The IT Girls Coach

TED said it best:  Listening to stories widens the imagination; telling them lets us leap over cultural walls, embrace different experiences, feel what others feel. Elif Shafak builds on this simple idea to argue that fiction can overcome identity politics.

“Stand by Me” performed by musicians around the world

From the award-winning documentary, “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music”, comes the first of many “songs around the world” being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe.

Order the CD/DVD Playing For Change “Songs Around The World” now at amazon.com!

2008 - 2010

By Krissy Jackson

People are not content to read your website anymore. They want to see you and hear what you have to say. The great thing about these videos is that not only are you putting them out into the world to do their viral best; but you can distribute them on your websites and blogs, use them in your networking postings to strengthen an argument and add them to social networking sites. This is re-purposing at its very best!

Read full article here.

As part of your personal branding efforts it is a good idea to write articles about topics that support your career strengths, and to post them on online article banks.

When you have written an article it is very thrilling to find that others have reprinted it on their websites and blogs and in their newsletters, especially when you see that your article has been translated. When you add your articles to article banks, people are welcome to do this, however there is a rule, they must also reprint the ‘authors bio’ box in full too.

Do, be sure to check once in a while to make sure your intellectual property is not being stolen. Simply drop in the URL of the page your article is published on into the tool on this page: http://www.plagiarismchecker.com/url and any and all reprints will come up.

If your article is being plagiarized, contact the perpetrators and insist that they either add your bio or take your article down. If they ignore your request, you can, and should report them.

For more information about this and for great marketing ideas attend my next weekend seminar - where in one weekend we will take you from where you are now, to having a full page of Google hits, at least one article published online, and you presenting a topic of your choice live on Youtube!

Email: assistance(at)itgirlscoach.com to find out if you are eligible for this course.

By Krissy Jackson

Below is an excerpt from a paper I wrote recently on Managing Interpersonal Conflict in the Office if you would like a copy, please email my office at: info(at)talltreescoaching.com

Incivility

It is not just blatant bullying that is causing distress in today’s workplace; incivility is rife according to Pearson et al. (1990:55) who conducted a study in an effort to understand just how much performance was affected by incivility. The effects were even worse than they had suspected, “48% intentionally decreased work effort, 47% intentionally decreased time at work, 38% decreased work quality, 80% lost work time worrying about an incident, 63% lost time avoiding the offender, 66% said their performance declined, and 78% said that their commitment to the organization declined”…

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Tonight a client complained to me about the fact that she is unable to get any work done because people are always interrupting her. I asked her if she had ever considered putting a ‘do not disturb’ sign on her desk.

“I couldn’t do that” she replied in horror, “what would people think?”

I replied that someone we both know has a sign that she puts up on her office door when she does not want to be disturbed.

“Well that is o.k,” she replied, “she has an office.”

Huh, I said, “I wonder what makes it o.k. For someone who already has the protection of 4 walls and a door, to say they do not want to be disturbed, but it is not alright for someone who has only a desk or a cubicle, when they are in fact much more vulnerable to having their work disrupted?”

She is still thinking about that, so in the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

~ Krissy

Any parent who keeps their children away from computers these days is doing them a grave dis-service, this little girl is not that unusual, and it is people like her who will shape our future.

You can read more about her on BNET

As a coach, working with clients who have been/are being bullied, and helping bullies to change their ways is just one of the things I do, when working with executive clients.

It is important to realize that bullying can take many forms:

* Having information withheld that affects your job performance - includes being excluded from business meetings and lunches
* Being exposed to an unmanageable workload - includes being given tasks with unreasonable/impossible deadlines
* Being ordered to do work that is humiliating or well below your level of competence
* Being yelled at and being repeatedly reminded of your errors or mistakes.
* Having your work stolen
* Having your opinions ignored or ridiculed
* Having your work excessively monitored
* Being humiliated or ridiculed with regard to your work
* Having insulting or offensive remarks made about you
* Having gossip and rumors spread about you.
* Dealing with passive aggressive behavior from colleagues
* Dealing with colleagues who put you down in order to elevate themselves.

Bullying can also cause people to feel physically sick, so is a contributor to sick days. If you dread going in to work on Monday mornings there is a good chance you are being bullied at work.

As you can see bullying takes on all kinds of guises and can be administered by all kinds of people, not just managers or supervisors. There is a lot being written about this topic as companies are beginning to realize just how this kind of behavior is affecting their bottom line.

If you are being bullied and feel powerless to do anything about it, get in touch with me and lets discuss your options. You do not have to live your life like this.

~ Krissy

Still not sure if you are being bullied or not? -read the following excellent article on Forbes.com:

In pictures, 10 signs you are being bullied at work.

Easter is upon us, and I wanted to send greetings with those of you who celebrate this holiday. I also wanted to reach out to those of you who don’t. I wondered how I might do this, and I finally decided that the best way would be to share a personal story.

I am not sure how religious I am. Now in my 40’s I am still trying to work that question out, mostly without much luck.

But Easter is special for me, and I thought today I would tell you why.

When I think of Easter, I can immediately smell hot cross buns.

I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere in New Zealand, and we did not go to church that often, mainly because church was a tiny chapel in a nearby village and there were only services for Christmas, Easter, Weddings and Christenings.

I will never forget Easter Sunday though. We would dress in the morning, dad would find an excuse to disappear and the rest of us, my mother, me, my brother, and my two younger sisters would go to Church.  When we got home my mother would make hot cross buns. If we were good, and I hope, washed our hands, we could put the crosses on the buns.

Read full article here.

“If there’s one big workplace lie that any new manager should wise up to fast, it’s “There are no office politics here.” Higher-ups may do their best to discourage gossip and to foster a schmooze-free meritocracy, but let’s be honest: There’s no workplace on the planet where fostering good relationships isn’t key to getting things done”.

And now that you’ve become a boss, it’s even more important that you “get” the political environment of your office and learn how to work effectively with higher-ups, peers, and direct reports. Here are five lessons Elaine Pofeldt and Adriana Gardella suggest you master in your first 90 days

Read full article here.