Articles-Health & Wellness

Skills and attributes that Moms have that can add value to a company.

You’re taking a leap of faith after an absence from the market place. Kids and routine meals have become a part of your daily life. How will you adapt to the working world again? You’ll be surprised just how much value mom’s can add to the market place. Here’s your motivation...

It’s not an easy feat settling into a working environment when you’ve been surrounded by baby bottles and nappies for months. Or, perhaps, you’re not planning to gain full-time employment at a company. Perhaps, you’re starting your own business and you’re in need of some motivation. The bottom line is, how can your mom status or skills contribute to your new working gal status?

Let’s have a look at typical mom attributes and how your skills can add value.

Juggling Housework and Babysitting = Juggling projects

When you’re able to complete tasks successfully such as changing the baby’s nappy and preparing food, you have a very real potential to manage projects and possibly a department with efficiency. Multitasking is an inherent attribute that most women have, yet mothers are able to demonstrate this skill with ease because the situation is a very real situation. When you do apply for a job mention your capability to multitask and prioritise. You are able to adapt to the working world and make the transition as multitasking skills and in turn flexibility is necessary and useful skills to have.

Compassion = tolerance in working place

As a mom you are inherently compassionate. You’re instinctively tolerant. Now, this does not necessarily mean that you are accepting of all things which are not in sync with your principles or moral standing point. The idea is to state that you are tolerable in order to get the job done as well as tolerable in terms of others belief systems. In South Africa being tolerable of others is particularly significant. Adapt to the working world by being open-minded.

Scheduling Time for baby = Time Management

Routine is part of your daily life. You’re up at 5 in the morning, packing lunch for the school kids and warming the youngest child’s bottle. It takes skill and great time management skills to plan the day and ensure that all your tasks are met. Time management can very well add value to any business. It’s your everyday routine to plan your day efficiently. Planning your working day should e not be a problem.

Planning the grocery shopping budget = financial acumen

It’s simple. If you are able to plan your budget accordingly to what you can afford, you have the potential to plan company financial status. You may not have the business know-how to manage the entire companies financial plan your ability to plan a budget is a skill and can add value to your position within a company or setting up your own business. Of course, what you aren’t completely sure of, ask for assistance.

Never sell yourself short. We all have our weaknesses but our strengths matter too. Evaluate your skills and attributes and list them on your CV. The more your live life, the more skills you attain. Your life experience can add value to your business or the company you’re keen to work for. It’s a matter of acknowledging your strengths and selling yourself. You can adapt to the working world. Take a leap of faith.

Five steps to making your office greener

Five steps to making your office greener (a nerd perspective).
written by Dial a Nerd.

Use laser printers instead of inkjets – toner lasts longer, meaning less waste, and the energy consumption is lower. Only print what you absolutely have to. Add “Save a tree, don’t print me” to your email signature – it will make people think before printing unnecessarily. Lastly, set your printer to ‘draft’ mode which is a lighter print and will often add 20% or more life to your cartridge.
Shut down your computer and switch off your accessories at night – even leaving them in ‘sleep’ mode isn’t good enough!
Put a box near the printer and make sure people throw any scrap paper in so you can print on both sides for internal use.
Use LCD monitors instead of the old CRT (tube) monitors. Less power consumption and easier on the environment when it’s time to dispose. If you have working CRT monitors donate them to worthy causes instead of throwing them out. They contain heavy metals like lead which can poison water supplies. If it’s broken make sure you visit http://www.e-waste.org.za/ to figure out where to get rid of it.
Buy ‘Energy Star’ approved devices – they conform to standards of minimal energy consumption and are easier on the environment when disposed of.

For more information, contact Dial a Nerd on 087 72 63737 or visit www.dialanerd.co.za

Articles: Emotional Intelligence

Since the beginning of our working careers we have known that work should remain separate from our personal lives. You leave work at work, and home at home, and never the two shall meet. Businesses have always lived by the credo that your personal life may not impact on your working day.

The reality however, is that businesses need people to turn the wheels of commerce, and people have feelings. Individual relationships will create the corporate climate. This means that the person who struggles to understand themselves or express themselves is going to need some development to enable them to manage and understand their emotions more effectively. Emotions drive people and people drive performance.

Providing your staff members with access to these skills will ensure that they become resilient to life's challenges and that the team becomes results focused. Bottom line productivity and financial feasibility improves when the team feels that who they are is important to the company.

Karen Kelly is based in Port Elizabeth and is a Qualified Emotional Intelligence Trainer and Coach. Her company is called Xtreme Learning Academy ( www.xtremeacademy.co.za ). She has spent the last two years successfully introducing the business world to the concepts of Emotional Intelligence and Employee Development. She helps companies develop the insights and skills to create collaborative teams.

Karen has seen that her Emotional Intelligence training builds interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, which increase the individuals and the company's capacity. EQ also reduces stress dramatically.

The Emotional Intelligence Workshop assists individuals to obtain the team buy-in and to improve their communication skills. Conflict can be managed and can become productive. People are able to strengthen themselves and then strengthen the team relationships.

Her coaching skills get utilised when one-on-one training and mentoring is required to develop a potential leader or to resolve a conflict situation. Companies eliminate the emotional stress for all parties by retaining the services of a coach who has no hidden agenda or affiliations. A coach is there to develop and guide the individual.

Karen Kelly can be contacted on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 082 320 3154

Health & Wellness: Authentic Living

AUTHENTIC LIVING

1. Of undisputed origin; genuine.

2. Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief

We hear this term so often in this world of ours as we become increasingly aware of the need to know ourselves and achieve life balance. How can you tell if some-one really is authentic or the real-deal?

A person who practices what they preach has an authentic life, and the fruit of their labours will be visible to all. People who come into contact with them will utilise their energy to make life-long changes, not experience brief spurts of excitement after identifying with them. They build long term relationships founded on mutual respect, and not short term alliances that crumble.

The growth in their own lives will motivate others to live authentically, and generate loads more positivity in this world of ours. Their calmness attracts others and they sing the song of the victor and not the victim.

Article courtesy of Karen Kelly: xtreme learning academy
www.xtremeacademy.co.za

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