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Documenti di Professioni
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Solutions For
Today’s Workplace
PROFESSIONAL
THE COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS FOR
TODAY’S WORKPLACE
PROFESSIONAL
E D ITE D BY
B R I G IT D E R M OTT
LearningExpress
900 Broadway
Suite 604
New York, NY 10003
C O NTR I B UTO R S
Erik Chesla
Elizabeth Chesla, M.A.
Grace Fox
Robert Gregor
Judith McManus
Susan Shelly
Dawn B. Sova, Ph.D.
E D ITO R
Brigit Dermott
TAB LE O F C O NTE NTS
INTRODUCTION ix
Who Should Read This Book ix
About This Book x
How to Use This Book to Your Best Advantage xii
The Complete Professional has information that will help any profes-
sional—from those just starting out to managers—improve their
x THE COM PLETE PROFESSIONAL
The Complete Professional covers all the critical skills any profession-
al needs to succeed: organization, writing, communicating,
research, workplace etiquette, teamwork, problem solving, net-
working, and moving up. After you have completed this book, you
will be prepared to meet the challenges of your workplace.
You will know the fundamentals. You will be able to organize
your space and your time to your best advantage. You will be able
to write professional documents such as letters, memos, reports,
and proposals, and you will improve the clarity and style of your
writing. You will also develop your communication skills. It is
I NTO D U CTI O N xi
error. Don’t wait to make critical mistakes at work before you learn
how to write well, how to communicate effectively, or how to con-
duct yourself in a meeting. By learning these skills you will not
only be a better employee but you will also find work more enjoy-
able. After all, doing a job well—without the stress of feeling over-
burdened or out of your depth—and earning the respect of your
superiors and colleagues is one of the most rewarding experiences
you can have at your workplace. So read on, make the most of your
job, and get ready to move your career forward!
THE COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS FOR
TODAY’S WORKPLACE
PROFESSIONAL
C HAPTE R 1
GETTING ORGANIZED
GETTING STARTED
H OW D I S O R GAN I Z E D AR E YO U?
Before you can begin to get organized you need to examine the
ways in which you are disorganized and how it affects you at work.
Most of us really don’t know how disorganized we are, because we
can usually put the blame for our stress and frustrations on any
number of other workplace problems. While these factors may
contribute to our feelings of being pressured or overwhelmed,
they are rarely the sole problem and they often disappear once we
take control.
An out-of-control work life can wear you out mentally and
physically and make you feel dissatisfied with your job perfor-
mance and with yourself. It can also hurt you professionally
2 THE COM PLETE PROFESSIONAL
R ATI N G YO U R WO RK EFFI CI EN CY
Identify the number of times each of the following has occurred at work in
the past month and place that number on the line after the item.
• I will limit my breaks to five minutes, and only take one in the morning
and one in the afternoon.
• I will return each phone call within the hour. If I don’t have the infor-
mation the person has requested, I will touch base with them to let
them know where things stand.
• I will start keeping an appointment calendar, and keep track of all my
appointments and deadlines in one place.
• I won’t let e-mail and voice mail messages accumulate. Every Monday I
will go through my e-mail messages and make sure I’ve responded to
6 THE COM PLETE PROFESSIONAL
the message or taken care of the request. I will delete any messages
that are not important and archive those that are.
• I will reorganize my desk files.
You will feel more in control of your work if you are in control
of your work environment—and for most workers “environ-
ment” means their desk and the surrounding area. You will save
time and project a competent image if you can immediately
locate whatever you need without having to shuffle through
papers and folders or search through every drawer in the desk.
As you look at the things accumulated on your desk, do you
have a difficult time imagining what you can do without?
Everything on your desk may seem necessary and irreplaceable,
but there are a large number of items that you can live without.
As with any major project, you should plan your approach
before cleaning the desk. Before you begin weeding out items,
obtain three boxes to contain the papers and files that you remove
from the desk. You should also place an empty trashcan near the
desk to encourage you to throw out useless paper and other items.
To organize the desktop successfully, you must start with a clean
desk surface on which to work. Clear everything off the desk—all
papers, files, supplies, and equipment—then place them on the floor
at a distance from your desk, so that you don’t add to the chaos.
Because you plan to be thorough, take everything out of the
desk drawers as well. (If your desk has file drawers, organize these
using the guidelines in the next section: “Organizing Your Files.”)
Separate all papers from the rest of the items. You will sort and
file these papers with the piles of paper that you took from the
desktop. As for the remaining items from the desk, put your tools,
G E T TI N G O R G A N I Z E D 7
supplies, and personal items off to the side for sorting later.
Once the desk has been emptied, clean every inch of it so that
you can organize a truly clear desk. You should view what you are
doing as marking a new beginning, because it is. Not only are you
making an important effort aimed at getting organized at work, but
this also means taking a new approach to your work habits. If you
are extending your efforts to your desk, why not start fresh with it,
as well? Treat your desk as a valued element in your working life.
Start with the equipment and supplies that you removed
from the desk. Ask yourself the following questions about each
item and decide what absolutely must be on the desktop.
the papers into three piles: one containing papers that you will
keep at your desk or file, a second for papers that you will dis-
card, and a third for papers that must be given further consider-
ation. Move the trash can a little closer and begin the laborious
task of deciding which papers stay and which must go.
