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6 Rules for Savvy Office Navigation
Tweet Share on Facebook February 27, 2009 Comment (1)Jack is a close friend of an influential vice president and goes hiking with the VP’s family. Maria was an aide to a governor, and although her job has nothing to do with legislative matters, she is shown enormous deference on the subject. Harold and Gretchen may seem friendly at the department head meetings but they can barely stand to be in the same room. Carl has retired on the job and is generally disregarded. Ramon is brilliant, but seven years ago he had an open dispute with Dennis--who is now CEO. Ramon and Gretchen have an alliance against Harold, and yet Jack is one of Harold’s allies.
Many workplaces resemble a tangled cobweb of relationships.
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Still On the Payroll, But Not Getting Paid
Tweet Share on Facebook February 26, 2009 Comment (2)I work for a small-to mid-size company and have been told that I am not being laid off, but I also did not get my paycheck because the company does not have the funds for payroll for their management staff. Can they do that? Would this be a de facto layoff? Can they really just expect me to work for free and refuse to lay me off so that I can’t collect unemployment?
Well, obviously they can because they did. Should they have? Of course not. Can you do anything about it? Maybe.
A company that doesn’t have enough available cash to meet payroll is in serious financial trouble. I doubt their logic is, “We won’t pay people but we won’t lay them off either, so no unemployment for them! Bwa-ha-ha.” I’m guessing their thought process is more like: “Oh crud. We don’t have any money. We need our employees or we won’t ever get any money. I’m sure our employees are willing to hold out. After all, we’re like family here.”
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What to Do Instead of Worry
Tweet Share on Facebook February 25, 2009 Comment (1)Fear is everywhere. Open up a newspaper, flip on the TV, click over to any political blog, and you’ll be hit smack in the face with reports of the latest layoffs, prognostications on why the stimulus will or will not work, and rants about the bonuses of executives whose companies we are now bailing out.
You worry: How is all this going to affect me? You open your monthly bills and wonder: How would they get paid if I lost my income?
You could turn off the news and go get some exercise, you could practice counting your blessings, you could start to economize in many small ways, you could beef up your networking. These are all good things to do, yet you still worry.
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Anonymous at Work: When You Don't Want to Stand Out
Tweet Share on Facebook February 24, 2009 Comment (3)Over at Chris Brogan’s blog today, I wrote a guest post on how you can avoid being anonymous at work. There are 10 things in my list, but I am sure there could be lots more.
This is an issue that divides. Some want to be anonymous at work, preferring to keep their heads down while they do good work and contribute as members of the team.
Others don’t. They want to be the best they can be--and they seek recognition, either from others or from their own internal self.
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Should You Switch Jobs in a Recession?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 23, 2009 Comment (14)You hate your job. The work is boring, your boss annoys you, you share an office with someone who insists on taking all her calls on speakerphone, and you're pretty sure the guy down the hall uses your photo as his screensaver.
Or maybe you like your job all right but you saw a higher-paying opening at another company that you'd be perfect for.
But in such a bad economy, should you think twice about switching jobs?
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Fix the Door and Save Yourself
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2009 Comment (3)Over the years, in his many lectures on excellence, Tom Peters has observed that if you lower an airline tray table and find coffee stains, you start to wonder about the condition of the plane’s engines.
I remember that line every time I go to the auditorium of a local government agency. A side entrance door is broken. It can still be opened and shut if sufficient force is applied and you’re willing to ignore a loud screeching noise, but if you use a wheelchair your chances are nil.
Two years have passed and that door is still not fixed. Indeed, no repair effort has been made. I’ve talked to the manager about the door. He agrees it is a problem, but then he turns his attention elsewhere. You can tell that in his eyes, it is not that big a deal. After all, there are other ways to get into the building.
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Do You Love 80 Percent of Your Job?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 19, 2009 Comment (1)“Work is a four letter word,” goes the conventional thinking. It’s something to be endured so you can pay for those precious few hours of fun on the weekend.
It’s probably no great surprise that I don’t see things that way. In my world, work is a four-letter word, just not one that gets edited out in family-friendly shows. It’s a four-letter word--just like love, and kind, and play.
Michael Wade’s post last week, Not All Jobs Can Be Fun, got me thinking about the flipside of the negative expectation of work – the expectation that if we just find the right job, it will all be wondrous and fulfilling. The angels will sing, and everything will be sprinkled with magic fairy dust.
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Moonlighting: One Way to Outsmart the Recession
Tweet Share on Facebook February 18, 2009 Comment (5)You have a job. Good news! But you don’t like the job. Or it doesn’t pay a living wage. Or it doesn’t offer health insurance. That’s bad news.
Have you considered moonlighting? It’s not as hard as it sounds. In fact, moonlighting can be not only the answer to your underemployment woes, it can be the path to greater job satisfaction and fulfillment.
The secret to successful moonlighting is simple: Job B needs to provide what Job A lacks.
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How to Stop Debating the Stimulus and Begin the Rescue
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 Comment (5)Today in Denver, President Obama will sign the stimulus and recovery bill into law. All I can say is: Finally.
Admittedly, I was on the fence--teetering, if not leaning slightly, to the right on this issue. I do know the government is the one remaining participant in the economy who can do something to get things moving again. I am just a bit worried that economic incentives are slowly being squeezed out of our economy, a situation eerily familiar to what happened in Atlas Shrugged. But, hey, let’s all do what we can to make it work and in the process get everyone back to work.
I am not going to complain any more, even if my suggestion wasn’t taken. (The idea, as presented here, was to simply grant every proven entrepreneur $100,000 for business expansion and general purposes. That might have been stimulative. At least, to me.)
Moving forward, here are five suggestions on our next steps--the rescue phase:
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Paranoia on the Way to the Vending Machine
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 CommentThe journey from my desk started innocently enough. I was on the prowl for a bottle of water and something sweet. As I traversed the fluorescent-lit hallways, debating between Twizzlers and a granola bar, I couldn't help but notice all of the closed doors.
This was no coincidence. EVERY door was shut--indiscernible voices leaking through the door jams.
Something was up.
