By Ella L.J. Bell, author of Career GPS

Starting a new job is filled with excitement. There’s the challenge of learning a new corporate culture, meeting new people, learning new ropes, and most importantly, the chance to show your stuff. During the first 90 days, you are in a crucial time. While you will most likely be figuring out how to do your job, you will also be watched closely as your co-workers and bosses try to figure you out.

Here is an excerpt from Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape about how to make your mark in the first 90 days of your job.

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10 Reasons Why Startups Suck

Attention entrepreneurs!  I found this oh-so-true article on the BNET blog about the problems that startup companies face. It really captures the challenges of small businesses.

Yet, as anyone who’s started a business knows, entrepreneurs who are motivated enough to create a startup company don’t care about the reasons that it sucks. They tend to work right through them or totally ignore them.

I say, good for you! Read the rest of this entry »

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Ever been completely overwhelmed by the choices you have when deciding what tasks to focus on for the day? Lots of people do. There seems to be a struggle between doing what needs to be done so we can focus on what we want to do, or doing what we want to do so what needs to be done gets pushed out of the picture.

These are the two viewpoints concerning the viewpoint one can take on managing the daily tasks that comprise our lives. One is the Macro view of Productivity. This is the Stephen Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) approach, where the big picture of our lives is the starting point for organizing all that falls under it. Covey has us begin to get our lives in order by focusing on the personal values  and principles that we possess. His view is that if we can decide what our guiding mission is in life, that choosing the daily tasks that support that mission is much easier.

The Micro view is the opposite. David Allen, Getting Things Done, believes we don’t have time to figure out what our mission is in life because we have too many other things pulling our attentions. He is a proponent of pulling all your tasks together first, and then organizing them. Once everything that is vying for your focus is written down and put in its literal or figurative place, then you can focus on the larger picture.

Two opposing views, both valid. I believe we need to decide which way makes sense for us. Some of us need the big holistic viewpoint to feel good about what we are choosing to do. Others need the little stuff out of the way first so we have time to think about the macro view.

Which makes sense to you?

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There’s nothing quite as good as going on vacation, especially when you have your blog posts all scheduled for the week you’re out.

I’m sitting here by the campfire, listening to my son and his friend drift to sleep in the tent, looking out over the beautiful calm lake, listening to the quiet hum of the gigantic paddle boat all lit up on the other side. Well, I like to pretend it’s a paddle boat. In reality, it’s some sort of power plant that I guess is associated with the nearby dam.  And it doesn’t go at all with the other scenery, so one has to imagine it belongs somehow, so I imagine it’s a paddle boat up from the Mississippi.

My back is sore from leaning over all day. We’re quartz crystal hunting in Arkansas, and we found a cool mine where you can break rocks and dig and even just look down and find gorgeous quartz crystals. Met an interesting guy with an interesting job today. He sits in his truck and waits for people to drive to this little advertised mine, pay him a few dollars, and dig in his mine. And as far as I could tell, he didn’t even have a laptop in his truck! (Imagine!) Just sits there. Nicest guy in the world, too. And the best part – he’s passionate about his job. He loves it. He’ll do whatever it takes to make your trip worth it. We’re going back tomorrow.

And I love my job, too. What other job can you have where you can check in from your laptop in the middle of the woods, sitting my a campfire? Which is why it is so horribly terrible and yet hysterically funny that my last two posts, scheduled to post last Friday and this Monday, didn’t post. Which left the last post, about what to do when you hate your job, just sitting there for a week. As if it suddenly inspired me and I walked off the job.

Well, I didn’t walk 0ff the job. I just trusted my scheduled posts, which it turns out, were only scheduled on my schedule, not in WordPress. My bad. Sorry. I needed a vacation. I’ll get them posted for this week. Really.

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By Ann Pruitt

What do you do when you really, honestly, just-can’t-help-it hate your  job? Whether it started as a job with potential that never came to fruition, or you didn’t grasp what it would really be like, or personnel changes left you overworked and underappreciated, or maybe you are just burned out, disliking your work can make your whole life miserable.

But given the current job market, sometimes we are forced to stay with the job. So what are some ways to cope with a disagreeable job? Here are a few ideas:

1.  Admit You’re in Hate With your Job: The energy you spend trying to pretend you’re ok with your work could go into making the work at least tolerable. Just admit you hate it, and that you have to go forward

2. Keep a Stupidity Score: Entertain yourself by keeping a tally of the dumb things that go on around you.

3.  Get Focused: Sometimes the best way to avoid the frustration of a dead end job is to get lost in the details. That way the big picture doesn’t seem as depressing.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Fired: Without that dread of losing your job, it becomes a lot less stressful.

5. Just Laugh, Darn It: What else can you do sometimes?

6. Call In Sick When Your Aren’t: Once in a while, with discretion, call in sick and  do something wild like go shoe shopping or eat at McDonald’s. It’s a bit like skipping school; it’s wrong, but it feels so wrong.

