A toxic environment is a business owner's worst nightmare and causes employee morale to dip quite a bit. Toxic environments in the office can also mean that your employees lose the motivation to get their work done, which means your office's to-do list isn't completed on time. If work isn't turned in on time, this can spell disaster for the entire office. This can happen even … [Read more...]
How Social Relationships Impact Professional Success
Do you remember when you were young how simple it was to find a best friend? I remember around the 3rd or 4th grade – my teacher randomly assigned me a seat behind a girl in class whose name was also Denise. Naturally, it was love at first name. Of course, that was then, and now we’re all grown up. As adults, there is a lot more that goes into deciding who we’ll let … [Read more...]
10 Worst Office Coworkers of All Time
Every person who has ever worked in an office environment has come into contact with one or more annoying coworkers. If a lot of people have to share a small space, when the majority of them would rather be somewhere else, there will be people who don't get along. The leadership team should be responsible for monitoring employee behaviors to ensure the work environment is … [Read more...]
How to Avoid Political Wars at Work
You just watched the political debate. After hours of news headlines and social media posts focused on the discussion, you still haven’t digested the information that was delivered by the candidates on national television. Then you go to work and your opinionated co-worker pops the big question, “So, what did you think about the debate last night?” You wish you had time … [Read more...]
Reboot Your Work Relationships
Work relationships often settle into routines. We develop dynamics with people and reinforce them over time. In healthy relationships, those dynamics include communication, honesty, respect and collaboration. But sometimes our relationships are stuck in a less than ideal place. Even when everyone conducts themselves professionally, feelings such as tension, irritation, or … [Read more...]
No judgement!
Stop the snap judgements, try supporting each other. Walk a mile in my flip-flops first...everyone has their own story. I work from home, I am also a mom and a wife....99.9% of my meetings are on the phone or Skype....the other .1% are local clients/businesses. Most of those local places I have been in before, they know me, they have seen what I look like on a normal … [Read more...]
Work or Play: Staying Motivated at the Office During Summer
Women who work from home have a different set of challenges than those who spend the hours of 9-5 (and then some) at the company office. Obviously, these women, too, have their own set of challenges, particularly if they have young children or are required to travel often for their jobs. Point being, it's often very hard for women to stay focused on the job under optimum … [Read more...]
Get Your (Business) Priorities Straight
Repeat after me: No. No. No. No. And no. Now, think about what your workweek would look like—and where your company might be today—if you'd used the word "no" a little more often. (Awkward silence.) I'm right there with you: The Ultimate Yes Woman. "Yes," because I have varied interests and a ridiculous amount of curiosity, and because I inherently like to be … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Reduce Workplace Distractions, Boost Productivity and Recoup Personal Time
Sponsored by VISA Business: We’re all guilty of letting ourselves get distracted at work, but distractions are the number one productivity killer. With lower productivity comes more work time and less personal time. According to The State of Workplace Productivity infographic, the annual payroll loss from employees spending time on tasks that are not work-related is at … [Read more...]
Tips for Managing Your Intern
On paper, hiring an intern always seems like a grand idea. First you do a victory dance over passing off the mundane but necessary to-dos, such as updating databases and optimizing documents for digital sharing. The next round of "jumping for joy" occurs after your brilliant suggestion to cull a list of blog topics, unsubscribe from irrelevant eNewsletters, get better … [Read more...]