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Its 6:14 a.m. and you, the middle manager, wake up to the rumbling of your phone on your nightstand. You know you should have notifications silenced but your VPs time zone is three hours ahead and when they want an update, everyone is expected to drop everything. Seven unread Slack messages. Your stomach drops. The Q1 goals check-in was this morning and your direct report didnt update the slides with the latest metrics. You throw off the sheets, hit brew on the coffee maker, and open your laptop. Im on it! you respond and jump into the deck to make the changes. Your day was already slammed with meetings, but now you have to come up with time to give your team member feedback on missing those updates. Getting your 5-year-old out the door with matching shoes on is a piece of cake compared to the day you have ahead of you: 9:30 a.m.: Smooth things over with your VP after they got to the meeting with an incomplete deck. 10 a.m.: Team meeting to relay the plan ratified in the Q1 goals meeting, discussing each team members priorities and load balancing where necessary. 11 a.m.: Interview a new project coordinator candidate. 11:30 a.m.: Lead a cross-functional project kickoff meeting. 12:30 p.m.: Squeeze in the feedback meeting with your team who put the wrong updates in the deck. Listen to their counter feedback that its actually your fault because you didnt remind them the day before. 12:55 p.m.: Scarf down a sandwich at your desk. 1 p.m.: Talent review meeting with HR. 2 p.m.: 1:1 with a direct report to brainstorm the next steps on a project. 2:30 p.m.: Work on the project strategy deck for tomorrows review. 3 p.m.: Attend a meeting that four of your team members are also in 3:30 p.m.: Quick chat with a team member giving their two-week notice. 3:45 p.m.: Silently scream in a bathroom stall while rocking yourself, thinking about the mountain of work that the team member is leaving behind. 4 p.m.: The manager stops by to brief you on a new project to take on. 4:30 p.m.: Jump back onto the deck for tomorrows meeting. 5 p.m.: Race to the car to get to school in time for 5:30 p.m. daycare pickup. . . . and youll do it all again tomorrow. This is just a peek into the day in the life of a middle manager. Sounds like a little much? Research on context switching says it takes about 23 minutes to regain focus once weve stopped doing something, making the rapid-fire 30-minute back-to-back-to-backs a problem in and of itself. But these wouldnt be such an issue if the nature of the meetings were the same. Its not the volume of things thats the kicker, its the continual “altitude shifting” from strategic partner leading kickoff meetings with senior leaders to presentation designer building slides that someone else will present that makes the job of a manager so exhausting. As a former corporate middle manager myself, now a consultant and trainer of managers across companies big and small, the shift from big picture to granular over and over throughout the day prevents you from really feeling like you can contribute in a meaningful way. We might be sick of hearing about burnout, but people are still feeling it, big time. As recently as recently as 2023, according to Microsoft 2023 Work Trend Index Report, 53% of managers reported feeling burned out, 5% more than their non-manager counterparts. No wonder some have resorted to ghosting their teams. So what do we do about it? Here are three simple ways to reduce the pain caused by altitude shifting. Group similar meetings Group together similar kinds of meetings on the same days, for example having all of your 1:1 meetings on Mondays to kick off the week or project meetings on Tuesdays when folks are in othe ffice together. When our calendar looks like Swiss cheese, we can get in the habit of slotting in meetings whenever we have a free moment, but this reinforces the overwhelm of having to operate at so many different levels in one day. You might not be able to make this change today, or even this week, but make it a goal to look two to three weeks ahead and start grouping similar meetings on the same days. Plan and schedule heads down time One of the biggest challenges created by meetings overload, something that pretty much every manager Ive ever worked with experiences, is that theres virtually no time for project work. This often means project work is left to the hours of 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. before you finally pass out from exhaustion (and we wonder why were burning out). Instead of fitting work in where you can, plan for it. Find and schedule one to two hours every week for project time, during working hours, that you dont schedule over. This will allow you to get stuff done without incurring the cost of the 23 minutes lost from context switching. Delegate the small stuff Managers hate when I talk about delegating in the context of time management, but Im sorry, my friend, because it is your secret weapon for getting more time back. More than that, its going to get you to the right level of altitude you should be focused at, instead of dropping into the details all of the time. Look across all of the meetings you have each week and tasks on your plate, and identify what meaningful things you could hand off to a team member that will help you scale better. For example, invite a team member to do a first-round interview with a potential candidate, skip the meeting your team members are also in, and ask them to email you a recap, give that team member another chance on the slide updates, and let them own the deck. Handing these off (while setting clear expectations and defining what success looks like) allows you to spend more of your limited time actually leading your team. Ultimately, the middle manager’s role is to empower their teams to grow. Its impossible to do this when were too stuck in all the details and barely able to come up for air. Get ahead of this by actively managing your calendar, planning your work, and delegating effectively; you will not only have a team that rises to the challenge of taking more on, but your job will get a lot easier as a middle manager.