And most seriously,

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7. Most Importantly, Get a Plan: Write down your ultimate professional  goal, and the steps needed to get there. Then follow them.

P.S.F.Y.I. I actually really like my job, so don’t read anything into this post, boss. – Ann

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By Don Goewey

There’s no doubt we live in a time of constant stress. Author of the new book Mystic Cool, Don Joseph Goewey offers three ways to help eliminate stress we might be feeling tied to the economy: from the fear of losing a job, to the fear of losing 401k value, to the fear of losing a home.
Goewey says, “Fear impedes our ability to succeed financially when we lose focus.” In Mystic Cool, Don combines the latest research in neuroscience and psychology with practical spiritual insights on how to eliminate stress and unlock creativity.

As fearful thinking takes over our thoughts, Don suggests using the Clear Button tool, and provides three tips to escape the stress reaction:

1. The Clear Button: Imagine a button at center of your palm, and imagine that by pushing the button, the signal goes to the primitive brain where negativity resides.

2. Count to 3: Here’s today’s modernization on our grandparents’ advice. See each number as a color: 1 as red, 2 as blue, and 3 as green. Take a breath each time as you count.

3. Let Go: As you let out each breath, let go of fear. Quiet down and come back to the current moment.

“You’ve escaped your stress reaction after these steps,” Don says. “Neurologically, you’ve switched from the primitive to the higher brain where we begin to see the good side of life, be emotionally positive, and be creative.”

In stressful situations, good can be found and the Clear Button can get you there. “When you’re in fear, all you see are problems,” he says. “When you  transcend fear, you become a problem solver. And you can make more money when you see solutions.”

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Don Goewey has worked more than three decades with people under extreme stress: war refugees, prisoners, patients with life-threatening illness, and business leaders in high-stress jobs. Don is a co-founder of ProAttitude, a human performance firm dedicated to ending stress in the workplace.
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By Ann Marie Sabath, author of Business Etiquette

In the competitive world of business, the little niceties and social amenities – these things I call the half-percents – can mean the difference between simply existing and gaining the edge so necessary for success in today’s fiercely competitive business environment.  It’s important that 21st Century business etiquette is followed.

Think about the information that is often left out of voicemails that you receive. You can better appreciate the importance of following these tips. Here are four common annoyances that you should avoid when leaving a voice-mail:

1. Not leaving your full name.

Rather than being presumptuous, make it easy for the people you’re calling.  Even if you talk to the person on a regular basis, telephone etiquette recommends that you leave both your first and last names.  This added touch will prevent you from being confused with someone else with the same name.

2. Not leaving your telephone number.

No matter how many times you have talked with others, it is still in order to include your telephone number in the message.  By leaving your phone number, you will spare the person returning your call the extra step of looking up your number.  You may also get your call returned more promptly — especially if the person is returning calls from outside the office. (Editor’s Note: This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Please say your phone number slowly and distinctly. I am not impressed with how quickly you can say your number. I am writing it down, so say it slowly enough to allow for that. Thank you. –Ann)

3. Not leaving a clear and concise message.

Think before letting your fingers do the dialing.  Plan what you are going to say.  Your organization skills will be much appreciated by the person receiving your message.

4. Not leaving a time when you can be reached.

One of the many advantages of voice-mail boxes is the elimination of telephone tag.  If the nature of your message requests that you receive a call back, be sure to leave a time when you can be reached.

It’s the little things that count. Trite as this axiom might sound, nowhere does it hold more truth and power than in the competitive world of business. So be professional when leaving voice mail messages and gain that extra edge.

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Ann Marie Sabath is the founder of At Ease Inc., the 23-year old business protocol and development training firm. Her latest book is Business Etiquette, 101 Ways to Conduct Business With Charm and Savvy. Her other business development programs are a regular part of many organization’s Business Development programs.  Sabath also is the author of eight books on domestic and international etiquette.

Do you have an etiquette question? E-mail it to Sabath at sabath@ateaseinc.com or call her at 212-956-1807.

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There are several traps that small groups can fall into while trying to work together in creative problem solving. The group needs a feeling of cohesiveness, where ideas flow seamlessly and there are no threats or affronts. Here are six ideas from Floyd Hurt, in Rousing Creativity: Think New Now to help avoid pitfalls and foster the true potential of your group sessions.

1) Avoid a quest for order: use a process as a guide, not the rule. Rigidity has no place in the creative mind or the creative group process.

2) Avoid too little order: Enjoy the side trips your group’s ideas take, but be sure to steer back to the main course. Otherwise the session accomplishes nothing. Assign a person to be in charge of saying, “Let’s get back on track.”

3) Encourage the need to belong: Group members won’t participate if they feel they’ll be ostracized. Instead, encourage the “out there” ideas. Often those are the ones that spark a solution. And sometimes a person needs a little encouragement to speak up.

4) Squash the fear of conflict: Your job is to come up with new ideas, not judge others, and visa versa. Your group is solving a problem, so conflict is inherent in the situation, but it doesn’t have to be inherent in the problem solving session. See if the conflicting ideas can be combined.

