Office Politics, Part 2: What’s your Status?

Posted on August 6, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

After discussing the basic properties of Office Politics and the importance of gossiping correctly in order to succeed at it, I would like to discuss the concept of Social Status.

If gossip is one of the main tools of Office Politics, status is its main currency, being lost or acquired through different actions and interactions. For some people, the goal is to achieve maximum level of status, however if you’ve ever heard about Peter Principle, you may consider achieving optimal status instead. Continue reading →

The right to rest – see you in two weeks! :-)

Aside

Even though I advised you guys against becoming the Lonely Hero who holds the world on his shoulders, this is a lot like I feel for the last few months :-). Wearing so many crucial hats simultaneously could be and is a hard job. So I decided that at least two weeks of not doing anything at all would be in order for me.

However, AnyaWorkSmart being still Anya Work Smart, there is no going on vacation, without leaving a relevant message behind. And here it is – make sure that you also remind yourself of your right to rest. Look at that like at another perspective of being a manager – manage yourself like you would manage others. And you do let your employees rest, right? 🙂

So, see you all in two weeks and I promise to bring a lot of vacation-inspired inspiration to the pages of my blog.

🙂

Constant change of human resources – how to reduce its impact, Part 2: Retaining the Knowledge

Posted on June 18, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

Let’s admit it – people always leave.

May be we let them go, may be they’ve found something else and may be their time has come and they’re retiring. In any case, your organization is left with an open void that needs to be filled as soon as possible. The sooner and the better you’ll fill it with somebody else – the smaller would be the amount of time and energy swallowed by that void. In order to do that you not only have to find Continue reading →

Constant change of human resources – the impact on our projects

Posted on June 4, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

In my previous post, I provided an extreme example of how critical to organization could be the loss of knowledge and expertise in some cases. Even though in many other, more usual cases, the loss would not be felt immediately, the cumulative effect could be more than Continue reading →

Human resources – are they really that dispensable?

Posted on May 28, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

Every manager that ever needed to let an employee go knows that it is one of the worst experiences that comes with the job. However, there is hardly a more profound manifestation of your managerial powers. There is something very basic and primeval in us exercising our right to decide who we want to work with and who is to look for a different place to work. Continue reading →

How can I convince my team to try improving decision-making skills?” – From Ask Anya mails

Posted on May 21, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

Following post on “The need for better decisions – why now?”

“I completely agree with everything you said about the urgency we all should feel in regard to improving the quality of our decisions. But how do I convince the people I’m working with that something should be done about this issue? What can I offer them as an incentive to try improving their decision-making skills? ” Continue reading →

5 Managers’ Mistakes No One Talks About (Part 2)

Posted on May 7, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

Last week we discussed the first two Managers’ Mistakes No One Talks About, now let’s continue with the remaining three.

Managers should beware of doing something like: Continue reading →

The cost of our mistakes – can we really pay it?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

Lately we hear a lot about all kinds of mistakes made by people around us: investment mistakes, foreign policy mistakes, personal relationships mistakes and so on. In many cases we find it very easy to identify ourselves with the heroes of the story because we made similar mistakes or were about to make them. Nevertheless, why did the subject of making mistakes become so popular? Continue reading →

5 Thumb Rules for Management in times of Austerity

Posted on April 17, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

There are several terms not so pleasant to our ears that seem to dominate the news lately, terms like sequestration, spending cuts and most of all – austerity. The abundance of these subtractive terms in the media may well mean that they pretty much define the current situation, and we, as Managers, will need to adjust to function in this situation, because it’s unlikely to dissolve quickly.

Let’s try to understand what Austerity means from Management perspective and what tips we may use to lead our teams successfully despite the harsh environment. Continue reading →

Data vs. Information: Analysis vs. Speculation

Posted on March 26, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

There are few people on the market today who don’t understand the importance of basing your decisions on solid data. Big Data and methods of its management and utilization are the talk of the town. Companies are building complex “client models” based on statistical analysis of client profiles; recruiters systematically analyze their pools of specialists in order to provide the best possible match for every position; and presentations during corporate meetings are full with tables and graphs.