Easing Back to Work After a Vacation

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Bob Larson, CPC
Bob Larson, CPC

Easing Back to Work After a Vacation

With summer vacation season in full swing, millions of American workers are taking a break — seeking replenishment from the daily office grind. But while numerous studies show that taking time off can do everything from boosting productivity to reducing heart-attack risks, vacations very often can have side effects that turn workers into inefficient space cadets upon their arrival back to the office.

In fact, according to surveys by a staffing company that does workplace research, it takes the average employee a day and half to resume productivity at work after a break, a Career Journal.com article pointed out. So with e-mails piled up and co-workers anxious to catch up on conversation, how can workers hit the ground running and avoid common blunders that can sabotage their first days back?

One strategy that some people employ, according to the article, is to tell colleagues a return date later than it really is, and getting home a few days early from vacation. Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who teaches time-management workshops, builds in a one-day cushion by setting the return date in his e-mail “out-of-office” replay message a day ahead of his actual return, and telling people he’s coming back later than he actually does. “You want time to process things before the live fire comes through the door,” he said.

Another good idea is not to fritter away your first day regaling co-workers with vacation tales, said Allison Hemming of the free-lance talent agency The Hired Guns. When in her early 20s, Hemming recalled, she was a vacation gabber. “I could go on for days about how blue the water was.” Her first boss offered a quick hint: “Take one really great story about your break, and stick to it.” Now, she offers a quick highlight – like catamaraning through caves in Nepal – then gets back to work.

But pick one story that telegraphs a message, the article pointed out. “If you’re in the 40-plus age group, communicate that you’re an active person. It wouldn’t hurt to say you had a good time going skiing, or mountain-climbing, or snow-shoeing,” said Don Sutaria of CareerQuest, a New Jeresy-based employment coaching firm.

One successful tactic used to avoid wasting time is to start treating yourself like an important colleague. “You schedule business meetings with everyone else – why not schedule time with yourself to work on specific projects?” said Jeffrey Mayer of SucceedingInBusiness.com. “Keep the appointment, turn off the phone, don’t check the e-mail every 45-seconds.” If you work better at certain times of day, schedule the most demanding tasks for those periods.

As you plow through your e-mail, keep an arsenal of sticky notes close by, the article noted. When you open something up that requires follow-up, “slap a Post-it on it saying what’s the next thing that needs to be done with the paper and how long it will take,” said Julie Morgenstern, an author of time-management books. Example: “Fill out form and return to HR.” Then keep a stack of these notes in your inbox, so the next time you’re stuck on hold on the phone you can deal with one or two instead of staring into space.

And don’t just skim your e-mail. You should try not to touch e-mail more than once. Morgenstern’s rule is if a response takes less than two minutes, do it immediately. If it takes longer, add a new item to your “to do” list.

After your initial e-mail sweep, don’t let your in-box run your day. “Your in-box is not your to-do list,” said Pausch. You’re better off setting aside a block of time per hour for e-mail – then give yourself long uninterrupted stretches to get regular work done.

If your boss starts dumping work on you, make it clear you’re busy. “Say, I’ve got these four other things to do, can you help me prioritize?” suggested Sean Covey of Franklin Covey, a productivity consulting firm in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Of course, the best strategy for a smooth re-entry is good planning before you take off, according to the CareerJournal.com article. In the weeks before you leave, train someone exactly how to do your job. “People think that if they hoard information, then they’ll have power,” said William Hubbart of Hubbart & Associates in St. Charles, Ill. That’s a mistake. If you don’t teach someone how to do your job, a lot less gets done while you’re away.

In addition, good back-ups make it less likely you’ll be contacted on your vacation. Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor, has another strategy for avoiding calls on vacation: He gives students and colleagues his wife’s cell phone number, instead of his own. “You have to create social barriers,” he said. “It’s a very strong reminder that they’re interrupting social time.”

SIMPLIFY TO BECOME MORE PRODUCTIVE

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Bob Larson, CPC
Bob Larson, CPC

It’s a tough time to be productive. Globalization, increased competition and the jarring immediacy of technology have made it difficult for modern employees to stay on top of their growing workloads while maintaining a good work-life balance. Fortunately, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, experts say small adjustments to how employees think about work can have a big impact on their workplace efficiency.

