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Category: 1-Minute Strategy

Take your appreciation right to their doorstep

Is your boss looking for a way to recognize an employee’s effort that will get the biggest bang for the buck? Send a gift basket (chocolates, coffee, tea, fruits, wine, etc.) to the employee’s house. A gift basket—along with a “Your efforts are truly appreciated” note—seen by the recipient’s spouse and family will have a […]

Head, shoulders, knees & toes?

Quick question: What’s the most dangerous thing you do all day? Answer: Sit.  Scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana analyzed the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over about 13 years. They found that people who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of […]

The problem with working sequentially

It seems like a perfectly natural way to work: When a task comes in, it’s placed in the queue behind the others in front of it, and you finish one thing completely before you start on the next. But this method can wind up painting you in a poor light, as work that would take […]

Try the ’45’

How you position your desk in your office says a lot to your employees. Facing the door with your desk at a perpendicular angle makes you look rigid, like a high school principal ready to chew someone out. Against the side wall makes you look like a worker bee who doesn’t want to be bothered. […]

Like it or not, sometimes your desk extends to your car

Ever agreed to give a lift to a co-worker or two—maybe even your boss—only to suddenly realize on your way out to the car that it’s filled with junk, soda bottles, food wrappers and whatever the kids have cluttered it with today? It’s not your proudest moment and tends to undo someone’s image of you […]

Can a little selfishness go a long way?

In his book The Lonely Crowd, David Riesman famously suggests that “inner-directed” people tend to be self-motivated, goal-oriented and led by their own sense of mission. Inner-directed people, he says, are most likely to become leaders. So if you have high ambitions, are truly locked onto them and can cut out the noise from others […]

Post-it notes: Go big

If you’re gathering input from meeting attendees, you may want to go the oversized Post-it note route. The company makes 20-inch x 23-inch, 20-sheet pads that mount to a wall or easel. Sheets are bleed-resistant and can self-stick to other surfaces. Ideas can go from pad to wall to wherever, and can be repositioned without […]

Are you a sentence stomper?

Or, in other words, do you talk over a person’s last few words in their sentence just to get a jump on what you have to say? Be mindful if you engage in this rude conversation behavior. It sends a clear message that you haven’t listened to or don’t care what he or she is […]

Put your daily interactions under the microscope

Today at work, you may have dozens of interactions with people. How many of them, though, are actually worthy? Try this experiment on a busy day: On a sheet of paper, track with a simple mark how many individual times you discuss work with people—a mark for each meeting, office visit or casual chat at […]