BLOG ARTICLES BY AMY
How to Make Your Workplace Culture Extraordinary
This week’s blog post is a guest post by Workplace Culture Expert Michelle Howison. Michelle holds Master’s degrees in Behavioral Sciences and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. It was this training that sparked her interest in the psychology of company culture: What happens in organizations that makes people stay or go. Michelle started her career in organizational development […]
Are You Furious or Upset? Hurt or Angry?
How often do we take the time to really think about the words we choose to express ourselves? In most instances, we use the first word or words that come to mind. However, one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes illustrates the importance of choosing words wisely. At first glance, you might think that it’s unlikely […]
7 Reasons Your Policies and Procedures are Useless
As some of you may remember, I wrote a post awhile back about the 8 Reasons Organizations Need Standard Operating Procedures. Although I know they are time consuming to write and can be a challenge to keep current, I hope you agreed after reading the post, that it’s critical that organizations have them and why. […]
Is your communication harming those around you?
This weekend I saw a news piece about a video that’s gone viral on YouTube. “Every Opportunity,” published by the Atlanta Speech School, contains a powerful message about how adults talk to children. In some instances, the adults in the video ignore the communication efforts of the children and we can see how dejected they are. Sometimes, it’s not […]
6 Tips for Surviving the End of the “Honeymoon Period”- at Work, at Home, or With Your Dog
In January of this year, I first met Tinkerbell. At the time, her name wasn’t even Tinkerbell, she was just “Female, black, Chihuahua, stray,” at the animal shelter where I volunteer. After adopting her, I took her to her first vet appointment. The first question they asked was her name, and “Tinkerbell,” came out of […]
Are you breaking the 25/5 rule?
The 25/5 rule is simple. It has two parts: 1. Don’t say something in 25 words when 5 will do. 2. Don’t use a 25-cent word when a 5-cent word will do. If you’re anything like me, when you receive a long text, doctoral-dissertation-length email, or a voicemail that drones on and on, you tune […]
9 Tips for Establishing a Great Relationship with Your Child’s Teacher
Every year around this time I post communication tips for talking with your child’s teacher. However, these tips are about more than talking with the teacher. They’re about creating open communication and building an effective parent-teacher relationship that will serve you when things are going well and when your child hits some inevitable bumps along […]
8 Tips for Controlling Stage Fright
Speech anxiety should never go away. However, you do want to keep it under control, so you’ll look and feel like the confident, professional, expert that you are.
When was the last time you sent someone a handwritten note?
Whether an actual letter, a card, or even a short sentiment written on a piece of scrap paper, there’s something very personal and meaningful about taking the time to communicate with someone using pen and paper. First, a handwritten note takes time to produce. There’s no spell check and no backspace key. You’ve got to get […]