Articles
Browse every published article connected to Marsha Egan, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
Articles
Browse every published article connected to Marsha Egan, or search within this exact expert archive.
Almost every day, I hear someone remark how fast the world is changing – and it’s true. It’s almost unrecognizable from our parents’ days, and even from the world we grew up in.
Why doesn’t everyone just get along???? We hear this all the time. Whether it is differing values or conflicts or misunderstandings, some people have a harder time than others just getting along. And even worse, when they aren’t getting along, they’re the ones who expect the other person to change, so that they DO get along! Now, I don’t know about you, but over the years, I have had absolutely no success in getting others to change.
So much to do -- so little time to do it all. I can't tell you how many times I have heard exasperated people lament that they just don't know how they will get it all done. That's part of the problem -- if our expectation is that we are supposed to get everything done that is on our to do list, our expectations are just plain unrealistic.
People who have more luck than others aren’t afraid to ask others for help. While some might think that this is a sign of weakness, it really isn’t. It is a signal of success. Asking people for help in terms of a referral to someone or opening the door for a possible meeting with someone is totally acceptable behavior. Asking others for constructive criticism is another form of requesting help. The same goes for asking for assistance in an area where you are not an expert. People who are successful do this, not regularly, but at the appropriate times.
In this fast paced world, we are continually challenged to fit more work into the same time frames that we all have. One of the most challenging parts of "fitting it all in" is deciding what is important and what is not. Of all the dilemmas I've experienced in my coaching practice, just about every client has struggled with their time and life management. Their “to -- do" lists have "to -- do" lists. So how do we get it ALL done? My first question is why do we need to get it all done?
Information Overload Awareness Day is fast approaching. Yes. We all struggle with the barrage of information that we receive and is available to us daily. And one of the ever growing sources of that information is e-mail. Consider the world productivity impact if everyone sent 10% fewer e-mails than their average -- every day from this day forward. Not sure what that number is? Simple. Just go into your Sent Mail over the last few days and check how many messages you sent. Take 10%. That's your goal. Here are 10 ways for you to send 10% fewer e-mail messages:
How well do you build reserves? And we’re not just talking about money, although the concept is the same. Do you have reserves of time, resources and energy? Are you running your life, or is your life running you?
Instead of thinking about a network, let's envision a net. If you place yourself at the center of this net, you can see how your direct links, or connections, extends outward. And each of those links extend outward as well. Yet they are all interconnected. This is what we want our net to look like, and even more, to “work.” I meet too many entrepreneurs and business people who believe or act as though their selling efforts are all direct one on one transactions with their prospects and customers.
The holiday season is looming, and we’re all getting ready to party, but while this time of year can be hazardous to our waistlines and our wallets, there’s one event in the social calendar that can be hazardous to our careers, too. The dreaded office party! Sure, they can be fun. They can be a great time to build relationships with your colleagues. However, they can also be a proverbial minefield of potential slip-ups and career-damaging disasters.
Times are tough. Businesses are faltering, families are struggling, employees are paranoid. All this stress lays the groundwork for a real problem with balance—life balance. As business leaders work 18 to 20 hours a day to save their businesses and workers address their fears of possible layoff by working longer and harder, they risk the ability to be the best they can be by allowing themselves to throw their life balance out the window. They pay less attention to what is truly important, such as their families, recreation and their health, justifying it as a short term imbalance.
Everyone likes to think they’re a good listener. Do you think you are? Why do you think that? How often when you are listening are you actively taking in what is being said, and how often are you mentally forming your response and waiting for your turn to speak? From the opposite perspective, how often does someone interrupt you when you are speaking? How does it make you feel? What do you think about a person who interrupts you? Do you find them selfish? Irritating? Immature? Disrespectful?
Struggling with people resisting making the changes you know you need to make in your organization or group? Don't know how to get buy-in from people so that you can change things for the better? Challenged by an undercurrent of resistance to your attempts to move your organization forward? Have you ever tried to change anyone? Everyone knows how difficult it is to change their spouses (ever TRIED it? Not a pretty sight!) Even more, have you ever tried to change something about yourself? Not an easy task, is it?!