Throw away any paper that is not necessary to keep or to con-
sider further. Before you do, record in the appropriate place any
information of value that appears on a paper. For example,
scraps of paper containing personal or work-related telephone
numbers, addresses, or reminders should be entered into the
appropriate address books or planners and then thrown out.
Likewise, invitations to professional events should be recorded
in the planner then thrown out.
After you have sorted all the papers, you will have two
remaining stacks: those to keep at your desk and those requiring
further sorting and consideration. Put the second pile aside and
work on the papers you are keeping. Put these papers into one
of the three boxes on your desk. Place information entering the
office into the IN box, and place material that should be filed,
mailed, or passed on to a colleague into the OUT box. Use the
PENDING box for material that represents work in progress or
that requires further information.
These three boxes will be valuable tools in your crusade to
achieve paper control on the desktop. Sorting every paper that
comes to your desk will keep you organized, but don’t allow the
boxes to simply become depositories of clutter.
• Items that are placed into the OUT box during the day
should leave the box by the end of the day.
• Items in the PENDING box should only remain there for a
short time, while awaiting further action. Don’t use this
box as a dumping ground for items that you don’t know
what to do with.
• Items in the IN box should be relocated by the end of each
G E T TI N G O R G A N I Z E D 9
day. Place completed items into the OUT box to mail, file,
or give to someone else to process. Deal with everything
in the IN box each day, and do not allow items to pile up.
Review all the papers in the second pile that you put aside
and try to sort them as well. Many may go into the trash, now
that you have given them a second review, but others may be
passed on to someone more appropriate to process.
After the desktop is clear, organize your desk drawers, and be
as severe in throwing out unneeded and unwanted material as
you were in sorting the paper. Install trays or bins to separate
items and to provide order in the drawers. As you return items
to the desk, return any duplicate supplies to the supply room.
You don’t need to be a pack rat. You can also keep needed per-
sonal items in the desk. Use one of the smallest drawers to hold
only those that you might need during the day, but don’t turn it
into a junk drawer.
K E E P I N G YO U R F I L E S O R GAN I Z E D
cabinet, vertical file, and desk drawer file. By doing so, you can
make certain that the headings are still current and useful, and
that the contents of the folders are up to date.
Do you have a file maintenance plan? Do you schedule the
cleaning of files on a regular basis? You should. How often you do
so depends on the size of the company you work for and how
busy the office is.
Cleaning and reorganizing files is not an easy task, and it may
take a complete day or more, even in a small company. A larger
company conducts more business and records more transactions,
so the files are more numerous, and organization becomes a
greater chore. If the number of files is too great to go through in
one day, divide the files into manageable batches. For example,
organize A-D one day, and so on until you reach the end of the
alphabet. Take out all the papers in one file or related group of files.
Divide the papers into only two categories:“Refile” or “Discard.” As
you sort through the files, be thorough and remember that the
work you do now will make your daily filing much easier.
You probably think that you are too busy to analyze where your
time goes. Yet, you need to get organized at work, and managing
your time is important if you are going to succeed. A big part of
managing time is setting priorities. You can afford to devote sever-
al hours to gaining control of your time and your life. Once you do,
you will be happier and more productive.
In which activities do you spend most of your time while at
work? Are you really completing work most of the time and taking
advantage of the hours available to you? Or does much of the day
pass with only spurts of work being completed? What do you do
during the time that you are not working?
One way you can answer these questions is to keep track of your
time by creating a time journal in which you record everything that
you do in the course of each workday over a two-week period. This
time frame is necessary to allow you to record and analyze both daily
and weekly activities. Periodic tasks, those that must be completed
weekly or monthly, should be noted in separate areas of the journal.
In some jobs, each day is relatively the same. In this case, you
can simplify your journal greatly by setting up a chart with
columns that are headed by the usual tasks in a day. If your daily
tasks vary and if you have specific weekly and monthly responsi-
bilities, you should take a different approach to examining your
workday. Rather than arranging the day according to tasks, view
your day according to one-hour increments and identify the activ-
ities completed within each increment.
for you to balance your work and family obligations, for example, flextime
might appeal to you. Find out if this option is available at your company.
If it isn’t, you might consider presenting a proposal suggesting that your
company institute a flextime option.
C R E AT I N G AN ITI N E RARY
I had just begun a project with a freelance editor who had a very
busy and erratic schedule. She would often be away from her
phone—usually at unpredictable intervals. I had a more consistent
schedule, so I decided it would be easiest if I contacted her first,
letting her know when I took my lunch, and when I had my week-
ly meetings. She called me back at a time I had suggested, and
let me know how appreciative she was that I had let her know my
schedule. It saved a great deal of time, and got our working rela-
tionship off to a great start!
MANAG I N G YO U R TI M E S P E NT S O C IAL I Z I N G
Once you know when and where you are most likely to
become distracted, plan to remain alert to those situations. First
of all, you will have to convince your coworkers that the change
in your attitude toward work is serious and permanent. This
may be hard, because people are creatures of habit and they may
have some difficulty accepting the change, especially if they feel
guilty about their own behavior at work.
You should assess your relationships and divide your cowork-
ers into categories, according to their importance to your life.
Three possible categories follow: (1) People whom you gen-
uinely like and with whom you have developed an emotional
22 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
relationship; (2) People whom you like but who have little or no
impact on your life; and (3) People whom you could gladly do
without.
