Betsy presents a new distribution proposal in the team meeting. She kicks off her presentation with providing a highly detailed overview to ensure everybody is on the same page. She notices that nobody listens.
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A week back, I had the pleasure of catching up with one of my friends who used to be one of the most demanding bosses I have had the privilege of working with. While giving each other personal updates, our discussion – as it always does – turned into reminiscing about the demanding yet fun environment that we had co-created with our entire employee base.
It was a fun environment, where the Power Distance Index (“PDI”, referencing Geert Hofstede) was very low across the organization, especially in the context of an emerging Asian operation market. In spite of the cordial relationships, everyone was crystal clear about the high performance standards and focused on bringing value to all stakeholders, especially the customers. Continue reading
After the career discussion with Mansy, Mian is disengaged, demotivated and underperforming. This affects team performance and makes her the focus of office gossip.
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Boss compliments Femsy with her excellent presentation at the management meeting. She responds by saying: “I really did not do much at all. Billy gave me the numbers and Betsy did most of the analysis”.
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Lately some (small) things went wrong at work. It upsets Femsy and she has difficulty overcoming these mistakes.
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by Tarek Beram
How do other people organize their working lives? Did you ever wonder about that? I mean, how do others manage the endless flow of incoming emails and on-going flow of things to do? In the time of apps and after the arrival of the cloud, how does a modern person stay in control of own time and efforts? I believe most people get so used to the way they operate they don’t stop to consider alternatives.
Messaging is still dominating the business live. Then electronic calendar is the norm now. Then you have your own thoughts and ideas that you want to do something about. Then comes up the tasks or errands as a result of discussions or interactions. It’s a vortex of to-dos that you choose to spend time and effort on and either you’re on top of the vortex or you’re not. Continue reading
At work, we are programmed to act as if we know what we are doing, even in moments when we have no clue.
Managers and employees often act from the shared belief that being vulnerable at work is not acceptable, that it will result in perceptions of incompetence, lack of confidence and consequently a poor performance review.
We are often afraid to be vulnerable because it is associated with weakness. However it is a commonly experienced human feeling. None of us are exempt from feeling vulnerable at times. Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago, we had a celebration dinner together with an ex-colleague. She got, in my opinion, a very well deserved promotion since she is incredibly smart, hardworking, and talented. I truly believe in her abilities and her values. I see it, I hear it and I feel it every time I talk to her.
I was surprised to hear that she doesn’t always feel the same.
She expressed the fear of being “found out” one day to be lacking the skills and intelligence she is perceived to have.
At the same time I felt like watching myself in a mirror. I also tend to diminish the significance of my achievements and attribute them to luck, a helping hand or other forces outside my control, rather than my own effort, dedication, and even intelligence. Continue reading
“Women lose sight of their goals by taking on extra responsibilities. We are virtual responsibility magnets. We don’t make these decisions consciously or deliberately but out of fear that if we don’t act on a need it will never get resolved. But we fail to realize that once we become responsible for something we might be responsible for it forever.” – Pat Heim; Hardball for Women
According to Pablo Picasso “There are only two types of women – goddesses and doormats”.
Let’s have a closer look at the differences: Continue reading
If you are anything like me, you probably believe your work should speak for itself.
Women, more often than men, believe that hard work will be recognized and pay off and do not do enough to network with their organization and self-publicize their achievements. When a more senior position opens up, they assume they will be considered based on their accomplishments and credentials, despite having been reluctant to voice them.
However, just rolling up your sleeves and working long hours is no qualifier to go up the career ladder in the business world. Continue reading
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