Workplace precautions to take during flu season

The beginning of fall is one of the best times of the year. The heat starts to fade, sweaters are back in wardrobe rotation, and the office workload lightens up a bit now that everybody's back from vacation. Unfortunately, it's also the start of flu season. The good news is that you can take precautions to keep yourself healthy and happy throughout the fall.
Dr. Lawrence Herman, director of primary-care initiatives at the New York Institute of Technology's department of physician-assistant studies, says, "Most importantly, get a flu shot. This dramatically cuts down on the chances you, your family or your co-workers will get the flu. Because of changes in insurance regulations, most people with insurance will not even pay a co-pay for a visit to their health-care provider. You can even get a flu shot in most pharmacies."

Prevention is the best defense
Dr. Matilde Parente, a physician, author and biomedical-safety consultant who is board-certified in pathology and integrative holistic medicine, offers these tips for flu prevention:

• Avoid touching doorknobs, handles, sink controls, levers or switches of any kind. Use your sleeve, tissue or anything that puts a barrier between a possibly contaminated surface and your hand.
• Make a conscious effort to keep your hands away from your face, particularly your mouth, eyes and nose. Keep your hands below the neck at all times, unless you've just washed them.
• Cough or sneeze into your  inner elbow, but wash your hands afterward anyway. You might have touched them before you sneezed.
• You are most infectious just before flu symptoms become visible. As soon as you start to feel off, be extra careful about not contaminating common surfaces, such as keyboards and door handles.

While these tips are helpful during flu season, they also apply to the rest of the year. Dr. Raza Hussain, a hospitalist specializing in adult inpatient medicine, says, "Any time of year is a time when you can catch something and get sick, which is why it's important to minimize your chances. Quitting smoking, getting annual flu vaccines, avoiding people that are sick if possible, taking medications as prescribed, taking a multivitamin, washing your hands and keeping your immune system strong are all ways to proactively avoid getting sick."
Stay home when sick
"If you are sick, please stay home," Herman says. "Many people think they just have a cold when, in fact, they have a mild flu, and they come to work. In a case like this, they are shedding the flu virus while at work and potentially infecting everyone around them. While you may have a mild form of flu, others can still get very, very sick from you."





Source: careerbuilder

6 secrets of great team members

Anyone who's worked in information technology for any length of time has probably been asked to join a project team. Working with a group of colleagues can be fun, as teams become infused with camaraderie and a shared sense of mission. But being a group participant can also be challenging, especially for technology workers whose interactions are often focused on a computer screen.

Nonetheless, the ability to collaborate with others is an essential skill in the IT world. If you can't work with others on a project team, your ability to take on positions of ever-growing importance in your organization may be hampered.

How do you move from working as an "I" to a "we"? Here are six secrets of great team members:

1. They check their egos at the door. No one wants to be on a team with someone who considers himself the smartest person in the room. Teams are brought together, after all, because organizations need people who can bring a mix of skills and strengths to bear to solve problems.
Don't join a group boasting about your aptitude with a particular technology or how adeptly a past work team handled a similar challenge. If you're really the smartest person in the room, your teammates will discover that on their own.
2. They're flexible. You've probably heard the saying, "There's no I in team." Once you become part of a team, you have to shift your thinking from being self-focused to concentrating on what's best for the group. This means temporarily setting aside your preferred modes of operating and adopting the rules, protocols and work practices of the team.
If, for instance, you do your best work at the last minute, you may have to begin to work in advance so others on the team can weigh in before a deliverable is due.
3. They're good listeners. The best team members don't always need to be heard; they're comfortable participating through listening. As a result, they're usually the ones who are the most informed about where the team stands and who is handling what.
Although there are times when you should speak up, listening more than you talk is hardly ever a negative. In a team environment, there are always going to be people who compete to be heard. Those who listen well are rarer and potentially much more valuable.
4. They accept constructive criticism. Rather than becoming defensive, successful team members understand that useful critiques are an opportunity to improve the end product, and that goes for whether they're giving or receiving constructive criticism.
They accept input with an open mind and are willing to explore alternative solutions. Likewise, when they must offer critiques to others, they do so in a direct and respectful manner that inspires others to want to improve their work.
5. They're all in. Too often, group members hide behind the shield of a team. They may not take the responsibility they would if they alone were responsible for the outcome of a project. But the best team members are as serious about their shared responsibilities as they are about their individual ones.
They're not passive participants, and they come to meetings having done what they had said they would do. They don't relegate the team's needs to the back burner while pursuing individual initiatives. Through their actions, not just their words, they show they're "all in" when it comes to the team's success.
6. They go with the flow. Working with a group of people means that not everything will proceed smoothly. Setbacks will occur, goals will be altered, and the team may have to change directions. Rather than letting these hiccups discourage you and using them as an excuse to lessen your commitment, accept that things can change quickly. Stay focused on what the team -- and you -- need to do to get back on track and address the challenge at hand.
The next time you're asked to join a project team, keep in mind that although a team achieves its goals as a group, its strength is derived from its individual members. Do your part to observe these practices, and you'll quickly develop a reputation as an indispensable team member.





Source: careerbuilder

Healthy versus harmful competition

In a Robert Half survey, nearly half of the more than 1,000 senior managers interviewed said they believe workers are more competitive with each other today than they were a decade ago. 

It's understandable, considering the job insecurity many workers have experienced in recent years. Internal rivalries are apt to arise when employees feel pressure to prove their worth. Competing with colleagues can be healthy and spur stronger individual performance. But it can also lead to problems if gamesmanship goes too far.

Following are some signs that the level of competition within your workplace has become more corrosive than beneficial:

• You are overly protective of your ideas because you're scared they'll be stolen.
• You've caught yourself resorting to unseemly tactics -- gossiping, hogging the spotlight, withholding information -- to gain an advantage over your colleagues.
• Rather than being motivated by the accomplishments of others, you feel threatened by and resentful of their success.
• You hesitate to take time off, because you worry a co-worker may temporarily step into your job and do it better.  
• You don't ask for advice or a helping hand out of fear that you'll be perceived as inept.

If those examples sound familiar, here are four ways to maintain your competitive edge in a healthier fashion:

1. Strive for personal bests. It's good to take note of the habits of your office's star employees so you can imitate those behaviors. But it can be dangerous to measure your goals solely against the performance of others. As track and field participants often say, run your own race. Be self-motivated, and continually challenge yourself to improve.

2. Stop shielding your turf. Being passionate about your job and taking ownership of your projects are positive qualities, but there is such a thing as being too protective of your work. Don't be so territorial that you isolate yourself from fellow team members. Be generous and share your knowledge.

Likewise, be willing to ask for feedback and assistance. A co-worker with a fresh pair of eyes or different point of view might help you identify a solution you hadn't considered.

3. Find a mentor. Working one-on-one with a more experienced professional offers many benefits. A mentor can help you stretch your skills while also helping you understand the nuances of organizational politics. Hearing firsthand how others have dealt with difficult teammates or sensitive situations can be invaluable.    

4. Monitor your motives. It's all too easy for friendly competition to take a toxic turn. It's one thing if you and a co-worker push each other to raise your respective games. But if you're becoming more interested in outshining a colleague than helping your company or department reach its objectives, it's time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Rivalries help no one when they turn rancorous. Remember: You're all on the same team.

You can use competition to fuel your fire, but it's tricky. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off."

Source: careerbuilder