Monthly Archives: October 2013

Help wanted!

Help Wanted!I heard a tip from someone the other day.  Hire slow and fire fast!  My experience has been that many managers hire fast and are pretty slow to fire.  

When you’re short staffed there’s a lot of pressure to get another body in to help.  What can happen, you hire someone who is not a fit, either they don’t have the skills or experience to do the job, or they don’t work well with other staff members.  Either way, that new hire ends up costing you time, money and patience!

Here’s some tips about hiring the right person.… Continue reading

“I can do this better myself!”

I can do this better myself!I know you can, so can I.

“It’s faster if I just take care of it!” 

Yes it is, in the short term. 

With each new job or assignment I tend to keep some of those duties that I’m really good at, that I can do better and faster than others.  What I notice is I have more and more to do and less time to do it – old tasks and new tasks.

Hanging on to familiar tasks is natural, it’s about staying in the comfort zone.  It also reinforces that I’m good at something – I seem to… Continue reading

SHOUT IT OUT!

I work with a lot of people who are ready to move ahead with their careers.  They want the promotion and the next position that’s come open.  They come to me wondering why they’ve gotten passed by, disappointed, frustrated or downright angry they aren’t sitting in a new seat.

Here’s what I’ve learned from my clients.  You may not need any of these tips at all.

Tip 1:  Tell your supervisor.  Think about what position you’d like to have.  Write down your career goals.  Sit with your supervisor and be specific about what you want.  Even if it’s their… Continue reading

Expand your reach!!

ExpandIt’s perfectly natural to stick with people you know.  This is true whether you’re at a company meeting or at an outside meeting.

Gravitating toward the familiar can keep you exactly where you are in your career for years.  Check out the tips from the last post about clumping.

Moving up in your career can be a lonely situation.  It can also be enriching and rewarding (emotionally and financially) if you’re willing to break from your pack.

Try out these tips and let me know how they feel.

Tip 1:  You have to be active.  Reaching out to others… Continue reading

Clumping!

When you go to a meeting do you always sit by the same people, in the same place?  What about when you attend an outside meeting or training session?  Do you pal around with people you know?

It’s natural to stay with familiar people in unfamiliar places.  Its easy to stay in the habit of sitting with the same people in the same place.  I started to do that in grade school!

Of course you’ve heard “if you keep doing the same thing you’ll get the same result.”

To move your career forward, you’ve got to branch out – internally… Continue reading