What if your organization doesn’t have an online strategy to speak of—a skimpy web site, no social-media strategy, no e-mail list, no e-newsletter. Is it too late to catch up? And how can tech-savvy administrative professionals help push an organization toward online literacy? Best-selling author and marketing expert Seth Godin recommends venturing forward with these strategies:
Lee’s immediate supervisor left the organization, so now she reports to a higher-level director. In their meetings, the director seems distracted and bored, even though Lee takes extra time to prepare. “My preparation is usually met with a very brief response or a push off to another manager,” she says. “What can I do to make our meetings more engaging?”
Liz Jazwiec, author of Eat That Cookie!: Make Workplace Positivity Pay Off, is a big believer in workplace gratitude. Not just the kind that passes from boss to employee, but from employee to employee and to their bosses. Jazwiec offers these tips for hardwiring workplace gratitude from the ground up:
Remain contactable by creating a Google Profile … Ask or you won’t get it … Pose targeted questions about the specific behaviors that you want feedback on … Volunteer if you want to feel better about your life … Eliminate everything from the web page you’re reading, except the text and photos, with Readability.
There’s a common type of workplace theft, and it has nothing to do with missing office supplies, reports a recent OfficeTeam survey. Nearly one in three employees interviewed said that a co-worker has taken credit for their idea. “Being proactive in sharing your vision with your manager and colleagues early on can help ensure others know the concept originated with you,” says Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam.
Question: “I feel that I am being ignored because of my age. I am a young employee who recently attained a position in which I have to interact with top-level managers. When I request information from them, I find it difficult to get responses. I believe they are not taking me seriously. How should I handle this?” — Young & Frustrated
“Don’t think your boss is getting overwhelmed with praise,” says Quint Studer, CEO of Studer Group and author of Straight A Leadership: Alignment, Action, Accountability. “Bosses hear what’s wrong all the time. Very rarely do they hear what’s right.”
Have you ever looked at how a colleague is working and thought, “He’d get better results if he did it this way instead”? Should you offer a suggestion? You have a couple of options: