Do you know co-workers who answer e-mails at midnight, return texts at 6 am, and make no distinction between Wednesday and Saturday afternoons? Those individuals who management likes to consider ideal employees. Is it possible you are that person?
In a Harvard Business Review article, “Managing the High Intensity Workplace,” authors Erin Reid and Lakshmi Ramarajan write about their research on how people, in a variety of fields, deal with the demands of a global, 24/7, immediate response required, world of work. [Read more…]
I am the oldest of five children; a great blessing as an adult, a mixed bag as a child. Lessons I learned, being one of many, shaped who I am and how I maneuver through the world. Realizing at an early age I had to be independent, rely on myself, rather than others, made me a decision maker and prepared for the real world. It also anointed me the “doer,” the one to rarely ask for help. I’ve worked hard on correcting the last statement. I’ve learned to ask for help earlier and more frequently. 
I am fortunate to coach many very smart, creative, successful people. Yet, when it comes to personal branding and marketing themselves, they act like amateurs. Why is that? 
I was administered my first 360 review as a Senior Manager. I was instructed to hand out forms to my direct reports that would be collected and scored. HR would let me know when the results were in. The day of reckoning came and I found myself in a room of other Senior Managers and the Head of HR. We were given an envelope containing our scores. As we opened our feedback sheets there was dead silence. Some people went pale, others got angry, there were many “whats!!!!,” a few seemed quite content. Everyone then stood up, left the room, and that was the last I ever heard of or discussed my 360 review. 
Do you find yourself always advocating for your staff, customers, even your kids? But, when it comes to getting the recognition you deserve and negotiating for yourself tangible outcomes such as compensation, that overdue promotion, or relief from an untenable situation, you somehow feel uneasy, unworthy, or unprepared.
Things are not going well with your coworker, assistant, or colleague. You have the sense they are professionally sabotaging your career. How can you be sure? While it may be difficult to prove, there are warning signs you should watch for. Here are a few and how you might address them. 
As most of you know, I focus most of my executive coaching on workplace issues. Granted, many of the so called “issues” are problems many people wish they had — how to get to the next level, enhancing your branding and delivery of self, and transforming yourself from a manger to a leader.