Monthly Archive for August, 2008

Tired of meetings that waste time and resources? Here are five steps you can take to control be beasts that cause meetings fail.

First, don’t hold a meeting unless it’s absolutely necessary. It has been estimated that as much as one-third of the subject matter taken up at meetings is not appropriate for that venue. Instead of convening a meeting, try to handle issues by other means: email, telephone or stand-up discussion in the hallway.

Second, if a meeting is necessary, the chances for success are enhanced greatly by having an effective chairman, one who will be fair, yet relentlessly and fully in control of the proceedings. Contrary to popular belief, good meetings are not freewheeling exercises in utopian democracy. The best meetings are conduced by benevolent dictators.

Third, always have a firm agenda that everyone is aware of.

Fourth, start and finish on time.

Fifth, reach conclusions; agree on the next steps to be taken.

I wish you productive meetings and career success!

Ramon Greenwood, Head Career Coach
Common Sense At Work

P.S. I invite you to visit Common Sense At Work for more free career coaching.

Meetings, meetings…there is no escaping them, even though we know many fail to serve their purpose; and they burn up our time that could be spent working toward our career goals.

What’s the problem?

Meetings fail or fall short of their objective for a variety of reasons.

The most frequent cause is that no one – not even the chairman – is in charge. This usually means a clear purpose for the meeting has not been established. An agenda has not been drawn up. So there is a lot of wandering around.
The door is left wide open for discussion of any and everything, other than the matter at hand. This condition also allows the showboats to get their time on stage. Turf hogs are permitted to take over and freeze others out of the discussion.

Some people may even prolong a meeting because they have nothing better to do, or they are avoiding work . Meetings are often called to achieve something a meeting cannot accomplish, such as drafting a statement. They may flop because participants have not done their homework. All too often, meetings end without a decision as to next steps.

Do yourself and your employer a favor by not contributing to the failure of meetings.

I wish you career success!

Ramon Greenwood, Head Career Coach
Common Sense At Work

P.S. Before the end of this week I will announce steps I am taking to expand and improve Your Blog For Career Advice.

Are you being paid what you believe you are worth at work?

If not, I have a book for you that provides a 13-step plan to maximize your chances of getting the compensation package you believe you deserve. It also provides common sense advice on how to accept a raise so that you sow the seeds for more raises to come in the future. My career coaching also works when you are negotiating for your compensation on a new job.

You’ll find a blueprint for these 13 crucial actions in my free 30 page E-book, How To Get A Raise and Not Shoot Yourself In The Foot.

You can secure a copy by subscribing to my free newsletter, The Career Accelerator (c). This semi-monthly publication is packed with take-it-to-the-bank job advice on how to advance your career and reach your personal goals. No charge/no obligation. Click on Free Career Advice.

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I’ll give you a copy of my e-book, How To Make The Boss Relationship Work For You (And Be A Better Boss Yourself), a $19.95 value, when you recommend five of your friends as subscribers to The Career Accelerator (c). No charge/No obligation. Send their names and e-mail address to ramon@commonsenseatwork.com> Your friends will receive The Career Accelerator twice each month plus my e-book, How To Get A Raise.

I want help you achieve the career success you deserve.

Ramon Greenwood, Head Career Coach
Common Sense At Work

Count yourself in the minority if you don’t gossip at work.

Over three-fourths of your cohorts do.

Fifty-three percent gossip at their desks. Another 22 percent prefer to gossip in the kitchen or lunchroom. Defying folklore, a scant 2 percent choose to gossip at the water cooler. That’s a total of 77 percent.

These eye-opening stats are reported by Kelton Research.

Few people admit to being gossips or have a good word to say about the practice. Nevertheless, it exists and it’s not going away.

Here’s the real-world question: Are you wasting time or engaging in a destructive practice when you help churn the rumor mill? Or are you out of the loop on vital information that could help you do a better job and advance your career if you don’t participate in gossip on the job? (A survey by a research firm, known as ISR, showed that 63% of U. S. employees get all or most of their information about their companies from “water-cooler talk.”)

Okay, in a perfect world gossipers wouldn’t exist, but we all know the world has its imperfections a plenty. Gossip and gossipers are here to stay. Deal with it if you want to achieve your career goals.

The fact is that every place of employment functions with two channels of communications. One is the official conduit: memos from the boss, bulletin board postings, e-mails, meetings and employee newsletters. The second is known by various names: gossip, rumors and grapevine.

The conclusion is obvious. Gossip will exist whether you participate or not, and it will include some nourishing wheat along with a lot of worthless chaff. If you are not plugged into the back channel, as well as the official channel, you will be isolated. Therefore, you will not know what’s going on in the environment in which you work. If you don’t know the score, you cannot succeed.

Career Tip: There are six steps you can take to separate the outrageous chatter from the meaningful information so the gossip mill works in your favor on the career path.

1. Recognize you can’t eliminate gossip, even if it is trash; but also know that if you try to shut down the gossip mill you will be cut out of the information loop.

2. Tune out the chatter that deals in personalities, especially the malicious stories that do damage to people and the organization that employs you.

3. Feed positive news into the grapevine at every opportunity.

4. Be alert to gossip about your job and the workplace. Verify it or rule it out.

5. Identify the most active purveyors of gossip. Rank them according to their reliability and interpret their messages for what they are.

6. Confront the originator and set the record straight if the gossip is about you and it is untrue.

I wish you career success!

Ramon Greenwood, Head Career Coach
Common Sense At Work

Eighty percent of the work is done by twenty percent of the people employed. That’s true in the world of work, no matter the type or size of the organization.

In this time of economic uncertainty it’s just makes common sense to work your butt off to be sure you are in that segment that is getting the job done.

Here are some job tips on how to be in the top 20.

Know where your job fits in the scheme of things and what is expected from you. Going above and beyond the call of duty enhances your chances for job security. Take the initiative; come up with new ideas; seek additional training to improve your value; come early, stay late. As added insurance maintain your contacts within and outside of the organization that employs you.

Be sure to document the results of your on-the-job performance. Make sure your employer knows the effort you’re making and the results achieved. Ask for regular performance appraisal so you can make mid-course corrections on your career path.

Bottom line: there’s no substitute for hard work.

I wish you career success!

Ramon Greenwood, Head Career Coach
Common Sense At Work

P.S. For more free common sense career counseling I invite you to visit my website: Career Advice