The usual holiday cheer and festivities made a comeback over December 2021 as the latest take-home pay data from BankservAfrica shows more part-time and temporary workers were employed compared to December 2020.
According to the BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index (BTPI) salary data for December, about two million more salary payments were made than in the prior year.
The index recorded a rise in the average nominal take-home pay, which now sits at R15,542 – up 7.1% from R14,925 in November 2021. Real take-home pay was up 1.6% at an average of R12,463.
Year on year, however, in nominal terms, take-home pay remains unchanged. In real terms – factoring in inflation – South African workers are poorer than a year ago, with take-home pay declining 5.2%, the index shows.
Good news for the economy
A 13% growth in the number of payments made to casual workers for the second consecutive month and the 5% year-on-year increase in weekly payments, shows that workers in these categories contributed to the higher salary numbers, said Shergeran Naidoo, BankservAfrica’s head of stakeholder engagements.
The part-time election officials overseeing the Municipal elections in November 2021 – and compensated in December 2021 – may have been another contributor, he said.
Mike Schüssler, chief economist at economists.co.za, said that during the Covid-19 crisis, the decline in the number of casual workers mirrored the double-digit decline in the number of weekly wages paid.
“Weekly and casual payments showed the worst declines for far longer – the estimated daily payments weakened by double digits on 14 occasions in the last 25 months.”
These December numbers have led to a higher average take-home pay figure. However, the 5.9% inflation increase in December – the highest in nearly five years – led to a 5.2% annual decline in the average real take-home pay.
The real (after inflation) take-home pay for December was R12,463 compared to R12,299 in November, BankservAfrica said.
The November Municipal Election payments and the usual year-end bonus pay-outs saw the total take-home pay paid via BankservAfrica reach an astronomical R72.2 billion in December. This is by far the highest nominal number in the history of the take-home pay that BankservAfrica has ever recorded.
In real terms, the total take-home pay paid to employees was still below the December 2017 and 2018 levels but above December 2019 and 6.2% above December 2020. December 2021 was a more normal December with casual payments increasing closer to the numbers seen in December 2018.
“We hope that the next months will confirm the return of lower-paid employees who were challenged the most during the pandemic. If that trend holds, it will indicate that the employment impact from the pandemic is receding,” Schüssler said.
Record for the rich
December also recorded the highest number of people paid salaries exceeding R100,000 – over 27,700 individuals. This is up by 16.6% on December 2020’s figures.
The over R100,000 total amount paid was R7.3 billion, which was also the highest on record.
The high numbers in the run-up to December show that some of these payments were for the usual top-end bonuses in December while some were made to new pensioners. However, some of these may have also been pay-outs to those retrenched from large companies in sectors that were hit the hardest by Covid-19, BankservAfrica said.
The case, which was heard in January 2022 at the Centre for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) offices in Johannesburg, dealt with an employee who refused to get vaccinated in line with her company’s workplace policy.
An inquiry was convened by the employer, Goldrush, which argued that the employee’s decision to not get vaccinated incapacitated her. The CCMA issued an arbitration award concluding that the dismissal for incapacity was fair.
“We’ve been waiting, with bated breath, for guidance from the tribunal as more employers introduce mandatory vaccination policies in South Africa. This case provides clear direction that the employee’s individual rights are not carved in stone and are subject to limitation,” said Johan Botes, Baker McKenzie Partner and Head of the Employment and Compensation Practice in Johannesburg.
“In paragraph 26, the tribunal commissioner approves of a quote by the Deputy Judge President of the largest court in the country, the South Gauteng High Court, where he discussed the duty of an individual to be civic-minded.”
Botes said that this arbitration award offers reassuring confirmation to employers who are keen to see employees returning to offices without placing the health of colleagues and customers at undue risk.
Businesses have a statutory obligation to provide a safe and healthy working environment, he said.
This duty allows businesses to conduct an assessment of the risk of allowing non-vaccinated parties on its premises, and to mandate vaccination in appropriate circumstances. Individuals are permitted to make representations in respect of reasonable accommodation to be extended to them in cases of legitimate grounds for refusal or inability to get vaccinated.
“As this tribunal outcome shows, not all objections or representations stand to be accepted, and employees could face termination of employment where their employer rejects their representations,” he said.
The country’s largest trade federation says that the increase would benefit approximately six million workers – particularly in the farming, construction and hospitality sectors.