Focus on maintaining a solid work relationship with people in
categories 1 and 2, and use your newfound dedication to orga-
nizing your life at work to eliminate the people in the third cat-
egory. Let the people who count know what you are doing. You
must communicate your goals if you expect their cooperation.
Finding the words to let others know that you have changed
is not as hard as you might think. Be honest. If you are tired of
rushing through your work and of leaving long after the day
should end, say so. If you have an especially stressful project due,
or if you feel that your work performance has held you back
from promotions, admit this as well. Once your coworkers know
that you have specific goals, they will be less likely to take your
new behavior personally. In fact, you might be surprised to see
how supportive they will be of your efforts.
Not everyone, however, will applaud your change of heart.
You should also be ready to meet resistance, which might simply
result from the desire to continue a friendly relationship with
you and not a deliberate attempt to sabotage your new effective-
ness. In this case, be kind but firm in dealing with the person.
Offer options for socializing during lunch or after work, but do
not let sympathy for a coworker’s problems or repeated dilem-
mas keep you from proceeding with your newly developed sense
of organization at work.
calls and voice mail, both fax and e-mail provide you with hard
copy to read, study, and keep. The technology helps you orga-
nize your communications on your own schedule, because you
can respond at your convenience. You also avoid the lost time
involved in waiting for the mail—even express mail—to arrive,
and your schedule is not disrupted by having to wait for a tele-
phone call.
Extensive as the advantages may seem, faxes and e-mails are
not an appropriate means of communication in all instances. Do
not send an important document via either fax or e-mail if the
appearance of the original is vital to the recipient’s appreciation
of its value. Business etiquette requires that formal correspon-
dence should be sent in their original condition with the origi-
nal signature.
You should also refrain from sending a letter via fax or e-mail
if your boss has instructed you to obtain a signed return receipt
from the recipient. A fax or e-mail message report is not legal
proof that a person has received your document. The law still
requires an actual signature for such verification.
W H AT C A N F A X M A C H I N E S D O FOR YO U?
The fax machine can save you a lot of time, because you can
complete work on letters or documents late in the day yet deliv-
er them via fax transmission before the business day ends.
Knowing that you have such flexibility permits you to schedule
other, more pressing work that might have to reach the package
shipping counter or the post office before it closes. Your dead-
lines to complete work actually become more generous when
you are able to send a document via fax. Other features, such as
polling and broadcast, can increase your time flexibility and
allow you to plan in advance long tasks that might take up the
better part of a day.
24 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
How much time would you save if you completed a large part of
the busywork of business tasks while sitting at your desk? What if
you did not have to travel to the office supply store to pick up sta-
tionery or supplies? What if you did not even have to sit at your
desk holding the telephone receiver and waiting until a customer
service representative became available to take your order?
G E T TI N G O R G A N I Z E D 25
SUMMARY
GETTING STARTED
K N OW YO U R AU D I E N C E
K N OW YO U R P U R P O S E
N E AT N E S S AND AC C U RACY
Finally, you must remember that when writing for business neat-
ness and accuracy count. This may seem obvious, but often neat-
ness and accuracy get lost in the rush to meet a deadline, to get a
letter out before the end of the day, or to respond quickly. Writing
with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or poor presentation
will undermine your purpose and alienate your audience.
How you present what you say often matters as much as what
you say. Readers will form an opinion of you and your company
simply from the appearance of your document, and this can
make all the difference in how seriously your readers treat what
you have to say.
TYPES OF DOCUMENTS
Now that you have mastered the basic principles of writing for
work, you are ready to apply them to specific types of business
documents. The four basic types are letters, memos, reports,
and proposals.
LETTERS
Business letters can have up to eleven parts. You may not use
all of them every time. They’re listed below in the order in
which they should appear in a letter.
re: line is not mandatory, but it’s very helpful and it’s
almost always used in correspondence regarding legal
matters or past due accounts. The re: line should be no
more than a few words and is usually underlined. It can
range from an account number to several words
describing the letter’s main subject.
5. Salutation. The salutation is the greeting or opening of
the letter. Begin with the word “Dear” and be sure your
salutation properly reflects the formality of your rela-
tionship to the reader. Here are some guidelines for
determining the proper salutation:
a. If you are not on a first-name basis with the reader,
use Mr./Ms./Mrs. and the reader’s last name.
b. If you don’t know the reader’s name, use Sir/Madam,
or use the person’s title (for example, Dear
Sir/Madam or Dear Customer Service Representative).
c. If you know the reader’s name but don’t know
whether the reader is male or female, do not assume
or guess. Use Mr./Ms. ____ or use their first and
last name (For example, Dear Randy Jones:).
Follow the salutation with a colon (:).
6. Body. The body of the letter (your actual message) is
usually single spaced, with double spacing between
paragraphs.
7. Close. This is your “goodbye.” There are several options
for how to close your letter, and again, your close
should reflect the formality of your relationship with
your reader. The following list of closing words and
phrases in order of formality, with the first being the
most formal: Very truly yours, Yours truly, Sincerely
yours, Sincerely, Cordially, Best regards or Best wishes,
Regards, Best, Yours.
