While the title of this post may not be familiar to you, here’s a saying that you might be more familiar with: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. In other words, you can show the horse where the water is, but the horse has to make the decision to drink or not. This saying applies to almost any workplace, as it is a basic tenet of communication. There are multiple leadership styles out there, but no matter what style you employ, if you want to get your team to do something right you need to convince them it’s the right thing to do. “Right” is highlighted there because someone can perform a task even if they don’t’ agree with it, but you most likely won’t get their best effort. This is also the point that Glenn Ray makes in his entertaining parable below. My thoughts are immediately following the article in the My Comments section.

Read the rest of this entry »

As I was browsing MSNBC today, I found this really interesting article from the Washington Post called Living Life at $7.25 an Hour. It’s a really interesting look at a small town, and how the proposed federal minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $7.25 would affect it. I found interesting because it presents views from both the employees and the owners, who obviously have some differing opinions on the matter.

I can see both sides, and in a lower income town such as the one in the article, a wage increase is almost like a catch-22. If you raise the wages, then the businesses suffer as they have to absorb more costs into an already thin profit model. On the other hand, many of the people of this town need all the help they can get.

A very interesting presentation of this problem, I highly recommend you read it.

One of the hardest things to do is to bring an issue to your manager’s attention. Even if it’s completely not your fault, it just feels like it when you are the one explaining it. Unfortunately, these situations do arise and many times the consequences of keeping the issue from your manager’s attention can be severe. On the other hand, you don’t want to be bringing every little issue to your manager’s attention. This is why it is so important that you can recognize the difference between an issue that needs to be elevated and an issue that you can handle on your own. To this effect, I’ve listed the following three tests that I use when determining if an issue needs to be brought to the next level:

Read the rest of this entry »

At one point or another, you’ve probably thought about what it would be like to go into business for yourself. Maybe it came at the end of a rough day in the cube, or maybe it crossed your mind as you sat in rush hour traffic with no end in sight. Regardless of the situation, it probably went something like this: “Man, this is ridiculous. I wish I was my own boss. Then I wouldn’t have to put up with this crap!”. It’s definitely a tempting proposition, but have you really ever thought the whole process out?

Read the rest of this entry »

I came across this interesting article from EzineArticles today about how to retain Generation X employees for longer periods of time. His analysis is pretty good, I especially agree with his thoughts on Generation X’s need for constant job movement as a form of career security. He also makes some excellent suggestions as to how you can go about preventing this exodus from happening. They aren’t anything new, but more companies would be wise to implement them.

I’m really interested to see what other people think of this situation, drop me a line in the comments if you would like to discuss.

Without further ado, here’s the article:

Read the rest of this entry »

With the advent of the Internet and all of its email and instant messaging glory, the emphasis on developing good writing skills has seemed to fall by the wayside. While it’s true that many of our communications today are less formal, this is no excuse for not being able to turn the writing switch to “professional” and create a clearly written document. This is a key business skill that many young professionals today do not take seriously enough.

Read the rest of this entry »

To preface, I look at the review process one goes through when analyzing anything as working on a bell curve. For those not familiar with it, a bell curve has a single high point where maximum efficiency is reached. Before that high point, your efficiency in whatever you are doing is increasing. After that high point, your efficiency is decreasing. With this in mind, we can move on to the purpose of this article.

Read the rest of this entry »

Out of all the things that could happen when you’re walking home from work, what do you think is the LEAST likely out of this list:

1. Dog attack
2. Splashed by a car
3. Bird crapping on your head

Oh wait, is one of those choices HIGHLIGHTED? Yes, that’s right, highlighted. Why? Because it is so improbable that it is the obvious choice. Do you see where I’m going with this? Let me spell it out for those who missed it:

Walking home from work today, a bird crapped on my head

I’ll set the scene: I’m walking home from work, enjoying the nice day outside. It’s about a 15 minute walk from my work to my apartment, so it’s not too bad. I’d also like to point out that I usually snag a ride from my fiancé to and from work (feel free to boo me at this point, but it’s on her way =) ).

Anyways, I’m strolling along like a sucker, about five minutes into my walk, when IT happens. Now, it’s important to realize that when you get crapped on by a bird, you may not realize it immediately. It can almost feel like a drop of water hit you. The last thing you think just happen is that you got crapped on. What are the chances I ask you?

Back to the story, I get this feeling and the first thing I do is reach my hand up and see what’s going on. To my horror, it comes back wet and slimy. Oh yes, wet and slimy. Stunned, I keep walking. It slowly dawns on me what actually happened. If this has never happened to you, it’s pretty hard to describe how disgusting it feels. You’ll just have to take my word for it. Here’s the worst part: I work right outside of Washington DC, in a busy little town called Arlington. What does this mean? It means there were more than enough people to witness this happen. Even better, I still had a good 10 minute walk ahead of me.

When something like this happens, it feels like everybody is looking at you, even if they aren’t. Old ladies, babies, cab drivers, it felt like everybody knew of my misfortune. Waiting at a crosswalk became unbearable. I’m pretty sure that I’ve never made it home faster than I did today. Needless to say, I washed myself as quickly as possible.

Do you want to know what the worst part is (nope, haven’t gotten to it yet)? The worst part is that this is not the first time I’ve had this happen to me. When I was about 12, I was helping my dad work a sidewalk sale at our store and as I’m ringing up a satisfied customer, the same thing happened. Here’s my theory: I think that the birds decided to lay low for a while, just to throw me off my guard. Then, when I least expect it, they strike with the quickness. What’s the solution? Obviously, I’m not going to divulge it on the Internet, as the sly bastards have spies everywhere. However, I will give you one hint: It involves a hat.

It’s that time of year again, when all of those eager, wide-eyed college students storm offices across the globe. I’ve dubbed it the “Intern Rush”. Being new to an office setting, they really don’t know what to expect coming in. With this in mind, try to treat them as a regular new employee.

What does this mean? For one, they shouldn’t have to list on their resume that they fetched your coffee all summer. They’ve come to learn, try to teach them something. If all they do is meaningless tasks, they won’t get anything out of it and next year you could be facing a drought of interns. Also, try to be nice to them. It’s ok to rib them a bit, like you would do with any of your other co-workers, but be mindful of how far you go. They are probably pretty nervous, and it’s easy for someone in that state to take something said in jest the wrong way.

To sum up: Help them to get something out of their internship, and you will get a lot of value out of them.

Ah summer, one of my favorite times of the year. The weather is usually nice (unless you live in one of those extreme places, but I digress) and everybody’s thoughts turn to vacation. However, before you take a vacation, you need to let your work know. Not only do you have to let them know, you have to let them know WELL in advance.

Does this sound simple? I think you would be surprised at how many people suddenly come into work one day and say “Oh yeah, I’m going on vacation next week, is that ok?”. Obviously, this is not enough heads up time for your job. What is enough time? If I can, I like to give at least a month notice. It may seem like a lot, but I’m of the opinion that you can never give too much notice, only too little.

One last note, make sure you send your notification in writing as opposed to just word of mouth, just in case you are questioned about it later. Also, a few weeks before your time off is to occur, make sure to drop your boss a reminder note about which days you will be gone.