Sharlyn Lauby of the HR Bartender blog has challenged her colleagues to complete the following list of questions related to how I organize my work day. You can see the origins of the How I Work series on Sharlyn’s blog. This is an interesting exercise. Although I thought I’d breeze right through, it took me…
Personal Effectiveness
Fire Up Your Career Focus
Are you ready to take your game to a higher level at work? That’s an exciting feeling, isn’t it? Yet it can be overwhelming too. You have the itch to grow professionally, but nagging doubts can stop you before you even start: What should I do first? How will I find the time? Is it…
Auditing Your Workplace Relationships
First published in 1989, Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People was life-changing for me in many ways. I especially appreciated the concept of the Emotional Bank Account, even though it technically isn’t one of the “habits”. Throughout my life, this simple idea of relationship “deposits” and “withdrawals” has helped me monitor…
Daily Ways to be a Mannerly Manager
Emily Post, considered by many to have helped shaped societal etiquette norms in the latter half of the 20th century, once said: “Nothing is less important than which fork you use. Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honor.” I love the link between “manners” and “honor”! Here’s…
An Introvert’s Plan for Working a Room
Introvert + Global Company Meeting + Unfamiliar Peers = Increased Stress This is a “people equation” recently faced by my coaching client Pete. He was preparing to attend a company-wide, week-long symposium attended by colleagues from throughout the world. Adding to the stress was the fact that Pete’s department had recently reorganized. On the plus…