Featured:
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Are You a Big Picture Thinker or Detail Oriented?
They say that there are two types of people – the ‘big picture people’ and the ‘details people.’ The big picture people tend to be creative, strategic, and visionary… but they can also be messy, disorganized, and forgetful. On the other hand, the details people are conscientious, planful, and exacting… but can lack perspective or [...]
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Change Management Lessons from The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is a reality show on NBC soon wrapping up its 10th season. The contestants on the show are morbidly obese, have often tried and failed to lose weight numerous times, and many have undergone gastric bypass surgery – and gained the weight back. The premise of the show is [...]
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Loyalty in the Workplace
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “loyalty is usually seen as a virtue, albeit a problematic one. It is constituted centrally by perseverance in an association to which a person has become intrinsically committed. Its paradigmatic expression is found in friendship, to which loyalty is integral, but many other relationships and [...]
The term innovation can seem intimidating. In fact, you might even have a mental block about it. ‘It’s what big companies with unlimited resources do…’ or ‘…It’s what small agile companies without bureaucracy do…’ or ‘it’s what senior executives do.’ Not me, not us. It can even seem scary or risky. What if the idea [...]
Many times when you need to remember something you can write things down on a piece of paper or on sticky note. You can use one of the dozens of note-taking apps that exist for your phone or you can opt to leave a voice memo. You might even set alarms with notes to go [...]
Some jobs come with a role description and the duties you perform do not change much from day to day. In such a position, you know exactly what is expected of you and what to do in order to do well. However, most jobs are a bit more ambiguous and the path to success a [...]
Reader question: “Do you have any tips for concentration or productivity in the office? I seem to get sucked into checking blogs, wanting to sleep, texting friends, thinking about coffee breaks, etc. When I do have a deadline, I am able to meet it, but it’s not because I work ahead – more like I rush until the end. The work my company does is very meaningful, but I just stopped caring recently and don’t know what to do.”
A corporate restructuring is often a stressful time. Many uncertainties exist for an undetermined period of time. Will you be demoted or laid off? Who is going to be your boss? Will the projects you are working on be cut? This can be nerve-wracking. How things work out is usually beyond your control but you [...]
Reader question: “I’m a manager in a small department and have to get approval of flexible schedules for staff from my Boss. Boss wants everyone to be at work during normal business hours, doesn’t like flexible schedules, and sees all requests as the same (trying to get out of work). Boss tends to overreact whenever I bring up the topic and gets into the issue of “not trusting the employee to really work and not goof off.” Any suggestions or advice on how I can approach the subject and try to get Boss to logically consider these requests?”
The end of a calendar year is a typical time when many people, including myself, experience burnout. An extended time working without a vacation, the stress of deadlines that go along with bringing the old year to a close, coupled with the busyness of the holiday season is more than enough to put us over [...]
Reader question: “Recently, a new colleague has joined my team. We have to work very closely together as a team to deliver on goals, but whenever there is a brainstorming session on she never fails to say, “I don’t know,” and I end up being the one coming up with all the ideas. I tried bringing this up with my boss, and she said I’ll have to iron this matter out with my new colleague. Is there is a way of politely telling my new colleague that she can’t always give an “I don’t know” answer and needs to pitch in and do her part?”