Can Managers ask questions?

Posted on October 15, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

You can sometimes hear people complain about their Managers asking too much questions. It somehow seems to them that as Managers are supposed to be experts on what’s going on in the department, they should know everything without asking. The same perception problem arises when Managers interact with each other during meetings, talking only in statements, fearing that asking a question would somehow make them look less competent in the eyes of others. Continue reading →

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 – how to reduce its impact, Part 1: reducing the volume

Posted on June 11, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

My previous post dealt with some of the reasons for negative influence of constant change of human resources on our projects. Despite the fact that many Managers still consider this phenomenon a “necessarily evil” and an integrative part making things done, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would argue that no attempts should be made at mitigating this “evil”. 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 →

Comparing the incomparable

Posted on February 4, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

We all have been taught at certain stage that you cannot compare apples to oranges. What was usually meant by that is that the world is divided into clear categories and those categories should not be mixed up. There are Developers and there are Managers, there are First world countries and there are Third world countries, there are “winners” and there are “losers”. By conveniently dividing the complex reality into more simple and digestible parts this thumb rule clearly makes our life easier, but nevertheless – is it true? Continue reading →

Utilizing Data and Research in Management

Posted on November 1, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

Why would I choose to focus on this topic? It sounds so boring that I risk losing your attention already at the title.

But no, I haven’t lost my marbles. Lately, we’ve discussed at length the crucial role of the Manager in the Decision-making process, so it brings us naturally to the most crucial component of this process – the interpretation of information. Continue reading →

How do you know what to know?

Posted on October 1, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

When my generation was still crunching through their academic degrees in the 90-s, knowledge had some added value. Despite the fact that Internet and search engines had already existed back then, Continue reading →