Craftsman, Scientist or Artist – who are you? Three approaches to Expertise

Posted on November 15, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

In my post on communication I mentioned that language has its limitations when trying to explain something – for the simple reason of possible gaps in the understanding of terminology by the involved parties. We’ve already encountered this problem when trying to distinguish between Skill, Competence and Expertise, as everyone seems to understand these concepts differently. However, there is an elegant solution for this problem: Continue reading →

Skills, Competence, Expertise – what is what?

Posted on November 12, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

How do we know if someone is good at something? How do we know who’s professional enough to get the job done and on time? How do we know to choose the right consultant who’ll help us to push the project down the road with his extensive knowledge? How do we know to train our employees and ourselves to be better at what we do? Continue reading →

Communication skill: more or better?

Posted on November 8, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

We are all aware of crucial role communication skills play in any endeavor; they can bring back a failing project from ashes and make a successful one sink like Titanic in a blink of an eye.

There are numerous training resources out there that call for communicating more, trying to break down into bits and pieces what communication is and how it should be done properly. So why do we still struggle so much in conveying our messages when we want others to do something for us or, at least, to understand what we’re talking about? Continue reading →

How good are you in making decisions? Part 3 – Manager’s role in the process of making decision

Posted on October 18, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

Nothing speaks louder about particular Manager’s style than the way he conducts the decision making process. Some prefer to let others make decisions for them (thus trying to escape responsibility), while others demonstrate a completely opposite behavior by making all the decisions on their own.

But in all cases, Manager’s role in this process is crucial. Ideally, Continue reading →

How good are you in making decisions? Part 2 – Difference of making decision individually or in a group

Posted on October 15, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

As we saw previously, the decision making process is actually very structured and the quality of our decisions depends on how good we are in following every single step of this process. While each step has its own predicaments and complications, we have outlined the main tools and techniques to overcome those.

However, in order to successfully manage this process, it is imperative to consider Continue reading →

How good are you in making decisions? Part 1 – The Process

Posted on October 9, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

Imagine someone approaches you at a party and asks what you do for a living. You proudly answer that you are a “(level of seniority) Manager at (name of industry/ company)”. But then you’re asked: “Yeah, but what do you DO there?” How would you describe your job in one sentence to someone who has never managed people or projects? Continue reading →

Thumb rule #1 for building your team

Posted on September 27, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

Anyone who conducted interviews for potential employees knows that after a while you develop your own priorities of what to ask, what to pay attention to and what to look for in the candidate. If I had to pick that ONE thing in the candidate that will put him at the top of the list, outshining everyone else, I would say I’ll choose a person Continue reading →

Personal Skills

Posted on September 24, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

The following situation is not uncommon in most organizations: two people can work on the same line, produce the same product, they went through the same training, and yet, their performance varies significantly. The obvious explanation for this difference in performance is that one person is more talented than the other. The problem with this explanation is Continue reading →

The invisible wall

Posted on September 20, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

Most companies have a clear vision of job-specific skills they need an employee to have in order to perform as expected, and usually put the new employees through dedicated trainings in order for them to acquire those skills: business conduct training, safety instructions, job orientations, job specific skills workshops and so on. But what happens after that? Continue reading →

What to start with?

Aside

There are so many interesting topics in self-management and management of others that I would like to tell about, but one of them seems especially prominent.

Everything we do, directly or by implication, revolves around people. People are the core of any enterprise, it’s most important and most vulnerable part. Let’s start with them, then.