Choose the correct word
Impact vs. affect, farther vs. further, emigrate vs. immigrate, and sympathy vs. empathy.
Pull the veil off acronyms and jargon
Over time, organizations gradually develop their own special terminology, abbreviations, acronyms, and jargon. But for new employees and people from outside the organization—like customers—this language can be bewildering. Here’s how to make it more accessible to the uninitiated.
The anatomy of a bad decision
I often say “You don’t know what you don’t know.” This may seem obvious, but multimillion-dollar organizations make decisions every day based solely on the information they’re looking at, discounting factors that may not be addressed by the research being conducted.
Make sure team is not a clique
Does your team really behave like a team? Over time, some teams develop cliques and grow distant—if not downright hostile—to outsiders and new members. If you want to keep your team productive and healthy, you have to keep the “in-crowd” from taking over. Here’s how to intervene.
5 commonly overlooked rules on keeping personnel records
“Into the cabinet it goes, I’ll deal with it later!” This is, too often, the dangerous generic policy adopted by harried HR pros when dealing with the daily onslaught of employee paperwork. How many of the best practices below might your organization be cutting corners on, leaving you open to litigation worries?
Solutions to 3 common project problems
Even the best planned projects can run into problems over time, no matter how hard you try to anticipate and prevent them. Be on the lookout for these common issues that can crop up as a project goes on and on.
Keep your cool at work: Don’t blow it—deal with it
Remember that you can easily blow your career by losing your cool at work. So, predetermine what might cause such incidents and identify ways to deal with them civilly and compassionately.
Ask the veteran: Should I keep dressing better than my boss?
Question: “I find myself in the rather awkward position of being a much better dresser than my executive. Should I, as an admin three career rungs below her, make an effort to dial my own uber-professional wardrobe down a notch?”
Need to write your own recommendation? Here’s how
It seems like a cop-out when a supervisor tells you they’ll be happy to give you a recommendation letter, but they don’t want to actually write it. This leaves you in the awkward position of praising yourself in the third person! These tips will help you power through this awkward task.
1-Minute Strategies: September ’20
How does it strike you when someone says “What?” right after you’ve said something? … Why is Michelin associated with both tires and restaurants? … When did the Leaning Tower start leaning? … The strange life of Robert Chesebrough