Office life

Management Styles Spotted Today

April 5, 2011

The Old Timer Characteristics – Gentile in nature, but firm in opinion. Has seen it all, probably twice. Just pretends no one else is speaking, rambling on in sort sort of monologue, but confident that what they thin is the correct solution to any eventuality. Effectiveness – 6/10 Effect on own ego – 8/10 Effect [...]

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You Can’t Do What You Can’t Do

October 21, 2010

So I am rushing out of the office late one evening in a vain attempt to try and get home in time to say goodnight to my son (“Mummy, who is that strange man in the tie…?”). I am very conscious of the fact that I need to do some more work this evening, so [...]

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A Blank Canvas or an Idle Idea?

October 18, 2010

What is the biggest statement you can make about your ninja organisation skills? A perfectly clear desk. What is the best way of making your boss think you are slacking off all the time and bump you name to the top of the ‘chaff’ list? A perfectly clear desk. Bit of a bugger isn’t it. [...]

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No, No, No – Why You Should Say “No” to Everything

August 24, 2010

Not a very positive sentiment for a Tuesday morning, but it is raining outside, and we have run out of the nice cereal in the purple packet. Pessimism aside however, those two letters could be one of the most powerful productivity tools you have. No really. Let me demonstrate what I mean with a slightly [...]

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10 Question to Ask When You Get Asked to do Something

July 22, 2010

How much of what you do during an average day is purely volentery? I mean how much of it is the decision 100% with you over whether you do it or not, with no adverse concequences to swing your decision? My guess – less that 1%. Either your boss, your wife, your son, your neighbour, [...]

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How to be an Expert

July 15, 2010

We live in a world of ‘experts’. The sheer amount of freely available information out there, especially on the ‘interwebs’, mean we are all ‘experts’. In any field we want. All we need to do is read the Wikipedia article and a couple of forum posts and we know all we need to know. There [...]

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When Do You Have Capacity to Work?

July 12, 2010

As human beings we have a finite capacity to get things done. This is limited by time, attention span, motivation, priorities, and a whole heap of less nagging, but equally as disruptive things. Our limited capacity varies through the day – the graph below is utterly fictitious from a numerical point of view, but the [...]

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What to do When the World is Against You

June 10, 2010

Life is tough sometimes isn’t it? You get home from work, collapse on the couch with a warm can of soda, and as it sprays it’s contents over your face and up your wall, you conclude that things are pretty much lined against you. And it is not just that things have gone wrong for [...]

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The 3 Truths of Office Politics

June 8, 2010

In my very humble opinion, the biggest loss of overall production in most people’s lives is in office politics. And I don’t make that sweeping generalisation lightly. Or not that lightly at least. It might not be politics that you see as the immediate cause to any inefficiency, but in 8 out of 10 cases, [...]

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Improving Your Gravitas

May 25, 2010

Had an interesting conversation the other day with an old friend of mine. Like me, he works for a large organisation, and has been slowly working his way up the food chain over a number of years. He likes his job, and is good at his job. But he feels he has hit a ceiling. [...]

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