Should you be Facebook friends with your staff?
If you are a manager, should you be friends on Facebook with your team? The jury is out on whether it’s a good idea or not, but there are some areas of agreement and lessons to learn.
Agency life
The four essential qualities in a coworker
We each look for different qualities in our coworkers – ambition, creativity, expertise, a sense of humor – but there are four which are vital.
How to ‘meet for coffee’
A popular request in Silicon Valley is to ‘meet for coffee’. This is often a euphemism for a short meeting with no fixed agenda, beyond getting to know one another. As far as it goes, this can be productive – business is social after all. Many strong business relationships – with clients, partners, investors and potential employees start with an informal intro. But how do you make the most of them?
Ten tasks which need a phone call, not an email
Amid the ever expanding choice of communications methods, the use of the humble telephone is in decline. Who responds to voicemails right? But here are ten task which need you to pick up the phone. Don’t hide behind email, take a deep breath and dial. It’s faster and more productive.
Own your failures
We all fail from time to time. Projects don’t turn out as planned; we make mistakes; circumstances conspire against us; and sometimes we’re just plain unlucky. It happens. We’ve all heard that it’s how we react to failure which defines our success. It’s one thing to cope with failure, and another to learn from it however.
Is an open plan office good for productivity?
We’re starting to research new office space, prior to moving in Summer 2011. During the five years we’ve been in our current location, working practices and expectations of staff/clients have changed. So is an open plan office still the best layout?
Should you listen to music at work?
Many of us listen to music when working. Some say it helps concentration by blocking out background noise. Others claim it’s a distraction and inhibits performance. So is music good or bad?
Are you generous?
You probably like to think you are. Just like we’re all above-average drivers. But generosity comes in many forms.
Why I deleted Foursquare
I deleted Foursquare. I know it’s not cool to admit that, but it just didn’t add value for me.
The gift of presence
A victim of multitasking is not just our productivity, but the attention we give to those around us. We’ve all been in meetings where people are working merrily on their laptops; been on conference calls as people check their email; even been sitting face-to-face talking to someone as they check their smartphone. I am guilty of this, even with my kids.