Your office may have escaped a massive outbreak of swine flu, but odds are there’s still the lurking threat of seasonal flu. One admin wrote on our
Admin Pro Forum that all employees at her company are required to attend an hour-long presentation about pandemic preparedness. A few ways to keep the flu at bay:
When your job is to keep things from falling through the cracks, a good time-management system can serve as a tightly woven net. Sue Shellenbarger, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, recently took the most widely used systems for a test drive, trying each one for a week. Here’s what she learned:
It’s 4:30 p.m., and one of your bosses has finally given you the documents you expected to receive that morning—the documents you need in order to wrap up a task by the 5:30 p.m. deadline. This is your biggest pet peeve—receiving things late (and without warning), but being expected to complete the task on time. What to do?
An administrative assistant recently posted this dilemma on our
Admin Pro Forum: “I know my office co-worker chats on Facebook most of the day … and now I have proof. Do I say something to the co-worker, or do I bring it up to the boss? I am usually not a tattletale, but there are times when I am overwhelmed with work and I know she’s chatting on Facebook and not getting her work done.” Forum readers weighed in with advice:
What’s the best way to solve a problem at work? Figure out exactly what’s wrong and fix it. Right? Not according to Marcus Buckingham. The author of Find Your Strongest Life says that’s an example of “Deficit Attention Disorder.” He says thinking in terms of the problem only amplifies negative feelings. He recommends this more positive, productive approach:
The No. 1 thing people complain about at work: the temperature. Researchers at Cornell University have found that warmer offices can improve productivity.
Hold a shorter, more effective meeting by remembering the three purposes for having a meeting in the first place: to inform, to gather input or to ask for approval … Read faster using this technique developed by reading expert J. Michael Bennett: rhythmic perusal … Try this remedy for a foul-mouthed boss …
Keep those beginning-of-the-year resolutions with these tactics from organizing guru
FranklinCovey:
What makes the difference between productive workers and those who simply think they’re productive? Doing vs. talking. Here are four quick tips on how to set yourself up for action: 1. Jolt yourself into action by trying something. 2. Prototype your ideas. 3. Replace update meetings with "huddles." 4. Create testaments to progress.
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