August 15, 2007 at 1:44 am (Management, Personal Growth, Responsibility, Supervision)
Wally Bock
When I was starting out as a manager and struggling to figure out how to do well, a wise and experienced friend gave me the following good advice. “Find the great ones,” he said, “Then figure out what they do. Do the same things and you’ll be a great one, too.”
That became my life’s work. Over the last thirty plus years I’ve identified great supervisors. I’ve spent time with them, watching what they do. Then I’ve helped hundreds of other supervisors learn to do the same things.
Great supervisors consistently lead teams with high productivity and high morale. People want to work with them and for them. Their bosses count on them and rave about them.
I’ve found that something Leo Tolstoy said about families is also true of supervisors. Great supervisors are all alike; every bad supervisor is bad in his or her own way.
There are thousands of ways to do a bad job as a supervisor. But great supervisors do the same things in pretty much the same way. And if you learn to do them, you can get the results they get. Here’s a list.
· Great supervisors understand that they always have two jobs. One job is to accomplish your mission through the group. The other job is to care for your people. Great supervisors help people succeed as individuals and as a team.
· Great supervisors understand the strengths and limits of their position. When you become a boss, you have less power than you did before because your performance is measured by the performance of your team. But you have far more influence.
· Great supervisors use what they can control, what they say and do, to influence the behavior and performance of the members of their team. They know that they won’t succeed all the time, but that if they play the odds and do the right things, they will consistently have successful teams.
· Great supervisors are constantly learning about their people and adjusting their behavior to each, individual situation. They are constantly working to improve their communication skills and their knowledge of their people. Most of the ones I’ve studied have a system for both. Read the rest of this entry »
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August 10, 2007 at 2:29 am (Humor)
Patrizia Broghammer
All advertisements, particularly television advertisements, are utterly and hopelessly boring.
They are too outspoken, too definite, too boastful.
Why not evolve a new style in television advertising instead of slavishly imitating the American style of breathless superlatives, with all their silly implications (buy our shampoo and you’ll get a husband; buy our perfume and you are sure to be attacked by hungry males)?
I feel sure that the effect of these advertisements could be vastly improved if they were made more realistic.
Some ads, for example, could be given an undertone of gambling:
XYZ: it may relieve your headache. Or of course it may not. Who can tell? Try it. You may be lucky. The odds against you are only 3 to 1.
Or:
Try your luck on BMX fruit juice. Most people detest it, You may be an exception.
Or appeal to man’s sense of fairness. A beautiful half-nude girl ( this is typical Italian) might call to the public:
S.O.S We are doing badly. Business is rotten, Buy our razors and give us a chance.
Honestly they are not much worse than other makes.
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August 8, 2007 at 5:06 am (Advise, Career, Communication, Job Application, Recruitment)
by Linda Matias
As a Nationally Certified Resume Writer, I get asked the same questions over and over by job seekers like yourself regarding their resumes. Since the questions below are so popular, I knew it would be of interest to all of you. So I took the time to share the most common resume questions I’m asked, along with my thoughts, with all of you in mind.
1. I have so many accomplishments. How do I determine which ones to include on the resume?
This is a fair question. Since the resume serves only as a synopsis of your accomplishments, you won’t be able to include everything you’ve ever done. However, it is important that you identify all your achievements and then take great care in determining which ones you will include. Below are a couple of thoughts that you will find useful when making a decision.
a) An exercise that hones in on your accomplishments is the PAR formula. PAR stands for problem, action and result. Using the PAR formula will help you identify achievements you want to include on your resume. Take the time to reflect on your experiences and using the PAR formula, jot down every accomplishment you have for each job you’ve held. For example, are you a sales professional who increased profits? If so, how did you do it, and how much did profits increase? Alternatively, you may be a customer representative who has the ability to diffuse escalating issues with clients. Can you give an example that illustrates this talent, perhaps with a big-name client or an “impossible” problem you solved?
Once you have written down all of your accomplishments, select the ones you are most proud of and prioritize them in order of importance to the position you are seeking.
Another way to determine which accomplishments should be included on a resume is by examining your performance reviews. Take note of the comments your manager made and the achievements he or she lasered in on. Chances are, if your current manager was impressed by a specific accomplishment, your next employer may also be impressed. So consider including the observations made by your current/previous manager.
You can also include accomplishments in your cover letter as well. So if you find that you have a lot of accomplishments, you can make mention of some of them in the cover letter. However, keep in mind that your resume should contain the accomplishments you are most proud of, while the cover letter should contain supplemental accomplishments that may be of interest to the decision maker.
2. I’m not comfortable writing about myself. How can I overcome that?
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