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Showing Appreciation to Workplace Un-Sung HeroesMillions of Un-Sung Heroes are born every minute! They are found everywhere-on street corners, in our homes, offices, and communities-wherever there are people in need of rescue. These special people, whose positive actions and initiatives are performed to benefit others, are not famous or in the news for what they are doing; but their efforts affect, enrich and touch countless lives. Every business has these Un-Sung Heroes. They are the receptionists, secretaries, and administrative professionals we rely on daily to keep the wheels of corporate America turning. The role of the office professional has changed significantly as reliance on technology and office automation has increased. Downsizing or organizational restructuring has led secretaries and administrative assistants to assume a wider range of new responsibilities that were once the property of management and senior professional staff. How to Identify the Un-Sung Heroes in Your Office Un-Sung Heroes are easy to recognize, but just in case you can't find them in your office, here is a simple way to help you spot their contributions. If you were able to spot at least one of these behaviors, you have caught a glimpse of a real live Un-Sung Hero. Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to show your appreciation for all their efforts and hard work. Every April, we celebrate National Administrative Professionals Week, which was originally created in 1952 as National Professional Secretaries Week to emphasize the importance of secretarial work and to encourage more women to become secretaries. Included in this week-long celebration is National Secretary's Day-a special holiday to honor, acknowledge and express appreciation for secretaries throughout the United States. Over the years as men became secretaries, the role changed significantly to that of an administrative support function. As a result the name changed to Administrative Professional's Day. It is customary to give a politically correct gift (cards, gift certificates, flowers, etc.) or to take the administrative professional to lunch. However, don't wait for the next holiday to acknowledge the many contributions your Un-Sung Heroes make. Going forward, develop a positive recognition habit and commit to finding at least one thing each week you can do to thank your administrative professional. Althea DeBrule, entrepreneur and seasoned human resources executive, has focused for more than 30 years on helping people achieve their career goals. Creator of The Extreme-Career-Makeover? and a founding partner of RADSGroup Organizational Consultants, she is recognized for her bottom line and practical application of career development and management strategies in a way that penetrates hearts and compels action. She speaks and teaches with inspired talent, humor and contagious zeal at management conferences and leadership retreats nationwide, and has been featured in CFO Magazine, Strategy@Work, Human Resource Executive Magazine. Althea is the author of Bosses & Orchards, a compelling and candid book about how to make your work relationship with your boss succeed. To discover how you can take your career to a new level, visit http://www.extreme-career-makeover.com/ |  | | | RELATED ARTICLES Dissatisfied With Work? Perhaps Its You Just about every month, there's a new research report detailing the seemingly higher and higher degree of worker dissatisfaction. Whether it's a Gallup poll or a Conference Board report, the results are strikingly similar -- workers are becoming more and more dissatisfied with their work. The Case For Internships America may be the Land of Opportunity, but this is also the land of the Big Trade-Off. Sure, you can have that nice house, but you're going to have to become a mortgage slave to keep it. You can drive that fancy sports car, but you'll have to fork over an insurance premium as hefty as the GNP of some Third World nations. In the Bible it says, in life, if you want honey, you get bees with stingers. For anything worth having, there's price to pay. Negotiating Skills: How to Obtain the Salary You Want Salary negotiating is an important topic that must be addressed prior to your initial interview with a prospective employer. Knowing your bottom rate, and being able to live with it [or on it?] is an important thing for candidates to uncover before the first interview. Why then do so many of us make the tactical mistake and go to the interview unprepared? Booster & Drainers Like huge anchors on cruise ships, other people can hold you down. Not intentionally, but their negativity impacts you. It's hard to be winning at working when you're anchored in place. It's hard to see the next great idea and enthusiastically embrace it, when you're feeling a sticky heaviness. And it's hard to think creativity when you're feeling empty. Like a balloon with air pouring out, deflated and flat at the end, I hung up the phone, drained. For the most part I'd offered a supportive ear with occasional contributions of asked for advice. Several days in a row, he called or stopped by my office, with a second, and a third, and a fourth verse of the same song. After each encounter, my energy felt zapped. It got to the point where Jay's presence alone started my energy leaving, replaced with an empty heaviness as if his negative energy was seeping into me. It took me awhile to figure it out, but Jay was an energy drainer. I've learned over the years, if I spend too much time around people with negative energy to share, my optimism, and enthusiasm for work (or life) are adversely affected.     You may know people in your own work life who hold you down, zap your enthusiasm, cheer you into self-destruction, and occupy so much of your time and energy that you can't offer the best you to anyone, including yourself. And you know people who do the opposite. My solution? Use that feedback. Spend less work time with the drainers, and more time with people who offer you an energy boost. Once you've identified how it feels to be around energy boosters, look to fill gaps, especially on work teams, with people who bring positive energy to a meeting, who are fun to be around, whose enthusiasm and positive approach lifts your spirits, enhances your creativity, and adds to your work life. Find and stay close to these energy boosters. I use a simple measurement to identify energy drainers and energy boosters: the laugh factor. The more laughter I find in the process of doing business, the more energy I know is in the room. The more energy in the room, the more gets done. I look for people I can laugh with, have fun with and share ideas with. My work results are better when I'm around people who make me feel energized when I leave them. Yours can