How to Promote Healthy Competition in the Workplace

Everyone loves a little friendly competition. Even in the workplace, healthy competition has many benefits. Workplace competition can make employees more productive and engaged in their work. It can also promote more teamwork and give employees the opportunity to interact with each other in a more exciting manner than usual. It is important, however, to foster this kind of competition the right way. It is very possible you will have people in the office who are very competitive and thrive in these environments. However, you will also have those who cringe even at the thought of a contest.

A few examples of healthy competition would be seeing which team can retain the most revenue, or who can make the most phone calls throughout the day. You can even have a contest for the team that can come up with the best business expansion idea. Here are some ways to help promote healthy competition in the workplace and avoid disenfranchising employees.

Compete in Teams

Creating a competition between individual employees can produce adverse effects. One major problem with this model is that it can promote a dog-eat-dog situation where everyone is looking to be the top player. However, the competition is team-oriented, it can foster a much healthier environment which encourages collaboration. When companies create teams, they should ensure a balance, with team members of various strengths and tenure. This method will create effective teams and allow employees to learn from each other as the competition continues.

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The Advantages of a Workplace Gym

In the workplace, there are times when projects seem to have no end in sight; employees may struggle to meet deadlines and conflicts arising from customers or other co-workers can increase stress. The magnitude of stress that these problems place on employees may cause frequent absences. A Canadian company that specializes in workplace health solutions reported that an investment in a workplace gym could yield a return of up to ten dollars for each dollar spent on employee health due to the significant reduction in absenteeism and overall health benefits. A workplace gym can provide healthy, reliable and energized employees for those employers who are willing to invest in the initial expense . Here are some of the other benefits of having a workplace gym.

Less Stress

In most workplaces, employees will spend a majority of their day sitting at a computer screen. Doing so can lead to neck, back, wrist, and arm fatigue which are huge contributors to physical stress. Exercise can help to relieve this physical stress from being sedentary and the fatigue of certain muscle groups.

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Craziest Business Ideas That Worked

Successful business ideas are somewhat rare. Some businesses can take off because they are a simple, but brilliant, idea. Then there are some businesses that succeeded because they fulfilled a demand that no one else thought of fulfilling. If you want to get a successful enterprise to launch, it takes a lot of courage and great business acumen to do so. However, sometimes there are those who had a seemingly- insane idea that, on paper, should never have worked. Consumers are constantly looking for the newest idea and sometimes, the crazier it is, the more attention it attracts. Below is a list of some of the craziest business ideas that actually worked and made millions.

Santa Mail

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right? Every child loves the Christmas season, with the snow on the ground, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and the belief of a magical man in a red suit is climbing down their chimney to deliver presents.

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The Effective Qualities of a Leader

According to John C. Maxwell’s definition, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Regardless of how you look to define a leader, they must have the qualities that create success rather than failure. Throughout time, there have been many different qualities to describe leaders. Leaders can exude the right combination of charisma, enthusiasm, and self-assurance. There is a common misconception that these traits are innate and that some of the most prominent leaders in history never had to work to develop leadership skills. However, most great leaders have had to develop leadership traits over time, through periods of trial and error and hard work. Below is a review of some of the most prominent leadership traits:

Vision

As a leader, you need to have a clear vision. Jack Welch says, “good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Great leaders are able to identify clearly where they are trying to go and what they want to accomplish.

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Top Reasons Why Businesses Fall Apart

Starting a business is exciting on many levels:  the financial freedom, the idea of being your own boss, and the feeling of success when you put your idea into action. However, there is a high barrier to entry in maintaining a successful business because seventy percent of all businesses with employees actually fail within ten years. Business failure is a harsh reality to and can be a difficult hurdle for potential business owners. Many factors come into play as to why these businesses fail, and if you are looking to start a successful startup, you want to be aware of these issues and learn how to avoid them. Here are some of the top reasons why most businesses fail.

They Do Not Deliver Real Value

Value to customers is at the center of any business, and any business owner must find a way to deliver it. A good rule of thumb is “under-promise but over-deliver.” Sometimes business owners are looking to “get rich quick” rather than focus on providing true value to their customers.

