A manager who asks only closed questions—those requiring specific answers—isn’t going to receive the most creative, resourceful answers. He might even stifle creativity and honest discussion. Generally, open questions that begin with a “why” or a “how” will bring more value to your work relationships.
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New business books are constantly popping up, each promising to change the way we work. Keeping up with the reading is challenging enough. But how do you get the most out of each book? Three tips from Fast Company:
How do you gracefully exit a conversation during a networking event, without using the same excuse every time? (After all, there are only so many times you can go to the restroom.) Lynne Waymon, author of Make Your Contacts Count, offers some of her most effective ways to move around the room:
You need to show Tom how you pull together monthly data, and one of the newly hired assistants needs coaching on some online tools. Here’s an easy way to accomplish both: Screencast-o-Matic lets you create a video from your screen (your “screencast”) and upload it to share.
Have you ever worked with someone who made a mistake and denied it? You’re sitting there fuming while he points the finger at someone else. Not really the way to earn Brownie points from your fellow co-workers, is it? How should you act? Here are five steps to follow:
Hiring managers tell National Public Radio that they’re steering clear of candidates who make digital job-seeking faux pas. For starters: not having an updated profile, with recommendations, on social media sites like LinkedIn.
Dr. Robert Eliot is famous for saying, “Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” The cardiologist has even more great advice about keeping stress in check:
Question: “My manager asked me to take over a very difficult position for which I had no background or training. He has been pleased with my progress. However, a group of guys from another department seem determined to make me fail. They ignore my requests, withhold information and argue about everything. My male predecessor left because of their behavior, so my being a woman is not the only problem. I tried making peace by offering to help with their work, but that only made things worse. Apparently, they viewed my olive branch as a sign of surrender. Recently, my boss and their manager decided that all communication between us must go through the two of them. This worries me, because it looks like I can’t handle the situation. Any suggestions?” — Not One of the Guys
Question: “I’ve just learned the mail merge application on Microsoft Office/Word 2003. After the salutation, the software automatically inserts a comma (i.e., Dear Mr. Jones,). I was taught to use a colon rather than a comma. Now that we are in the 21st century has the colon been dropped in favor of the comma? My mail merge will not let me substitute a colon for a comma.” — Anonymous