Kelly Sortino, for example, had a tough time recalling what she’d accomplished at the end of each hectic workday. Her job as head of the upper school for the Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, Calif., often required working 12-hour days, including weekends and evenings. She enjoyed the work but worried that she wasn’t accomplishing everything she needed to.

“I felt like I was mostly putting out fires,” Sortino told the newspaper. “I felt as if I wasn’t really having the time to do more of the strategic and visioning work to make those larger changes at the school.”

She decided to take a workshop at Stanford University on how to simplify work processes and reduce waste. She learned, for example, to block out her time more efficiently and minimize distractions. She also committed herself to systematically completing, without procrastination, her daily task list and to completely clearing her email inbox and workspace on a regular basis.

The changes produced a marked improvement in her time management, the article pointed out. Sortino gained a better sense of her daily routine, and she’s been able to start long-term projects. She still works on weekends, but only as needed.

Clearly, such adjustments as learning to prioritize and committing oneself to work in uninterrupted blocks of time are among the most important when trying to simplify work processes. Other key ones noted in the article are single-tasking instead of multi-tasking and scheduling specific times for checking email and texts as opposed to reading then as received.

A Stanford University study, in fact, found that multi-tasking is less productive than single-tasking, noting that many self-proclaimed multi-taskers have difficulty filtering out irrelevant information. Concerning e-mail and texting, the article pointed out that taking time to respond can reset co-worker expectations. To make sure you don’t miss anything important, you can flag emails from certain senders such as your boss.

Many people have been conditioned to expect an immediate response to email and text, which is unrealistic and unproductive, said Daniel Markovitz, a consultant from Corte Madera, Calif.

 “And if you don’t respond,” he told the newspaper, “you’ll get additional email or a call from the co-worker three minutes later asking, ‘Hey, did you get my email?’ You then have to deal with two or three frantic emails and a voice mail from that one person.” Dealing with dozens of people who place unreasonable demands on your time can diminish your availability to do other things.”

Here are some other tips from the article aimed at increasing your productivity:

  •  Be open to dropping tools that impede understanding between co-workers. If you can’t explain yourself in a single e-mail, consider calling, texting or meeting in person instead.
  • Try to understand what your co-workers do and what their motivations are, because this can be the root of many office conflicts that complicate people’s lives, said Yves Morieux of Boston Consulting Group and author of “Six Simple Rules: How to Manage Complexity without Getting Complicated.”
  • Understand what motivates the decisions your boss makes. Most subordinates have an employee-centric view of their managers, which tends not to be accurate. A better understanding of your boss can help you to sell process changes that can benefit the department and company.
  •   Work with your boss to prioritize important work and eliminate unproductive tasks.
  •   Get clarification before you start on new projects and while you have the attention of you manager or co-workers.
  •   Make it a practice not to tackle tough problems alone or stew if you can’t handle specific tasks. Rather, enlist co-workers and start a discussion, approaching it like a support group and breaking unproductive patterns that create a culture of complexity. In other words, cooperate with co-workers to streamline processes.

Make the Best of Every Meeting

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Bob Larson, CPC
Bob Larson, CPC

Make the Best of Every Meeting

If you don’t like attending meetings, you’re not alone. Most workers feel there are simply too many meetings to attend on a daily and weekly basis, and that many of them are entirely unnecessary. But meetings don’t have to be that way, says Richard Carlson, Ph.D, and author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work, who has two secrets to making virtually any meeting both interesting and productive.

The first is to use the meeting to practice being “present moment-oriented.” In other words, try to absorb yourself in the meeting – and don’t allow your mind to wander. This deliberate attempt to be focused will allow you to get as much value out of the experience as possible.

You can spend your time daydreaming or wishing you were somewhere else, but that doesn’t help you in your job or in your career. Meetings provide an opportunity to show your superiors and coworkers that you are really a good listener. This will help you be highly responsive to whatever is being discussed. That way, if there is something you can contribute, you can make a strong impression with your answer.