be, too. (c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved. Overcoming Inertia in Job Change If you can hold on to an optimistic belief in the possibility of success, you have a very powerful motivator of change. But not everyone can, or will need help to do that as some are naturally more optimistic than others.It can be especially difficult to be optimistic if you are feeling a little hurt or bruised following redundancy, but even when you know you need the change it can be difficult to get going. Just take a look at the stages: Kill the Hype She was waiting for me when I returned from a meeting. Standing outside my office door, I could tell by her downward glance, Jodie was not there to give me good news on the project. Despite her confident, enthusiastic and definitive style, she failed to deliver what she had pitched. It was not the first time. Rich Career, Poor Career What makes for a rich career? It is more than just the salary and benefits. A rich career is one that suits your talents and provides an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution, as well as one that provides the right compensation. Finding Your Ideal Career In the current climate, many people are looking away from the traditional job market towards working for themselves. The massive redundancies and job-insecurity has caused many people to radically rethink their career plans. With the ever rising cost of living, many would be happy just earning extra money to support their family and to pay the bills. Searching for Jobs Online Searching for jobs online is easier than ever, but also more confusing than ever. Any Internet user doing a job search online will find that they can choose from hundreds of national employment listing web sites and the numbers can often be staggering. When performing on online job search, it is a good idea to choose from an online employment classified web site that allows for regional searching. Localized searches can narrow down employment opportunities so that the job searcher doesn't have to search through hundreds or even thousands of posts in order to locate a handful of listings in an individual's local area. When performing an Internet job search, it is important to keep in mind that not all local employers will post job listings online, but they will post their openings in local newspapers. Most newspapers allow for an online job search in their classified sections if the newspaper is also available for viewing the Internet. Surviving Office Politics It's your first month in a new position and it's rougher going than you'd anticipated. You feel like an outsider and you're miserable. Networking Masterclass - Part 1 - Practicing Empathy Practicing Empathy A vital part of your networking skills is your ability to build rapport quickly and effectively with others. To build rapport successfully with another individual you need to understand 'where' they are coming from and have 'empathy' with them.  People often think of empathy as a mystical commodity, a special, almost uncanny ability to experience the thoughts and feelings of someone else. In fact 'empathy' is quite simply applied imagination and only requires a little exertion and discipline. The next time you are sitting in a room conversing with three or more people, try this very simple activity: Temporarily remove yourself from the conversation. Be very quiet for a few moments. Pay particular attention to the person doing the most talking. Imagine the following things: Imagine the physical sensations the speaker is experiencing. Mentally place yourself in that person's body, sitting or standing in a particular position, eating the same food, drinking the same drink. Mentally become that person. Do you feel energised? Tired? Irritated? Imagine what kind of day the speaker has had - using all your knowledge about the speakers' day. If you know little about the person, guess. Continue to imagine yourself as that person. How does your day colour and affect what you are saying? Imagine the person's relationship's to everyone in the room - including yourself. Continue to mentally be that person. What kind of feelings are generated by the people around you? How do they affect the things you say? Now step back into yourself and rejoin the scene. Does your own role in the conversation feel different?  Empathy, like memory is a creative act, not a mystical property and it requires imagination and practice. It lies within the grasp of all of us. Identity Theft and Your Online Job Search While identity theft is nothing new, the Web has opened up whole new world of opportunity for identity thieves. Nine Ways to Tell Youre Ready for a Promotion So you noticed the new job board posting on your way back from lunch. They finally decided to fill the assistant manager spot in your department! Trouble is, you've only been in your current position for about eight months. There's also been some talk of hiring from outside. Should you go for it anyway? Here are some ways to tell if it's time to power up the corporate ladder. Job Search: Time Management There is an old adage that "Looking for a job is harder than working." How true! The rigors of job search are magnified by the turmoil we experience: lack of self-confidence, humiliation, financial pressure, and the undercurrent of emotions that color all we do: fear, anger, depression, anxiety, loss. Writing Resumes Use a resume as a foot in the door Career Change - Creating Wealth & Happiness Whether you have a business idea or not, here's what I want you to do? Independent RN Contractors Are Taking The Nursing Profession Nurses wake up and take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity. Are you tired of having no input in your career, little money in the bank, lack of respect for your profession and little compensation for the long hours and years of dedication? Independent RN Contractor is a great way to renew your interest and rejuvenate your nursing career. As An Independent Nurse Contractor you will increase your choices as to when, where and how often you work, substantially increase your income and most of all gain professional autonomy. Believe And Get Hired Good things seem to come in bunches, especially in a job search. Ever wonder why? You Are Lucky in Your Career! You Are Lucky in Being Satisfied in Your Career Career Change: A Glittering Invitation To The Emotional Stalkers As much as you are yearning for career-change, and as much as the trends actually favor it, just contemplating a shift is a glittering invitation to four emotional stalkers who love nothing better than to play a nasty game of team-tag at your personal expense. When you unmask these bandits -- even a little -- they begin to lose their emotional charge ? leaving you free to more fully explore the opportunities to re-invent yourself. |
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