Notably, some 900,000 domestic workers are set to benefit from an increase should the government decide to equalise the minimum wage this year, Cosatu said.
This follows the recent proposals published by the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Commission which recommend that domestic worker salaries be increased to 100% of the National Minimum Wage.
Under the Act, the minimum wage for domestic workers was initially set at 75% of the National Minimum Wage in 2020. The Commission proposed increasing it to 88% of the national minimum wage in 2021 and 100% in 2022.
“As a result, the minimum wage for domestic workers in 2021 came to R19.09 per hour. The equalisation of the domestic sector was proposed in 2020 by the commission; wherein there was a minority report proposing a phased-in approach.
“In line with its earlier proposal, the commission recommends that the minimum wage of domestic workers be increased to the national minimum wage in 2022,” it said.
This would bring the minimum wage for domestic workers to R23 per hour – a 20% increase from R19.09 in 2021 – or approximately R3,700 a typical work month (20 days, 8 hours a day).
The number of domestic workers in the country is currently sitting at around 900,000, after dropping to around 745,000 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, data from Statistics South Africa shows.
This annual increase of 147,000 domestic worker jobs was more significant than almost any other segment in 2021, surpassing technicians (106,000), craft and related trades (78,000), plant and machine operators (25,000) and sales and services (20,000) occupations.
The institute recognises companies for their outstanding HR strategies and people practices, with 24 organisations from 31 African countries included in this year’s cohort. As part of the ranking, companies are evaluated across a number of key areas including:
Talent strategy;
Workforce planning;
On-boarding;
Learning & development;
Performance management;
Leadership development;
Career & succession management;
Compensation & benefits;
Culture.
The Top Employers Institute then evaluates the implementation of these practices and reviews how they are supported through strategy, ownership, practices, measurement and technology. It must also be noted that the Top Employers certification is by application.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Unilever was ranked as the top employer in South Africa, followed by professional services firm Accenture, and telecommunications company Vodacom. The overall top 20 for South Africa is outlined below.
Rank
Company
Sector
1
Unilever South Africa (Pty) Ltd
FMCG
2
Accenture (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
Professional services
3
Vodacom Group Pty (Ltd)
Telecommunications
4
HCL Technologies
IT Services
5
JTI South Africa
Tobacco
6
Tata Consultancy Services South Africa
IT Services
7
Nestlé (South Africa)
FMCG
8
Mondelēz South Africa, Hilti (South Africa)
FMCG
9
Hilti (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
Construction
10
DHL Supply Chain (South Africa)
Logistics
11
SAP South Africa
Software
12 =
Mercedes-Benz South Africa
Automotive
12 =
BAT South Africa
Tobacco
14
Dimension Data
IT Services
15
HPE South Africa
IT Services
16
Sasol Limited
Energy
17
AstraZeneca
Pharmaceuticals
18
Santam Ltd
Financial services
19
LAW FOR ALL
Legal services
20
Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages
FMCG
In 2021, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a challenging and difficult time for societies across the globe. It demanded that companies worldwide continue to commit to meeting the changing needs of their employees and the wider world around them, said chief executive of Top Employers Institute David Plink.
“Reflecting on the demanding year that has, like the year before it, impacted organisations across the world. We are happy to see those certified organisations in Africa have continued to prioritise maintaining excellent people practices in the workplace.
“Despite the challenges, they continue to meet the challenges of the changing world of work while working tirelessly to make a positive impact on the lives of their workforce.”
Openserve is South Africa’s largest ICT infrastructure provider with the biggest fixed broadband network in the country, and an estimated 5,619 employees by the end of September 2021. The group currently offers fibre coverage to more than 700,000 homes, with more than 331,700 homes connected to its network.
“The ICT sector is continuously evolving and requires an array of advanced skills and knowledge. We invite you to join our team of experienced ICT professionals who are passionate about building a competitive, sustainable and accountable business to better serve our clients, community and South Africa,” it said.
Openserve said it was specifically looking for candidates to fill its Centre of Excellence (CoE) programme positions.
“The CoE programme is our pinnacle programme that supports our extensive youth and skills development strategic initiatives. Its framework ensures that there is continuous research in the fields of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, IT, Network Operations, Computer Science, Finance and Sales and Marketing,” it said.
Some of the open positions include:
Engineering
Network operations
Computer Science
Finance
Sales & Marketing
IT
Openserve said it is looking for innovative, dynamic, creative and solutions-driven individuals between the age of 18 and 35.