Carlson says that by employing the “present moment” technique he has found meetings to be far more interesting. Additional insights come to mind and he feels as though he has more to offer. He has also noticed an increased sense of respect from others. They may not be consciously aware of it, but it seems that when those present in a meeting sense that you are truly paying attention, they want to listen to you as well.

The second secret is to tell yourself that you are going to learn something from each meeting. Listen intently to what is said and try to hear something you don’t already know. Rather than comparing what you’re hearing to what you already believe, search for new wisdom, a new insight, or a new way to do something.

Carlson says he has found that when his intent is to learn, he almost always does learn something. Instead of saying “Yeah, Yeah, I already know this stuff,” try to clear your mind and allow yourself to have a beginner’s mind.

The best-selling author reports that since he has begun doing this, the results have been quite impressive and significant. His learning curve dramatically increased, and meetings became fun again. “I’ve learned to make the best of it. The way I look at it is this: I’m at the meeting anyway. Why not spend the time in a productive, healthy way, practicing valuable emotional skills instead of wishing I were somewhere else,” he says.

Try practicing what Carlson suggests. By doing so, our bet is that you’ll make your work life more interesting and effective.

Messy Desk will Cost You $$$

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Messy Desks May Hurt Your Career

If your desk is a mess, it’s time to start thinking about getting organized. According to an article in USA Today, not only can messy desks lead to lost documents and lost time, there’s also a possibility they can result in a lost raise or promotion.

Believe it or not, the cleanliness and organization of an employee’s desk are considered by more than half of America’s managers when they conduct annual reviews, hand out raises, and offer promotions, a survey by office supply company DYMO of Stamford, Conn., revealed. In fact, of the 2,600 bosses surveyed worldwide by the firm, 51 percent agreed there is a link between a worker’s organization skills and job performance.

In other words, employers look more positively at neat nicks than slobs. And the reason may have a little to do with the bottom line. It is estimated that for every document lost an employee costs a company $120, the survey found.

“There are uncountable hours lost each year in the workplace because of disorganization,” said Julie Mahan, owner of Indianapolis-based Simply Organizing, which offers workshops and one-on-one counseling for organizing offices. “But people mix up cleaning with organizing. Being clean is a visual thing, but being organized is being able to find things when you need them.”

According to the USA Today article, employees fall into a variety of categories when it comes to workplace organization, the DYMO study revealed. About half of American workers are professional but relaxed, meaning their desks are organized but have a couple of small, neatly stacked files; 31 percent work among organized chaos; 13 percent are the creative type, or very messy; and 7 percent are prim and proper, meaning the only thing on their desks is a paperclip.

For workers seeking help with getting organized, Mahan teaches her own detailed system of organization, which includes a critical question: What to do with all that stuff which lands on your desk. “Handling those incoming items is a big issue. We get buried under it,” she told the newspaper. “The physics of clutter is that it will come into your office without your assistance but will not go away without your assistance.”

Her advice is to handle all mail, e-mail, voice mail and verbal requests immediately and make one of five decisions: discard it, delegate it, respond to it, file it for follow-up, or put it in a safe place for future reference.

And as you make that decision, remember the 80/20 principle. “Eighty percent of the stuff you get, you are never going to need again,” she said. “Twenty percent you do need, and you need to prioritize its importance.”

E-mail can be a particular challenge in organization and time management, the article pointed out. Most people deal with e-mail as soon as they arrive at work, but it’s the worst thing to do, according to Janet Nusbaum, owner of Simplified Spaces, a professional organization in Carmel, Ind. “Get a few critical things done first thing before you check your e-mail,” she counseled. “Because (e-mail can be) so distracting it can just really derail your whole day.”

A key to being organized is determining what time you are most productive, whether that’s at the end of the day, right after lunch or first thing in the morning. Schedule your most important task of the day then, Nusbaum recommended. And when the day is over, check the next day’s calendar to prioritize your schedule.

