The number of people with disabilities entering the workforce is rising, and it's becoming increasingly important to create more accessible workplaces and rethink our strategies when it comes to recruiting, hiring and retaining talent.
Increasing the accessibility of your workplace can improve productivity and support diversity and inclusion by opening up your organization to a wider pool of talent.
In order to foster an accessible workplace, it’s important to first understand that not all disabilities are visible and not all employees disclose disabilities to their employer. When rethinking your workplaces’ accessibility protocol, keep in mind that it needs to cover both invisible and visible disabilities in order to be inclusive.
So how can you ensure that your workplace is accessible for people with disabilities?
Here are 4 tips that might help:
Is your workplace unconsciously deterring people with accessibility needs from the recruitment and hiring process?
Identify barriers (not just the physical ones) that might hinder someone's success in applying to and entering your company because of their disabilities. This includes everything from your companies’ website accessibility and interview strategies to unconscious stigma in the workplace.
It shouldn't be made difficult for anyone in your organization to find tools and accommodations available to persons with disabilities.
Make sure to include disability inclusion statements in your job advertisements so that all qualified candidates feel comfortable applying to your job openings.
Educate employees from all levels of your organization on how to foster an accessible workplace.
Creating a space where employees can connect with each other to learn and grow will ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to succeed.
Interested in learning more about how to create an inclusive and positive workplace culture? Check out our blog, where we explore new topics regularly.
Long term success is the result of a series of consistent wins.
Whether it is in your personal life or professional career, “overnight success” is actually the product of many consistent small victories and good choices that led to a big win.
When you set goals for yourself and are driven to succeed, it can seem as though you must work relentlessly towards the end result, not stopping until you reach the finish line.
Here are 5 reasons why taking a step back to reflect can actually help you be successful moving forward:
Often, when pursuing our goals, we focus so hard on reaching the target that we fail to give ourselves time to recharge. Reflection is an effective way to hit the pause button and take stock of what’s going on around you.
When you pause to reflect, you take note of both where you started and where you’re going. Are you on the right track? Are you still moving forward in the right direction? Do you have what you need to move on to the next step? As you evaluate your growth, reflection allows you to make course corrections to ensure that you stay on target.
Reaching milestones is an exciting part of goal setting, but can sometimes get lost in the push to the end goal.
Reflection gives you time to analyze and celebrate the smaller wins along the way. What did you do right? How can you leverage that success in the future? Can you duplicate the process again for even greater success?
Reflection also gives you time to consider the framework used for your current successes and determine how you can follow the same pattern.
Even the most successful people have losses. The difference is what you do after a loss.
What went wrong? How can you improve the outcome by making changes? Where can you improve the process?
Learning from your mistakes is crucial to growth and reflection gives you time to analyze what went wrong.
Reflection gives you the chance to remember why you started the journey in the first place.
Are you still excited about the prospect of reaching a goal you’ve been working towards? Have your priorities changed?
With a renewed sense of purpose, you’ll have a better understanding of what you’re working towards and why.
Your goals may be audacious. But, through taking time to reflect, you’ll realize that while you may not be there yet, you’ve already made big gains.
Interested in learning more about reflection and goal setting? Check out our blog, where we explore new topics regularly.
For the majority of people, “get healthy” is a typical resolution at the beginning of a new year. Unfortunately, studies have shown that less than 25% of people actually continue to be committed to their New Year’s resolutions after just one month.
While the beginning of the year is a great motivator for starting a new routine, successful people know that you can start working on getting healthy any time of the year.
Whether you are fit and want to improve your workout regime, are branching out into a new sport, or are easing back into a fitness program, goal setting can help you achieve success.
Regardless of where you are in your fitness quest, goal setting can be an effective tool to help you get the results you want. When you set individualized goals, you create a personalized plan that starts at your current level of fitness and can incrementally move you towards your ultimate goal.
Have you been physically active and want to run a marathon? Goal setting can help.