Candidates must have a Masters or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, IT, Finance, or Sales & Marketing. You can find out more about applying here.
Experts at commercial law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr have answered some pertinent questions for employers and staff alike ahead of the 2022 work year.
What are some of the flexible working models an employer can introduce in 2022?
Online work is a fast-growing trend. The digital revolution is driving new forms of employment facilitated by the various online platforms available. Remote and hybrid working arrangements allow employees to work from home and attend at the traditional workplace/office intermittently.
Typical employment is full-time employment for an indefinite period while atypical working models include temporary placements, fixed-term contracts, and variable hour contracts (which are a special form of part-time employment).
What are some of the benefits of atypical employment?
These working arrangements afford both employers and employees greater flexibility.
They can attract highly skilled employees who favour the flexibility that they offer.
They also allow employers to contain labour costs and tend to provide a larger pool of candidates with the opportunity to gain work experience and develop their skills.
What are possible negative consequences associated with remote working and other atypical employment relationships?
Possible negative consequences include lack of job security and the potential for excessive or improper use of atypical forms of employment. These negative consequences can impact equality in the workplace as well as productivity and growth.
Is employee consent required to move to a hybrid/remote working model?
Employers looking to implement a hybrid/remote working model should consider whether their employees’ place of work and the working arrangements are determined through workplace practice, or whether they are incorporated as terms and conditions of employment in employees’ contracts of employment.
If the employees’ working arrangements including place of work are set out in the contract of employment, this may require that any change to the working arrangements be effected with the employees’ consent. Failure to secure consent could result in a unilateral change to the employees’ terms and conditions of employment.
In addition, if the employer subsequently dismisses an employee for failing to adhere to the new hybrid/remote working model, this may expose the employer to a claim for an automatically unfair dismissal.
What does an employer do when employees refuse to return to the office in 2022 and on what basis can an employee lawfully refuse to return?
Employers that have conducted a risk assessment of the workplace and implemented appropriate measures to ensure the health and safety of employees such as social distancing, sanitizing, vaccination policies and ensuring that employees wear personal protective equipment will be entitled to call on employees to return to the office.
The contract of employment may stipulate an employee’s place of work. If an employee unreasonably refuses to return to the stipulated place of work, then the employee may be in breach of the contract of employment and the employer may institute disciplinary action against
the employee. An employee who fails to adhere to a reasonable and lawful instruction from an employer to return to the contractually agreed workplace may be guilty of insubordination which is a form of misconduct and may result in dismissal. However, employees have the right to refuse to return to the workplace if they have a legitimate and objective reason to believe that the workplace poses a threat to their health and safety.
Employers should assess the reasonableness of an employee’s concern and eliminate the risk, if any. Once the health and safety threat has been remedied a continued refusal may constitute insubordination.
Can an employer implement a mandatory vaccination policy in 2022 notwithstanding the missed 21-day deadline?
The 21 day period within which an employer was required to conduct a risk assessment expired on 2 July 2021. However, there is no prohibition in the 11 June 2021 Directions to an employer implementing a mandatory vaccination policy beyond this date.
What are the steps employers need to put in place now in order to implement a mandatory vaccination policy come January 2022?
Employers may:
Identify the employees who fall within the identified category/categories of employees that must be vaccinated, and inform them of the measures that will be implemented with regards to the mandatory vaccination policy;
Provide electronic support to assist employees to register on the EVDS Registration Portal for Covid-19;
Inform employees that they will be entitled to paid time off to be vaccinated, provided an employee shows proof of vaccination;
Allow employees to submit objections/application for exemption to being vaccinated based on Constitutional, religious or medical grounds;
Provide employees with information on the nature and benefits of the Covid-19 vaccines; and
Provide employees with information on the risks of any serious side effects such as allergic reactions.
What measures can an employer implement to mitigate the risk of an outbreak of Covid-19 in the workplace once employees return from the holiday period?
An employer may implement the following measures:
Send a communication to all employees ahead of the festive season encouraging them to adhere to all health and safety protocols outside the working environment for the duration of the holiday season;
Remind employees throughout the holiday season of the mandatory health and safety measures as required by the government;
Encourage employees who display any symptoms of Covid-19 to remain at home and, in serious cases, to submit themselves for testing;
Maintain strict screening protocols upon entrance to the workplace in 2022; and
Ensure that all health and safety measures are strictly adhered to, as many employees may be asymptomatic.
