Take the guesswork out of a relationship with a new manager by having an up-front conversation about expectations. No doubt, you’ll need to talk about the nitty-gritty of your everyday tasks. But don’t leave the conversation at that. Get a big-picture snapshot of your role, so you can come to a better understanding with your new boss.
Workplace Communication
In an era of Casual Fridays and work-from-home colleagues, how can you maintain effective office communication in a changing business climate?
We’ll steer you through changes in business etiquette, and help you successfully navigate through the new realities of workplace conflict and office politics.
Question: “I am a female executive assistant who works for a female boss. When I answer her telephone line, the callers often mistake me for her. I have been answering the phone, ‘Dianne Smith’s office, this is Mary Lynn speaking.’ Does anyone have a better suggestion?” — Mary Lynn Burrows
As the year draws to a close, think about what you’d like to accomplish in the first 90 days of the new year. What goals will you set, and what specific actions will you put in place to achieve those goals? What’s more, whom will you sit down with every 90 days to review your progress?
Whether they’re shooting off their own “tweets” or following others, workers using Twitter—the fastest-growing social networking site—are creating liability and PR risks with their 140-character rants, raves and company gossip. Advice: Draft a brief policy on your organization’s expectations for employee’s use of Twitter and other social networking sites (plus video).
When Jim McKay hosted ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” he wasn’t a network star with blinding good looks or a grandiose manner. The way he got through telecasts, he said, was pretending that rather than broadcasting to millions, he was talking to one person: his wife, Margaret. The result was an unusual intimacy with his audience that may work equally well for anyone who has to communicate news, especially bad news.
Question: “I feel that I am being ignored because of my age. I am a young employee who recently attained a position in which I have to interact with top-level managers. When I request information from them, I find it difficult to get responses. I believe they are not taking me seriously. How should I handle this?” — Young & Frustrated
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.
Sometimes it seems like supervisors and employees work in entirely different places. For years, researchers have known that bosses and line workers have widely varying views about things like priorities, performance ratings, communication and benefits. Here are eight areas for which recent studies have revealed major disconnects between what employees want and what their bosses think they want:
You’re promoted to a more demanding, high-profile job, and the first thing you think is, “They must have made a mistake.” That’s your Inner Critic, whose prompts can get you out of bed in the morning, on the treadmill or through a pressing deadline. But its disapproving words can also make you miserable. Here’s how to quiet your Inner Critic:
A new study estimates that nearly two-thirds of Facebook users access the site at work. On average, they spend 15 minutes on the site during work hours, and the electronic back-and-forth could represent as much as 1.5% of an employer's productivity losses. The good news: You can stop it.