Want to change your eating habits and lose weight? Goal setting can help.
Recovering from an injury or surgery? Goal setting can help.
If you’re serious about reaching your desired fitness levels, setting goals using a research-based process can set you up for success.
Ready to get started?
Use the SMART goal setting process to maximize your health goals.
Like all goals, your health and fitness goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.
Make your goal clear and easy to understand. “Get healthy” is not specific enough. How are you planning on getting healthy? What will it look like when you’re healthy? Create a goal that is customized for your personal plan. For example, if your plan is to lose weight, your goal may be, “I will lose 10lbs in 5 months.”
A measurable goal is one that has a number or other quantifiable element. Whether you’re measuring in pounds, time spent, miles, or milestones, make sure you're able to track your progress. It will be easier to see results and provide you with the motivation needed to keep going.
Before you develop your goal, consider your limits. You may be dreaming of running that marathon coming up in 1 month. But, if you’ve never run a mile, running a marathon in a month may not be a very attainable goal.
Rather than starting with a huge target, break your goals down into attainable steps. Maybe you start by just walking or jogging at an easy pace a few days a week to get your body ready for running, then you work your way up to running a few miles a week and continue to set bigger goals as your body adjusts to a new healthy lifestyle. This can be said for just about any healthy exercise routine.
Are your specific health and fitness goals relevant to where you are at right now?
Does your goal require you to be at a fitness studio located an hour out of town? That might make it hard to commit for very long.
Does your goal require you to participate in a routine you dread doing? You may find yourself having a hard time being self motivated.
Ensure that your goal makes sense for you and can be made to fit into your lifestyle. Otherwise, it will be much easier to abandon.
The last criteria for your SMART goal is to set a time limit. Adding a target date to your goal gives you a deadline to work towards, and provides time-specific motivation. It gives you an end date, “I will work out for at least 10 minutes 4 days a week,” for example, sounds more realistic than “I will work out every day no matter what” for someone just getting started on their fitness routine.
For a timely weight-loss goal example, your goal might say something like “I will lose 10 pounds in six months before I attend my son’s wedding.” This gives you a target date and helps you to realize that it’s a temporal process. Along the way, you may discover that your new healthy lifestyle has become a habit, and you may create a new goal. With an end date, however, you can move on to a new goal once you’ve completed your current one.
Using the SMART goal setting process can help you reach your health goals – no matter what level of fitness you may currently have. What will be your first SMART goal?
Interested in learning more about goal setting? Check out our blog, where we explore new topics regularly.
Gratitude is an essential part of success.
As you move towards achieving your personal and professional mission, you will have people who come alongside to help you. Expressing gratitude to those people can show your appreciation as you move even further towards your goals.
Gratitude helps you shift your focus from the negative things in your life
By putting your energy into gratitude, you are retraining your brain to look for reasons to be thankful. As you develop this habit, you’ll find that you’re overwhelmed with the reasons you have to give thanks.
People who express gratitude live healthier, more productive lives
When you express gratitude to others, it can cause a spike in the hormones responsible for good feelings. This can create a positive cycle of looking for things to be grateful for, and then expressing that gratitude, which makes you feel good - so you look for more things to be grateful for and the cycle continues.
Gratitude takes the focus off yourself
It is easy to become self-centered as you work towards a personal mission. When you take the time to show gratitude, you remove the attention from yourself and what you’ve accomplished and turn it onto others. This not only helps you prioritize others, it can also help keep you grounded with the idea that success is not a one-person journey.
Develop a habit of giving thanks
Start every day with a few moments of reflection.
Remember the people who helped you and make brief notes of the ways that they were instrumental in helping you. The purpose of writing these thoughts down is so you can come back to them later.
Send a written thank you note
The written word is powerful. A written note of thanks shows the importance of the person’s contribution to your life. Be specific on the ways they impacted your journey.
Return the favor
Learn more about their journey and think of a way that you could help them achieve their goals - big or small. By doing something nice for them, you are giving them a tangible expression of how grateful you are.