Getting organized in the office may seem a bit daunting to some. But actually it just takes discipline so that things don’t pile up. To help you, USA Today cited the following tips from several entities that specialize in workplace organization:

When you receive a piece of paper, an e-mail, voice mail or verbal request, immediately decide to:

  • Discard it if it’s junk or something you will never need.
  • Take immediate action, if it’s yours to take care of and needs to be responded to.
  • File for follow-up, if it doesn’t need immediate attention but definitely needs to be done.
  • Put it in a reference file, if you’ll need it in the future.

In your daily grind:

  • Keep only supplies you need on a daily basis on your desktop.
  • Have a master list of file names to use when deciding where to file a piece of paper.
  • Set aside a certain amount of time once or twice a day to check and respond to e-mails.
  • If you don’t have to answer your phone every time it rings, let voice mail do some of the work.

In your files:

  • Keep a file labeled for each day with things that need to be done.
  • At day’s end, pull out the next day’s file and prioritize tasks.
  • In the morning, pull out the first task and start to work on it.
  • Move anything not accomplished to the next day’s folder.

Learn the Culture of a New Employer

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Bob Larson, CPC
Bob Larson, CPC

Learn the Culture of a New Employer

Switching jobs can be exciting, but new hires must be prepared to learn the unwritten rules of a new corporate culture. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, learning a workplace’s customs can indeed be a major challenge, and regardless of prior work experience, people often struggle to discern protocols, etiquette and culture when they change employers.

“It’s like going to a different country,” said Michael Kanazawa, chief executive of Dissero Partners, an Oakland, Calif., management consulting firm. “There are cultural norms of behavior that go way beyond what anybody would have the capability to write in a job description.”

One big issue is tolerance for questioning the boss, the article pointed. Some companies encourage it, believing that confrontation can generate sharp, creative thinking; others consider disagreement disrespectful. Even mundane issues, such as how to lean on administrative support, can present hazards.

Ben Dattner, a principal with Dattner Consulting, an organizational-effectiveness consulting firm, cautions that there can be lasting consequences to breaking unwritten rules. For example, co-workers may label the newcomer as an outsider who doesn’t fit into corporate culture and is “not meant to be taken seriously,” he said.

Career experts urge newcomers to take advantage of their “grace period” by asking lots of questions in their first months on the job. It may feel embarrassing, but it’s worse to remain ignorant a year later, according to the article.

Another good strategy is to watch others and follow their lead. Newcomers should also try to enlist a friend or office assistant from whom they can seek guidance. That’s what Lyria Charles did after discovering many unwritten rules at her new employer, a technology company in Virginia.

Her new post was a vice president job, directly supervising about 12 project managers. During her first week, she asked her assistant to set-up meet-and-greets with staffers. She was surprised to see that her assistant arranged the meetings at the subordinates’ cubicles – not Charles’ office.“That’s how it’s done,” Charles recalls her assistant telling her; she was grateful for the guidance. “If I had done the reverse and insisted they come to my office, that would have set a tone of, “You don’t really understand how things work here and you’re not a team player.’”

Charles learned other mores through careful observation, or trial and error. For example, she noticed that co-workers preferred to send text messages to colleagues before calling them. She also learned she was supposed to check email over the weekend after missing an email about a project task.

Kevin Hall, a mortgage banker, said he learned cultural nuances partly by observing others. About three months into a new job, while finding himself bogged down making his own travel arrangements, he noticed some higher-up executives asking the receptionists if they could help with travel booking. So he approached some of the administrative staffers to ask for help too. “You feel your way as you go,” he told the newspaper. “I’m still learning new things, but the learning curve has slowed down.”

Here from Forbes.com are some additional tips for employees to consider during the first 90 days at a new job:

  • Do your homework. Learn all you can about your new employer and its industry through careful research. This way you’ll be knowledgeable in your initial assignments and in your daily contact with colleagues.
  • Know your strengths. By focusing on what you’re good at, you can use your strengths to quickly make an impact in your new position.
  • Say it right. It’s important to know what to say and how to say it. If you’re not a good speaker, practice or get a coach. With good speaking skills, you can seek out opportunities where you can gain visibility.
  • Get in shape. Because the early days of any new job can be a grind, it’s important to be physically prepared. Eat well, sleep well, exercise, do anything you can to keep your energy level up.
  • Get a mentor. Besides forming early relationships with a few knowledgeable co-workers who can help bring you up to speed, it’s vital to have an ongoing dialogue with somebody who knows the company very well and can help you navigate the organization.
  • Understand how things work. Find out about office policies, how to weave your way through politics that predate you, and how most communications occur in the company. Most importantly, though, find out how the company operates before you start trying to change things.