As an employer obliged to pay employees who are self-quarantining?
Where an employee is able to work from home while quarantining, the employee may do so and will therefore be entitled to their full salary. In cases where an employee is unable to work from home, the employee may make use of their annual leave for the quarantine period.
Where an employee has exhausted their appropriate leave, the principle of “no work, no pay” will apply, and the employee will be placed on unpaid leave.
How does an employer manage productivity and performance of employees working from home?
There are important considerations pertaining to productivity and performance management that employers and HR need to take into account as remote working and hybrid working arrangements continue into 2022.
Employers may implement, inter alia, the following measures to monitor and ensure productivity:
daily check-ins;
daily collaboration sessions during which employees share ideas in order to maintain motivation;
clearly defined daily/weekly deliverables;
introduction of efficient technology and productivity tools; timesheets; and
assisting employees with developing strategies to work effectively from home.
An employer may also introduce various practical measures to engender a work culture, albeit whilst at home, such as an online meeting dress code policy, customised backgrounds for meetings, requesting that employees attend meetings, insofar as possible, in a quiet area of their home so as to ensure that a level of professionalism is maintained.
Employers should review the conduct and performance of employees who are currently working from home and identify any gaps in productivity, performance and monitoring and evaluation.
Based on this assessment, employers should review their work from home policies and remote work protocols to assess the ways in which they can make the remote work environment more effective and efficient.
Amazon has been growing its presence in South Africa over the last few years and plans to build a large new office in River Club, Cape Town, to accommodate this growth.
Cape Town has close links with the technology giant since South African Chris Pinkham built a team to develop Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in the city in 2004.
The success of the Cape Town office gave the company the confidence to open a customer service operation in Cape Town in 2010.
Amazon then expanded its presence in South Africa by opening an AWS office in Johannesburg in 2015.
This was followed by the launch of Amazon CloudFront locations in Johannesburg and Cape Town in 2018. In 2020, Amazon launched an AWS region in Cape Town.
Many South African organisations are now using AWS for their cloud needs, including the Tshwane University of Technology, Sentech, and the Department of Social Development and Social Services Agency.
However, the tech and retail giant is not only looking for customer support agents.
The company is currently advertising over 200 jobs in South Africa, which include:
55 in operations, IT, and support engineering.
52 in software engineering.
24 in customer support.
14 in solution architecture.
12 in human resources.
10 in project and programme management.
10 in sales, advertising, and account management.
6 in business development.
Most of these jobs are in Cape Town and Johannesburg, but there are also many positions where employees can work from home.
Applicants interested in work-from-home positions must have an existing and dedicated uncapped fibre line that supports 10Mbps upload speeds and 5Mbps download speeds.
People with ADSL, LTE, and Wi-Fi connections are not eligible for these roles.
Detailed proof of connectivity will be required. The Internet account must be in the applicant’s name at their home address, and it should confirm it is a fibre connection with a minimum 10Mbps speed.
Applicants must also be South African citizens, permanent residents, or hold the legal right to work in South Africa.
The table below provides an overview of some of the latest positions available from Amazon in South Africa. For the complete list of vacancies, visit this page.
Hiring managers are firing up every recruiting tool they have in today’s tight labor market — including asking ex-employees to come back. Some management researchers say the Great Resignation of 2021 could lead to the rise of the “boomerang employee” in the next five years as pandemic-era labor disruptions continue to shake out.
Businesses have a lot of incentives to rehire former employees, namely saving time and money on recruiting, onboarding and getting a person up to speed to fill a vacancy. Boomerang employees are easier to socialize into a company’s culture and can bring with them skills and experience they gained from the outside.
But what do workers get out of it? After all, if people leave jobs for a reason, is it ever a good idea to go back?
When boomeranging could be a good idea
Returning to a former employer could be a good thing in some cases, says Abbie Shipp, a management professor at Texas Christian University who specializes in employee engagement over time.
As long as your resume doesn’t show a pattern of leaving and rejoining a company over and over again, “being a boomerang employee doesn’t carry a negative stigma that it once did,” Shipp tells CNBC Make It.
Rehires tend to be high performers who left their old job for an unexpected reason, like having to move away for a partner’s job, to start a family, or to accept a surprise job offer they couldn’t refuse at the time. Returning shows you left on good terms, and that perhaps you’re such a valuable member of the team that your old company wants you back.