W R ITI N G FOR WORK 37
Mary Morrison
The Ithaca Community Center
100 Elm Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
Jim Keller
Keller Productions
1200 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
Dear Jim:
Thank you for all your hard work on Ithaca As It Was. We are delighted
with the video, and are looking forward to showing it at our annual Ithaca
Celebration. I have processed your final invoice, so you can expect to receive
payment in two to three weeks. I would also like to arrange for the return of
the material from the Historical Society Archives. Please send the photos by
FedEx using our account number, and, of course, pack them carefully since
they are valuable originals.
Best regards,
Mary Morrison
MEMOS
Memorial Day is just around the corner, and that means it’s time for the
annual company picnic. The picnic will be held this year at Great Falls State
Park on Saturday, May 25. There will be bus service to the park leaving
from the building at 10 A.M. Please sign up if you plan to come by bus. The
sign-up list is posted on the kitchen bulletin board. For all you drivers, the
festivities will start at 11:00.
I’ll send an e-mail later in the week with more information about planned
activities and, of course, food and drinks. Looking forward to seeing you all
on the softball field!
44 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
R E P O RTS
PROPOSALS
exactly whom are you trying to convince? The more specific you
can be about your audience, the better you will be able to deter-
mine the wants and needs of your readers. And the more you
know what your readers want and need, the easier it is to show
how what you want fills their desires or needs.
Next, brainstorm about your purpose. Clearly, your main goal
is to convince. But what exactly do you want to convince your
readers to think or do? Again the more specific you can be the
more convincing your proposal will be.
Once your audience and purpose are clear, the next step is to
clarify exactly how your readers will benefit from doing what
you ask. You know how you’ll benefit from what you want; now
ask yourself how will the reader or the company benefit?
So you’ve told your readers that they will get certain benefits
from agreeing to do what you ask. Why should they believe you?
The answer, of course, is to provide specific evidence for your
claims.
If what you want requires people to give up time, energy, or
money—especially if you want them to spend money—they are
probably going to have reservations or objections to what you
want them to do. And if they are going to have to get approval
from someone else, that person might have reservations and objec-
tions as well. You’re much more likely to convince people if you
acknowledge and overcome their reservations and objections.
Another strategy for effective convincing is to request a spe-
cific action from your reader. You’ve asked for what you want;
you’ve shown readers exactly how they will benefit; now, as you
conclude, tell readers exactly what you want them to do.
Now that you know the basic strategies you can use to con-
vince the reader of your proposal, you are ready to write. There
are many different kinds of proposals, and they can range from
the very complicated to the very simple. Generally, whatever the
kind, proposals fall into one of three categories:
W R ITI N G FOR WORK 49
Now that you can tackle most of the types of writing that you will
encounter at work you are ready to finesse your writing skills.
W R I T I N G C L E A R LY
WRITING WITH ST YL E
Clarity is essential, but clarity alone does not make for a good
workplace writing style. Also important are these three rules for
workplace writing: be concise; use the right degree of formality;
and get straight to your point.
Time is money, and in workplace writing, you can’t afford to
waste your reader’s time by taking too long to convey your mes-
sage. Readers are quickly annoyed by writers who take ten sen-
W R ITI N G FOR WORK 53
SUMMARY
GETTING STARTED
K N OW YO U R AU D I E N C E
Who are the people who will be listening to you talk? Do you
work with them? Are they potential or current customers? Are
they supervisors, or are they the owners of your business? The
more clear and specific you can be about who these listeners are,
the easier it will be to design a message suited to their needs.
Ultimately, you want your audience to understand and accept
what you have to say; the more you can adapt your speech to fit
their needs, the better your chances are for success.
Once you define your audience, you’ll be able to use the exam-
ples, language, and concepts that can best reach them. The fol-
lowing list of questions will help you define your audience.
K N OW YO U R P U R P O S E
K N OW H OW YO U’R E P E R C E IVE D
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
F I R ST I M P R E S S I O N S
L ANG UAG E
Note how precise language makes the second sentence more useful to the
audience than the first.
“Many people in this room will be able to afford the huge amount of
money that an average house costs today.”
versus
“Approximately one out of four people in this room will be able to afford
the $110,000 necessary to purchase a home today.”
VOICE
I worked for years as a high school coach, and decided that I was
ready for a change. I was offered a job as a textbook sales rep,
and I was really excited about the opportunity. As a former
teacher, I knew the material and the market really well, and I have
66 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
B O DY L A N G U A G E
ple in the audience, but rather to vary your eye contact with each
section of your audience.
Another crucial part of facial expression has to do with the
emotions we convey. Studies have found that smiling creates a
favorable impression, that CEOs smile more than other work-
ers, and that smiling can actually make you feel better. Of
course, smiling is not appropriate if you’re discussing the down-
ward trend in sales or the multiple layoffs at your factory, but,
for most occasions, optimism pays off and is contagious.
Body movements and gestures are other important means of
communicating nonverbally. There are basically three important
points to remember when using gestures. First, your movements
have to look absolutely natural. In fact, the more natural you
appear, the more likely you’ll be to connect with your audience.
Second, both your movement and gestures need to coincide
with what you saying. If you’re discussing the three main rea-
sons to support your proposal, then you could use one, two, and
then three fingers to emphasize your point. Third, remember
that there is something a lot worse than not using any gestures,
and that is using too many gestures.
Gestures are most effective when they are so natural that an
audience will look at your presentation in totality, instead of
thinking about your overuse of arm, hand, or body movements.
