Creating a smaller footprint at work
No need to quit your job and join the Peace Corps. These days, you can do “good” in the world no matter where you work. Three ways:
Year: 2012
Seeing red?
Seeing red? Keep that color to a minimum in your work space. Researcher Andrew Elliot found that people don’t work as well when they see red. Too reminiscent of a teacher’s red pencil, perhaps?
Sharing your knowledge of the job with a former employer
Question: I keep getting calls from my former employer about how to do my old job. For 24 years, I was the “go-to girl” who held that company together. When the business was sold several months ago, I was let go along with many others.
Now I feel that I am being used. If they can’t figure out how to do my work, then they never should have fired me. However, I may need a recommendation from this employer during my job search, so I’m not sure how to handle this. Should I continue to answer their questions?
Finding the root of workplace discontent
Little things about your workday may irk you. But what’s really getting under your skin? Researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer conducted a comprehensive study of 238 employees who kept track of how their days went. When you feel miserable on the job, confer with this list the researchers compiled.
Handle those pushy vendors by becoming a cool customer
Suggestions to thwart salespeople who don’t give up came fast and furious from seasoned admins. Both Lynn and Charisse stick to a strategy of countering aggressive questions with a few of their own. B.B. goes with the “friendly but stern” angle—after all, “they can’t come through the phone and make you get your boss on […]
You’re not as busy as you think
“There was a time, not so long ago, when I was busy, busy, busy,” says Laura Vanderkam, author of 168 Hours. “At least I thought I was.” Then she began tracking her time and found she’d been kidding herself. Rather than complaining about your long to-do list, own up to how you’re really spending your time.
Hide and Seek With PowerPoint Objects
If you design diagrams with layered objects, especially with animation, it can be a bit frustrating to keep things stacked the way you like as you make changes and add movement. Here are a couple of tips to keep your sanity with layered objects.
Sentence beginnings and endings
What’s the rule on these four sentence-starting and -stopping strategies? 1. Starting a sentence with “and” or “but.” 2. Launching a sentence with “There is” or “There are.” 3. Ending a sentence with a preposition. 4. Starting a sentence with “however.”
Should you decide … or ask the boss?
Admins make roughly $15,000 worth of decisions every year, according to an IAAP Benchmarking survey. Yet it’s sometimes hard to know whether to make a decision on your own or wait for the boss to weigh in. Here’s one litmus test for determining whether to forge ahead or wait for a nod from the boss.
Beware of “spontaneous trait transfer”
Beware of “spontaneous trait transfer.” Whatever you say about other people (She’s brilliant, funny, a slacker, rude, hard-working …”) shapes the way people see you. So, if you must complain, try to frame your observation in a problem-solving, positive way.