7 tips to improve your writing skills
No matter what you’re writing—a report, a memo, an email for your boss to sign—you want it to be clear and effective. Hone your abilities with these expert tips.
Office stalemates don’t get solved with email
Q: “My co-worker, ‘Angie,’ sent me a seething email saying that I talk about teamwork, but don’t act like a team player. This was a completely unexpected slam against me. I told our manager, and he spoke to Angie about it, but nothing else was done. Now, whenever I encounter Angie anywhere in the building, she immediately turns around and walks the other way. My boss says, ‘That’s just the way she is,’ but Angie doesn’t seem to act like this with anyone else. She doesn’t have to like me, but we do have to work together, so I can’t take much more of this.” Ignored
5 office etiquettes for a casual office
Even if your workplace has a relaxed environment, office etiquette is still important, Jason Kulpa, CEO of Underground Elephant, writes for Mashable. Here are the office rules he thinks are the most important.
What are the most hated office tasks?
If you work in your company’s front office, chances are your least favorite administrative task is preparing and sending office mail. A national survey of 1,000 people by Postalocity.com listed the top 10 least favorite tasks.
Four Things a Nightmare Excel Workbook Taught Me
If you’ve ever inherited a workbook that has been passed down from several individuals without a lot of Excel knowledge who had a very definite idea of what they wanted, but not how to get it in the best way possible, learning opportunities abound. Here are the biggest lessons that came out of a real whopper …
Become your own tech support
Computer glitches can be extremely frustrating, but there are ways to troubleshoot your system on your own before calling in a professional, writes David Nield for Field Guide.
To clean up your writing, trust your ears
Writing an important email or memo and want to weed out the typos? Copy and paste it into Google Translate and click on the “listen” icon to hear it out loud. Some errors which slipped your eye will be announced quite clearly!
Rule No. 1: Keep your audience in mind
Successful presenters prepare by not only focusing on information, but on their audience’s concerns and communication style. By catering to the audience, a presentation becomes more effective and has a higher chance of succeeding. To focus on your target audience and learn what they will expect, answer these questions.
Keep one-on-one meetings productive
Meetings are important for introducing new ideas and fostering discussion in the workplace. But when people don’t know how to participate or run a meeting, they waste everyone’s time and sabotage a great idea, writes John Brandon for Inc. Here are some tips for engaging in a productive one-on-one meeting.
New iPhone 6 case reuses phone’s power
While mobile technology continues to impress and entertain, issues such as battery life and signal strength continue to annoy users, says Mental Floss Assistant Editor Rebecca O’Connell. Nikola Labs is addressing the power problem with a new iPhone 6 case that gives phones an extra 30% of power by converting radio frequencies into DC power.