Use gestures to subtly emphasize the points you are making. Your
audience will be distracted by gestures that are forced and will
remember your waving arms instead of the points you are trying
to make. It’s also very important to avoid distracting mannerisms.
Never twist a paper clip, chew on a pencil, or play with your hair.
Respect others’ space. Each of us has our own territory and
we begin to feel a little nervous if someone gets in our space.
Most people have a personal distance of approximately one
arm’s length before they feel uneasy. Be aware whenever you
interact with someone that you shouldn’t cross personal space
boundaries.
68 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
L I STE N I N G
people don’t listen. That’s fine when it’s your leisure time, but,
when you’re being paid to work, listening is an important skill
that you need to master.
One of the most important things that you can do to improve
the quality of your listening is to have a specific objective or pur-
pose for listening. When you are listening to a customer’s com-
plaint, know that your objective is to solve a problem and
empathize with that person. During your annual evaluation ses-
sion with your supervisor, listen for your strengths and weak-
nesses, and what your boss wants you to do. And when you are
receiving computer instruction, listen so that you will be able to
perform a specific computer task.
Listen with an open mind. When you go into a situation
thinking that you will not learn anything or that you have all the
answers, you are shutting yourself off from effective listening
and learning. Avoid jumping to conclusions about the speaker
and what’s being said. Listen to the total message before you
draw your conclusions. Give a speaker a chance to develop an
argument and substantiate major points. Most people have a
tendency to make snap judgments on the basis of an initial
impression, but it’s in the best interest of you and your business
not to label or stereotype someone after a few minutes.
When you listen to someone, face the speaker and develop eye
contact. Eliminate any external barriers to listening such as a dis-
tracting radio, a blinding light, or a humming computer terminal.
Don’t interrupt people when they’re trying to talk, but do get
into the habit of providing feedback to the speaker. When you
nod your head or provide verbal responses, you are reminding
your speaker and yourself that you are listening. It’s best to use
neutral statements such as “I understand what you’re saying”
until the speaker has completed his or her complete explanation.
Or you can paraphrase something that has been said to make
sure that you fully understand the idea. Withhold your judg-
ments, however, until the other person has completed talking.
70 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
MAKING A SPEECH
O R GAN I Z I N G YO U R S P E E C H
How you deliver your speech is very important, but what you
say is what really matters. A successful speech is one that is well
organized. Even the most confident and entertaining speaker
will not succeed in communicating if his or her speech is hard to
follow. If you organize your speech into a beginning, middle, and
end, you will help your audience understand and remember
what you are saying.
The introduction sets the tone for the rest of the speech. One
recent study indicates that people have a tendency to remember
best what they heard first or last in a speech. Consequently, you
must create an engaging and instructional introduction. When
creating an introduction you need to include two elements.
First, you must include something that entices and interests
your audience to continue listening. Second, you need to
74 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
S U P P O RTI N G YO U R O P I N I O N
COMMUNICATING IN A MEETING
LEADING A M EETING
make sure that water is available. And if there are any other
items (paper, pens, notepads, etc.) that are necessary, don’t
neglect your duty to supply them. Before the meeting, make
sure that the room is clean and the temperature is appropriate.
When the meeting begins (and it must begin on time), intro-
duce new participants, state the purpose, and refer to the agen-
da. As you move through each item on the agenda, adhere to a
preconceived time line so that you’ll complete the meeting on
time. During a meeting, keep the discussion going by asking
questions, paraphrasing unclear comments, and providing back-
ground information that some participants may not have. It is
also the leader’s responsibility to bring participants who digress
back to the topic under consideration.
If a topic comes up that gets your discussion off track, make a proce-
dural suggestion to table the discussion, take the conversation “off-line,”
or put it on an issues chart that will be delegated or assigned for reso-
lution outside of the meeting.
P A R T I C I P AT I N G IN A M EETING
relationships that have been very helpful. When I call to ask how
a particular product is doing in their region I always get a quick
call back and a thoughtful answer.
SUMMARY
GETTING STARTED
D ETE R M I N E YO U R O BJ E CTIVE S
Once you’ve come up with some objectives, put them into the
order that you think they should be researched. Not all of the
questions on your list will be worthy of an out-and-out research
effort. It’s likely that some can be easily answered, perhaps sim-
ply by contacting the owners of some of the shops that sell your
cards. Be sure you identify the primary objective, and list the
secondary objectives in order of relevance and importance.
SET A T I M E TA B L E
Now that you are ready to get started, you should get busy
and set up a schedule, or timetable, for your research. A
timetable is nothing more than an estimate of how long each
part of your research will take. Leave yourself a little margin for
error, because there’s no way to know exactly how long it will
take to complete each step.
If you’ve been given some breathing room on your project,
consider yourself lucky. You can make yourself a comfortable
working schedule and conduct your research on your own
terms. If you’ve been given a specific amount of time to complete a
research project, then you’ll have to work within those parameters.
90 THE COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL
That will take careful planning, and will limit your flexibility
somewhat. But, regardless of whether you have a set amount of
time to complete the research, or whether you can take as long
as you want to, it’s to your advantage not to drag out the project.
To keep things organized and on track, you should make some
sort of timetable chart.
