Leading High Performing Remote Teams
How can leaders ensure that performance remains high in remote or hybrid-work environments?
Content Marketing
In this course, you’ll learn how compelling blogs, videos, podcasts, and other media can reach customers and drive sales. You’ll also learn steps for creating an effective content marketing plan, and some important ways to measure its impact and success.
Content marketing is a essential digital marketing strategy for companies looking to provide relevant and useful information to support your community and attract new customers.
Get started on your content marketing journey today.
Sustainable Innovation in Times of Disruption: Choices for a Better Society
There are opportunities for progress all around us. The key is to innovate on these opportunities sustainably.
To help identify most effective path forward, you'll need to gain a global perspective to these challenges in an open discussion. How can Japan and the world take action to create a more sustainable, innovative world? Where do you fit in?
It's time to find out.
Social Media & Digital Communications: Impact on Global Public Opinion
Social and digital media have dominated the communications industry for decades. But it's no secret that social media has the power to sway public opinion, and the way in which many companies use these platforms could be seen as manipulative.
What do companies need to be aware of when utilizing social and digital media? How can these mediums be used to better communicate strategically with the world?
Discover what top media and communications experts have to say.
CAGE Distance Framework
Want to expand overseas? The CAGE distance framework can help ensure you're constructing a solid global strategy in four areas: cultural, administrative, economic, and geographic. Learn how to leverage useful differences between countries, identify potential obstacles, and achieve global business success.
Servant Leadership
There's more to leadership than driving a team to profit. In fact, there's a word for looking beyond self-interest to prioritize individual growth: servant leadership. Try this course for a quick breakdown of what that is, how it works, and how it can lead to organizational success.
Strategy: Creating Value Inside Your Company
Have you ever wondered why certain companies are more successful than others? The answer is strategy: internal processes that control costs, allocate resources, and create value. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can give you the tools you need for that strategic edge.
Strategy: Understanding the External Environment
To plan strategy on any level, you need to understand your company's external environment. In fact, your level of understanding can impact hiring, budgeting, marketing, or nearly any other part of the business world. Want to learn how to do all that? This course from GLOBIS Unlimited is the perfect first step!
Using Japanese Values to Thrive in Global Business
Japanese companies have unique cultural, communication, and operational challenges. But they also have values that have led to remarkable longevity. Check out this seminar to hear how these values help earn trust from overseas head offices and develop employees.
Marketing: Reaching Your Target
Every company works hard to get its products into the hands of customers. Are you doing everything you can to compete? In this course, you’ll find a winning formula to turn a product idea into real sales. Follow along through the fundamentals of the marketing mix and see how companies successfully bring products to market.
Basic Accounting: Financial Analysis
Want to compare your performance vs. a competitor? Or evaluate a potential vendor? Then you'll need to conduct a financial analysis. This course will teach you how to use three financial statements and evaluate financial performance in terms of profitability, efficiency, soundness, growth, and overall strength.
Career Anchors
What drives you to be good at your job?
Career anchors are based on your values, desires, motivations, and abilities. They are the immovable parts of your professional self-image that guide you throughout your career journey.
Try this short GLOBIS Unlimited course to identify which of the eight career anchors is yours!
Leadership with Passion through Kokorozashi
The key ingredient to success? Passion.
Finding your kokorozashi will unify your passions and skills to create positive change in society. This GLOBIS Unlimited course will help you develop the values and lifelong goals you need to become a strong, passion-driven leader.
You’ve got the degree, you finally feel like you know what you’re doing at your job, and now you’re all set for your career, right? Not so fast. Unfortunately, getting comfortable is a recipe for falling behind. And it’s on workers to stay ahead of the game.
Ask yourself, when did you last learn a new marketable skill?
What is career cushioning?
A bit broader than upskilling, career cushioning is an added layer of security for your current role. It’s keeping an eye on job boards to identify your skill gaps for similar positions and taking steps to acquire them. But it can also include seeking out opportunities to learn a new process, connecting with the right people, or volunteering for a new project a bit outside of your scope. It’s an investment in yourself to enhance or reshape your career.
But rather than tick items off a list, you can take a more holistic approach. Some examples include:
- Enrolling in an online course, certificate, or even degree.
- Becoming a volunteer in a specific area or industry.
- Taking on freelance work to broaden your skillset.
- Reaching out to coworkers for mentorship and knowledge transfer.
Strategically increasing your abilities keeps you competitive but could also be an opportunity to explore new avenues.
For example, even if you’ve worked as a developer for 15 years, volunteering at a coding bootcamp will help you understand trends and how you can support new hires. As a bonus, you’re getting real-life experience in how to explain a complex problem to people without technical training, a highly valued skill.
How do you know which skills you’re lacking?
Before you jump onto LinkedIn and risk falling into a bout of imposter syndrome, give yourself a quick framework for this research session.
Do a self-audit.
Start with the following questions:
- What are the main skills you need to do your job well?
- When have you felt out of your depth and why? What abilities were you missing?
- If you were to hire a coworker to do a similar role, what skillsets would complement yours rather than mirror them?
For example, if you work in event management, your main skills are:
- Communication
- Problem-solving
- Organizational strategies
- Budgeting/Accounting
- Negotiation
- Attention to detail
- Time management
- Networking
Maybe while planning your last event you realized that you didn’t have an easy way to analyze spreadsheets for your quarterly reports. You’ve heard of pivot tables, but never explored them. Well, now is your chance to delve into this new domain and give yourself a skill that will ease your current workload. It also won’t hurt during your annual review.
Ask for feedback.
If introspection isn’t your strong suit, try asking the people around you what skills they think you should focus on. If you have a good relationship with your manager, set up a meeting to have an open discussion about what will benefit the team as well as your career growth.
Next Article
5 Ways to Improve Your Active Listening Skills
4 Soft Skills in the Workplace That Employers Value
Create an Employee Development Plan in 3 Steps
Don’t forget the soft skills.
Hard skills often get most of the spotlight because they are easily quantifiable. There are diplomas, certificates, exams, etc. to prove you have certain capabilities. But what are soft skills?
Soft skills are the invisible qualities that make working together enjoyable and keep projects running smoothly. They include things like critical thinking, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and teamwork.
While soft skills can seem more nebulous compared to hard skills, the good news is that you can focus on developing them at work. For example:
- Do you think your active listening skills are lacking? Practice asking more open-ended questions.
- Is your time management a struggle? Try researching productivity tips and testing them out on a weekly basis.
How managers can support career cushioning
While career cushioning can often be an individual exercise, having management support employee initiatives for continuous professional development is key to employee engagement. When people feel supported in their career growth, they have more incentive to stay, rather than jump ship.
Getting started
- Have regular one-on-ones to establish open communication and be aware of your employees’ aspirations.
- Work with your employees to establish realistic career goals.
- Give your team the flexibility to fit professional development into their schedule.
- Provide opportunities for mentorship and job shadowing inside and outside of your team.
- Rotate responsibilities and/or job roles so employees get a chance to try something before committing to it.
Feeling inspired? The next time you fall into the doom and gloom of job security being a thing of the past, pivot your thinking from reactionary to preventative. Career cushioning is building up a shield against redundancy and defining your career path. And while it’s not foolproof, working on yourself, and increasing your confidence, is always time well spent.