Office Dynamics

By

Email That Works: Best Practices for Truly Busy People

email that works best practices for assistants

How would you describe your e-mail situation lately?

Are you getting so much that it’s sometimes impossible to manage it properly and still be productive? Do you worry you’ll hit the “send” button too soon, and deliver a message before its ready? Take heart….You’re not alone!

E-mail technology has been great – but it has also wreaked havoc on the way we communicate. For example, you can shoot back a reply to an e-mail in lickety-split time. The question is, should you? Thinking about what the message ought to say often becomes secondary to our ability to communicate immediately. And whenever action precedes thought, trouble will likely follow at some point or another, as you know. [Read more…]

By

Teamwork Quotes From Great Leaders

Teamwork is essential in the workplace. It encourages communication and collaboration, and it helps people grow and learn. Two heads really are better than one, as the saying goes. When intelligent team players come together, they build each other up and produce results that no one person can alone.

To remind you how essential teamwork is, GetVoIP put together this visual on teamwork quotes from great leaders. It features leaders in a variety of industries from business to sports to entertainment, to show you that no matter what industry you’re in, surrounding yourself with upstanding people will lead to success.

Please include attribution to GetVoIP.com with this graphic.

28 Teamwork Quotes from Great Leaders

By

Building the Partnership with Your Executive: Are You a Center of Influence?

executive_assistant_partnershipHigh-quality assistants can be a distinct competitive advantage for executives and the organizations they serve. Here at Office Dynamics, we are constantly reminded of this when we help executive and assistant teams develop truly strategic partnerships.

As one Fortune 500 CEO puts it, “Administrative Assistants are the center of influence.” He describes his assistant as a “flow manager,” meaning she helps facilitate progress. She has the power to keep things moving at an optimal pace.

As an assistant, we want to help you position yourself as a center of influence for your executive. A strong strategic partnership between the executive and assistant is built on this idea.

So, what does that mean for you? Well, for most assistants, it means taking on more. As a center of influence, everything should flow through you—calendar appointments, meeting information, phone calls, projects and more.

You should be the buffer or filter for your executive. You are a conduit for collecting information, processing it, and sending it back out in the appropriate fashion. This allows your executive to focus his or her attention where it is most needed, with the peace of mind that you will ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Most assistants agree that this is a tall order! It requires a deep level of trust and constant communication. The executive must be willing to release control of certain items and allow the assistant more authority and responsibility. The assistant must be able to shoulder that responsibility capably.

When exploring this idea, many assistants express fear. After all, being a center of influence is challenging. It forces you into a position where you are, quite literally, at the center of the storm. It’s a powerful and dangerous place to be.

But you are more than capable of stepping up to the challenge! And the rewards are extraordinary. You will experience greater job satisfaction when you contribute more meaningfully. You will experience greater professional growth and financial incentives. You will get to be a true strategic partner for your executive.

If you’re ready to embrace this idea and become a center of influence (or expand your existing influence) you may wonder:

  • How do I develop the kind of trust required?
  • How do I manage all of these things for my executive?
  • How do I get my executive to release control and let me do more?
  • How do I facilitate greater levels of communication?

These are all valid questions! Thankfully, Joan Burge has the answers. In fact, she’ll be addressing these topics and more in her upcoming live workshop “Building a Star Partnership” in Chicago.

Kick off Administrative Professionals Week with Joan on Monday, April 24th where you’ll learn her secret success formula for becoming a center of influence.

Are you ready to become a center of influence? Do you think you already are? Are there areas you’d like to expand your influence? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

We are also holding a FREE WEBINAR on Building A Star Partnership and you can register here.

 

By

Top 8 Time Management Tips To Hack Productivity

Time_Management_Tips_Hack_ProductivityAmongst the hectic schedules and infinite demands of modern life, we often feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything we need to done. This pressure has resulted in many self-aware individuals seeking ways to save time throughout their day. Some of this is relevant to work life, some to home life, but all time management hacks end up with you being more productive while you work and having more ‘me-time’ as a result. Every office in the world wants their staff to be as productive as possible, so get ahead of your colleagues and enjoy unprecedented levels of success without doing any extra work yourself.  Here are my top 8 time management tips to hack productivity. [Read more…]

By

Tactfully Voicing Your Opinion In The Workplace

voicing_your_opinion_at_work

I hope you had a great week last week and were able to apply the tips I had for communicating with people from different generations. In case you did not read the last two Monday Motivators, I have been writing a 3 part series on communicating for business success. The first one was, Be a better communicator at work and the second was, Bridge the Generational Communication Gap.