Completing such a chart and having it in front of you will keep
you organized and, hopefully, on schedule. Remember, there is no
exact science to setting a timetable, but, it will give you an idea of
what you need to accomplish and when.
Now that you are really ready to dig into your project, you need
to find the information you are looking for. There are many
research methods, but there are five tried and true places to find
information that can answer most research needs.
L I B RARY
If your company has a library, take a walk down the hall and see
what’s available. You could have a wealth of information only a
floor or two away, just waiting to be examined and used. If you’re
heading for the public library, make sure you know how to make
your time at the library the most productive.
Your first stop at the public library should be the reference
department. There, you’ll find a wealth of information, and usual-
ly some very knowledgeable librarians to help you locate what you
need. The reference section of a library typically contains all sorts
of directories, giving you information on everything from church-
RESEARCHING AT WORK 91
THE INTERNET
If you can’t get to the library there are several library sites on-
line that can be very useful. A great place to access information
about nearly any topic is The Research Zone’s Electric Library. A
user simply types in some keywords or a question and the Electric
Library searches its database of 150 full-text newspapers, hun-
dreds of full-text magazines, two international newswires, and
2,000 classic books. It also contains hundreds of maps, thousands
of photographs, and major works of literature and art.
The information is updated daily through satellite transmis-
sions, and the Electric Library is a quick and reliable means of
information. Materials accessed through the service can be
printed, or copied and saved into a word processing document.
However, there is a subscription fee for the Electric Library.
Find the Electric Library at www.elibrary.com.
Other library sites include the Library of Congress website,
which contains a great assortment of photos, video and sound
clips, and documents about nearly everything imaginable. Find it
at http://www.loc.gov. Another is Library Spot, which contains
all the references you’ll ever need in one location. Find it at
http://www/libraryspot.com.
Also, see the resource section at the end of this book for some
guides to conducting business research on the Internet that will
give you many more useful research sites. Some examples of
other types of sites that you will find on the Internet include
company websites, on-line editions of newspapers, sites dedicat-
ed to financial news, and so on. One thing to remember when
researching on the Internet is to be careful about your sources.
There is a lot of information available on the Net, but it isn’t all
up-to-date or accurate. Be sure you use reliable sources and try
to confirm information whenever possible.
RESEARCHING AT WORK 95
INTERVIEWS
S U RVEYS
FOCUS GROUPS
—ABRAHAM, WRITER
When the designated time for the focus group discussion has
ended, the moderator must end the conversation. Be sure to
thank participants for their help, and tell them how much you
appreciate their sharing the comments and opinions. After par-
ticipants have been paid and have left the site of the focus group,
there are a few things you should do.
SUMMARY
ETIQUETTE
W H AT TO WEAR
without a tie, are now acceptable work attire. You can still have
your own style, but you’ll fare better if you dress to impress the
people who make the decisions.
Not dressing professionally can be a costly mistake. For
example, a manager who wears a t-shirt and jeans when even his
subordinates save their jeans for the weekend will undermine
his authority and send a message that he does not take the
workplace seriously. The price of dressing inappropriately may
be that you don’t get the promotion you covet or the raise you
deserve. Even worse, you’re often the last to know what is hold-
ing you back. Most bosses who will readily point out problems
related to your work will be reluctant to tell you that your style
of dress is inappropriate for the workplace.
Companies that still conform to traditional business attire
often permit the wearing of casual clothes on Fridays. However,
these offices may have a host of unwritten rules about what’s
acceptable. Casual Friday does not necessarily mean that you
can wear to work what you wear around your house or on the
weekend. In some offices, casual Fridays are just as competitive
as any other workday. For this reason, it is a good idea to wear
regular office dress the first few weeks on a new job so you can
get an idea of what your office considers “casual.”
OFFICE R E L AT I O N S H I P S
When you are having a problem with a coworker, address the problem
with them directly and before it permanently affects your work relation-
ship. For example, maybe you feel your coworker is not pulling her
weight and her long coffee breaks are becoming increasingly irritating.
Instead of stewing about it and watching the clock while she flips
through her magazine, try talking to her about the problem. You might
find that she is more than eager to work but simply didn’t know what she
should be doing. Even if she doesn’t appreciate having her break reined
in, you will at least have aired your grievance and have grounds to go to
your supervisor if the problem is not resolved.
You’ll not only want to respect the boss but also make sure he
or she respects you. This is the key to getting interesting and
important work assignments, to say nothing of raises and more
responsibility.
Respect takes time to build, so when you’re new on a job,
remember that it won’t come immediately. In many offices, you
will encounter an invisible barrier that holds you back until your
prove yourself—or until you’re off probation. Smart bosses
know better than to get chummy with new employees before
they have proven their worth. They hold something in reserve
because they know they may have to fire that person.
For your first few months in a new job, therefore, assume that
your boss doesn’t trust you. Your boss will be watching your
work habits to see whether you arrive at work on time, whether
you’re willing to stay late when necessary, whether you’re a team
player, and how well you do your work—in short, whether
you’re the kind of employee he or she wants to keep on the team
and possibly take up through the ranks.
You need to earn a boss’s respect on two levels. The first is the
nitty-gritty everyday level, where you simply show that you are
a good worker and take your job seriously. The second is a high-
er level that will make you look like someone who should be
given added responsibilities and promotions. To earn this kind
of respect,
TEAMWORK
TEAM ROLES
Not all team member roles are positive. Task inhibitors exhib-
it task-oriented, team-subverting roles. They can act against
their teammates in many ways: some openly exhibit behavior
that stifles unity and teamwork, while others subtly stir up dis-
content. The following list describes several task inhibitor roles.