Rehires also tend to be paid more than workers who stayed with the company, says Brian Swider, a management professor at the University of Florida and an expert on boomerang employees: “You often leave for a better offer, and then you’re brought back with a better offer.”
A job change gives you another chance to negotiate your pay and benefits, especially as employers want to fill vacancies quickly, and the spread of remote work has put more flex-work options on the table.
With that said, Swider says boomerang employees tend to be paid less than truly external hires, whether that comes down to differences in the employer’s offer or differences in how a boomerang versus external candidate negotiates for their pay. It’s possible boomerang workers are willing to sacrifice a little bit of salary for larger certainty of the organization they’re walking into and the job they’ll be expected to do, Swider says.
How to consider a boomerang offer
Deciding to rejoin an old company is a very different experience from deciding to join a new one, and it requires a few extra considerations. You have history with a former organization, and you don’t want that history to give you an overly rosy view of good experiences from the past, Shipp says.
“It’s incredibly important to take in all the information of your prior experience with the firm,” she says, noting to be extra aware of what made you leave in the first place. Are those problems still there?
If you left because you didn’t like your boss’s management style, but that person has now left the company, you might find the work experience more enjoyable. But if you left because you didn’t see a path to promotion at the company, and the organization still has a poor track record of training and promoting leaders, you alone might not be able to do much to improve the situation once you’re back.
Even if you had a great experience working there before, don’t assume you’re returning to the same workplace you once knew. The pandemic impacted every organization differently, and the business could have entirely different employee resources, workflows, business operations or objectives.
Further, the workforce could look entirely different if the company has had to deal with a lot of turnover. You might not be returning to familiar coworkers, and you might have to pick up some extra tasks if the company is working to fill vacancies.
Still, going back to a workplace where you had a positive experience in the past might be a better alternative to a current job that’s not meeting your personal and professional needs. With a boomerang offer, do you see opportunities to learn valuable skills, grow into a new role, be supported by colleagues and make use of employee benefits that work for your family?
Ultimately, Shipp says, “try not to do what most people do: selectively craft information that leads them to the decision they want to make.”
Tips for a successful return
If a boomerang offer feels like a good fit for your life and career goals, there are a number of ways to make the reunion a good one.
You’ll want to balance three things, Shipp says: the prior knowledge you have with the company in order to get up to speed; the skills and experience you gained while working for another organization; and, most importantly, the open-mindedness of being a “new” teammate who’s ready to raise questions and solutions from an outsider’s perspective.
Tap your prior knowledge to do well on the task at hand, but don’t assume you know everything about the best way to do things, Shipp says, especially if you’ve been gone for a while and things have changed since you left.
Approach your network with a similar mindset and make sure to reach out to both old and new colleagues.
Be aware of and sensitive to colleagues who stayed with the company and who may not feel their loyalty has been rewarded through additional pay, perks or recognition.
Being approachable and open-minded with colleagues can help smooth some of the tension and show you’re open to “being coachable” by the people who’ve stayed, and that you’re hoping you can learn from each other.
Boomerang workers, those who leave their jobs and return later on, are on the rise — and in today's labor market, they have the upper hand. Returning to a previous employer, particularly those trying to quickly fill open roles, provides an opportunity to negotiate pay and benefits. One expert says workers often leave for a more attractive offer and are able to return to an even better one. CNBC offers some advice for considering an offer and ensuring a successful return:
Consider your previous experience with the company, including why you left.
Ask yourself if you see opportunities to grow into a new role.
Use your prior knowledge and skills to do well in your new position.
Reach out to both old and new colleagues to ease the transition.
If you’re still reeling from a crazy 2020 (and let’s be honest, a rocky start to this year), you might feel a little apprehensive about diving into 2021. Here are 21 painless ways you can get your year off to a great start:
1. Share your wisdom
Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. But it transforms into something truly powerful when it is shared.
Why? Because all the wisdom in the world is meaningless without application.
Yet many leaders eschew this and choose instead to hoard their insights, fearful of giving them away. They don’t understand a simple truth: sharing your wisdom doesn’t diminish your impact; it amplifies it. And today, the best way to magnify your message is to harness the power and reach of social media.
PROMOTED
2. Get your (career) story straight
Everyone has a unique story, but not everyone leverages its power. Properly crafted, your career story helps to differentiate you from your competitors, highlight your value, and to draw others to you. It provides a common thread that weaves together your personal and professional experiences, as well as your transferable skills, making it easy for others to connect the dots. Knowing and being able to articulate your career story clearly is transformative; use it wisely.
