“My boss carried several boxes of files into the office one day because his wife told him to remove them from their garage. They have been sitting in the office for more than two years! He won’t let me throw anything away.” What can this admin do about a boss who’s a hoarder?
In some offices, you might kick-start relationships between older and younger workers with these tips: Try reverse-mentoring … Go out of your way to collaborate with different generations … Don’t get hung up on office etiquette you think everyone should be following.
Grandmas are known for their nuggets of advice about bundling up in winter or baking a fruit cobbler. As it turns out, they know a thing or two about navigating the workplace, too. Pearls of wisdom from grandma:
Thanks to our increasingly online (and visible) lives, it’s more important than ever to know how to apologize well. When you wrong someone—a colleague or a customer—apologize by doing three things:
Messy co-workers can make you feel like you’re living in a college dorm. What do you do when others don’t clean up after themselves? You could turn cleaning up into a game. Two suggestions from Get-It-Done-Guy Stever Robbins:
The co-worker in the next cubicle hums all day. Yesterday your boss dressed you down in front of the entire team. Another admin has been griping about the same issue for a week. In every case, it would be all too easy to ignore the problem, or avoid confrontation by sending an email. But in every case, a live conversation is the better solution.
If you’ve ever been hung up on or interrupted, you’ve been the victim of a loss of civility in the workplace. Bring back courtesy and build a kinder workplace with tips from Tom Terez of WorkplaceNow.com:
Focus on knowing where to get information quickly rather than knowing how to do everything … Watch what you say on Facebook: More than 90% of job-screeners say they’re using social network tools to weed out applicants … Take the lead in developing your own professional skills.
Strike the right chord with a new boss by trying these tactics from other experienced administrative pros:
Perfume? Too personal. Coffee maker? Too expensive (unless it’s a group gift). The rules for gift-giving at work, in those offices that swap presents, are fairly straightforward. Here’s advice from experts:
Page 42 of 75«1…4041424344…75»