C O M M U N I C AT I N G E F F E C T I V E LY IN TEAMS
not only give energy and higher self-esteem to those who receive
it, it will also serve to legitimize the negative feedback.
Assertive communication is another important tool in team
communication. Not to be confused with aggressive behavior,
assertive behavior implies that you respect the same rights of
others to assert their point of view and express their opinions
and emotions. Aggressive communicators don’t care about the
feelings or rights of others; they just want to get their point
across and will do so at any cost.
Assertive communicators respect the rights of others to
express their feelings, opinions, needs, and desires and their
right to seek change in other’s behavior if it is deemed destruc-
tive. Their comments and criticism are confined to behaviors
and attitudes and are not made as attacks on the individual. The
following steps will help you to develop your skills as an
assertive communicator.
R E S O LV I N G T E A M C O N F L I C T
LEADERSHIP
TEAM LEADERSHIP
Team leaders need to guide their teams to the point where the
members can work cohesively together to accomplish shared
goals. Since most workplace teams are set up for a purpose, it is
the leader’s ultimate responsibility to make sure that the team’s
purpose is realized.
In order for people to be effective team leaders, they should
possess certain traits. They should be:
SUMMARY
You have the skills you need to excel at your job. You’re orga-
nized, you communicate effectively, you can research your way out
of any problem, and you understand how to work well with oth-
ers to your advantage. Now you’re ready to take your career to the
next level.
There are two important skills that will help you move ahead:
problem solving and networking. Finding creative solutions to
everyday problems and knowing how to implement them is a skill
that gets you noticed. Making connections with the influential
people in your workplace and in your field will put you in touch
with opportunities that will help you advance. Once you’ve put
yourself in a position to move ahead, you’ll need to know how to
make the move, either within your company or outside.
136 THE COM PLETE PROFESSIONAL
PROBLEM SOLVING
It’s one thing to know that there’s a problem. It’s another thing
altogether to be able to identify exactly what the problem is. All
too often we fail to solve our problems because we come up with
a solution for the wrong problem. The key to accurately stating
the existing problem is twofold: first, make sure your problem
statement is a statement of fact, not opinion; and, second, make
sure your problem statement is manageable.
Now that you have defined the problem, established your goals,
and created a two-part problem statement, you are ready to find
your solution.
G E T TI N G A H E A D AT WORK 139
A N A LY Z I N G THE PROBLEM
Once you’ve answered your questions and gathered all the rel-
evant facts, it’s time to summarize the problem so that you can
begin working on your solution. To summarize, simply restate
the current situation and the desired solution, and then list the
key facts that you discovered in your research.
D E V E L O P I N G Y O U R P R O B L E M - S O LV I N G D I S P O S I T I O N
FINDING A SOLUTION
E V A L U AT I N G Y O U R S O L U T I O N
Now that you have found the best solution and checked to
make sure your reasoning is sound, you are ready to implement
your solution. Create an action plan. There are six steps to cre-
ating an effective action plan:
When you have created your action plan you are ready to pre-
sent your solution. Unless you are your own boss, you will usu-
ally have to get support—either in terms of time, money, people,
or approval—for your solution. Here are some methods to help
you present your solution so that you get the support you need.
146 THE COM PLETE PROFESSIONAL
NETWORKING
W H AT I S N E T W O R K I N G ?
In its basic form, a network is the people that you know and
the people that they know. Think of it as a web, with strands
G E T TI N G A H E A D AT WORK 147
HOW TO B U I L D YO U R N ET WO R K
MOVING UP
M OVI NG U P WITHIN Y O U R C O M PA N Y
review the facts. It will set the stage for your request.
• Justify your ability to do the job. Explain how you will be
able to meet the requirements of the new position, and
demonstrate that you know what the new job entails.
• Have someone in mind who can take over your old job.
Perhaps someone you’ve been working with is also ready
for a promotion. Or perhaps there’s someone in your net-
work who would be perfect to fill your shoes.
• Don’t be presumptuous. Don’t claim that you’re the best
person for the job; you may only remind the boss that you’re
not the most obvious candidate. Similarly, don’t criticize the
other candidates; you don’t want to appear to be questioning
your boss’s judgment.
• Leave the door open for future negotiations. If your boss
says that she doesn’t think this position is right for you,
let her know that you respect her judgment and that you
hope she will consider you for advancement in the future.
You may also want to ask her what will help you become
more promotable.
Once you have started a job search, you will need to figure out
how you will balance it while working at your current job. It is
always difficult to find the time to look for one job when you’re
gainfully employed at another, but it certainly is less stressful
from a financial point of view. Do not let your job-hunting
efforts distract you in any way from your responsibilities at your
present job. Similarly, do not use company time or supplies to
job-hunt. More specifically, you must be careful to follow sever-
al rules:
SUMMARY
The first step in getting ahead is first to do the best job you can
in your current position. Develop your skills such as staying
organized; writing, communicating, and researching for work;
working with your boss; teamwork; and leadership. These skills
will help you stand out as a valued employee. Working on your
problem solving skills will make you stand out as a person who
is creative and resourceful.
