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meeting, advice, tips, tricks, manager, employee
Make Meetings More Enjoyable
 Make Meetings More Enjoyable 660 371 admin
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Workplace meetings can tend to become a drag and become the bane of the employee’s existence. However, there are ways to make these meetings fun and something to look forward to. Here are some tips and tricks:

  • Reduce the number of meetings. If possible, try to use other means of communication, such as text message or email, to deliver information. This way, the meetings you do hold do not seem superfluous.
  • Follow a timeline and agenda. Having a layout of the meeting will help the team know what to expect and gives them a better sense of control, as they now know what will be discussed.
  • Provide food. Who doesn’t love free food?? Something as simple as coffee and doughnuts can help meetings become the highlight of the week.
  • End with something not related to work. The mood of the team can be tense after a meeting, so ending with a funny video or something light can help everyone get back to work off on the right foot.

Did these tips help make meetings for you and your team? Let us know in the comments below!

Get to Know You: Brian Rendine
 Get to Know You: Brian Rendine 1024 1024 MPatton
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Brian

In today’s get to know you post, we’re talking with our Director of Program Development, Brian Rendine.

I am Brian Rendine, outdoor enthusiast, father of two boys and husband to a wonderful wife!

United EVENTures is an opportunity for companies to improve their team morale through fun and engaging activities that will leave a lasting impression. I am the Director of Program Development and I work with clients to build their team experience with United EVENTures. The client dreams up the team building event that they want to experience and then it’s my job to make it happen. I work with the company to tailor the experience to coincide with a goal their team wants to achieve. If a team wants to work on communication, I’ll work with them to design a program that encourages positive and thorough communication. Long and short of it, I make dreams come true!

The programs and services we offer motivate me to work hard for both our employees and our clients. It matters when you can see that you made a definitive difference and our clients leave with smiling faces.

When I was younger I debated between being a doctor or a teacher. I ended up teaching Physics for ten years before heading out with United EVENTures. I guess there is a common thread in there somewhere; science, coaching, and helping people reach their goals.

You never really know what you’ve achieved in life until you look back on it later. Right now it’s a work in progress, but my two boys are my biggest achievement.  In ten years I hope to be happy, healthy, and continuing to share ideas and change lives.

 

 

 

 

 

social media, twitter, who to follow, leader, team building, marketing
5 Reasons to Follow @UrbanNYCHE on Twitter!
 5 Reasons to Follow @UrbanNYCHE on Twitter! 1024 500 BRendine
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I was searching Twitter for someone who consistently gives out some great content when I came across @UrbanNYCHE. Not only do they give out great content, but they vary what they send out. Sometimes it’s an article and other times it’s a short little quote to get you thinking. If you aren’t following them already, here are 5 reasons why you should!

hyphen, get hyphen, hyphen app, social media, team building, hyphen, team building, app, entrepreneur
How @HyphenApp is #Teambuilding
 How @HyphenApp is #Teambuilding 443 114 BRendine
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I was recently reading Entrepreneur Magazine and they had a list of their best/favorite apps. That is when I came across Hyphen. Hyphen is Team Building. A question that comes up a lot is what is the difference between formal team building, such as an event with United EVENTures, and the daily opportunities that present themselves where corporations can build a team in the moment. Hyphen allows for the on the fly team building, giving people input throughout the day and giving an avenue to be heard and praised. hyphen, get hyphen, hyphen app, social media, team building
Let’s face it, people talk and with the prevalence of social media in their lives, everyone has this sense of talking freely. This could be a good thing if your employees are praising the company or even saying how great of a boss you are; but if it’s cancerous talk, then by the time it reaches management level, it’s too late and the damage could be done.
From another perspective, people love feedback. It has been said that more than 30% of millennials are leaving their first career within the first 3 years, which is costing companies, on average, about $15,000 (some as high as $30,000 in time invested, training, finding a replacement, etc.). One of the main reasons cited is that they are not receiving enough positive feedback.
This is where Hyphen steps in: “At Hyphen, we understand enterprise customer needs, we have experience creating products that fill those needs, and we deliver value on an ongoing basis. We know that to retain good employees, companies need to make their employees feel valued, respected, and most of all, listened to. Executives and HR leaders with better information, more opinions, and regular feedback are better decision makers. Likewise, companies with more engaged, motivated and innovative employees are better companies. What gets said and what’s left unsaid can make all the difference at your company.”