UTILIZING YOUR NETWORK IN YOUR JOB SEARCH

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Bob Larson, CPC
Bob Larson, CPC

UTILIZING YOUR NETWORK IN YOUR JOB SEARCH

When it comes to looking for a job, networking needs to be a critical part of every search. Yet many job hunters continue to underestimate its value and fail to realize that some of their best contacts may be right before their eyes: people with whom they are in regular contact, from all walks of life.

According to an article from CareerBuilder.com, when networking you should always start with the people you already know. You may not consider many of them professional references, but never underestimate how anyone might be able to help.

Here are some insights and perspectives on the topic from the article:

Start with who you know –
Friends, family and acquaintances all have potential resources that can help in your job search. The key is to start exploring your connections. “Start anywhere,” said Alfred Poor, a career success speaker and author. “You have no idea where it could lead.”

Laurie Berenson, certified master résumé writer and president of Sterling Career Concepts LLC, echoes his point, saying, “Job seekers should look to their first ring of friends and family when beginning to network and then branch out from there. Ask people whom they might know in the field in which you are looking for a job.

Know what you do and don’t want –
Your network can only give you as much assistance as you ask for — and it helps to be specific. “When you’re ready to start your job search, tell everyone what you’re looking for,” Poor told CareerBuilder.com. “You have to be detailed in what you want, because if you say you’ll take anything, you’ll get nothing.”

Instead, you need to be able to give a quick elevator pitch that describes the kind of opportunity you seek. Make it easy for people to understand what you want — and what you don’t want — and easy for them to repeat it to someone else, he added. Then tell everyone you know.

How you go about tapping your network is just as important as what you say. “To let your network know what kind of job you want, brief emails are good or messages through LinkedIn,” Berenson said.

 

“Keep in mind that members of your network are busy with their own lives, careers and families. If you send them a novel or too many attachments, you’ll dissuade them from reading everything and it will backfire on you,” Berenson added. “Send them talking points — bullet points about you and your qualifications that they could use if they know someone who could use your skill set.”

Be a valuable connection –
Networking requires just as much effort on your part as it does for your connections. “You can’t expect your network to work miracles, and you also can’t ignore your network and then think that just because you’ve shot out a blast email that you’re looking, that your network will come through for you,” Berenson told CareerBuilder.com.

“Effective networking is a two-way street of giving and receiving,” she added. Offer to help people in your network so that when it’s time that you need assistance, you’ve built up positive goodwill with your network.

Also keep in mind that your actions and interactions with your network will determine what kind of opportunities come up. “The object is not to get the most contacts possible; the object is to get to know people and to give them a chance to get to know you,” Poor said. “They won’t refer you to a job unless they trust you and think you have a chance of doing the job well; their reputation is on the line when they refer you, so honor that risk that you’re asking them to take.”

Network on- and offline –
Finally, try a mix of networking both on the computer and in person. “You could potentially meet new connections anywhere,” Berenson said. “Social media — including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter — and friends of friends should not be overlooked, but be careful to not hide behind your computer. True networking is best done face to face. Attend social gatherings, networking events, professional association meetings, chamber of commerce mixers, you name it.”

Make the Most of Your Workday

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Bob Larson, CPC
Bob Larson, CPC

Organize to Make Most of Workday

If you find yourself logging long hours in an effort to get ahead, it might be time to consider organizing your day more strategically, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. By doing so, you may be able to further your career without sacrificing your personal life.

“You have a finite amount of energy and talent, and you need to protect it,” said Karlin Sloan, chief executive of Karlin Sloan & Co., a global leadership-development firm in Chicago, and the author of the book, “Smarter, Faster, Better: Strategies for Effective, Enduring and Fulfilled Leadership.” She added: “The goal is to be able to sustain a career throughout your life.”

