

Identifying Gaps in the Market

Before Tyler Perry started producing films, he observed that many of the films made to appeal to Black audiences were extremely violent and unsuitable for young viewers. Aware of the lack of good family films for the Black community, Tyler Perry wisely set to change the status quo. Now, Tyler Perry’s name is closely associated with Black American cinema, and his films continue to perform exceptionally well at the box office.

Tyler Perry was able to serve his community and propel himself to great heights simply by noticing an underserved market and doing something to fix the problem. Even if you’re in a very niche industry, there are likely many customers in your target market with unmet needs. If you’re not providing desired services to this segment of your market, then someone else eventually will. To sustain success in your field, you must pay close attention to your customers’ preferences, search for weaknesses in your organization’s ability to help its clientele, and adjust your business model accordingly.

Simplicity in Production

The plots of Tyler Perry’s films explore unpretentious themes such as unrequited love, economic hardship, and family tension. The storylines are simple enough for anyone in the family to follow, and the films don’t typically employ fancy camera work or crazy visual effects. This is because Tyler Perry takes a straightforward approach to filmmaking, and his main objective is to create stories that his audience can relate to. 

The acclaimed producer recognizes that he doesn’t have to pioneer new camera techniques or make convoluted stories to be a good filmmaker. Instead, he follows a simple process and focuses solely on fulfilling the needs of his community. Considering the fact that almost every one of Tyler Perry’s 52 films has turned a hefty profit, it’s clear that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to succeed. Above anything else, entrepreneurs must adopt effective processes and set clear goals to achieve consistent profitability.

A Sense of Purpose

Tyler Perry has stated that his main objective is to spread positivity. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Because Tyler Perry’s purpose is so clear, the actors, directors, sound engineers, and other members of his production staff know precisely what they’re trying to accomplish. Consequently, he makes a reliable product, so viewers always know that they’ll enjoy themselves when they buy a ticket to one of his films.

Does your company’s mission statement relate to your customers’ needs? Do your employees have an easy time operating in line with your organization’s objectives? A concise purpose is vital for any company’s success, so you need to ensure that your organization’s mission statement isn’t too convoluted for your audience or employees to understand.

Increase Productivity With a Straightforward Approach

Smart entrepreneurs pay attention to what exceptional businesspeople across all industries do to set themselves apart. As a filmmaker and a businessman, Tyler Perry has shown an impressive ability to understand his audience’s needs and deliver products that consistently satisfy them. By following his example, you can cultivate a loyal base of customers and operate more efficiently than ever before.

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Principles of Success

Neuroscience of Affirmations

Affirmations
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The human body is in a constant state of fluctuation. Your thoughts cause your body to make physical changes. When you think about something, your brain sends out a signal that releases neurotransmitters. These body chemicals manage every one of your body’s functions. This includes your emotions and mood. In time and because of repetition, researchers have found that a person’s thoughts modify the body’s brain, cells and even its genes. 

How Thoughts Change Body Functions 

Feelings of gratitude create a rush of pleasant neurotransmitters such as dopamine or norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters result in an overall positive boost in the mind. 

Norman Doidge wrote the book “The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.” In the book, he speaks about an experiment involving finger exercises. One group of participants exercised a muscle in their finger for one month. That group increased the strength of the muscle by 30%. A second group visualized exercising the same finger muscle. Without moving a finger, they increased the strength of the muscle by 22%. 

Thoughts, visualizations and self-talk have the ability to modify a person’s brain, body and life. One way to take advantage of the brain’s power is by using affirmations. According to studies, when people practice positive affirmations, they respond in less negative ways when challenges arise. 

What is an affirmation? An affirmation is one of the principles of success. It is an intentional thought that you say to yourself for encouragement, support or a sense of calm. Most affirmations are positive phrases that people say to themselves to push back against thoughts that are unhappy, depressing or anxious. 

Affirmations are a mental health tool, one that you can use to form a healthy self-image and develop a hardy brain. 

Why You Should Start Using Affirmations 

Humans have an inner dialogue that they listen to during the day. Some of this self-talk is helpful while some of it isn’t. When our thoughts include fear statements, it is counterproductive. Hearing yourself worry about things like never healing or what you missed out on is not good for you. 