Another great feature is the ability to send out polls, as it states on their website:

  •  Intuitive: Get started with our Library of pre-validated questions and our fool-proof customization tools
  •  Relevant to the business, not just HR: Poll any level of the organization, from the entire company to employee subgroups
  • Anytime: Pulse polls at the frequency you need – one-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, etc
  • Real-time Insights: See outcomes in real time and identify priority issues to make decisions ASA

Take a look at this video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8YfmBKfW0Q]

Do yourself a favor and click the logo at the top of the page, check out their website, and leave some comments below on the value you believe Hyphen will add to your company!

team building, teamwork, efficiency, business
Why Your Team-building Efforts are Falling Flat
 Why Your Team-building Efforts are Falling Flat 960 677 Emilie
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We all know how important it is to keep our teams motivated and working well together. Team building efforts can be incredibly useful at teaching groups how to work efficiently and effectively. In addition, they prove necessary for increasing feelings of competency and motivation. However, not all team-building events and practices may be as successful as you would hope. Here are several reasons your team may be under-performing, according to research.

Your team members are confused about who has control. Two key methods for motivating and improving team success are 1) use of control, and 2) team building. The idea behind using control is that it allows you to oversee your team’s progress more easily, and thus you will be able to guide them towards greater success and efficiency. Team building is meant to improve communication and collaboration between your team members, thus aiding with efficiency as well. A recent study paired team members together, analyzing the effects of both methods (control and teamwork). Although both methods improved team efficiency when used individually, efficiency was actually hindered for teams who successfully accomplished the team building task and were placed under the effect of external control. The researchers theorized that team building experiences lead members to feel like they have been handed greater control over the task at hand. Thus, when external control is also utilized, team members become frustrated because they do not know if they should be taking more initiative (thus keeping more control for themselves), or if their superiors still maintain all control by constantly regulating sub-tasks. Thus, team building efforts can be very useful, but if team members are micromanaged it will send mixed messages and actually hinder their ability to be effective.

You aren’t focusing on the importance of transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is the idea that through leadership and guidance we can mentor team members, transforming individuals into leaders. Recent research has demonstrated a relationship between transformational leadership and team-building, showing the important interaction between these two interventions. If your team-building efforts are falling flat, it may be because you are not simultaneously focusing on transforming your members into leaders. Team-building is about more than learning communication and collaboration, it must also highlight other important leadership skills, such as decision making, problem solving, and the ability to give definitive instruction.

Your project manager isn’t considering the different needs throughout project stages. Bruce Tuckman’s team development model analyzes the important stages a team must go through before performing as a cohesive whole. He suggests that the team first undergoes a “forming” period, during which the project manager must sell each member on the role he/she needs to play. If members are not convinced they are playing the right role, it is up to the project manager to assert control over the final decision and convince each individual that his/her role is necessary for completion of the task at hand. During the next stage, “Storming,” dominant members may try to gain more control, whereas less dominant individuals may begin to reduce the role they are playing. It is up to your project manager to continue asserting control and to maintain balance between each member’s position. Thus, it is crucial that your project manager focuses on maintaining team roles during the early stages of a project, and then turns his attention to the project itself only after team members have adjusted into the roles each person needs to play.

Overall, although team building is very important, not every team-building attempt will be successful if the previously mentioned factors are not taken into consideration. Think about each goal you want your team-building event to accomplish, not just the improvement of communication and morale.

If your company is looking for a team-building event of your own, contact us today at United EVENTures. We have a vast number of unique team-building events, and will create a custom experience specifically designed for your team!

Reiner, Gerhard, and Simon Wiederhold. "Team Building and Hidden Costs of Control." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 123 (2016): 1-18. Web.
Aga, D. A., N. Noorderhaven, and B. Vallejo. "Transformational Leadership and Project Success: The Mediating Role of Team-building." Internation Journal of Project Management 34.5 (2016): 806-18. Web.

