This post is provided by Stansbury Staffing, a women-owned boutique firm committed to providing direct hire, temporary to hire and temporary staffing solutions.  For more information please visit their website at http://www.stansburystaffing.com/.

If you’ve thought that people skills could not be much of an issue in determining your own success on the job, think again. You could be skating on thin ice when it comes to relating to people and yet be unaware that danger exists.

The ten tips that follow will help you build good working relationships with your associates and at the same time aid you in evaluating what your own assets and vulnerabilities are. Another plus to remember: If you possess the interacting abilities that others lack, you’ll be much better off if layoffs come.

Between You and Me…

1. Try hard to resist the temptation to belittle ideas or correct someone in public. If you think someone’s idea lacks merit, tell the person in private. Otherwise, it’s a putdown. Flaunting one’s knowledge is unprofessional and insensitive—not to mention a quick turnoff.

2. Your body language says a lot about you. But what is it telling? Scowls and frowns, or a defensive stance with hands on hips can spell trouble. Why risk that when a simple adjustment to a positive attitude will keep you from falling out of favor?

3. Cutting people off in mid sentence signals that you have already concluded that what they have to say is not important. If you’re guilty of this fault, you need to practice patience and self-restraint. Ask yourself if you’re a courteous listener.

4. When you don’t share another person’s point of view, can you disagree without being disagreeable? Without flexibility, people skills suffer! Do try to express some merit in someone else’s position before you abruptly dismiss it as wrong.

5. Are you ego-centered–testy to the point where you become hostile if someone criticizes your work? Remember, everyone has strengths and weaknesses. So get over yourself. Try hard to suppress that ego, and readily accept constructive suggestions.

6. Do you sense that people don’t listen to you? It could be you have too much to say. Try a role reversal for a minute and ask yourself this: Would you want to be on the listening end of a one-way conversation? Never! So take a good look at yourself and make sure too much chatter isn’t part of what you see.

7. Become a good communicator. Whether you’re speaking to a large group or one-on-one, use good grammar and learn to think on your feet. Articulate clearly and concisely. Shun complex sentences and remember that a good communicator need not use “big” words–orally or written.

8. Win with teamwork! Commit to becoming a part of the team. Contribute ideas and believe in what you have to offer. Respect your team members. Give each of them credit and foster a spirit of cooperation instead of competition. 

9. Give a smile to get a smile. Warm up to people; be friendly. Ask yourself if your co-workers readily approach you. If they don’t, you need to be more outgoing.

10. Invite others’ opinions. Some of the best ideas are yet to be expressed. So ask others what they think. Avoid being a know-it-all and give your associates the opportunity to enlighten you with their thoughts.

The Choice is Yours…

It’s no secret successful companies seek highly-skilled, self-motivated workers with strong interpersonal skills and communication abilities. Yet most people spend more time doing preventative maintenance on their automobiles than they do on their people skills. Don’t you make that mistake.

Consider this: A simple refresher course is most likely all you need to bring your people skills up to snuff–and once you do that, everything gets better!

 

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This post was written by Patricia Robb, author of Laughing All The Way To Work: A Survival Guide For Today’s Administrative Assistant. For more great tips please visit her website at www.secretaryhelpline.blogspot.com.

 Are you prepared?  

I take the bus to work and I often see people getting on a busy bus and then going through their backpack or purse looking for their bus tickets and holding up the line.  I always shake my head when I see that because I think they should have had that ready before they boarded.  They had enough time as they saw the bus approaching, they know they will need it, but time and time again, they are searching for it. 

I like to be prepared and I find life just works better for me at home, work and even on the bus, when I am organized and ready for whatever is coming up.  We really are creatures of habit and I find if I just keep doing it the same way each time, it becomes easier to be prepared.  For instance, I always keep my bus tickets in the front section of my purse so when I am boarding the bus I just reach in and take one out.  I don’t have to think about where they are because they are always in the same place.  I find the same thing at work.  I organize my desk so everything is within easy reach and makes sense to the way I like to work.  Even when I change jobs, the first thing I do is organize my desk so at least that is familiar. 

