I just completed a 30-day video series called, “Communication Skills for Career Success.” Over the 30 days, people who watch the daily 2-3 minute videos receive tips, techniques, inspiration, and goals for building upon their set of communication skills; from listening, word choice, and nonverbal communication, to making the decision whether to confront someone in […]
We all know at least one. It’s that guy who only asks how you’re doing so he can jump in and tell you how he’s doing. It’s that gal who has to let you know all about the great things her son is doing, but never asks about even ONE of your kids. I call […]
A few years ago I worked with a man named Martin. He was a condescending know-it-all and I avoided him whenever I could. As soon as I saw him walking toward me, I could feel myself getting annoyed. Any time he spoke to me, all I could think was, “Who does he think he is […]
I’m all about building rapport, communicating, and creating great relationships with people at work, including your boss. However, there are some things you should just keep to yourself if you want to continue to be successful, and climb the ladder, in your career. Yes, I realize when you read some of these items, some of […]
“The single best predictor of a candidate’s future job performance is his or her past job behavior.” “How do we know this is true? Because it’s been proved in thousands of actual job situations for more than two decades. Interviews that probe for past behavior have been found to be more reliable than ones that […]
I was facilitating an employment interviewing workshop the other day and as we were discussing why people were taking the course, one participant said, “I want to learn why the person I hired isn’t the person who shows up on the first day of work?” It’s all too common to have the prince or princess […]
The first step in bridging the workplace generation gap is understanding that you have one and how extensive it is. By identifying your employees’ generations (no, don’t ask how old they are), you can take the first steps toward bringing your team together. Next week, we’ll identify specific steps for bridging the generation gap at […]
Most people don’t put much thought into what typeface they use when sending an email or creating a document. Some might avoid Comic in a professional correspondence and instead select Arial or Times New Roman, but beyond that, I’ll bet most people have never even considered what their choice of typeface says about them. Well, employers have. In […]
When people think about etiquette, they often think about twelve course dinners, people in tuxedos and fancy dresses, high tea, and high-falutin’ behaviors. In reality, etiquette is simply understanding and practicing generally accepted societal rules given the situation in which you find yourself– which includes the workplace. In many organizations, etiquette has gone by the wayside. People […]
Over the years, I’ve seen an evolution in terms used for negative feedback. The first term I remember hearing is “constructive criticism.” The problem was, most of the criticism wasn’t constructive, so it was really just criticism. Then someone decided to soften the term and call it “constructive feedback.” However, once again, it wasn’t very constructive, so […]