Lester, Eur Ing Albert. "Chapter 39- Team Building and Motivation." Project Management, Planning and Control: Managing Engineering, Construction and Manufacturing Projects to PMI, APM and BSI Standards. 6th ed. Kidlington, Oxford: Elsevier, 2014. 371-79. Web.
happiness, healthy living, office, workplace
5 Simple Changes for a Happier and Healthier Workplace
 5 Simple Changes for a Happier and Healthier Workplace 960 640 Emilie
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It seems like every year offices become more and more focused on productivity and streamlining processes, and less focused on the health and happiness of employees. But not only should we care about the wellbeing of our employees because we want them to be happy, we should also remember that keeping employees happy and healthy actually improves productivity. When employees’ health and happiness rates drop, so does burnout and turnover rates. So whether you are an employee or employer, here are 5 ways you can make simple changes to make the office your happy place.

1. Increase views of vegetation and green space. Studies have shown over and over that happiness increases when we have regular scenic views or are surrounded by other greenery. Of course, the ideal scenario is to have an office with a large window overlooking a park or other vegetative view. However, most of us don’t have this as a viable option. Instead, try bringing additional plants into your workplace. If you do have a window near you, try rearranging your desk or chair so that you have better sight-lines to see outside. Being surrounded by plants and vegetation instinctively improves our mood because of biophilia, which is the term that refers to our innate connection to other living systems. Having these plants to water each day and take care of will make you feel more cheerful.

2. Foster those friendships. It shouldn’t be surprising, but having those close friendships in the workplace is incredibly important to being able to maintain the tedium of the daily grind. Often times the people we work with are more important to our happiness than the actual work itself. Employers should try to foster interaction, group bonding and acceptance amongst their employees. Remember, happy employees means a better work environment and more effective productivity.

3. Make your workplace your own. We spend so much time decorating our homes. We hang up pictures of our family and favorite memories, we decorate with our favorite decor, and we buy new furniture to make each room reflect our identity. But why do we spend so little time making our workplace feel like home? After all, we probably spend more waking hours there than in our actual houses. Try finding a new shelf for your desk, or get some cubicle wallpaper. There are tons of ways you can spruce up your workspace through personal mementos and your own design flairs. Making your workspace feel homey should be just as important as making your actual house feel like home.

4. Get moving! We all know that during the work day it is difficult not to be too sedentary. However, there are many small ways to be more active throughout the day. Treadmill desks have been shown to benefit postprandial glucose levels and cholesterol levels, and both treadmill and standing desks have been shown to improve psychological wellbeing. You can also try bringing some light weights to use as you are on phone calls, or take a quick walk around the building every hour or so to stretch your legs.

5. Work for flexibility. Research has shown that flexible workplaces result in increased feelings of empowerment as well as improved quality of life. Employers should be aware of this relationship in order to increase happiness and efficiency within their employees. Of course, employees only have limited control over how flexible their workplace is, but there are several ways you can work to increase flexibility. A flexible workplace is one in which you are allowed to complete your work in convenient ways. Be firm about not completing tasks when you are not available, such as outside of office hours. On the flip side, when you are allowed flexibility, prove that you can accomplish the task effectively even with added leniency.

Gilchrist, Kathryn, Caroline Brown, and Alicia Montarzino."Workplace Settings and Wellbeing: Greenspace Use and Views Contribute to Employee Wellbeing at Peri-urban Business Sites." Landscape and Urban Planning 138 (2015): 32-40. Web.
Chaiprasit, Kemakorn, and Orapin Santidhiraku. "Happiness at Work of Employees in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Thailand." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 25 (2011): 189-200. Web.
MacEwen, Brittany T., Dany J. MacDonald, and Jamie F. Burr. "A Systematic Review of Standing and Treadmill Desks in the Workplace." Preventive Medicine 70 (2015): 50-58. Web.
Subramaniam, Geetha, Peck-Leong Tan, Balasundram Maniam, and Ershad Ali. "Workplace Flexibility, Empowerment and Quality of Life." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 105 (2013): 885-93. Web.
DiPirro, Dani. "5 Tips to Make Work Your Happy Place." Livehappy. N.p., 26 Jan. 2016. Web.
Jason Fried, Tedx Midwest, Ted Talk, Productivity, Workplace, Interruptions
How Your Workplace is Secretly Killing Productivity
 How Your Workplace is Secretly Killing Productivity 960 638 Emilie
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Jason Fried, who wrote Rework along with co-author David Heinemeier Hansson, is an expert at reanalyzing the way we assume our workplace is productive. In his Tedx Midwest Ted Talk, he takes an inventive look at what allows us to work productively. Shockingly, he claims that working within the office actually hinders us from being productive or accomplishing any meaningful work. Instead, we must wait until we get home, or work at some other time of day in order to successfully accomplish tasks.