3. Clean up your (work) environment
Your environment, which includes your friends, colleagues, location, habits, and lifestyle, impacts you far more—for better or for worse—than you realize. You can’t make a significant, lasting change without altering some elements of it. Real growth happens when we understand whom and what best supports what we want and then align ourselves with those people and places that do. Your environment always wins; make sure it supports your goals.
4. Learn to say no...
If you want to grow your career, you need to learn to say no to almost everything (and everyone) that doesn’t excite you, speak to your values, further your mission in life, or help you achieve your goals. Remember, when you say no to the things and people who no longer serve you, you can say yes to those that do.
5. ...But say yes to growth opportunities
Saying yes can be a boon to your career—it opens you up to new challenges and opportunities, invites collaboration, empowers and affirms others, and creates an environment where it’s safe to try, fail, learn and innovate.6. Work hard to brush up on your soft skills
Emotional intelligence is rooted in them, business leaders swear by them, and they remain in high demand. I’m speaking of soft skills, those frequently misunderstood and undervalued skills that power career success.
In LinkedIn’s annual Global Talent Trends report, which explores the big trends fueling the future of the workplace, soft skills topped the list.
This finding underscores a fundamental truth: At its core, business is about relationships. No matter your job function or title, to succeed, you must interact with other people. And those who find a way to combine their hard skills with soft skills create environments that empower and ignite their teams, delight their customers, and fuel sustainable growth.
7. Protect your time
Your ability to prioritize and focus your attention on tackling work projects is crucial. How and with whom you spend your time and your productivity while doing so, demonstrate your focus and commitment to what—and who—matters most. When you master time management, you’ll learn to say no, do, decide, delegate or delete tasks, batch routine tasks, eliminate distractions, embrace mono-tasking, get to know—and work—your own rhythms, and build in breaks to recharge.
8. Become more self-aware
Most think of self-awareness as knowing yourself. Self-aware leaders have a clear understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. They are honest about what they want, their skills, and what matters most to them. They also have an accurate perception of what sets them apart and can then use their unique talents to magnify their impact in an environment that best suits them. Conversely, they also understand and acknowledge their blind spots and areas needing improvement.
But self-awareness is not just about knowing how you move through the world; it’s about knowing how your energy affects others. This perspective allows you to understand that everything is connected—your interactions with other people, how they perceive you, your attitude, and your responses to them in the moment—and all can be enhanced through better self-awareness.
9. Allow your curiosity to lead the way
Curiosity can be defined as a strong desire to know or learn something. But it’s so much more than that.
When you’re curious, you’re open. Open to exploring new ideas, experiences, and possibilities. Open to meeting new people and learning new things. Open to leaving behind outdated mindsets and limiting beliefs to make room for your highest and best self. And it’s that openness—that curiosity—that fuels growth.
When you embrace curiosity, you transform into a lifelong learner, which is what personal and professional growth is all about.
10. Smile more
You already possess a simple yet profoundly powerful way to instantly improve your career: smiling.
Yep, smiling.
Research shows that smiling puts others at ease, makes you magnetic, inspires confidence and trust, is good for you, makes you more creative, and is contagious.
11. Get creative
Creativity is the ability to perceive the world in new ways, find hidden patterns, make connections between seemingly disparate things, and generate innovative solutions. When you’re creative, you’re able to turn new and imaginative ideas into reality. Business leaders agree that to cultivate your creativity, you should ask big questions, pay attention, be open-minded, set aside time to let your mind wander, and not be afraid to take risks.
12. Practice empathy
Simon Sinek, Oprah Winfrey, and Gary Vaynerchuk all cite empathy as an essential leadership skill. To become more empathetic, shift your mindset to put people first, seeing them as human beings rather than a means to the end of a transaction or task, ask thoughtful and probing questions that draw out implications and feelings, which in turn, fosters a deeper connection, and listen more and talk less.
When you practice empathy, you’ll better understand your customers, colleagues, and partners, and then be able to use those insights in ways to better serve and communicate with them.
13. Be brave enough to use this four-letter word
View vulnerability as a strength, not as a weakness. When we find the courage to ask for help, modeling vulnerability, it creates a positive ripple effect. We give others permission to do the same, creating a culture and environment of openness and collaboration. We lead with empathy, which enhances connection and communication, and builds trust.
