A Close-Up Look at Micro-Management

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I didn’t know what a micro-manager really was until I got one of my own. My sympathies to the oppressed. Most work – whether producing products, serving customers and/or delivering communications – requires thought and attention, and is best with an occasional dose of creativity and innovation. A micro-manager can quash all that by dictating every move. If you think you might be suppressing your people this way, have a talk with them to find out what changes they would like to see.

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How to Deal With a “Do-It-My-Way” Person

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Ever have someone try to tell you the Right Way to do something when you’ve already made up your mind what to do? A few ideas on how to end those conversations, and maybe prevent their arising again.

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Tip #1 on Being Professional – Courtesy of the Gossip Trio

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What gossip looks like, and how it can bounce back to hurt the ones who do it. Don’t gossip: it just doesn’t make anybody look good, and it is NOT a career-helper.

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Un-Productive Communication – Let’s Ditch it for Now

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Complaining. Blaming. Gossip. Those conversations are usually unproductive. The word “productive” comes from the ideas of “leading and moving forward”. In that sense, being productive is a good thing. Unproductive conversations are everywhere – they aren’t wrong, but they don’t produce much value. Complaining could be productive if you are committed to following through to […]

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Do You Have to Go to That Meeting?

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A recent article in the Washington Post shared Tom Fox’s assessment of the meetings he attended over the course of one month. He didn’t report the score on his rating system for meetings he wanted to avoid in the future (Red), those that were a fairly good use of time (Yellow), and the ones that produced some […]

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Personal Communication

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Here’s another survey result. This one tied for 5th place on the list of Biggest People-Problems at Work: “Dealing with difficult personalities and behaviors.” Comments went on to describe examples such as “unfriendly people”, “passive-aggressive people”, and “people playing power games”. One person explained, “Nobody wants to work with some people because they don’t like […]

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What to Do About those “Lazy” People

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A recent survey of workplace challenges listed one old favorite: Dealing with the “lazy people” in the workplace. These are the people who have clear assignments and do them fairly well, but never step outside their narrow boundaries. Why this hasn’t been solved is a mystery to me, as it’s really pretty easy. There are […]

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Note from Crabby Consultant

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A colleague called, sounding ½ angry and ½ upset and said he thought I was supposed to attend a professional meeting last week. No, I told him, I’ve got a book to write and will not be attending those anymore. He growled, “I thought you were going to support us until you retired.” I am retired […]

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Busy is a Conversation

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Meredith Fineman titled her article, written in September 2013, “Please Stop Complaining About How Busy You Are”.  I looked it up recently, after listening to a colleague go on – and on – about how many appointments he had, how many deadlines, and how many staff had been cut in his organization.  He told me […]

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