Category:
E-Commerce
The question, Where do you work? used to be answered by sharing your employers name. Today, however, it could also include the physical location, such as working from home, in the office full-time, or a combination of both. Whether your coworkers are down the hall or time zones away, a good percentage of your communication will be virtual. Its commonplace to use instant messaging and email to communicate with people who are only a cubicle away, says Andrew Brodsky, assistant professor of management at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication. But people often approach their workplace communication somewhat mindlessly. They use email because theyve always used email for this. Or they have a meeting because we’ve always had meetings for this. Humans have been interacting with each other for thousands of years, but virtual communication on the scale of human history is recent, which means we havent yet mastered its best usage, says Brodsky. Unfortunately, your choice of communication tool can undermine your ability to build strong relationships and corporate culture by opening the door to misunderstandings or missed opportunities to connect. Choosing the Right Form of Communication Before you reach out to anyone, Brodsky recommends identifying your most important goal for the communication and determining the best mode to achieve that goal and improve work-related outcomes. Is it about being productive and concise so that I can focus on work tasks? he asks. Is it about building a relationship and trust in a situation? Is it about making a good impression? There isnt one absolute best mode all the time; there are different best modes for different goals. Use that information to decide what technology will best achieve that goal. For example, if you need to ask someone a long series of questions, email isnt the most efficient form. The recipient would need to carve out time to respond, which could take a day or two. They may also want to edit and rewrite their answers before sending them back to you, adds Brodsky. On the other hand, a live phone call can be scheduled for a half an hour as you go back and forth with questions, answers, and clarifications. This is also true for meetings. Many people say we should get rid of all meetings and only do emails, says Brodsky. What they miss is that emails have a good time sink because of this potential to want to edit and make sure everything’s perfect, as opposed to the naturalness of synchronous language that can happen in video meetings or phone calls. If a situation involves complex information, especially if it could need clarification and further questioning, then a synchronous mode, such as phone or video, is best. If a situation requires unambiguous certainty, then a text-based mode, like email or Slack, could be the most productive form. Think About the Recipient When youre communicating virtually, whether it’s email, instant message, and video, its often hard to remember that there’s another person on the other side of communication because youre staring at your computer screen, says Brodsky. That’s a problem because when other people don’t realize they’re interacting with a human being, theyre less likely to collaborate and build relationships, he says. Think about ways to humanize your communication that may happen naturally in face-to-face interactions, suggests Brodsky. For example, text-based communication tends to have less small talk, and while small talk decreases productivity, it’s useful for building trust and building relationships. The more familiar people feel with one another, the more they realize that there’s a human heresomeone who’s got their own interests and feelings, says Brodsky. Small talk humanizes the interaction. In virtual communication, such as email, Brodsky recommends starting by briefly asking about something personal they recently mentioned, such as a weekend trip they took. You could also include a quick note about yourself that’s related so it doesn’t feel out of place. You can also build some time into the beginning of a videoconference call to make small talk. I’m not saying go into way too much detail about yourself, says Brodsky. Even a few quick words of small talk can be really useful for humanizing yourself and building trust. Find Opportunities for Spontaneous Communication When youre in person, water cooler conversations can happen organically, providing opportunities to connect and exchange information. If youre working remotely or in a hybrid situation, Brodsky recommends looking for ways to add spontaneous communication, such as short video interactions, to re-create real-time conversations. When you can see the other person, you feel like you’re more familiar with them, as opposed to just reading some text from them, he says. That’s not to say that you should just go interrupting everyone with video calls. It’s good sometimes to send a quick instant message beforehand, saying, Hey, are you available to talk? The Advantage of Virtual Communication As we become more adept at virtual communication, our experiences are likely to start mirroring in-person interaction. While it may feel like out of sight is out of mind, Brodsky says its possible to build stronger relationships remotely when you are intentional about virtual communication. There’s nothing particularly magical about being able to touch the person in front of you, he says. Its a lot easier to send a quick text to someone saying, Hey, how are you doing? What’s been going on? Virtual tools can strengthen relationships because they increase the frequency of interactions, and the frequency of interactions is one of the main predictors of what creates strong, long-lasting, trusting relationships.