But why is this? Fried argues that work can only be done productively when people are given long stretches of uninterrupted time. He compares work to sleep: if someone was constantly interrupting you as you were trying to sleep, would you ever be able to reach a deep sleep? Of course not. Work, he says, is the same. Work can be done efficiently and effectively when we have been working for long, uninterrupted periods. The problem arises when we have constant distractions that rip us from any productive flow state which we have entered.

The reason why the workplace reduces productivity is the same reason why so many of us worked productively in the library or coffee shop back in college: people are the most productive when they do not have distractions, or the distractions they have (email, Facebook, instant messaging) can be answered on their own time. The workplace uses constant check-ins and meetings with the idea that this will keep everyone working, therefore increasing productivity. However, with these constant interruptions, most people enter the office each day and never end up having even a few hours of uninterrupted time. By the time you account for brief check-ins and un-wanted conversations, most of us rarely have a full hour of uninterrupted time during the day. This means that we aren’t ever able to work on anything thoroughly and deeply.

Fried’s suggestion is to limit interruptions that demand people to acknowledge the meeting or check-in at a specific time, and to increase communication which people can check on their own time. By using email, instant messaging, and collaborative platforms like Slack, it is easier for workers to finish what they are doing, and to then work on these other forms of communication when it is productive for them to do so. Fried further suggests that we should decrease check-ins and meetings, reduce personnel in meetings to only the essential people needed, and that we should establish weekly or monthly “No Talking Afternoons” in which no one in the office is allowed to talk to one another in order to decrease interruptions.

So if you’re looking for ways to increase productivity, start making changes that allow your workers longer and more frequent periods of uninterrupted time. Remember that the most important thing is to make the workplace a location people want to work because it allows them to accomplish their tasks efficiently.

feng shui, workplace, work, desk, productivity, positive energy
10 Ways to Increase Productivity through Feng Shui-ing Your Workplace
 10 Ways to Increase Productivity through Feng Shui-ing Your Workplace 960 640 Emilie
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We all know that having a clean, tidy desk can make us feel more organized and productive. But often the days get busy and it’s hard to prioritize the cleanliness of our work spaces. However, with these simple tips, we provide you some easy ways to increase your productivity and positivity by easy changes to your workplace environment. Each tip revolves around the practice of feng shui, an ancient Chinese practice which utilizes the rearrangement of objects in specific locations in order to maximize a positive flow of energy. By following feng shui principles, it can create a warmer, more productive place for us to do our job in. The best part? These changes alter the very flow of your workplace, so even when it gets a little messy, you will still have a better place to work in.

1. Orient your desk so that it faces the door. This helps for two reasons. First, it means that you will face people as they enter your office, making you feel more grounded and in control. This is why it is referred to as the “command position.” Second, it will mean that any client or coworker who enters your office will see your face as they enter, making them feel more comfortable. You do not need to be perfectly in front of the door, but you should be looking at it, from the opposite wall.

2. Keep nature prevalent in your office. This can include a small aquarium, plants, or wind chimes; all of which embrace one of the five elements as according to feng shui. Experiment with putting things on different walls/corners of your office, because various placements may have a better flow than others.

