Displaying All Posts by Mark Garrison

5 Smart Routes to Gain Respect in the Workplace

In the minefield of office politics, gaining the true respect of your colleagues, your subordinates and your boss is a true achievement. It can be difficult — but if you succeed — the benefits are numerous. Here are some tips for gaining more respect in the workplace (and in life in general).

1. The Only True Respect Is Mutual Respect

Take a moment and think of a few people that you have respect for. Are any of them people who don’t respect you in return? Or, if they’re people you haven’t actually met in person, are there any that you feel would not treat you with respect if you were to meet them? If you answered “no” (and I hope you did), then I’ll take that as point made. If you answered “yes”, then I want you to think about it again. It’s easy to confuse respect with admiration, envy, or even fear. If the respect isn’t mutual…then it’s one of them in disguise.

2. Practice What You Preach

I once had a job where I supervised 30 or so people in a retail business. My boss used to sit in his office all day, rarely showing his face on the sales floor. He also used to ride me constantly about making sure the staff were productive when it wasn’t busy, but when he made his infrequent jaunts out of his office, he acted like Steve Carell’s character on the TV show The Office (cracking jokes, goofing around and keeping people from their work). I think you can probably guess how much respect he had from his employees: very, very, little. The moral of this story is that if you are a leader, then leading by example builds respect.
Click Here to Read Article …

Popular search terms for this article:

respect in the workplace, mutual respect in the workplace, gaining respect in the workplace, how to gain respect in the workplace, gaining respect, respect in workplace, workplace respect, respect in the work place, respect at workplace, what is respect in the workplace

When Goals Become Counterproductive (And What To Do About It)

Mark Garrison 6th February Goals 3 Comments

Goals, goals, goals. They are the cornerstone of most methods of productivity, and for good reason. They can be great motivators, and they give you a sense of achievement when you reach them. There is a problem that many people unknowingly experience, though, when goals start to get in the way of themselves and start to harm your chances of success.

An Introductory Anecdote

This past fall I began to study kenpo, a martial art not dissimilar to karate. My goals in learning a martial art were to reap physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of the practice itself, as well as to gain solid, useable self-defense skills. When I achieved my yellow belt (the fist level above the beginner’s white belt), I felt more pride than I had anticipated at the achievement. The feeling of achieving this level relatively quickly made me start wondering about how fast I could progress if I added to my training time, and I began to give myself goals of achieving certain belts in certain timeframes.
Click Here to Read Article …

Popular search terms for this article:

when goals are counterproductive, AN EXAMPLE OF COUNTERPRODUCTIVE, long term goals for architecture students, my ultimate achieve goals, problems which arrive while acheiving intermediate goals, skill requiring intermidiate goal, student milestone goals level, things that are counter productive, what are all my goals at work, what is the ultimate goal of an architect

How to Stay Focused, Effective and Stress-Free

Mark Garrison 29th December Productivity 10 Comments

Until recently I was going in to the office to work Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. But over the past few months for a variety of reasons, I’ve slowly cut back my in-office time and now I pretty much only work from home. There are a lot of benefits to this, such as working in my pajamas, making hot lunches and more time with my wife — who also works from home. There are also a lot of challenges including household distractions, a flexibility that leads to procrastination, and household chores and errands somehow manage to take up more of the day than they used to.
Click Here to Read Article …

Popular search terms for this article:

how to stay focused, how to stay stress free, how to stay focus, stay focused, ways to stay stress free, how to remain stress free, how to be stress free at work, staying focused, how to keep focused, staying stress free

Get Promoted Without Working Any Harder

Mark Garrison 27th April Career 8 Comments

This isn’t a get-rich quick scheme. There’s no trickery or deception involved. Believe it or not, promotions and raises are usually made based on perceived competence—the important word being perceived. These tips are not meant to hide incompetence (if that’s your problem you need a whole different article!). These are here to help you show your boss and coworkers how competent you are, and to keep you from accidentally convincing people you aren’t. Click Here to Read Article …

Popular search terms for this article:

how to get promoted quickly, mantra to get promotion, mantra to get promotion in job, not getting promoted, getting promoted at amazon, mantra for getting promotion, mantras for promotion in job, dress to get promotion, working hard to get promoted, how hard is it to get promoted at amazon

How to Give Awesome Customer Service

Mark Garrison 4th November Your Job 12 Comments

We live in a global culture of convenience. The number of options we have as consumers increases every day. So why should they deal with you instead of your competitor? Why should they deal with a real store rather than order online? The best answer you can give to these questions is that you provide great customer service. It’s also the best way to keep them coming back, and get them referring their friends. Here are a few tips to improve your customer service skills.

Click Here to Read Article …

Popular search terms for this article:

awesome customer service, what is awesome customer service, how to give customer service, thanking a customer for their business, how to give good customer service, how to be awesome at your job, how to give awesome customer service, how to give great customer service, importance of calling a costomer by name, awesome customer service tips

How Increased Productivity Can Hurt You

Mark Garrison 23rd September Productivity 16 Comments

A big part of being awesome in the workplace is being highly productive. Any time we can get more done in the same amount of time means greater profitability for you personally and the company you work for. Since profitability is ultimately what business is about, increased productivity is a big focus for any organization. But sometimes the increased productivity isn’t worth it. Below we’ll look at some of the possible productivity pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Click Here to Read Article …

Popular search terms for this article:

how might increased productivity affect career opportunities, increased productivity, how can productivity be improved, how might increase in productivity affect career opportunities, how does an increase in productivity affect business, how productivity can be increased, Productivity can be improved by increasing, Productivity can be increased by, our largest customer was never satisfied always requiring more, what is productivity? how can it be increased