Share your success
None of us do it all on our own. We have help along the way.
Ensure you give credit where credit is due. Share with others how instrumental certain people were in your success. Tell your family and friends, post notes on social media and take opportunities to let others know the ways you’ve been helped.
Want to learn more about the power of gratitude? Check out Forbes author, Michele Bailey's new book The Currency of Gratitude.
No one does it alone.
We all rely on a support network to help us navigate through both personal and professional challenges. Our individual success is often supported by others who prop us up, mentor us, and push us to be our best self.
There’s something we can learn from everyone, and each individual has something unique to offer. Ideally, your support network will include individuals from a variety of backgrounds with different perspectives, personalities and life experiences.
As we grow and evolve as individuals, it’s important that we reevaluate our support network along the way. When goals change or as our idea of what ‘success’ means to us evolves, we must take the time to ensure our support network is still supporting us in a way that is pushing us forward and identify any areas that require new ideas, new perspectives or new personalities.
Who should be in your network?
When you surround yourself with people who want the best for you, you can trust that their advice, opinions and guidance will help you be your best self.
When you surround yourself with people who’ve been in your same position - or are currently going through something you’re also going through, you can help guide each other through similar terrain and share lessons along the way.
Your support network should also provide you with a diverse set of people from different backgrounds and industries with different skill sets and upbringings. It’s helpful to have outsiders who can look at situations from a different point of view.
A mentor can be an invaluable asset in a support network. They can provide guidance and growth assistance as you move forward in your journey toward success. In many cases, they’ve walked through the same struggles you may be facing and can provide encouragement and direction.
Your support network should be about giving you encouragement and cheering you on. But, it must also include people who are willing to give an honest opinion for your own good - even if it can be hard to hear.
Who should not be in your support network?
Knowing who to avoid is just as important as knowing who you should include in your network.
Here are some people who don’t belong in a strong support network:
Avoid people who make a point of consistently ridiculing, demeaning and excluding others.
Have you heard the latest workplace gossip from someone? Chances are good that if they’re telling you someone else’s inside information, they’ll share your story with others as well.
Creating a support network is essential to success. Filling your network with individuals who will build you up can ensure that you are getting the maximum benefit from your network. Who can you invite into your network? Who might you need to remove?
And remember, it’s important that you give as well as receive. If you’re a part of someone else’s support network, make sure you’re contributing positively and honestly.
Interested in learning more about creating a strong support network? Check out our blog, where we explore new topics regularly.
Lose weight. Save money. Write a book. Read more. When you think about goal-setting, you most likely think about targets like these. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence attesting to the success of setting goals.
If goal-setting is so powerful in other areas of your life, what would happen if you applied the same principles to your relationships?
Maybe you need to repair a damaged friendship, remove a relationship from your life or, cultivate a new set of friends. No matter what the state of your current relationships, using goal-setting can help you move forward.
How can you use goal-setting effectively in your relationships?
1. Identify what you want to change
Start by identifying the relationship(s) you want to set goals for and what you want your relationship(s) to look like.
Do you want to spend more time with an old friend? Maybe you want to have more designated ‘date nights’ with your partner. Or, perhaps you want to become closer with a family member.
2. Use the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting process
Like all goals, your relationship goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.
Here’s an example of what that might look like:
Goal: spend more time with my friends.
3. Build an accountability system.
Be accountable to one another and encourage each other to work towards your shared goal. If your goal is to spend more time with your friends, share your calendar so you’re all accountable.
All relationships take work. Whether your relationship is brand new, has lasted for decades or has become toxic, using goal-setting can make a difference. To advance in both maturity and preparation for the future, don’t let your relationships coast by, make your relationships a priority by setting effective goals for the future.
You’ll reap the reward of having strong relationships and will have proven to yourself the effectiveness of goal-setting. Are you ready to use goal-setting in your relationships?
Interested in learning more about goal-setting? Check out our blog, where we explore new topics every week.