3. Be aware of pointed or irregular objects. Feng shui seeks to increase positive energy called chi. The opposite of chi, called sha chi, increases the flow of negative energy. Sha chi is present through irregular and pointed objects, especially when these irregular shapes are in places that infringe on your workspace. For instance, make sure pointed edges of your desks and tables aren’t pointed towards you or clients as they enter. Be aware of how branches outside your window or shadows from buildings outside interfere with your indoor space. Try rearranging what’s inside your workspace to make sure such shadows and outdoor objects interrupt your workplace in less intrusive ways.

4. Increase circular, softer edges. In opposition to sha chi’s relation to straight lines and pointed edges, you can find chi through softer shapes, like circular and soft edges. These shapes are meant to increase flow and circulation, instead of abruptly disrupting flow.

5. Use mirrors. A lot of the time we can’t remove sharp edges in our workplace. We work around a lot of things with sharp edges: desks, computers, filing cabinets. Sharp angles and long straight lines tend to increase the “speed” at which chi travels around the room, making it feel more negative. In order to reduce the speed and make chi travel more slowly, utilize mirrors in your workplace to make it travel more gently.

6. Embrace sense of smell. Smell is a far more powerful tool than we think. In fact, we hardly ever remember how much smell can do! Smell can help with memory, and importantly here, it can help with clarity. Specifically, feng shui believes that citrusy and peppermint based smells with help increase mental clarity in the workplace. You can use candles, fragrant sprays or incense to help put these smells in your office.

7. Learn the importance of color and cardinal directions. In accordance to feng shui, each of the five elements (fire, water, earth, wood, and metal) are associated to different colors and cardinal directions, each of which are attached to certain meaning. Depending on what you want your space to emphasize, you can choose to pay extra attention to these cardinal directions and colors. But remember, feng shui is built around balance. The best workplace will find a balance of all of these elements.

  1. Wood– Creation and Growth- East- Green
  2. Fire– Power- South- Red
  3. Earth- Agriculture- Center- Yellow
  4. Metal– Money- West- Grey and White
  5. Water– Communication- North- Black

8. Remove objects of your “past life.” Are there pictures on your desk with friends you don’t see anymore? Are there awards on your wall from activities you are no longer involved in? Remove these pieces of your past life and embrace pictures and reminders of what currently is bringing you joy in life. By surrounding your office with memories from the past, this creates stagnant energy instead of creating a positive, moving flow of energy which could be embraced by what you currently find exciting and moving.

9. Keep as little on your desk as possible. According to feng shui, energy in your workspace is the most positive when you only keep what you absolutely need on it. That means your computer, phone, pencil holder, maybe a stapler and only the few pieces of paper you need. Imagine how fresh the energy in your office would feel if you only pulled out a file as you needed to use it, and then it went right back in a filing cabinet. Keep your coffee and laptop handy, but keep everything else hidden away until you absolutely need it. And then, remember to put it back away after.

10. Clear out that clutter. Okay, I know I said these are suggestions that help despite clutter, and they do! However, your flow of energy is never going to be as positive as possible as long as you have clutter around. Spend one day filing away anything that is an older project which you are not currently working on. Keeping around these old projects in your line of vision is the ultimate way to feel stagnant energy. By organizing and decluttering, it keeps the energy around you light and fresh.

So there it is! By keeping the energy around you warm and light, it will help not only your productivity, but also your positivity. And the best part is, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do it. Feng shui principles can easily be embraced with spending very little money, or no money at all. It’s all about rearranging and understanding flow. So good luck with your new and improved workspaces!

Samborn, Hope V. "Go With the Flow: Tapping into Positive Energy in Office Decor through Feng Shui Principles." American Bar Association Journal 87.10 (2001): 76-77. Web.
Bonaiuto, Marino, Elena Bilotta, and Angela Stolfa. "'Feng Shui' and Environmental Psychology: A Critical Comparison." Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 27.1 (2010): 23-24. Web.
Leffler, David. "BEING SOLO: How to Feng Shui Your Law Office." GPSolo 27.5 (2010): 58-59. Web.
meetings, workplace, efficiency, productivity
How to Make Your Meetings More Effective
 How to Make Your Meetings More Effective 960 319 Emilie
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No one gets excited for meetings. Each one marks a time on your calendar that you are forced to delay all other work, postponing what you’ve been working on to update others about your progress. Anyone who has ever run a meeting knows the challenges: to keep people focused, to keep people engaged, to cover everything you need to without letting the meeting get too lengthy. But at the end of the day, meetings are important. They allow us to flush out bad ideas, brainstorm new, innovative ideas, and organize everyone so they feel like they are on the same page. But how do we ensure that each meeting is a successful one? How do we keep people engaged, while still being productive? Luckily for you, we have searched articles and research papers to bring to you the best advice to make your next meeting a great one.