Today I am focusing on tactfully voicing your opinion, which is another topic I cover in our World Class Assistant Certification course.

Throughout my career as an employee—a few decades ago—I had the need to voice my opinion to my manager, colleague, vendors, peers, and others. As a business owner, leader, trainer, coach…I still have situations occur when I need to voice my opinion. We all experience this in the workplace. For some people, it is easy to voice their opinion and for others, it is hard.

The caution is just because someone has the courage to speak up, it doesn’t mean they are presenting it in a way that will be acceptable to the receiver. If we want our voice to be heard and to be taken seriously, we have to think about how we communicate and present our case.

Step #1: Consider these factors. Before you even express your opinion, there are some factors you should take into consideration, such as:

  • What is the other person’s sensitivity to the issue or situation?
  • What is my experience level in the area in which I want to express my views?
  • Is it too late to express my opinion?
  • If the receiver is from a different culture, how will they accept what I have to say?
  • Are there generational differences between me and the person to whom I want to express my views? How might that impact their willingness to be open to what I have to say?
  • My mood? Am I in a low mood? A grumpy mood? Frustrated? That probably is not the time to express my opinion. This could dramatically affect the outcome.
  • Why am I even having this conversation?
  • What is my motive in voicing my opinion? What do I hope to accomplish?

Step #2: Think about the words you will use. Resist rattling off what’s on your real mind. You want to maintain professionalism and have the receiver be open to your suggestions or views.

Step #3: Gather facts to back up your opinion. For example, if Joe in another department consistently turns in a monthly report late, you will have a lot more leverage or chance of getting Joe to change if you were to say something like… “Joe, the January report was due on the 18th of the month; I received the report on January 25. In February, the report was due February 14; I received the report February 19.” Do you see having facts is more powerful than saying, “Joe you are always late with the monthly report.”

Step #4: Make sure you aren’t personally attacking someone. Stay focused on the point or issue at hand or situation. It does us no good to verbally attack a person.

Step #5: Select the best time. Timing is important. Maybe you wish to express your thoughts in a meeting to one of the attendees but you would be better off waiting until after the meeting or even the next day. Again, if we want people to be open to what we have to offer, we need to consider if this is the right time.

Step #6: Clearly explain your point of view. Two people can be right and not be in agreement. What do I mean? I see it all the time when I coach executives and assistants. Each person has their view of a situation, expectations or performance. The executive is right and the assistant is right but they have different view or stories about what happened. Take time to explain your thoughts.

Step #7: Consider your relationship with the other person. How long have you known this person? How will they take your feedback? Are they a superior? (You can still voice your opinion but very carefully.) Do they work within your organization or outside your organization?

It is both important to express our views and maintain another person’s self-esteem. I encourage you to work on this vital business skill.

Have an awesome week!

Joan Burge

Come see me live in Chicago for Administrative Professionals Week!

workshop_for_administrative_assistants_chicago_illinois

Photo Credit: Designed by Katemangostar / Freepik

By

Five Ways to Deal with Workplace Changes Positively

workplaces changes

 

Article contribution by Amanda Wilks

Change in the workplace is often very difficult to embrace. It may not be readily apparent to employees why the alterations and adjustments are being made. When they have to deal with workplace changes, it can become the perfect source of employee complaints and disgruntled comments.

These can be anything from a switch in employee health insurance to a total company shakedown. Whatever the case, there are methods to make this as positive and as painless as possible to handle. [Read more…]

Company

Office Dynamics International
5575 South Durango Dr. Suite 106
Las Vegas, NV 89113
800-STAR-139
Contact Us

Hours Of Operation

7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time
%d bloggers like this: