As part of our Administrative Professionals Week activities in April, we conducted a short survey asking our members to “Tell us about your life as an admin!” The survey asked three fun questions about admins’ dreams, and we’ve pulled together a mix of the best and most popular answers.
By asking one question—“What do you think?”—you let people know that you value their input, respect their opinion and have an open mind toward solving problems. They know you won’t take every bit of guidance you hear; it’s the request for it that forms a valuable bond.
It’s easy to get fired up about a change that you initiate and control, but what do you do when the change is thrust upon you? Here’s the advice of organizational psychologist Joseph Michelli.
Q: “My boss has been giving me verbal warnings unrelated to my work. For example, a co-worker interrupted my lunch when I was having a bad day. I got snippy with her and told her to go away and leave me alone. After she complained, my boss gave me a warning. Another time, my boss changed a policy that affected my job. I got mad and told him not to make any more changes without talking to me first. He said I should not have gotten so upset. These personality issues have nothing to do with my job performance. I plan to take this issue to human resources, but how do I keep from sounding petty?” Offended
Meetings tend to get a bad rap. People complain that they stir conflict and competition among co-workers and generally represent a waste of time. It doesn’t have to be that way. Executive coach Mary Jo Asmus offers six ideas for organizing better meetings that can help strengthen workplace relationships.
You should be using Twitter to meet people and make connections, writes social media strategist Kim Garst: “It’s amazing how much relationship-building you can do in just 140 characters!”
Languages are living things that evolve over time, with new words created and old ones falling out of common use. Still, just because a lot of people use a word, or use it in a new way, doesn’t make it correct. Veteran copy editor and “word nerd” Tom Stern offers words and phrases to watch out for.
If you’re wondering if it’s time to see what other jobs might be out there for you, but are hesitating, ask yourself this simple question: “What was I doing exactly one year ago?” The answer may either give you a quick shove toward the door if you feel no sense of progress, or a dose […]