I have been hosting the Annual Conference for Administrative Excellence for 25 years. I also host a high-end training program for executive assistants and administrative assistants called World Class Assistant, in Las Vegas. I have observed hundreds of assistants travel and heard numerous stories about their travel experiences both while in transit to Las Vegas and during their stay in Las Vegas. [Read more…]
As you know, I am big on attitude! I believe in what Charles Swindoll once wrote, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.” Being positive or negative about any situation will have its inevitable conclusion because you’ve already framed the end result.
If you’re like most people reading this weekly column, you choose to surround yourself with positive thinkers. Your continuing success reflects that. Still, we can’t always avoid working with (or sometimes, living with) negative thinkers. Therein lies a problem: What can we do to change a person’s inherently bad attitude, in part so it doesn’t affect us? And should we try?
Here are a few observations that can help:
One final note: When a person’s bad attitude cannot be tempered by the above methods, yet still needs to be addressed for the benefit of the workplace, you may want to consider constructively confronting the situation or suggesting that a manager do so. Many times, informing people of their bad attitude in a positive way (i.e., “I thought you’d want to know the impact X, Y or Z is having on the staff, because I’m confident that’s not how you meant to be perceived…”) can help influence change, simply by making them aware.
Have a great week- and remember your attitude impacts others, too! So share your positivity, and help everyone you encounter make the most of every day!
Being an Administrative or Executive Assistant is not always a walk in the park. There is always a fire to be put out, there is the juggling of 9,000 different tasks, and sometimes you are an assistant to more than one executive or manager.
Simply put, not everyone can handle the position of Administrative or Executive Assistant.
With that said, there are tips and tricks out there that are being used by assistants to make life a little less hectic. I’d like to share some of our practices here at Office Dynamics. [Read more…]
Whether you have been coordinating meetings for decades or days there are some simple tips to follow to make any meeting more productive and the attendees feel welcomed. There are times when meetings seem to plan themselves especially when the majority of the week is spent attending or planning several meetings! People may quickly migrate to an open room and start discussing random topics, etc. or an agenda is created, the room is reserved, but the topics are not clear. The planning doesn’t stop once an invite is sent out, does it? [Read more…]
From Joan Burge’s new book, Joan’s Greatest Administrative Secrets Revealed (2018)
THE BROCHURE PROMOTING AN administrative training program said, We will never make you do anything you don’t want to do. Oh heavens, I thought! Really? How do you think a person grows? This was in a brochure from a company who hosts supposedly high-level classes for assistants. Pleeeaazzz!
Since 1990, I have been stretching assistants out of their comfort zones. I have asked them to write and give three-minute presentations; role play with participants; challenged them to think beyond the typical answer in class; project their voice; write difficult development plans; and even come up on stage with me at our Annual Conference for Administrative Excellence. And do you know what? As scared or nervous as they were, they stepped up to the plate and they were proud of themselves afterward. Do you know what else? They got promotions, salary increases, developed better relationships with their executives; they joined committees and chaired events; they set healthy boundaries; they gained immense confidence! That’s what stretching can do for you. [Read more…]
We all know that Monday can be the most challenging day of the week. We also know that our mentality has a lot to do with this. But why?
According to studies and surveys conducted over the years, there are several reasons why most of us dislike Mondays.
We are leaving a life of being in charge. Over the weekend we have had the opportunity to be in charge of our own life. Make our own decisions and do what we want. When we come to work on Monday, some of us lose that sense of “being in charge.”
We are leaving our family and friends. You may have spent the entire weekend with your family and friends. Laughing and having a good time but now you have to let it go and focus on work.
We do not like our jobs. Spending time at a place you do not like being at, doing what you do not like doing, can be daunting.
We do not like the “Office Dragons.” Office Dragons can bring us down and make the workday feel like a work week if we do not know how to “deal” with them.
Whatever the case may be, we actually do have a choice in how we feel when it comes to a “case of the Mondays.”
Office Dynamics offers a solution that thousands of people, just like yourself, refer to every Monday.
I greatly appreciate the Monday Motivators! How on earth does she know exactly how we are feeling sometimes???? ~ Deb C.
Every Monday, Joan Burge, Founder and CEO of Office Dynamics International writes an inspiring, motivational, and down to earth email that allows you to jump-start your week with a sense of empowerment and electricity that will carry you through the week.
Let Office Dynamics help jump-start your week with words of inspiration and motivation with our Monday Motivators.