Category:
E-Commerce
More people than ever aspire to become influencers on social media, given YouTubes proliferation as an entertainment source and the popularity of Instagram and TikTok. Some 57% of Gen Z aspire to be influencers, according to a 2023 survey of 1,000 U.S. respondents. It makes sense after seeing influencers earn big payouts while having more freedom and flexibility to work on their terms. There are many glamorous aspects of becoming an influencer, but being able to earn a full-time salary is challenging. Its a considerable amount of hard work, requires some luck, and the field has gotten competitive. And thats why some experts suggest aspiring content creators consider freelancing. What influencers really earn Just 4% of the estimated 50 million global creators are earning more than $100,000 a year, according to Goldman Sachs Research. And 48% of creators earned $15,000 or less in 2023, reports The Wall Street Journal, partly due to social networks reducing creator program payouts and other incentives used to encourage posting. Due to creator saturation, brands have more creator partners to choose from, sometimes leading them to be more selective over who they work with and pay less for that work. And investing time and resources solely into these social networks is an unpredictable pay-off, considering the changes to X (formerly Twitter) since 2023 as well as TikToks uncertain future in the U.S. Going full-time as a creator can be challenging, especially when relying on brand deals, which can be inconsistent and volatile, says Lindsey Gamble, a consultant, advisor, and speaker on the creator economy and influencer marketing. Diversifying your income Despite these drawbacks, you dont need to abandon your aspirations to become a creator or influencer. But for most people, its not a realistic full-time focus or going to deliver the pay day you may be thinking. Instead, more professionals will find success by being a well-rounded freelancer and having one of your focus areas be creating content for social media. That way youre not disregarding your interests in being an influencer, but also protecting your income. Freelancing can provide access to a wider range of projects diversifying your income and providing better long-term stability. As a freelancer, you have the ability to offer a mix of services and products to companies and individuals based on your expertise and experience. Diversifying types of work and clients is paramount for younger workers during this period of AI-boosted jobs and work disruption, says says Sophie Wade, workforce innovation advisor and instructor, and host of the Transforming Work podcast. Relying only on influencer/creator income is unwise, rather than developing transferrable skills, diversifying clients and projects, and building a range of experiences and expertise to be prepared whichever way markets evolve. Freelancing takes many forms like offering consulting, coaching, creative services, marketing, technical support, professional training, project management, speaking, and other services. For example, a web designer could offer brand partnerships on social media as a content creator, sell courses to other designers, and provide website redesign services to companies. That way, as any aspect of your business ebbs and flows due to seasonality, economic conditions, or whatever other reason, youve got multiple income streams to rely on. Plus, freelancing lets you diversify your presence beyond the highly competitive social media landscape, helping you compete for work across private and public marketplaces, networking platforms, industry events, and professional communities. Finding creative fulfillment Diversifying your offerings allows you to vary your day-to-day workload, so youre not repeating the same tasks over and over again. Sometimes, I get bored or creatively drained working on the same kind of projects, so alternating between freelance and creator work allowed me to be creatively free and work with a variety of brands, says Jayde Powell, a freelance social strategist and content creator. Doing both truly feels like yin and yangdifferent but balancedwhich has allowed me to establish my own lane as a creatorpreneur. And the advantages of diversification works in all directions whether theres times youre getting stability and income from being a content creator, a speaker, an advisor, or in another capacity. If theres anything [the last year] taught me, its that having two streams of income is not only fruitful for my purse but also for my mental health, adds Powell. As is the case with freelance work, sometimes you can go months without picking up any projects. I often found myself in a position where agencies I would talk to knew they needed a freelance social strategist but simply werent ready to bring one on. My saving grace was working as a creator and influencer. My earnings from my brand partnerships often helped supplement my income as a freelancer, which mitigated any potential financial stressors I could have had. Keep in mind that there are some barriers to entry with freelancing are higher than posting on social media, as youve got to earn professional experience, develop an in-demand skillset, and attract clients. Freelancing is less familiar to Gen Z, who have undeveloped professional networks and skillsets, and it takes time to grow a client base, says podcaster Wade. In most scenarios, offering freelance services will require that you’ve worked at a company full-time for at least a few years to get hands-on experience, gain professional contacts, and earn any necessary credentials. That way you’re qualified to provide high-quality services, potential customers can trust in your offerings, and this experience can act as a starting point for growing a customer base. This is where being a content creator is advantageous as you can generate valuable visibility for your other types of freelance work. Finding the right balance For freelancers, creating content is key today; it helps you get in front of prospects, showcases your expertise, and gives them a preview of what its like to work with you, adds consultant Gamble. As someone who left a 9-to-5 six months ago, Ive found the combination of creator and freelancer to be working really well. Both sides complement each other, helping you secure bigger budgets and become more integral to the companies you work with, he says. Thats where freelancing and influencing go hand-in-hand. Youre not only being flexible in the support youre able to provide to clients, but giving yourself optons to ensure you’re financially stable, enjoying variety in your day-to-day work, and continuing to develop your skills in the process. I think increasingly people are answering questions that have been posed as an or with an and, says Ziad Ahmed, an expert on Gen Z and the head of Next Gen at United Talent Agency. We have watched as creators have evolved into actors and entrepreneurs, as baristas have turned into internet sensations, as freelancers have taken yearly hiatuses to be travel bloggers, as the lines between creators and creatives and colleagues have all blurred. There are no shortage of options to explore and benefits to tap into as a content creator, but its a competitive and unpredictable path that many will struggle to turn into full-time work. A more realistic approach is to diversify as a freelancer, and make creating on social media one of the many skills you offer.
Category:
E-Commerce
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