In order to become a problem solver you must first define the
problem by creating a two-part problem statement. Next you
should adopt a problem-solving disposition. This means having a
positive attitude, being observant, asking questions, and sparking
your creativity by being open to new ideas and perspectives, and
unafraid of making mistakes.
When you are ready to work on the solution to your problem,
it is time to brainstorm, that is, freely generate ideas without
censoring yourself. When you have come up with a number of
solutions evaluate them to determine which one is the best
answer to your problem. Check your solution to make sure you
haven’t made an error in your reasoning. Finally, present your
solution by taking your audience through your problem-solving
process.
Networking is another important skill that will help you get
ahead. A network is the group of people that you know and the
people that they know who can help you, and who you can help,
professionally. Building a network is an ongoing process that
requires being open to new people, maintaining ties with the
people you have met, and keeping organized records of contact
information. An active network can be rewarding both person-
ally and professionally.
Finally, when you are ready to move on from your current posi-
tion you have two options. You can ask for a promotion within
your company or you can begin a job search. You can ask for a
G E T TI N G A H E A D AT WORK 159
promotion and get one if you prepare and present a strong case
to your supervisor. Looking for a job while you have a job can be
awkward but you can handle it successfully if you proceed with
tact and discretion. After all, every employee wants to advance,
and your employer will probably respect your decision to move
on if he or she cannot offer you increased responsibility.
C O N C LUS I O N
As we’ve said, you’ve not only learned specific skills, but you’ve
also learned some general tools and ways to approach any prob-
lem that will be invaluable to you. When you think about your
career you can apply these skills to move your career in the right
direction. First, define your career goals. Before you forge ahead,
take some time to analyze your current job. What aspects of
your job do you like and what don’t you like? Think about your
interests, both at work and outside. When you have identified
your likes and dislikes, you can start looking for ways to match
your career with what really interests you.
You also need to think about where you want your career to
take you. In five years, where would you like to be? Do you want
to be running your own business? Do you want to be the head
of your department? You should also think about your long-
term personal goals. Do you want to buy a house, and if so when
and where? How do you want to balance your family life with
work? At what age do you plan to retire? The answers to these
questions can help you think such issues as about how aggres-
sively you want to pursue your career goals and how important
salary is to you.
Of course these are just some general thoughts about defining
your career goals. The resource section of this book will point
you to some excellent books and websites that will help you dis-
cover the job that’s right for you. The point is that you need to
think about where you want to be and what you want to be doing
in order to get your career moving in the right direction.
P UT TI N G I T A L L T O G E TH E R 165
We all have the ability to find a job that we find satisfying and
challenging and to be our best in that job. When you are in a job
that matches your interests and that is helping you meet your
life goals, you will find that you are eager to do the job as well as
you can. The skills that you’ve learned in The Complete
Professional will help you maximize your potential. Knowing that
you have these skills will give you confidence, and confidence is
a quality that marks every successful professional.
When you approach your job with the confidence that you
can do it well, you will find that confidence breeds success. The
complete professional knows that with careful planning, deter-
mination, and good attitude any problem that he or she faces in
the workplace can be solved. The complete professional knows
how to negotiate the challenges of today’s workplace and is pre-
pared to maximize his or her potential. We hope that reading
and studying this book has prepared you to be a complete pro-
fessional with all the skills you need to achieve your career goals
and to make your work a satisfying and successful experience.
RESOURCES
GENERAL
ORGANIZATION
WRITING
The 100 Most Difficult Business Letters You’ll Ever Have to Write,
Fax, or E-mail, by Bernard Heller (HarperBusiness, 1994).
American Business English, by Karen H. Bartell (University of
Michigan, 1995).
Basics of Business Writing (Worksmart Series), by Marty Stuckey
(AMACOM, 1992).
Better Letters: A Handbook of Business and Personal Correspondence,
by Jan Venolia (Ten Speed, 1995).
Effective Business Writing: A Guide for Those Who Write on the Job,
by Maryann V. Piotrwoski (HarperCollins, 1996).
Improve Your Writing for Work, 2nd edition, by Elizabeth Chesla
(Learning Express, 2000).
RESOURCES 169
COMMUNICATION
RESEARCH
GETTING AHEAD
SOFTWARE
E J
e-mail, 24 jargon, 50
editing and revising, 32-33 job searches, 151-157
etiquette, 107-112
eye contact, 66 K
knowing your audience, 56-57
F
facilitator, 120 L
fax machines, 23 labeler, 122
files, assessing the file system language, work communication, 62-64
in place, 9-12 leadership qualities, 128-132
flextime, 13 leading a meeting, 78-79
focus groups, 100-104 letters, 35-38
professional moderators, 101-104 sample business letter, 39
free rider, 121 libraries, 90-92
Library of Congress, web sites, 94
G Library Spot, web sites, 94
getting ahead, 163 listening, 68-70
analyzing the problem, 139-141
INDEX 175
W
websites, 25
bookmarks, 26
and business research, 93-94
Library of Congress, 94
Library Spot, 94
work communication
body language, 66-67
first impressions, 61-62
knowing your audience, 56-57
listening, 68-70
making speeches, 70-77
and meetings, 77-81
purpose of, 58-59
tag questions, 63
understanding perception, 59-60
using precise language, 62-64