How to Break into a Managerial Role – Part 1

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team manager

How to get into a team management role is a great question to ask as you advance in your career.  If you have been a stellar individual contributor, the next stage of your career advancement is most likely the management of others.

While this is the natural next step, it is not always obvious how you can become a team manager. Sometimes you’ll be promoted, but other times you’ll have to change jobs to break into a managerial role. ...  read more

Being Right Is Not Enough

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I have been struggling with an issue at work: We are doing a project that I know is the right thing to do for the company and the line of business involved.  With that said, I still need to figure out the best way to inform the partners in that line of business about the project, get their “buy in,” as well as their help to ensure that it is getting done correctly. ...  read more

Dealing with Difficult Personalities – 5 Effective Tips

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difficult personality

In my article, “Dealing with Difficult Personalities – What Not to Do,” I talked about 4 things not to do:

  1. Don’t react emotionally or defensively.
  2. Don’t try to change this person.
  3. Don’t complain to this person’s boss to try to resolve this.
  4. Don’t gossip about this situation with other co-workers.

Continuing with my example with Anna, what should I have done?  To recap: Anna hada great reputation for being smart and excellent at her job.   I also met her casually in the hallway, and thought she was quite nice.  During our first business meeting, she cut me off and began to pepper me with questions about why I needed this data and what I planned to use it for.  Her tone was sharp and aggressive.  I was quite surprised and caught off guard. ”  Here are 5 tips I recommend using to deal with any “difficult personality” at work, and for achieving the best long-term results. ...  read more

#3 Most Common Mistake People Make at Work

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assume-dont

Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “Don’t assume, because it makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.'” While it seems tongue and cheek, it’s very good advice. It’s amazing how we can understand this concept in theory, yet still make unwarranted assumptions at work. I think this happens mostly because we don’t even realize we have made an assumption. We just think “this is how it should be,” or we think we should know the answer. This is a mistake, and can be very detrimental to our career progression. ...  read more

5Cs to Effective Email Communication

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email communication

Email is one of the primary methods of communicating at work today. “What so hard about writing an effective email?” you may ask. Well, the mechanics of sending an email are simple, but if you want to facilitate effective email communication (e.g. your email is read, understood ,and acted upon in the time frame you desire), then there are certain skills involved in writing a good email. ...  read more

Example of Networking Emails that Worked

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networking email example

Since I have written a few networking emails in the last few months, I wanted to share these examples with you to help you with your networking efforts.   Below are two examples, each with a different networking purpose.

Example 1: Existing contact – asking for help (scoop on a company X)

Context: This person is in my network (Lisa) but I haven’t spoken to her in five years.  Last time, I spoke with her, I helped her with some career advice.  We have a mutual friend in common (Cindy) who are good friends with both of us. ...  read more