With the title of this post in mind, I’d like to address one of the largest myths that surround the act of being a “manager”: Managers have to know everything. How do we fix the server? Can I expense this? What day does that obscure holiday fall on in 2047? Pretty much any question is fair game for a manager or supervisor, and rightfully so. As the person in charge, your people are going to look to you when they have such questions. However, the important point to remember is this: Just because you’re the focal point for these questions, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to know the answer.

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Telling someone they’re wrong can be a daunting task, especially if it’s in a work situation. That’s why at work, you very rarely hear someone flat out say “You’re wrong”. On the one hand you don’t want to insult whomever you’re speaking to because at the very least you have to work with them, and they could even be your boss or your client. On the other hand, you need to get them to understand that they are incorrect or else it could cause major problems down the line. While this seems to be a “Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t” situation, there are ways to accomplish both goals. All it requires is the proper phrasing.

With that in mind, here are three phrases that I’ve used to tell someone they’re wrong, without actually having to say it:

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There are certain times of the year when getting things done is just hard. During these times, for whatever reason, the amount of time it takes to get anything done seems to double or triple. Probably one of the worst examples of this begins at Thanksgiving and ends a week after New Years. The dreaded “Holiday Trifecta”, you have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all within weeks of each other, a killer combination when trying to get anything done. What really hurts you during this time are vacations. Everybody starts taking time off, and not just a few days here and there. Nope, this is when all of that vacation time that everybody has been saving is put to use. One week, two weeks, three weeks, even a month, there really is no limit during this time. This means that key people, people you need to approve decisions, etc. can be gone at crucial times thus crippling your effectiveness.

Is all hope lost then? Should you just forget about getting anything accomplished until January? Absolutely not. While problems during this time are unavoidable, you can take steps to mitigate their impact on your work. Here are things you can do to make sure that if you can’t be at 100% during this time, you are as close as possible:

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Here’s a common myth that plagues pretty much every office I’ve ever been to: Everybody appreciates a good joke. While we may desperately want this to be true, it’s just not the case. While it may be a genuinely funny joke, it just might not fly in an office environment. Even if you think it’s the funniest joke since the “I’m Rick James” era (which, by the way, is OVER), you should definitely consider saving it for after work during the following three situations:

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The Office Party. The simple sound of it can breathe life into an otherwise normal, plodding day. Heads pop up from cubicles, emails and instant messages are exchanged, there’s actually something to look FORWARD to that involves work. While a party on the boss can be a fun distraction from an otherwise normal work routine and provide great opportunities for you, it can also throw your career into a tailspin. I ran across the following article by Rob Kingdom on some office party do’s and don’ts, which provides some great pieces of advice that can both help to advance your career and keep you out of trouble.

Take a look at the article below, my thoughts follow in the My Comments section immediately following the end of the article.

How to Survive the Office Party
By Rob Kingdom

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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:

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When you are shaking hands, what are you thinking about? Do you even think about what you are doing? Believe it or not, a handshake can make or break a first impression. This is why I think that the article below is a great read for new and experienced professionals.

Here is the article by Kevin Eikenberry, my comments are at the end of the article in the My Comments section:

Make a Connection – Seven Secrets to Great Handshakes

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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:

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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.

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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.

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