Joan Burge's Administrative Blog

I remember sitting in an auditorium and hearing the speaker ask, “How many of you are leaders?” Surprisingly, very few hands went up. What holds us back from thinking of ourselves as a leader? Perhaps it’s the fear of failure or being accountable to ourselves and others. Or is it that if we are the leader we have to know all the answers? Whatever the answer, the reality is we are leaders. The purest definition of a leader is someone who influences others.

Monday Motivator for this week: Did you know star performers think differently? They know that there is a direct relation between their thinking and their action. For example, if they only think about why an idea won't work, then the idea won't work.

Gloria just finished a temp assignment and experienced an awful case of sabotaging by a peer admin who is a lot younger than her and has been with the company for a year. She asks for information on dealing with a saboteur. Gloria said that she noticed this administrative assistant manages upward and is passive aggressive and well connected in the company where she works.

Okay admins, I know you can help with this. Nancy wrote Jasmine a long e-mail for me to answer about how to handle office birthdays. It appears they have already covered the gamut of what to do, but still can't please everyone. Here are some of the things they have done in the past.

Red, green, yellow or blue - which are you? It’s just plain fun to learn about communication styles. But more important than that is you can really have an impact on others when you understand various styles.

This is one question I frequently hear from administrative and executive assistants. I’m sure you many of you have encountered this, so I’d like your advice.

How can you compliment the people around you without them thinking you have a motive for acknowledging them?

Being assertive involves some risk because you aren’t guaranteed of the outcome. You have to be willing to take a chance, knowing the situation may not turn out like you hope it will. However, you will have a better chance of having your needs met with assertive action than by being passive or aggressive.

Many administrative professionals and non-exempt employees ask me about how to be assertive without burning bridges or coming across as aggressive. One admin asked, “Can you provide assertiveness techniques and communication skills that I can put into practice?”

Without a doubt, I’ve never heard anyone say they receive way too much appreciation! On the contrary, employees usually complain about NOT receiving the recognition they think they deserve. There are several reasons why people are hesitant to compliment someone on a job well done. Instead of focusing on this, however, let’s take a look at why people compliment those around them.