Dilbert Managers

I have to admit that Dilbert is my favorite comic strip.  It’s a sad commentary when a cartoonist can create such an outlandishly poor workplace with which so many identify.  If you are a manager, look over Dilbert’s laments and be sure that you are not following in his boss’ footsteps.  Here’s a great collection [...]

Pride and Humility

Have you ever been around someone who can’t stop telling you about their accomplishments?  Or even worse, have you ever had a coworker who seemed to always share his/her accomplishments with your boss?  It doesn’t take long to get annoying.  Why?  Two reasons.  First, we feel like our own accomplishments may get overlooked.  This is [...]

Keep Records–Document Everything

Document everything.  That was the advice I just gave to a student of mine who is struggling to get along with some of the people he works with.  There are always two sides to every story, and I only heard one.  But to hear him tell it, he is just not going to click with [...]

Be Happy

One more thing as to satisfaction and expectations in the workplace.  Be happy.  Don’t worry about the circumstances around you.  Just be happy.  That sounds cheesy and fairy-tale-esque.  Be sometimes, happiness is about a choice to overcome your circumstances.  Here are some ideas to get started.
 

Higher Expectations

At the same time you are setting realistic expectations, I think managers need to make sure that they live up to their employees’ expectations. No, I don’t mean try to please everyone, but I think there are a number of managers out there that have no desire to understand employees. All Things Workplace has a [...]

Satisfying Expectations

What do you expect from work? There are sometimes when work is just bad and that leads to dissatisfaction. Other times, it’s because we have unrealistic expectations. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be optimistic. However, expecting work to fulfill all of your needs, in most cases, is setting yourself up to be dissatisfied. There’s [...]

Failure

There are all kinds of heroic stories about people like Hershey and Lincoln who failed repeatedly in business and politics before “trying one more time” and becoming the icons we remember in history books today.  Or stories about how many designs for the lightbulb failed before Edison finally got it right.  These sound wonderful when [...]

Goals, not resolutions

Each year we hear about New Year’s resolutions that people make.  Lose weight, exercise more, etc.  I prefer to think about goals for the coming year.  Goals are measureable and realistic, and I approach them as something to attain rather than a “pie-in-the-sky.”  Goals can be critically important for your development, both personally and professionally.  [...]

Business Communication as a Dance

“Dance” may seem a strange metaphor to describe communication in business, but Clampitt (2005) argues that seeing communication as a dance overcomes the shortcomings of the arrow and circuit perspectives for communication between managers and employees.  He explains that dances are used for a variety of purposes, involve coordinated activity and co-orientation, is governed by [...]

Circuit Managers

The textbook that I referenced in the last post also discussed “circuit” managers.  Rather than seeing communication as an arrow, circuit managers see communication as a two-way event.  Circuit managers use employees’ feedback to understand their needs, hoping that meeting the needs of employees will lead to increased productivity.  This metaphor is better than the [...]