Category: 1-Minute Strategy

We all know that a postmortem is conducted to find out what went wrong. A premortem is done like this: When you’re about to venture upon a major project, ask team members one question: “It’s one year from now and this thing has failed miserably. What happened?” Asking only for negative possibilities frees people to […]

Sit down right now and think of how many people you work with who you genuinely dislike. Calculate that number as a percentage of everyone you have regular contact with in the office. There’s your Strife Number (because you can never have too many silly artificial metrics in life). If the number is 30 or […]

Approach him or her in the morning. “Decision fatigue” is a very real phenomenon affecting people who have to grapple with an ever-increasing number of choices. And it’s more likely to strike at the end of the day.

Instead of suffering in a cold cubicle all winter, or becoming that employee who always complains about the thermostat, consider dropping a few dollars on an electric heating pad that you can drape across the back of your chair. It’s cheaper, safer and less clunky than a space heater, and you may soon get addicted […]

Are you someone who’s always asking, “Hey, can you use this; I hate to throw it out”? The effort of finding homes for barely useful items just creates more steps on our to-do lists and more junk that others will soon be weighed down by as well. If no one’s actively pursuing an item you […]

When you’re put into a position where you must verbally criticize someone, memorize your opening sentence. This will give you more confidence as well as make you seem more thoughtful and prepared.

Many office settings are not conducive to privacy, and often you’ll overhear another person’s phone conversation. Never comment to them on what you’ve heard, even if your remark is positive (“So it looks like you’re going to Hawaii! I’m so happy for you!”). People will feel their privacy was rudely invaded despite your flowery words.

Keep a small paperback dictionary on your desk at all times. You’re actually much more likely to use it than going online for a definition, and when it’s that close, words you casually intend to look up “sometime” actually will be.

To give yourself a little test of your outlook on work (and life), take a vow to go just one day without saying anything negative at all about any aspect of your job or your colleagues. If it sounds easy, watch out for the trickiest trap you’ll encounter: office conversations in which disparaging talk invariably […]

If you read an email that requires a task or an action, mark it as ‘Unread’ in your email folder until you’ve taken care of what needs to be done. That way, it’ll be considered a new email each day it lingers, and won’t sneak into your archives to be forgotten.