For starters, to get the most out of your workday, figure out when you work best. Many professionals are more productive at certain times of the day than others, said Dee Soder, founder and managing partner of CEO Perspective Group, a New York executive-coaching firm. Tackle challenging tasks during those hours and leave the easy ones for when you have less energy, she explained.

Jason Chupick, for example, said he is “not a morning person,” so he avoids scheduling important meetings or client calls before 9:30 a.m. Chupick, a vice president at public-relations firm Bliss, Gouverneur & Associates Inc. in New York, told the newspaper that when he is fully alert, he is less prone to make mistakes that need correcting later.

If you are an early morning person, though, and leaving work early isn’t an option, handle tasks that require little mental energy late in the day, when you aren’t 100 percent. For example, you might prioritize your to-do list or tidy up your office, suggested Sloan.

Among other strategies recommended by career counselors are setting deadlines on all projects, controlling your work environment, and deciding what tasks are most essential, the article pointed out.

Concerning deadlines, Jo Bennett, a partner at executive search firm Battalia Winston International in New York, said she gives herself a time limit to complete assignments even if they aren’t due by a certain date. “Then I tell people I will deliver something, and that forces me to work to the deadline,” she explained. “It’s better to get things done while they’re fresh in my mind. If you wait a week, you’re going to forget a lot.”

Then there are the distractions that workers have to deal with in their work environment. In fact, the average full-time knowledge worker loses about two hours a day to office distractions, such as pop-ins from colleagues, according to a 2005 survey from research firm Basex Inc. If possible, to avert such interruptions, consider devoting regular times during the day for colleagues to stop by with questions or concerns. That strategy encourages visitors only during those times, unless their needs are urgent, the article noted.

If your job allows you to, you can also select certain times during the day to check all your messages at once. Paula Balzer, a founding partner at New York marketing-services firm MKTG partners, said she disciplines herself to ignore emails and calls while working on projects. “If you get distracted all the time, then it’s hard to get anything accomplished,” she told The Wall Street Journal.

Identifying low-value and inefficient tasks that you can remove from your plate is also key, according to Marcee Harris, a senior associate in advisory services in San Francisco for Catalyst, a nonprofit based in New York that researches women’s career issues. “We recommend that employees partner with their managers to ask the question of what is taking away from their work effectiveness,” she said.

For example, maybe you are writing memos that colleagues don’t need, or you can combine several reports, Harris told the newspaper. “There may be relics of work that used to make sense but no longer do” she said. The effort will demonstrate that you are taking the initiative to streamline your workload.

And while there are risks that come with multitasking, mobile communications can indeed turn downtime into productive time. Recruiter Erika Weinstein said she sends about 10 to 15 emails during her 30-minute subway ride to and from work. “It’s taking time that’s normally nonproductive and making it productive,” she added

Career Uncluttered Help

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President, Berman Larson Kane
President, Berman Larson Kane

Tips for ‘Decluttering’ Your Career

Just as it can be helpful to clear out your closets at home during spring, it can also be a good idea to use the season as an opportunity to declutter your career. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, by removing the stuff that gets in the way, you can free up time, brain power and energy, enabling you to enjoy work more and improve performance.

Here are four common types of career clutter and suggestions for removing them:

  1. Identify tasks that you can cast off. Decluttering has everything to do with ensuring that the actions you do on a daily basis are going to help your No. 1 priority, said John McKee, founder and president of BusinessSuccessCoach.net, a career-advisory firm in Castle Rock, Colo.

Start by defining your goals and projecting where you want to be in five years, such as in a higher-paying position or at a new company, McKee told the newspaper. Make sure to factor in your personal aspirations as well, he said. Next, set annual objectives for getting there and outline steps you need to take throughout the year, he added.

If tasks you are responsible for don’t support your personal objectives, talk with your manager about ways to delegate them or transition out of that role, the article pointed out. Tasks that don’t support your objectives should be delegated or assigned a lower priority.