Increase Information Availability. A recent study by the Journal of Business Research showed that meetings can actually be a key way to increase empowerment within employees. However, it relies on one key factor. Specifically, empowering meetings rely on information availability. The easier it is for employees to easily access the information they need, the more productive the meeting will be. Additionally, it will allow employees to feel like they achieved more throughout the meeting, causing them to feel more empowered and positive about the next meeting.

Reduce Status Updating and Increase Problem Solving. A recent study analyzing stand up meetings collected interviews and empirical data from over 70 meetings, and analyzed the most positive and negative contributing factors for each meeting. It showed that employees feel more positively about meetings when they focus on information sharing and problem solving/discussion. However, they felt negatively about meetings that focused around status updating, and were long in duration. Aim to keep a schedule of what you need to discuss each meeting, and work to stick to this schedule in as short a time as possible. Additionally, establishing a way in which your employees can update superiors through quick technological means will allow for less time in each meeting to be spent on status updating, and more time to be allowed for problem solving.

Take a Walk. Here at United Eventures, we love the Ted Talk by Nilofer Merchant, which you can find on our About Us page. Merchant talks about the sedentary lifestyle that so many of us live in the modern age. She mentions a time when she was asked to meet with someone as he walked his dog. She has applied this idea to create “walking meetings” which means that less and less of her meetings are done in an office. Not only has she felt like she is being more active, but also that a walking meeting allows people to be less entrenched in their views, and has actually led people to talk in a more collaborative, agreeable manner. Although this cannot be used for all meetings, it is a great idea for catch-up or brainstorming meetings. Try carrying a notepad or voice recorder to catch important information and new ideas.

Optimize Your Virtual Meetings. Virtual meetings have been used extensively for many useful reasons. However, when applied improperly, virtual meetings can be frustrating, increase confusion, or waste time. A recent study demonstrated three main components to a successful virtual meeting. 1) Look at your worker’s perception of productivity. Do your workers feel like the virtual meetings are increasing productivity? Believe it or not, this perception is actually just as important as the actual productivity during the meeting itself. 2) Create clear behavioral steps for how your employees should use the technology and act during virtual meetings. Behavioral steps should outline a company’s policies and guidelines of how people should behave within virtual meetings. Currently, far less ownership exists within virtual meetings as compared to on-site meetings, and this will work to close that gap. 3) Focus on your company’s virtual maturity. The more exposure and experience your company has to virtual meetings, the more successful each one will be (which makes sense). Companies that are equipped to have external virtual meetings will be far more successful with their internal ones. A general rule of thumb is if you don’t feel comfortable using your technology or organization methods for an external virtual meeting, you should not be using these tactics and technology for your internal meetings. Overall, the implementation of virtual meetings may show an immediate increase in productivity, decreased travel time, etc. but this will eventually level off. Virtual maturity means that you must work to transition your virtual meetings past the replacement stage (in which you are simply using these types of meetings in place of on-site meetings) and transitioning to an integration stage. Remember that virtual meetings are different from on-site ones, and your company should be developing techniques and policies that work specifically for virtual meetings. Using virtual meetings simply because people are in different locations is not virtual maturity. Instead, utilize tools that transition virtual meetings into something that allows for effective collaboration.

Lindeblad, Peter A., Yuliya Voytenko, Oksana Mont, and Peter Arnfalk. "Advancing Sustainable Solutions: An Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Research Agenda." Journal of Cleaner Production 123 (2016): n. pag. Web.

