Office Communication

Is it one word or two? Take this quiz to test your knowledge of common spelling snafus:

Do you have a general reference guide, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, a grammar reference and a dictionary, but still not know what the preferred organizational usage or style is? We thought so. Your organization needs its own in-house style guide.

1. Include your phone number and mailing address in your signature. 2. Provide “if-then” options. 3. Always start with a greeting. 4. Check Snopes.com before you waste time forwarding a chain letter.

What should you do when no one seems to fill you in on what’s going on in the office? Admin Sandra writes about the problem on our Admin Forum: “I constantly feel like I’m left out of the loop!” she says. She’s not alone. Other administrative pros weighed in to say how they navigate the same challenge:

The truth is we could all do a better job communicating. Here are four ways to improve any conversation:

Next time you get an email request with an urgent flag, try one of these three tips:

Here are five questions you should have each team member ask when offering criticism to a teammate’s suggestion:

Do you “play favorites” with certain employees? Most managers would probably say “no,” but people often harbor unconscious perceptions that can influence day-to-day decision-making and job reviews of the employees they manage. Several factors unrelated to employee performance can impact evaluations conducted by managers.

Most timesaving “secrets” are the best practices you’ve been hearing about since the advent of paper clips. The trick is, you have to try them out to discover whether they match your work style. And then you have to stick with them to gain the benefits. Here are three timesaving secrets recommended by administrative professionals:

Set aside a few minutes each week to answer questions in the Q&A section of LinkedIn ... Tack on your own comment at the top of any forwarded email messages to help the recipient understand why it’s landing in her inbox ... Keep things from falling through the cracks with Boomerang for Gmail ...