I just recently organized a Board meeting and it was nice to have everything where I needed it when I was in the meeting.  I didn’t have to look far for it so that makes me more relaxed and able to do what I am there to do — take the minutes.

I also like to know my stuff and not have any surprises.  Every time I use a bus ticket, I keep a mental inventory so I know when I need to buy some more and don’t show up at the bus stop one morning and Oops! no tickets.  The night before I go to a Board meeting, I review all my templates, agendas, binder, attendance sheets and everything I am going to need or might need.  Do I have everything?  This is where a checklist really comes in handy.  Each meeting has some differences, but usually the basics are the same so your checklist can be pre-populated with those things so you can re-use it for each meeting.  I find the best time to think about what I need is when I have a nice quiet time to do that.  Of course that usually doesn’t happen at work so I take about an hour of my home time, but it is well worth it the next day.

Being prepared doesn’t have to be hectic, but can just be a good habit you get into.  Now, I don’t even think about it, I just know what is in my folder because I organize it the same way each time.  Yep, makes my life much easier.

Leave a comment below and…

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If you’re like me, and millions of administrative assistants in the world, you’re probably finding yourself in a very vulnerable predicament. Your company may be scheduled to conduct another wave of layoffs. You question your skills as the flood of qualified candidates hit the discriminating job market. You’re staring at the foreboding cloud of the unknown wondering how you’re going to survive this storm.

How do you stay positive and productive during these times? How do you keep yourself from being overwhelmed by the increasing unemployment numbers being splattered across your tv and computer screens? How do you conquer these fears?

Here’s ONE thing you can do TODAY to take control of your destiny and create your own SECURITY.

Think of the skills you have that may help you earn extra money. What are you good at? What do you like to do? What do you have fun doing? What do your colleagues ask your help for? If you’re stuck, ask your family, friends or colleagues.

EVERYONE’S good at SOMETHIING!

Take an inventory of the skills you have and start drafting ideas on how to market them and earn some extra cash. In the simple act of taking an inventory of your assets and plotting an action plan, you’ll find that your worries and stress have been reduced immensely. Worry and stress find a way of dissolving when you’re absorbed in action. You’ll be cool headed enough to plan your own job security.

I’ll discuss how to take your ideas and turn it into something real on the next blog…in the meantime…

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Remember that your job is to make your boss look good.

You have to use every advantage you can find to communicate your manager’s professionalism, experience and importance. Business letters are not an exception to this rule.

The most common way people undermine their manager’s status is by abbreviating their titles in a letter. Abbreviating someone’s title makes the position look informal and obliterates the weight of its importance and level of responsibility.

Give them their due credit. Write out their full title.

 WRONG WAY:

Joseph Smith, Asst. Mgr.

 RIGHT WAY:

Joseph Smith, Assistant Manager

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This is a great tip for playing sounds (music or narration) across many slides. Whether it’s music or narration, having sound play across your presentation will not only save you time but give your presentation an edge above your competitors.

As always, let us what you need help with. You can receive updates automatically via email by clicking: Subscribe to admins4admins.com by Email

HOW TO PLAY SOUND ACROSS ON MULTIPLE SLIDES

1. Add a sound, if you have not already done so:

2. In Normal view, click the slide to which you want to add a sound.

3. On the Insert tab, in the Media Clips group, click the arrow under Sound.

4. Click Sound from Clip Organizer

5. Click Insert to insert sound clip.

6. Click on the sound icon, and click Custom Animation under Animation Tab.

7. In the drop‐down list of the sound, choose Effect Options. Then the Play Sound interface appears. In the Effect tab, click the radio button beside Stop Playing After XXX slides (which indicates how many slides you want this song to play across) to enter the number of slides you intend to add. For example, you can enter a number from 1 to 999 for this field. Then the sound will play throughout the specified slides.

8. Next, check the settings in the Timing tab. To play automatically, you can set to Start After Previous with a 0-second delay. Click OK to exit the dialog box.

9. Then go to Sound Settings tab, adjust the sound volume as you like. You can also tick to hide sound icon during slideshow if you don’t want it appear. Then click ok.