Allen, Joseph A., Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, and Stephanie J. Sands. "Meetings as a Positive Boost? How and When Meeting Satisfaction Impacts Employee Empowerment." Journal of Business Research (2016): n. pag. Web.

Stray, Viktoria, Dag I.K. Sjøberg, and Tore Dybå. "The Daily Stand-up Meeting: A Grounded Theory Study." Journal of Systems and Software114 (2016): n. pag. Web.
work-life, balance, family, happiness, career
Finally Attainable? Research Shows How to Achieve a Work-Life Balance
 Finally Attainable? Research Shows How to Achieve a Work-Life Balance 960 640 Emilie
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The ever unattainable work-life balance: we all search for it, but finding it is a different story. The more that happens in our lives: becoming married, having children, receiving promotions, the more we worry we will be unable to balance all that is on our plate. But, believe it or not, research demonstrates no correlation between marital status, presence of children, or even age of children on typical perceived work-life balance. With this in mind, we can know that even with a busy family life, we can still attain harmony: we just have to know how.

Try mindfulness exercises. Studies have shown that increased mindfulness correlates with a better work-life balance. Mindfulness refers to the ancient Buddhist idea of being present in the moment: paying attention to the sounds, feelings, smells, and sights within the present moment. Whether washing the dishes or taking a shower, mindfulness focuses on the beauty and senses within each moment. Luckily, the internet contains many suggestions for methods to improve your mindfulness. We particularly like the articles and methods from Tiny Buddha and Della Terra Wellness.

Focus on your sleep. It also has been demonstrated that sleep quality mediates the relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance. We all know that sleep is important, and the last thing a busy person wants to be told is to spend more time sleeping. But here is yet another reason why it is so important, so remember to get your 7-8 hours a night! Additionally, pay attention to the quality of your sleep. Nowadays, there is a lot of technology at your fingertips to track how well you are actually sleeping. Take a look at your Fitbit’s sleep data, or try  apps from the Apple Store like SleepCycle or SleepBot.

Talk to Your Partner. Support from your partner is crucial in being able to maintain that work-life balance. Keep the communication open and frequent with your partner. Admit challenges you are having at work or at home. Being honest about the struggles you have in both aspects of your life, as well as any difficulties you have balancing the two, will allow you to more easily handle the challenges of your hectic life.

Turn to your Coworkers. Not only is partner support incredibly important, but so is coworker support. As the only people who truly know what you are going through at work, make sure you are choosing to befriend coworkers who are supportive and caring. As much as you can, try to work alongside coworkers that you can rely on when it comes to work crises, it will make your life less stressful if you don’t have to worry about every crisis that arises.

Be aware of your workplace environment. Whether or not we want to admit it, sometimes the workplace we are in will prevent us from achieving this balance. Research shows that employees have the best work-life balance when they are with a company that has a positive organizational structure. This includes the following factors: 1) allowing employees enough freedom so that they do not feel like they always have to check or receive approval for their actions, 2) motivating employees through reward instead of punishment, 3) consistently being open to many different opinions, and 4) embracing employees as part of the identity of the company.

Let go of control. It may sound counter-intuitive, but the more you try to control both your work and family life, the more it leads to conflict between the two. A recent study from the European Management Journal shows that seemingly positive traits, such as self-direction and achievement, are actually associated with a decrease in work-life balance. When we attempt to keep both our work life and family life perfect, we get stressed out when there are issues in either one. We then perform less well in both parts of our life, resulting in a damaging, cyclical pattern. Instead, we must remember that neither our work life or family life will be perfect. In fact, even if we devoted our time solely to one of these parts of our lives, problems would still arise. It is not until we stop trying to will our control over everything that we will achieve a more harmonious balance between the two.

Panisoara, Georgeta, and Mihaela Serban. "Marital Status and Work-life Balance." Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences 38 (2013): n. pag. Web.
Chernyak-Hai, Lily, and Aharon Tziner. "The “I Believe” and the “I Invest” of Work-Family Balance: The Indirect Influences of Personal Values and Work Engagement via Perceived Organizational Climate and Workplace Burnout." Revista De Psicología Del Trabajo Y De Las Organizaciones32.1 (2016): n. pag. Web.
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