Start using simple positive affirmations. They can help you offset or subdue the negative thoughts that may overwhelm your thinking. 

The Science of Affirmations 

While an affirmation may seem like a magic power, it isn’t. There is scientific evidence showing that affirmations change a person’s body and brain. 

For you to experience the benefits of affirmations, you’ll need to establish a regular practice of using them. This type of mind body work is widely accepted. It is also a theory welcomed by the psychological community. 

One of the main theories that support positive affirmations is called the self-affirmation theory. In this theory, researchers determined that people could practice positive self-talk to hold onto their self-integrity. 

Self-integrity connects to our universal self-efficacy. This is our supposed ability to influence moral outcomes and react in positive ways when someone or something challenges our idea of who we are. To protect ourselves from these kinds of threats, we develop defense techniques. 

Affirmations Engage Your Brain’s Reward Areas 

According to one study, affirmations engage the reward areas of your brain. To determine this, researchers took an fMRI while a study participant was using affirmations. 

The areas of the brain that send happy signals to your body when you use affirmations are the same ones that activate when you’re doing other pleasurable things like eating something tasty or laughing. The brain’s reward network is powerful. Research confirms that the brain’s reward areas may decrease pain and help you stay positive when stressful situations occur. 

The study found that when the participants used affirmations, the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate areas of the brain lit up. These parts of the brain connect to how you relate to yourself. Research shows that when you’re able to increase your self-related processing, you’ll be better able to handle painful or negative information. 

Affirmation Examples 

If you’re not sure what affirmations to say to yourself, here are a few examples. 

• I’m happy that I’m now creating a healthy sense of self that I use for strength. 
• I’m grateful that I’m now welcoming my unique talents and personal resources. 
• I’m excited that I’m now providing valuable perspectives and ideas that are useful to my field. 
• I’m joyful that I’m now willing to use my failures as a chance to learn and develop my strengths. 

Additional Benefits of Using Affirmations 

Additional benefits of using affirmations include: 

• Decreased stress levels 
• More interest in physical activities 
• Better able to handle everyday challenges 
• Increased feelings of hopefulness
• Improved self esteem 
• Better work performance 

When Should You Use Affirmations? 

Use affirmations when you’re facing a situation in which you want a positive change to happen. For instance, consider thinking one to increase your confidence before attending an important meeting or event. 

If you’re experiencing negative emotions like frustration, anger or anxiety, then this is a good time to use an affirmation as well. When you feel like giving up, consider thinking an affirmation to keep going. You can also use one to quit a harmful or bad habit. 

Often, affirmations work better when you combine them with other positive mind techniques. For instance, many people experience success when they pair an affirmation with a positive visual image. 

Try to create a consistent daily habit of saying affirmations regularly throughout each day. Also practice writing them in a daily journal for an even more powerful affect. That way, when you’re facing an especially stressful or anxious moment, you’ll have an affirmation at the ready. 

Embrace a Positive Mind Body Connection 

Affirmations are one of the principles of success. When you embrace these principles, you can change your body, brain and life for the better. If you need help getting started, reach out to me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. 

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Cultural Intelligence

How To Improve Your Company’s Cultural Intelligence

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These days, good cultural intelligence is integral to any team’s success. Members of your team are likely communicating with clients, suppliers, employees, freelancers, and regulators from a multitude of backgrounds, so they need to understand different ways of thinking to productively interact with these people. With that in mind, you should check out this quick guide on how to improve cultural intelligence in your organization.

Foster a Comfortable Workplace

Naturally, when one of your employees feels uncomfortable, you want them to speak up so that the company can address the issue. However, workers at many companies don’t feel comfortable providing input or pointing out managerial mistakes. On top of paving the way for a hostile work environment, this can have the unintended effect of allowing instances of cultural insensitivity to persist. That’s why managers must ensure that team members are able to freely communicate their concerns without fear of reprisal.

