Delegate but Get Your Hands Dirty

I was talking to someone today who works for a boss that is a great delegator.  The problem is that this boss is never willing to get his hands dirty.  He delegates all of the unpleasant tasks of his department to his subordinates, but never gets in there and helps.  Delegating is one of the [...]

The Importance of Having Meetings

How many of you hate sitting in meetings?  It’s probably my least favorite part of my job, and I doubt that I am alone.  One of the blogs that I read referenced a post with an interesting commentary about meetings.  Karl Weick argued that it was only in meetings that organizations fulfill their purpose.  Weick’s [...]

Learn From Conflict

Read this article about thinking of conflict at work as a learning opportunity.  Can you learn more about the people in your workplace?  Can you learn more about decision-making in your organization?  Can you learn more about yourself?

Organizational Communication Analysis

One of the classes I’m teaching this semester is called Organizational Communication Analysis.  The idea of the class is to be part of the senior capstone experience, where students are putting together everything that they’ve learned.  Students are learning how to conduct a communication audit, where they assess the communication in an organization and give [...]

Dealing with Conflict

Everyone has there own theories about how manage conflict.  Here is a great discussion of different kinds of conflict and different ways of approaching each type.  Workplace communication tips presents a more linear and perhaps overly simplistic view but still provides useful information.

Don’t Let Conflicts Fester Unresolved

This is a great parable about letting conflicts fester in organizations.

Dealing with New People on the Job, Part 2

In my last post, I explained how frustrating it can be for new people to hear, “this is the way we’ve always done it.”  There’s another side to that issue—there may be logical reasons why you’ve always done it this way.  Giving new people enough freedom to fail may seem like “setting them up,” but [...]

Dealing with New People on the Job, Part 1

As new people join your organization, one of the worst things they can hear is “this is the way we’ve always done it.”  New people can bring new life into worn-out routines.  Don’t let your expectations force new people to do things the way everyone else does them.  Change can be scary, but the benefits [...]

Starting a New Job

When you begin a new job, there is a natural period of adjustment or “socialization” as you get used to the new organization and they get used to you.  Being yourself in interviews and the early days of your job can help this process tremendously.  One other thing that can help is to remember that [...]

Be Nice

Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make the most difference.  Be nice to someone in your workplace today.  It will make you feel better no matter what is going on, and it’s the right thing to do.