14. Change your perspective
Your perspective is the lens by which you view yourself, your career, and the world. It affects the story you tell yourself and the story you tell others. It impacts your potential, and according to Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and CEO of VaynerMedia, it’s also the quickest path to success and happiness.
“Listen, if there is anything I could wish on you, more than my work ethic, or my energy, or my charisma, it would be the mindset and perspective,” Vaynerchuk said in a recent article. “So much of our lives is predicated on how we look at the situations that surround us.”
15. Move past your fear and stop hiding
Fear is a powerful emotion. It often masquerades as a cloak of protection, keeping us from doing things that may cause us harm. But sometimes, the real damage comes from the inaction that fear enables.
We avoid those things that make us uncomfortable at all costs, but there is no growth in the status quo. Sooner or later, that caution and those fears that prevent you from getting hurt or put on the spot stagnate you.
Everything you’ve ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear; it’s time to stop hiding and go for it.
16. Understand the four words that will help you communicate and connect better
Far too often, we assume that everyone thinks, behaves, and communicates the same way we do. Worse, we make the mistake of focusing our sales pitches and communication about us rather than our intended audiences.
No matter your industry or profession, four words have the power to change your results instantly: It’s not about you.
The finest leaders understand that by putting others first and adopting a service mindset, they can improve their communication and connection, establish trust, deepen relationships, and build business.
17. Learn to be more charismatic
Charisma is more than being engaging or witty. We’re attracted to those who truly listen to us, who give us their undivided focus and leave us feeling seen and heard, those who dare to be vulnerable and who genuinely want to connect and share and treat us with respect and kindness. And in return, we offer our unwavering attention and trust.
At its essence, charisma isn’t just about your likability or ability to tell a good story. Instead, its real power has less to do with you and everything to do with how you make others feel.
18. Focus on attention and trust
Seth Godin suggests that “the currencies of anybody who wants to make change happen right now are attention and trust. And they’re in a virtuous cycle. You don’t get attention unless you’re trusted. You don’t get trusted unless you get attention.”
Kindness and respect ultimately earn attention and trust. You can demonstrate both by differentiating between good and bad attention (something that aligns with your beliefs and will be positively received), not trying to game the system (don’t use a power play to try to influence people), and by being generous (not selfish, expecting something in return).
19. Become an excellent listener
Sir Richard Branson sums up his leadership credo in five words: “Listen more than you talk.”
The benefits of listening are numerous. Active listening demonstrates respect, builds trust, and makes people feel valued. It creates a virtuous cycle: we naturally gravitate toward those who listen to us, and when we feel heard, we open up and share. Active listening also allows leaders to learn about things both good and bad, so they can discover new ideas and opportunities as well to as detect—and get creative about solving—potential problems when they’re still in their infancy.
20. Embrace the power trifecta
By focusing on clarity, consistency, and discipline, you’ll improve your communication, enhance your thought leadership, and bolster your personal brand.
When you’re clear, everything becomes easier. People understand you, what you offer, your value, what differentiates you, how you can help them, and how they can assist you. Clarity helps others know, like, and trust you. Having clarity also enables you to align your goals with a plan to achieve them—and stay away from the things that can derail you.
Consistency is about aligning and maintaining your “voice” and look and feel in all your communications. It’s the way you present yourself, the way you sound, the way you write, all of the visual and verbal touch points. So much so that people come to expect—and anticipate—your specific point of view and unique perspective. Whether you realize it or not, you send a message to the world about who you are and what you’re about. Rather than make your consumers, customers, and clients guess who you are and what you stand for, make sure to communicate your intended message by maintaining consistency.
Without discipline, you run the risk of trying to be all things to all people. And doing so lowers your competitive advantage and waters down your offering. Worse, people won’t know what to think of you (if they think of you at all). Instead, focus on what you do best, and let the other things fade into the background. Promote those one or two areas in your wheelhouse and your expertise in helping others so that your name becomes synonymous with those skills. In this way, restraint can be your biggest ally.
21. Take action—now
Taking action is the one surefire antidote to combat career anxiety, doubt, and fear. Action begets more action. When you use awareness to make action an intentional habit, you train yourself to continue to take action. Over time, those small behavior changes creatively shake things up and breathe new life into old methods and routines. And combined with focused action, that newfound clarity will bring you something even better: success. ..................
