The Blog / Teamwork

The Dream Team is a Dream

Having been a part of many work teams over my career – both as just a member and the lead manager – I can tell you one thing: there is no such thing as a “dream team.”  Without fail, there will always be something wrong with your team.  Here I present a (non-comprehensive) list of […]

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You’ll Never Know the Whole Story

I recently wrote an article about what lies beneath our family and friends’ surface appearance over at the Change Blog.  That blog centered on close relationships, but I feel this topic is worth touching on for business relationships as well, especially in an office where you see the same people day-in and day-out. Photo by […]

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5 Ways to Break Bad Habits

Today’s post is a guest blog written by Farouk Radwan, founder of 2KnowMySelf.   Farouk’s been a long time blog reader and has great insights on personal improvement.  Enjoy! Most of the actions that we do on daily basis are nothing more habits that we got used to. Washing your face as soon as you […]

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Avoiding Email Miscommunication

Reading email has a hidden danger: there’s no human emotion attached.  Consider the following sentence that could be contained in any average office exchange: The customer doesn’t like the order and wants a refund. Pretty straightforward, right?  Consider, though, that different people in your company may interpret the sentence.  A salesman might read this and […]

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The W’s That Define You

You are best defined by: Who you endorse in your private life. What you do online. Where you spend your personal time. When you choose (or not choose) to help others. Why you get up in the morning. How you act when you think no one cares. And if you think your peers don’t see […]

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Life Doesn’t Run on 9-to-5

I’ve worked enough 9-to-5 (and later) jobs in the past to know that the world does not accommodate the 9-to-5er.  Many banks aren’t open late and have limited, if any, weekend hours.  Doctors won’t see you after work.  Packages you need to sign for at home always arrive the minute you leave home. Lots of […]

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Worker, Uninterrupted (but not Hidden)

If you’re like me, you get interrupted a lot while you work.  Co-workers stop by to ask questions, the phone rings, or an instant message pops up with something to answer right away.  You might want to cut off these distractions, and that’s often a smart move.  Carving out time during your day when you […]

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Assume the Best (not the Worst)

We are programmed over time to assume the worst.  When’s the last time someone asked you to plan for the “best case scenario” only?  It’s not just events either.  Having lived through life and gotten burned once or twice, we tend to assume the worst in people.  Someone shows up late a few days to […]

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Experience Does not Guarantee Respect

I recently worked with a programmer who’s “been in the biz” for a long time. He’s got a lot of very successful projects under his belt and generally knows what he’s doing. When I found out I would be working with him on a side project along with a bunch of younger programmers, I was […]

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Performance Evaluations and Scales 1 to 5

Many performance evaluations are set up so an employee has to rank herself on a scale of 1 to 5.  Many of these evaluations make the mistake of simply saying “1” is the lowest score and “5” is the highest.  What happens is a mirror of our educational system, where a “5” (or an “A”) […]

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