Creating connections: The key to a happy workplace
Posted On March 1, 2019
Is it the job of an employer, or a workplace, to ensure that its employees are happy? Many Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers would argue that most employees should be happy just to have a job. Many millennials, however, will tell you that workplace environment is an extremely important factor to them in deciding where to work. Which of them are right? I asked my guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” — Dr. Elise Labbé-Coldsmith, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of South Alabama. And the answer I got was: Probably both. Research shows people… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Why you don’t have to be a car guy to sell cars
Posted On February 8, 2019
Can you run a successful car dealership if you’re not a car guy? If you answered no, you might want to listen to Ty Bullard. Bullard, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” runs Joe Bullard Automotive Group, a successful dealership of Acura, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Cadillac and Ford in Mobile. He is third-generation in the business, and he will be the first to tell you: He’s not a car guy. “I can’t drive a stick-shift,” Bullard says. “We’re not car people. We’re people people. As soon as you can realize this business has… Read More
Categories: Automotive, Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
Process is as important to building boats as winning football championships
Posted On January 15, 2019
To excel in the world of college football, Alabama coach Nick Saban is famous for focusing on what he calls “the process.” He doesn’t worry over the end result as much as he does about completing the steps he knows it will take for his team to get there. That emphasis on process is also important in the manufacturing world. Our guests in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Joan and Owen Maxwell of Regulator Marine, tell us that what’s good for winning national championships is also good for building quality boats. “Everything we do is a… Read More
Categories: Product Design, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
Don’t know where you want to be in five years? If you’re a job-seeker, find an answer
Posted On January 9, 2019
The modern workforce is changing. It only makes sense that modern interviewing methods should change too. Common queries about educational background and job skills are being replaced or augmented with behavioral questions designed to determine whether an applicant is a good fit for the company: Can you tell me about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker and how you resolved it? If you had 1,000 emails in your inbox but you could only answer 300, how would you choose which to answer? And a seemingly simple one that today’s generation of college graduates is having an increasingly… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Why do we quit our jobs? We all have our reasons, and they aren’t the same.
Posted On December 10, 2018
While millennials have developed a reputation for job-hopping, we have in the past noted statistics that show Baby Boomers quit their jobs at a similar pace when in their 20s as well. Dissatisfaction in the workplace is not specific to a generation. But why do we quit? And do those reasons differ between generations? These are questions that were recently put to the test recently in a study by PyschTests.com that was shared by PRWeb.com, which surveyed nearly 500 people with a Turnover Probability Test and got some interesting results. While the reason cited most by millennials for leaving a… Read More
Categories: Blog, Workplace
Co-Working Spaces – Where we Work vs. Where we Want to Work
Posted On December 9, 2018
What will the office of the future look like? Will it feature the open-concept floor plans that are the current rage? Are cubicles gone for good? Or will we even work in offices at all? The future isn’t easy to predict – if it was, sports books and insurance companies would go out of business. But the trends we see in today’s workplaces may give us a good idea of what’s to come. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Mobile-based developer Taylor Atchison, shares his thoughts about current trends in workspaces and what they… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
We’ve seen the millennial office, but what will an iGen workspace look like?
Posted On November 26, 2018
We’ve spent a good bit of time in this space discussing the aspects of a millennial workspace. But perhaps, with iGen now starting to enter the workforce, we should consider what they will want in an office as well. Beatriz Sanchez, a contributor at globalfurnituregroup.com, did just that recently, and the picture she paints is quite a bit different from the trends we’re seeing now. Instead of the open, collaborative spaces millennials crave, iGen employees are looking for predictability and structure, Sanchez says; they’re independent and like to have their own workspaces. They prefer face-to-face communication to the email and… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, iGen, Workplace
Try and hire: Temporary staffing in a run of low unemployment
Posted On November 14, 2018
We have addressed, in previous blogs, how the current low level of unemployment is affecting companies looking to hire new staff. But what about companies whose job it is to provide staff, or recommend new hires, to other companies – temporary staffing agencies? Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Liz Freeman, president of Long’s Human Resources, who shares with us how the current economy has affected her temporary staffing business. Freeman says her firm is working a lot more of late with permanent direct placements, where her agency acts as a headhunter of… Read More
Categories: Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
Unproductive meetings are a sign of an unproductive workplace
Posted On October 22, 2018
Who likes going to meetings? Not many of us would raise our hands in response to that question. Most of us see meetings as time that would be better spent actually getting some work done. But workplace consultant and executive coach Michael Nash says it doesn’t have to be that way. Nash, who joins us again for another episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” says it really isn’t the meetings themselves we hate, it’s that they aren’t being conducted effectively. Meetings actually serve important functions, Nash says. They allow employees to have face time with their supervisors, and they… Read More
Categories: Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Lessons from a Green Beret: In the military or in business, building relationships is the key
Posted On October 14, 2018
We often use military metaphors when describing other things. We might call a hard-fought football game a “war,” or refer to a tough sale as a “battle.” But is there anything that the military can teach us about how we do business? Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is uniquely qualified to answer that question. Brad Israel is a U.S. Army Green Beret and Afghanistan veteran who is now the Chief Leadership Officer of 68 Ventures, a real estate holding company based in Baldwin County. Israel says there are several lessons he’s taken with… Read More
Categories: Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace