How to guides

How to Get a Promotion – Top 5 Questions Answered

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how to get a promotion

Even since I launched the first group coaching call on Insider Tips to Getting Promoted, I am pleased to received many great questions by email related to how to get a promotion at work.   Here are the top 5 most common questions and my perspective.  Overall, you will see a theme.  Besides being a good at your job, you need to have great soft skills such as managing upwards, leadership skills, skills to deal with office politics etc… in order to increase your chances for promotion. ...  read more

Good News – Some Stress is Good for You

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dealing with stress

If you are feeling stressed at work, I may have good news.  Some stress is good for you!  According to research done by Elizabeth Kirby from UC Berkeley, we are actually not optimal or happy unless we have a moderate amount of stress in our life.

  1. Too little stress leads to boredom and even depression
  2. Too much stress leads to overwhelmed, feeling incapacitated and ultimately a meltdown

Many of us are familiar with the latter point and try our best to reduce stress.  This study is telling us however to have balance.   This explained a lot to me.   Prior to getting a full time job last year, I was working as a contractor for 6 years.   It was a great lifestyle but at times I was pretty bored.  I wondered during that time why I wasn’t happy.  I had everything I wanted, it seemed.  Now it all made sense.  I may have made enough money,and had all the flexibility to have a family, but I wasn’t challenged enough.  My brain was not happy. ...  read more

In a Tough Situation? 3 Pop Songs to Inspire You

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inspirational songs

Do you ever notice that kids can learn pop songs overnight?   Luckily my kids are gravitating toward the inspirational ones rather than the racy ones.  They have been singing 3 songs on the top of their lungs for the last few months.  Coincidentally, these 3 songs are exactly what I needed to hear. ...  read more

Insider Tips to Getting Promoted – Group Coaching Call

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Group-Coaching-Call

We had an amazing first Group Coaching Call this past Tuesday.  The topic was Insider Tips to Getting Promoted.   I prepared the following materials and had a very interactive discussion with everyone for an hour.

  • 3 Most Common Mistakes people make that jeopardizes their promotion – based on an article I drafted but haven’t published yet.  This also included practical tips on what you can do to avoid them.
  • 3 Must Dos to increase your chance for promotion – based on the article How to Get Promoted – 6 Tips

I was honored to be joined by readers from all over the world.  We had a nice, intimate group of 5 attendees – 1 from the Philippines, 1 from Germany, and 3 people from 3 different states in the U.S.  Surprisingly, everyone had at least 15 years of experience.   It was my pleasure to meet everyone virtually as well as learn from their comments. We also discussed some great questions they raised ...  read more

4 Soft Skills Every Manager Needs

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soft skills for managers

Managers with stronger skills in multiple areas have greater chances of becoming successful. As a manager, you need both hard skills (e.g. business or project management) and soft skills (e.g. leadership skills) to be effective.  I would argue soft skills are more important than hard skills as you get more senior in your career.  If you have a range of soft skills, you can facilitate enhanced adaptability, successful collaboration, and become far more valuable for your organization. Here are 4 soft skills every manager needs to possess in order to become successful in the modern business environment. ...  read more

5 Tips to Improve Teamwork in the Workplace

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improve teamwork

Good teamwork calls for creating conditions that encourage everyone in the team to share their ideas, feel empowered, and perform in a collaborative and coordinated manner. As a team leader, you are responsible to develop people’s strengths, build good relationships with people, and set meaningful team goals to facilitate it. ...  read more