Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

Six Great Ways to Ruin a Brainstorm

The brainstorm is the most popular group creativity exercise. It is quick, easy and it works. But many organizations have become frustrated with brainstorms and have stopped using them. They say brainstorms are old-fashioned and no longer effective. But the real reason for the frustrations is that the brainstorms are not facilitated properly. A well-run brainstorm is fun and energetic. It will generate plenty of good ideas. But a poor… » Continue

May 1 2008 | By Paul | Tagged: brainstorm, business, idea, meeting, thinking | 7 comments»

Your Telecommuter’s Toolbox

Telecommuting has been suggested as a cure-all from everything from the stress of your morning commute to that high carbon footprint you want to reduce. And odds are you have a whole list of what you need to make the switchover: software packages, computer specs, technical equipment for your profession. Every productivity website has lists of the best web apps and other options for making your telecommuting easier.

But even… » Continue

April 8 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: business card, food, insurance, meal planning, telecommuting, work at home | 9 comments»

Give Yourself a Productivity Boost: Learn from Kodak’s Transformation

Kodak needed the ultimate productivity boost to avoid get shuttered out of business when the photography industry went digital. It is hard to imagine a worse case scenario than the one that was faced by Kodak. This 125 year old Fortune 500 company entered the new millennium with 70% of its revenue and profits coming from its traditional businesses that were based on manufacturing and selling film cameras… » Continue

April 8 2008 | By Tatsuya | Tagged: kodak, Productivity | 6 comments»

Greening Your Home Office

When you work in an office building — even if you’re just a member of the cubicle farm — someone else is usually in charge of handling environmental details. You may be asked to switch off your computer before you leave for the evening or to throw paper into a separate trash receptacle, but that’s likely to be the extent of your responsibilities. But when you’re in your home… » Continue

April 3 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: electricity, environment, green, office, recycling, trash | 9 comments»

Welcome Failure

Very often the best way to test an idea is not to analyze it but to try it. The organization that implements lots of ideas will most likely have many failures but the chances are, it will reap some mighty successes too. By trying numerous initiatives we improve our chances that one of them will be a star. As Tom Kelley of IDEO puts it… » Continue

March 27 2008 | By Paul | Tagged: creativity, failure, imagination, leadership, Management, problem-solving, success, thinking | 10 comments»

Stop Dithering: Become A Better Decision-Maker

Ever encountered a project where only one decision needs to be made before you can finish the project? It may only take you a few hours to finish the project once that decision is made, but invariably, it’s the decision that takes forever to make. It’s because decision-making is as much a skill as riding a bike: it’s something that you learn and improve on as you practice.

I think… » Continue

March 25 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: advice, cost, decision | 8 comments»

10 Steps To Working On The Road

Even if your work doesn’t need to be done in an office, it can be very hard to work when you travel. You may be a freelancer, you may own your business, or you may telecommute, but there are ten steps you need to take to prepare yourself to work on the go. They’re especially key for long-term travel, but if you’re only going for a week, consider making… » Continue

March 20 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: business, travel, work | 20 comments»

The Gaps in the Standard Address Book

When I was a kid, my dad would give me little tasks around his office to keep me out of trouble. My favorite was gluing business cards to Rolodex cards and carefully arranging them. Kept me out of trouble for hours at a go, because my father not only had plenty of contacts but also hated organizing his Rolodex himself.

Dear old Dad’s tried plenty of contact management systems in… » Continue

March 6 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: address_book, contact_management, email, networking | 30 comments»

10 Tips For Improving Your Appointment Setting Skills

No matter what business you’re in, the odds are that you spend at least some time in appointments. Your appointments may be big group meetings, one-on-ones, or even job interviews. You may even be skipping the face-to-face aspect of meeting and be taking conference calls or using Skype. No matter what type of meeting you’ve scheduled, though, these tips can help you improve your appointment setting skills.

Set agendas ahead

» Continue

March 4 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: appointment, scheduling, time-management | 11 comments»

How to Lead People for Results

In a recent conversation I was told, “Leadership is about managing time and getting things done.” I couldn’t disagree more.

In my role at the Free Articulator, I manage and lead writers and editors every day. It has been said in the past that trying to manage artists (and all of our writers are) is a very difficult task. I can’t honestly disagree with that. The following is a recount… » Continue

February 27 2008 | By Joel | Tagged: leadership, people, relationship, team | 15 comments»

Making Fake Deadlines Real: Completing Projects with Self-Assigned Deadlines

As a freelance writer, nothing annoys me more than a client who tells me, “Oh, just get it to me whenever you can.” I hate it! I need deadlines in order to schedule and prioritize my work. I do what I can to get clients to nail down a deadline, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. That’s when I have to go to Plan B: the ‘fake’ deadline.

Fake is… » Continue

February 21 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: deadline, prioritizing, Productivity, time-management | 15 comments»

How to Create Connection in the Workplace: A Review of “Fired up or Burned Out” by Michael Lee Stallard

How do business leaders create a sense of connection and shared passion in their organizations? How can you make your employees (and by extension you r company) more productive and more innovative — instead of struggling to maintain the status quo?

These are the questions that Michael Lee Stallard sets out to answer in his book Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity, and

» Continue

February 15 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: business, connection, corporation, leadership, Management, relationships | 12 comments»

8 Ways to Take It to the Next Level

No matter what you’re doing, there comes a time when you are going to want to take things up a notch. Maybe it’s your career — even if things are going along fine right now, ultimately you’d like to get a promotion, increase your client base, or reach a larger audience. Or maybe it’s a hobby that you think you’d like to turn into a career.

Getting started… » Continue

February 4 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: branding, career, marketing, niche, Productivity, success | 17 comments»

Seven Ways to Procrastinate for Better Results

Procrastination is a dirty word. It doesn’t need to be. Procrastination that stems from a lack of discipline, causes you to lose sight of your goals, and results in decreased productivity deserves a bad rap. But what about postponing or avoiding things that can otherwise cause us pain and frustration if we apply the go-forward, “get it done” approach? Is this type of procrastination such a bad thing? We… » Continue

February 1 2008 | By Tatsuya | Tagged: procrastinatation, time-management | 11 comments»

7 Habits To Win In Office Politics

Office politics - a taboo word for some people. It’s a pervasive thing at the workplace. In it’s simplest form, office politics is simply about the differences between people at work; differences in opinions, conflicts of interests are often manifested as office politics. It all goes down to human communications and relationships.

There is no need to be afraid of office politics. Top performers are those who have mastered the… » Continue

January 24 2008 | By Lawrence | Tagged: career, conflict_resolution, Management, office_politics | 14 comments»

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