What’s your (official or unofficial) dress code?
Bad news for Brooks Brothers and Ann Taylor: Traditional business attire takes a back rack these days. Comfortable and casual are the watchwords for workplace fashion.
Decipher the message a grumpy co-worker is sending you
Q: “I have a co-worker who is very moody. Whenever I ask about one of her projects or suggest a way to do things more efficiently, ‘Andrea’ gets snippy and starts muttering under her breath. If I ask what’s wrong, she replies, ‘Nothing,’ then has a bad attitude for at least an hour. How can I confront her about her attitude problem?” Aggravated Co-worker
Ego traps that can sabotage your career
What are the most common foibles that cause promising professionals to fail? These are the traps that can bring you down.
Time to trade in your sticky notes?
Gone are the days of needing to write notes on easily destroyed scraps of paper that clutter your desk. Instead, try one of these note-taking applications, Verne Kopytoff writes.
Appositives and the comma conundrum
Plenty of people find themselves wondering if they’re using commas correctly, or worse, unknowingly using them incorrectly. No need to fear, though. “Grammar Girl” Mignon Fogarty has some grammar reminders to help you become more comma-savvy.
Are you a Level 4 listener?
If you want to influence people and effectively persuade them to embrace your ideas and follow your lead, you need to start by becoming an excellent listener, say Mark Goulston and John Ullmen, authors of Real Influence: Persuade Without Pushing and Gain Without Giving In. They identify four levels of listening.
Test your readiness to be the boss
Management may sound like a great gig, but it’s not all fun and games. If you’ve been offered a promotion or are considering seeking one, you should take a serious look at the difficult aspects of being the boss before you make any moves.
Cut the constant ‘I’
Only begin a sentence with “I” if you’re talking about yourself. It sounds obvious, but it’s a rule that’s rarely followed. Leading off with “I’m concerned that” or “I believe” when your point is more about other people or issues is a mistake that can make you seem more self-centered than you really are.
‘Cyberloafing’ is rampant
The bad news: Up to 80% of workers’ time spent on the Internet has nothing to do with their work. Worse news: Having just a policy won’t deter them.
Manage the details, beat the ‘devil’
The devil, as they say, is in the details. In so many workplace situations today, though, the devil is in the abstract phrases that we seem all too eager to accept. The result: misunderstanding and mistakes. And that only makes you look bad.