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The Most Effective Management Styles

A management style is a way to describe the specific behaviors exhibited by managers. There are so many models that describe the characteristics that make a good manager or leader based on personality and other traits like directness, empathy, flexibility, and agility. Obviously, there are some management styles that best suit certain scenarios than others, and there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to being a quality manager. However, for the most part, some management styles have proven to be the most effective in a majority of situations. Let’s take a look at some of the most effective management styles.

Lead By Example

Many business owners and department heads like to use this management style especially when they are always bringing new employees into the fold and developing them for leadership roles. The philosophy behind this management style is modeling your behavior in a way that you would want your employees to behave and conduct themselves.

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The Difference Between a Leader and a Manager

People use the words “leader” and “manager” interchangeably, however they are not as similar as most would think. The question becomes: what is the difference between leadership and management?

Leadership involves getting people to believe and understand your vision and work with you to achieve those goals. “Managing” typically involves overseeing the day-to-day operations and making sure they are happening as they should. It is entirely possible for these two to cross-over in some aspects; however, for the most part, they each have very different philosophical underpinnings.

Think about the value of those around you. As a manager, you’re probably counting value while a leader is creating value. It is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that things are running smoothly. Their employees are like machine parts in the sense that they are interchangeable.

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How To Relieve Stress in the Workplace

They say that the average business professional has about thirty to one hundred different projects on their plate. This kind of workload can bring a great deal of stress to anyone. However, stress is not always a bad thing. In fact, it can help you stay focused and able to face new challenges. Workplace stress is normal; however once it becomes excessive, it can interfere with your productivity and your performance. While you can’t control everything that goes on at your job, you are not completely powerless. There are still some things you can do to make the situations better for yourself. Here are some tips to help you relieve some stress in the workplace.

Establish Boundaries

We live in a digital age that can make it easy for someone to feel the pressure of being available all day, every day. For this reason, you need to establish work-life boundaries. There is nothing wrong with detaching yourself from work and giving yourself that break.

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The Rise of Farmland as an Investment

Farmland is continuing to be a hot commodity in the U.S. and abroad. In fact, since World War II it has risen in value at a steady pace every year except in 1983, and 1985 to 1987. Investing in farmland is has the advantage that the average person can research and understand this asset class quite easily, particularly as compared to some other more complicated asset classes. Farmland has the added advantage of being tangible; you can touch it, live off of it, and there are a variety of ways farmland can generate income.

Agriculture produced from farmland provides food for the world population, which sits at nearly seven billion people. Expectations suggest that this number will reach nine billion and counting over the next 30 years. However, there is only a finite amount of quality farmland to produce food. With rising incomes in emerging markets, there will be a significant demand for a higher quality diet, which includes more meat. The future global demand for food is one of the driving forces behind the increasing value of farmland every year.

The real estate market for cropland brings with it leveraged buying; mortgages allow acquisitions for a relatively small amount of money. Farmland tends to appreciate in value even when the markets fluctuate, giving owners a more stable investment than some other asset classes.

 

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Four Things You Need to Know About Bitcoin

2017 was an excellent year for Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency reached new heights and became one of the hottest commodities of the year. However, the concept of Bitcoin is still complicated to most people, and even some of the most tech-savvy individuals have difficulty fully understanding it.

As it stands now, Bitcoin is only eight-and-a-half years old, yet it is the oldest and most valued cryptocurrency on the market. The interest to invest in Bitcoin is at an all-time high. However, before you go ahead and make that investment, there are some things to consider.

 

The Price

The price of Bitcoin, like most things in a market, relies on the laws of supply and demand. Currently, the supply is limited to 21 million Bitcoins. Increased demand will force the price to go up as well. The number of people in the world who actually use Bitcoin is relatively small, so the price tends to fluctuate on a daily basis. As more people begin to use Bitcoin, the price will continue to grow. In early 2011, the cost of one Bitcoin was worth less than $1. Predictions suggest that as Bitcoin’s popularity increases, it will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to accommodate this demand.

 

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