  1. Avoiding a difficult project or colleague can detract from your at-work effectiveness, said Daniel Markovitz, a corporate-efficiency consultant in Corte Madera, Calif. “It’s not going away, and it looks worse and worse,” he said.

Markovitz suggested putting an unpleasant task at the top of your “to do” list and chopping it into smaller pieces. “Imagine I gave you a 25-foot salami and said, ‘Bon appetit!’ Then what if I broke it up into little bite-size pieces?” he said. “Suddenly it seems totally manageable.” If you are avoiding a sticky situation with a difficult colleague, take immediate steps to face the issue head on. Consider the relief you will feel when the issue is resolved, he added.

Email overload. A cluttered inbox can give the impression that you have more to do than you actually do, said Debby Stone, president of InterVision Group LLC, a career-coaching and leadership-consulting firm in Alpharetta, Ga.

E-mails that don’t require an immediate reply can pile up as you respond to more-urgent messages. To get them out of the way, send a quick reply to each with a canned message such as: “Thanks for writing. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible,” said Ana Weber, a controller at Binder Metal Products Inc., a Gardena, Calif., manufacturer, who is a part-time career and time-management coach. Then, she said, store them in a folder labeled “unread” as a reminder to attend to them later.

“One way to reduce the influx of e-mails is to cancel newsletters and other electronic mailings that aren’t a strong match for your career,” Stone told the newspaper. “Most people get on them because something caught their eye or someone recommended it to them,” she said. “In a lot of cases, they find that what they get is not as interesting or relevant as they anticipated.”

  1. Chitchat has its place at work, but excessive socializing can be a drain when you are trying to get things done, according to the article. To politely escape from a colleague who tends to blab, say you have a deadline to meet and offer to get together at another time, such as during your lunch break, said Ariane Benefit, founder of Neat Living, a coaching and consulting company in Bloomfield, N.J.

Also be sure to steer clear of colleagues who engage in repetitive griping sessions that can dampen spirits and hinder productivity, said Benefit, who noted that she knew several at past employers. “Sometime you have to literally avoid going past their cubicle,” she added.

Likability & Your Career

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President, Berman Larson Kane
President, Berman Larson Kane

LIKABILTY MATTERS MORE THAN EVER AT WORK

“Likability” is becoming a bigger factor for success at work as social networks and videoconferencing grow, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. In fact, the ability to come across as likable is increasingly shaping how people are being sized up and treated by bosses and co-workers, the article pointed out.

Likable people are more apt to be hired, get help at work, get useful information from others and have mistakes forgiven. As an example, a study of 133 managers by researchers at the University of Massachusetts found that if an auditor is likable and gives a well-organized argument, managers tend to comply with his suggestions, even if they disagree and the auditor lacks supporting evidence.

Likability is more important—and harder to pull off—on video than in person. Sometimes this can result in a style-over-substance effect. People watching a speaker on a videoconference are more influenced by how much they like the speaker than by the quality of the speaker’s arguments, according to a 2008 study in Management Science. The opposite is true when a speaker appears in person.

Social networking also places a premium on likability, as more employers track employees’ likability on in-house social networks and chat services. The article noted that employers recruit those who are trusted and well-liked to spread information or push through changes. Some companies also take these employees’ social clout into account when handing out raises and promotions.

According to the article, listeners tend to like speakers who seem trustworthy and authentic, who tell an engaging or persuasive story and who seem to have things in common with them, said Noah Zandan, president of Quantified Impressions in Austin, Texas. On video, these qualities can be hard to convey.

Many people make a negative impression on video by becoming stiff and emotionless, or by exaggerating their points. In fact, job applicants interviewed on video receive lower likability ratings and interview scores, and are less likely to be recommended for hiring than candidates interviewed in person, according to a study published in Management Decision.

But coaches say that likability can be taught. “Likability isn’t something you are born with, like charisma. It’s something you can learn,” said Ben Decker, chief executive officer of Decker Communications, a training and consulting firm in San Francisco.