DOWNLOAD THE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS HERE:

How To Play Sound Across Multiple Slides (PDF)

 Track changes are used in a document if it’s going to be altered many times. This feature allows you to “track the changes” and go back to the original if you need to. It’s a great tool for contracts, memos, announcements etc. Hope you find this tip useful!  

As always, let us know if there are things you need help with. You can receive these updates automatically through email by clicking below:

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DOWNLOAD THE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS HERE:

Word 2007 | How To Insert Track Changes (PDF)

HOW TO INSERT TRACK CHANGES ON A DOCUMENT

1. Click on the “REVIEW” tab on the top of the worksheet.

2. Check that “TRACK CHANGES” is highlighted.

3. Highlight the text you want to change.

4. Type in the new text.

5. These changes will show up in red in the text

6. Highlight the text in which you want to change the format.

7. Choose the new format (in this example we choose “BOLD”).

8. These changes will show up as notes in the margin.

Great tip for creating more space in your spreadsheet is to minimize your ribbon. As you add more data to your spreadsheet, all the space saved is valuable. Try this tip to free up some space!

DOWNLOAD THE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS HERE:

Excel 2007 | Minimize The Ribbon (PDF)

HOW TO MINIMIZE THE RIBBON

1.         Click on the “Customize Quick Access Toolbar”.

2.         Click on “Minimize the Ribbon”.

3.         The ribbon will disappear and give you more room on the screen.  

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This excel tip is useful for common tasks as an administrative assistant. Learn to easily split information across multiple cells in excel. The most common use for this is splitting first and last names, phone numbers, titles etc. Follow the simple steps below and you’ll find how easy it is. The PDF  instructions is a great visual guide if you’re better learning through screenshots. 

As always, let us know if there are things you need help with. You can receive these updates automatically through email by clicking below:

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EXCEL 2007 | SPLIT INFORMATION ACROSS MULTIPLE CELLS

1. Highlight the cells you want to split.

2. Click on the “Data” tab.

3. Click “Text to Columns”.

4. Click “Delimited”.

5. Click “Next”.

6. Check the “Space” box.

7. Clear all other check boxes.

8. Click “Next”.

9. Click a column.

10. Under “Column Data Format” click “Text”.

11. Repeat for the second column.

12. Click on the box next to “Destination”.

13. Highlight the cells where you want the data to appear.

14. Click “Finish”.

DOWNLOAD THE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS HERE:

Split Information Across Multiple Cells (PDF)

This is a really cool trick to help kick your presentation up a knotch. Put a footer in all your slides to give it that edge or send the same message throughout your presentation.

As always, let us know if there are things you need help with. You can receive these updates automatically through email by clicking below:

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HOW TO ADD A FOOTER ON A SLIDE

1. In the Header and Footer dialog box, on the Slide tab, select the Footer check box, and then type the text that you want to appear in the center bottom of the slide. 

2. Select any other options that you want, and then do one of the following: To display footer information on the selected slide only, click Apply.

To display footer information on all of the slides in your presentation, click Apply to All.

DOWNLOAD THE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS HERE:

How To Add Footer To A Slide(PDF)

Pop-ups in your Excel spreadsheet make your document look more alive. Use this quick tip to help spice up your presentation!

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HOW TO INSERT A POP-UP PICTURE IN A CELL

1.        Right-click the cell where you want the pop-up picture.

2.        Click on “Insert Comment”.

3.        Select any text that was automatically added to the comment, such as your name.

4.        Press the Delete key on your keyboard, to delete the text.

5.        Right-click the “comment border”.

6.        Click “Format Comment”.

7.        On the Colors and Lines tab, click the drop-down arrow for Color.

8.        Click “Fill Effects”.

9.        Click the “Picture tab”.

10.      Click on your picture, then click “Insert”.

11.      To keep the picture in proportion, add a check mark to “Lock Picture Aspect Ratio”.

12.      Click “OK, twice”, to close the dialog boxes.

DOWNLOAD THE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS HERE:

Excel 2007 | How To Insert A Popup Picture In A Cell (PDF)