We’ve all done it. The meeting is going on and on. Your boss is rambling. You “get” the gist of the concept. You’re bored. Your mind drifts. Hmmm. Wonder what newfound treasure has appeared in my PDA? Who will notice if you sneak a peek? Your boss will. Others in the meeting will. Don’t do it. You could be committing career suicide. Robert Half & Associates recently conducted a study of 150 senior executives, which showed that 31 percent of them found it inappropriate for employees to check PDAs during meetings.
Everything is changing so fast! I hear this comment almost daily. And the reality of it is, -- it's true! The changes that we are experiencing today are significantly more than the changes that our forefathers had to embrace. The world is moving at an extremely fast-pace. And the illuminating thought, or should I say reality, is that today's pace of change is probably the slowest rate of change we will experience ever again.
In these trying economic times, we are all looking for opportunities to save costs and increase productivity. Businesses have a huge opportunity to increase productivity staring them in the face that unfortunately has gone virtually undetected. What is that opportunity? The reclaimed productivity comes from changed e-mail habits. You think I kid? The research firm Basex recently estimated the cost of information overload to the world economy $900 billion annually.
There’s no arguing that email use is on the rise. Every day, people tell me how overwhelming it is to address their email backlog and how just opening up their inbox stresses them out. To help remedy this crisis, here are ten surefire ways to manage your outgoing email to reduce the number of emails coming back your way. 1. Be very clear. By making sure that the content of your emails is very understandable, you can avoid people emailing you with questions for clarification. 2. Make the subject line detailed.
No one is perfect, and as long as people work, there will be behavioral errors, and situations that need correcting. There is a lot of room for improvement in the way bosses, coworkers, and friends handle these situations. One of the most popular responses to correcting behavior is to ignore it and hope that it goes away. This doesn't work very often. In my experience, the times that I use that approach, the unaddressed behavior came back twice as severe, and caused more trouble.
Why do so many resolutions not make it past the first week of January?
If I could wave a magic wand, and change something about how human beings interact with each other, I would eliminate “gotcha” forever. What is “gotcha”? Before we talk about eliminating “gotcha”, it is important to clarify just what “gotcha” is! “Gotcha” can come in many forms. In the verbal form, we know it more commonly as “I told you so,” but “gotcha” can take on many other forms. “Gotcha” is not only noticing that someone makes an error, but using it against them.
We’ve all heard of the ‘touch it once’ rule – where smug associates with seemingly empty desks tell you they owe their serenity to never allowing paperwork to touch their desk more than once. Have you ever tried it for yourself and found yourself no better off, if not worse? Likewise, if you told everyone in your office that they could have one wish, how many of them would opt for ‘a 30-hour day’, an ‘8 day week’, or some other such device to cram everything they need to get done into the time available?
These days, it seems like we are being pulled in so many different directions. Priorities compete with each other, and it just seems like we can’t get everything done, doesn’t it? What’s worse, it seems like our daily “to do” lists grow much faster than our abilities to check them off. No wonder the world is showing more stress. Sometimes it is helpful to step back, and evaluate all those things we’re doing, to make sure that the important “stuff” is being addressed. OK, so what’s the important “stuff?”r
Feel like you’re on a treadmill that will never stop? Too much to do? Too much to get done? Just as with how the overlap between our work and our home lives has become blurred, and technology has connected us to people and tasks around the clock, we could all be working 24/7 and still feel overwhelmed. How can we get it all done? You’re not alone. Millions of Americans are frustrated with their growing to do lists, their constant connectivity, in their seeming inability to get anything accomplished. On top of that, a lot of us try to do everything for everyone else. We care.
You’ve wanted to know the secret to meeting management success? Look no further… Here is YOUR answer to getting things DONE at alllll those meetings we attend. All it takes is three little words. Here are the “three little words” that will change your meeting life forever. Who knows, they may even bolster your career! 1. WHO 2. WHAT 3. WHEN Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest. This is one of those times. Read on…r
So many times, people don’t realize how easily they can sabotage their careers, unknowingly, they will do or not do things that hold them back. Here are five cautionary behaviors:
Icebreakers are great. When you get people together to work on things, getting them to know each other will spur on other positive results. I make it a habit to have an icebreaker at just about every volunteer meeting I conduct, whether the group is large or small. After all, these people chose to volunteer, let’s make it fun for them. These ideas also thrive in a working environment; they help people build the relationships that can move an enterprise forward. Believe it or not, adults like to interact, and play.