The “big three” behaviors most important to a speaker’s likability are making eye contact by looking into the camera, smiling naturally when you talk and varying your tone of voice to convey warmth and enthusiasm, Decker told The Wall Street Journal. He also urges clients to “really think about the listener” and figure out goals you two might share. The ability to find common ground is a cornerstone of likability.

Senior executives at Charles Schwab & Co. take the Decker training partly because “making sure you come across as authentic and as someone who can be trusted becomes more important” when speaking to large groups on video or webcasts, said Jay L. Allen, executive vice president, human resources, for the San Francisco-based financial services firm. Managers also learn to speak with more enthusiasm on video, varying their tone, Allen added.

One common mistake people make on video, the article noted, is to play the comedian. Tim Sanders, author of “The Likability Factor,” and lecturer on the topic, cautioned: “If you insist on poking fun at someone, it has to be you.”

 

Ten Traits That Can Derail a Career

Posted by boblarson on
Bob Larson, CPC
Bob Larson, CPC

Ten Traits That Can Derail a Career

It takes anywhere from three to 15 months to find the right job, yet just days or weeks to lose it. With competition fierce for career advancement in the workplace, it’s important to steer clear of bad work habits and stay focused on demonstrating a strong job performance. According to CareerBuilder.com, here are 10 traits employees should be sure to avoid:

  1. Possessing Poor People Skills. A little likeability can go a long way. Studies by both Harvard Business Review and Fast Company magazine show that people consistently and overwhelmingly prefer to work with likeable, less-skilled co-workers than with highly competent jerks. Researchers found that if employees are disliked, it’s almost irrelevant whether they’re good at what they do, because others will avoid them.
  2. Not Being a Team Player. No one feels comfortable around a prima donna. And organizations have ways of dealing with employees who subvert the team. Just ask Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens, who was suspended for the 2005 season after repeatedly clashing and taking public shots at his teammates and management. So show you’re a team player by making your boss look like a star and demonstrating that you’ve got the greater good of the organization at heart.
  3. Missing Deadlines. If the deadline is Wednesday, first thing Thursday won’t cut it. Organizations need people they can depend on. Missing deadlines is not only unprofessional, it can play havoc with others’ schedules and make your boss look bad. When making commitments, it’s best to under-promise and over-deliver.
  4. Conducting Personal Business on Company Time. The company e-mail and phone systems are for company business. Keep personal phone calls brief and few and never type anything in e-mail that you don’t want read by your boss. Many systems save deleted messages to a master file.
  5. Isolating Yourself. Don’t isolate yourself. Develop and use relationships with others in your company and profession. Those who network effectively have an inside track on resources and information and can more quickly cut through organizational politics. Research shows effective networkers tend to serve on more successful teams, get better performance reviews, receive more promotions and be more highly compensated.
  6. Starting an Office Romance. Unless you’re in separate locations, office romances are a bad idea. If you become involved with your boss, your accomplishments and promotions will be suspect; if you date a subordinate, you leave yourself open to charges of sexual harassment. And if it ends badly, you’re at risk of everyone knowing about it and witnessing the unpleasantness.
  7. Fearing Risk or Failure. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. Have a can-do attitude and take risks. Instead of saying, “I’ve never done that,” say, “I’ll learn how.” Don’t be afraid to fail and make mistakes. If you do mess up, admit it and move on. Above all, find the learning opportunities in every situation.
  8. Having No Goals. Failure doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal, but in not having a goal to reach. Set objectives and plan your daily activities around achieving them. Eighty percent of your effectiveness comes from 20 percent of your activities. So manage your priorities and focus on those tasks that support your goals.
  9. Neglecting Your Image. Fair or not, appearance counts. People draw all kinds of conclusions from the way you present yourself. So don’t come to work poorly groomed or in inappropriate attire. Be honest, use proper grammar and avoid slang and expletives. You want to project an image of competence, character and commitment.

10. Being Indiscreet. Cubicles, hallways, elevators, bathrooms – even commuter trains – are not your private domain. Be careful where you hold conversations and what you say to whom. Don’t tell off-color jokes, reveal company secrets, gossip about co-workers or espouse your views on race, religion or the boss’ personality. Because while there is such a thing as free speech, it’s not so free if it costs you your job.