Conduct Cultural Sensitivity Training

Cultural sensitivity training is a great way to familiarize your team members with the broad strokes of multiculturalism. This will improve workplace harmony and help broaden your employees’ perspectives. Many companies conduct cultural sensitivity training, so you should work with whichever one has the most experienced staff.

Expand Your Company’s Recruitment Practices

How does your organization usually find new employees? Does your HR department post to a handful of websites? Do your interns only come from a single institution? Does your recruitment process rely heavily on word of mouth? Limited hiring practices expose your organization to a narrower range of applicants. In turn, your company is more likely to have a homogenous workforce. Adopting new recruiting practices will expose your company to a larger range of applicants from a variety of backgrounds, which can only benefit your organization.

Understand Your Audience’s Culture

A lack of intercultural competence isn’t only bad for your team’s comfort and productivity, but it can also negatively affect sales. Many things that are completely mundane in your region can be very significant in another part of the world. For example, in China, the number four is considered extremely unlucky. In turn, designs that prominently feature the number four are unlikely to do well in this market. You don’t want a cultural faux pas to waste your organization’s limited time and money, so your managers should consult with experts who intimately understand the culture of your target market before pouring resources into new designs and ad campaigns.

High Intercultural Competence Leads to Greater Entrepreneurial Success

A workforce with high intercultural competence is more equipped to succeed in the modern business landscape. If your company doesn’t value intercultural competence, then it will eventually fall behind the competition. You want your organization to thrive, so make sure to keep an open mind and do everything in your power to promote cultural intelligence in your workplace.

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Entrepreneurship

Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

Entrepreneurship
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Is it possible to teach someone to become a successful entrepreneur? A growing number of academic institutions have developed classes and degree programs in entrepreneurship. At the same time, the number of successful entrepreneurs without an advanced education point to entrepreneurial leadership as an inherent trait.

What is an entrepreneur?

When most people think about entrepreneurs, they focus on well-known names in the business world like Elon Musk or Ariana Huffington. Yet, hundreds of successful business people run profitable entrepreneurial endeavors on a smaller scale. Almost every tech startup or niche business has someone with an entrepreneurial mindset pushing it forward.

Entrepreneurs are business people willing to dream big, accept risks, and preserver through failure and uncertainty. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who can analyze the business landscape, recognize opportunities, and take advantage of them.

Is entrepreneurship teachable?

Many aspects of becoming a successful entrepreneur are teachable. A formal business education can help new business owners avoid some of the mistakes and setbacks that come with a bootstrapping approach. Basic business knowledge equips leaders to understand and plan for the risks of a new project.

Hard Skills for Entrepreneurs

MBA programs and other business education classes teach leaders the basic financial and organizational skills that apply to every business. Understanding how organizations operate and make a profit helps leaders speak the language of investors and anticipate common issues like creating a sustainable growth strategy.

Encouraging an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Helping leaders adopt the mindset of an entrepreneur is a different challenge. This kind of education involves teaching students a new way of thinking. Traditionally, the corporate mindset has focused on predictability. The thinking that created the assembly line assumed a world with minimal change. The goal of a CEO in this model is to keep the business on an even keel.

Entrepreneurs know they must adapt to a world where things change unexpectedly. They develop a flexible way of thinking that can respond to how the world is rather than trying to force an outcome based on the way they think it should be. 

Human brains naturally look for patterns and try to predict outcomes. When the world does not line up with your assumptions, it can throw you into confusion and panic. Entrepreneurs must build a mindset that embraces the unexpected.

Entrepreneurial classes often use techniques that force students to recognize their biases and challenge their assumptions. They learn a flexible mindset by experiencing the discomfort of uncertainty.

Learning from Experience

Experience is still the greatest teacher for entrepreneurs. Actively dealing with uncertainty and risk gives you the necessary persistence and confidence to move forward as a leader. New entrepreneurs can also gain insight from the experiences of other leaders in handling success and failure on their journeys.

A Partner for Entrepreneurial Growth

If you want to improve your entrepreneurial skills, the Leonard Productivity Intelligence Institute is ready to assist you. We specialize in helping business leaders cultivate a growth mentality that inspires next-level leadership. Contact us today to learn more.