5) Power and the need to be in control: There are those who strive for control in all situations, even creative processes. If you are one of these, let go, stop judging! You’ll be amazed at the synergy that can build amongst group members when they build on your ideas, and you on theirs. If there is a controlling person in your group, it can be hard to mange, and hopefully you have a skilled facilitator to manage them. Give them a job in the group, like controlling time limits or keeping the group’s ideas on track.

6) Challenge assumptions: the human brain thrives on patterns. But your creative session’s job is to challenge the existing pattern. Don’t assume the way it is, is the way it has to be. Challenge every assumption the group has, and see what opens up.

Apply these few tips, and let us know how your creative problem solving sessions improved!

Floyd Hurt, author of Rousing Creativity: Think New Now! (Buy from Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560525479/eaglestalentconn), has been in every phase of sales, marketing, and advertising, and is a speaker recognized for his expertise in creativity.

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By Ella L. J. Edmondson Bell, Ph.D,
Author of Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape

For the first time in history, women are less than a percentage point away from making up the majority of the national workforce. The economic downturn has hit men harder. They held nearly 80 percent of jobs that have been lost during what is now being called the “mancession.” What’s more,  some of the highly educated, high powered women who “opted out” of corporations starting in the nineties to raise children and take care of ailing elders have returned to the work.

So what does this new female-dominated workplace mean for the corporate culture and the nature of work? Will we see a feminist Nirvana, filled with benevolent leaders? Will the new workplace be more kumbaya and less “off with their heads?”

Time for a reality check:

1. There are still few women at the top: There are scant few women heading large companies and who have jobs at the top. This year a record number of women are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies — but you still don’t need all of your fingers and toes to count them. (You don’t even need all of your fingers to count those running Fortune 100s.)

2. Women-run companies have increased stocks: USA Today reports that stocks of the 13 Fortune 500 companies run by women for all of 2009 were up an average of 50 percent. The biggest female winner was Mary Sammons, whose Rite Aid stock soared 387 percent!

So, yes, women can keep investors happy, but what about everybody else at the company? Does an estrogen heavy corporate culture emphasize relationship building over backstabbing and throat slashing? Has a surge in female leadership triggered new corporate policies that favor work life balance over the 24/7 grind? Is there less conflict, more “talking it through?” And have women brought in other women, so that the flood gates are open and unbelievably talented women are pouring into management positions?

3. Woman still have tough corporate challenges to face:

• Many companies are barely weathering the economic storm.
• There is little time to radically change their corporate cultures. Leaders are putting out fires instead.
• There is not a secession pipeline for women streaming into upper management positions.
• Women continue to make less than men and are clustered in the lowest salaried jobs.

Now that there are more women in the workplace, in positions of leadership and even as CEOs, we can feel hopeful. But it’s important to keep it real and manage our expectations. While some women leaders may be able to redefine their roles, usher in a more authentic and transparent leadership style and emphasize work-life balance, changing entrenched corporate culture is not easy. Even when you change the leader, the stubborn culture can remain exactly the same.

Will women become the new men? It’s hard to tell. The downsides to women’s new workforce power are: Stress, pressure, exhaustion, burn out and heart attacks — exactly what used to kill hard-driving corporate men and sometimes still does.

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© 2010 Ella L. J. Edmondson Bell, Ph.D, author of Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape; reprinted with permission.

Ella LJ Edmondson Bell, Ph.D., author of the new book, Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape (Amistad), is the founder and president of ASCENT-Leading Multicultural Women to the Top, as well as an associate professor of business administration, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University. For more information, please visit www.CareerGPSthebook.com.

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If you have found that your business is suffering because you can’t find things, or you are always late for, or worse, always missing appointments, then it’s time to get organized. But there are so many things to keep organized! Where should you start?

Here are the two key systems you should begin with.

1) Your calendar. Even if you use an e-calendar like Outlook or ACT, you still need to figure out a system for keeping up with appointments, emails and contacts. A few tips:

-Title your appointments clearly.

-If you manage multiple people’s calendars, put the person’s name first on the appointment.

-Use auto-features to change the color of appointments. For instance, I use a different color for each person’s appointments on the calendar, and specific colors for out of the office activities.

-Take a course if you need it. A one day course can save you hours of frustration and can increase your productivity right away.

2) Your filing system. If you can’t find customer orders or receipts, then you can’t run a business.

I had a riding lawn mower in at a local repair shop, and when I would call to ask about whether it was ready, they could never tell me. So I went in person. They still couldn’t tell me. Can you believe this? The problem was they didn’t know a) which lawn mower was mine, b) what mechanic had been working on it, or c) where the mechanic was in the repair process. Then, once they finally found it and said they would deliver it to my home, they delivered the wrong one! Now THAT’S a filing system in need of repair! Can you imagine what their paper files must have looked like?!

Get these two in order first. Why? They are directly related to your customers. You need to know where you are supposed to be and when, and you need to be able to have the right papers with you.

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