Wisewolf Talking

When your manager won’t talk to you!

Sadly, there seem to be a good number of managers who have problems talking to their staff.  I don’t mean the exchange of every day courtesies like Good Morning and Good Night. Although, there seem to be some who have problems uttering those simple phrases on a regular basis. What I want to talk about here is the manager who doesn’t tell you what she really thinks about your work.

If the manager…

How can managers reduce stress and prevent sickness?

Absences from work happen. There will always be times when staff are unable to attend work due to illness. You will never be able to stop absences from happening but it is possible to help minimise the negative effects that can lead to, cause and sustain staff absences that can stop an employee from returning to work at all.

According to research by AXA PPP healthcare, 23% of employees say they…

5 Tips for Managing People Who Don’t Like Managers

5 Tips for Managing People Who Don’t Like Managers

If everybody were the same, life would become dull pretty quickly. However, there are plenty of managers out there who wish they could pick and choose staff from a standardised ‘worker’ box. Barring complete automation of the workforce, this just isn’t going to happen.

Managers need to be able to handle all manner of people in order to get the…

Time to practice your close reading skills?

I’ve joined a short on-line course from Sheffield University and Future Learn on the literature of the English country house. I’m sure the subject has been chosen with Downton House fans in mind. Simply, I thought it would keep me entertained on lovely, long, summer evenings.

The course started with a refresher on close reading and the lecturer chose a passage from Twelfth Night for us to work…

Why HR has become a prime target for information technology

The basic tasks of human resources departments are similar in most organizations. Staff have to be recruited, evaluated and paid. Their welfare needs must be met and records need to be kept of both their performance and their development, as well as, for example, their sick absence. Track must be kept of personal histories, skills, capabilities, accomplishments and salary. All of this data needs…

Show you can handle ambiguity!

“Ambiguity; the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness.”

Many of us have been educated in environments where what mattered most were the facts. You had to get the facts right. When you needed to make a decision, you gathered the facts and then evaluated them. Great care and attention was given to gathering very precise facts.

In the present world, gathering exact facts…

Your team and that unreasonable deadline!

Are you a good manager? Let us assume you are a confident and competent professional interested in your staff as people. You want to do your very best to help your team succeed in the widest sense. That means not only helping them meet their immediate work goals but developing them beyond so they fulfil their potential. And, if they can, you want your team to feel happy in what they do.

Of…

Do you have an ability to bounce back?

A quality that marks out many successful people is their resilience. They seem to have an outstanding ability to bounce back.

Psychological resilience in about how well you deal with stress, resolve problems and handle misfortune. No one goes through life without set-backs. Issues that test your ability to bounce back can emerge at work or outside. Health problems and financial pressures may…

Danger – Red Light flashing. Toxic Manager About!

How well do you get on with your manager? Easy question really, isn’t it? You would be surprised how many people are not clear about the answer. They don’t know what the manager/team leader/supervisor really thinks about them, or the work they do. Sometimes, this is because they, themselves, lack the communication skills necessary to understand the message the manager is sending. Sometimes, it is…

Talking about difficult issues!

Talking about difficult issues!

Talking to people about difficult issues is best done after careful thought and preparation. At home, you might want to talk to a partner about a change in your relationship. At work, it might be about negotiating a pay rise or dealing with a difficult colleague. Wherever you need to talk about a difficult issue, knowing how to prepare gives you a better chance…

What do I do with the rest of my life? Some thoughts on career planning after “retirement.”

Whether you chose to go or were pushed out, for example, as part of an organizational change, the time after retirement can feel like a yawning open space. Yes, you know these days retirement is supposed to feel like the start of something, and not an ending. But, for many of us, knowing we are expected to make a fresh start is quite daunting.

For some people it seems simple. They have spent…

Change Management Isn’t Just a Work Thing

Lots of us talk about wanting to make a change in our personal lives. We can feel frustrated with things as they are for all kinds of reasons. Some things we know we can’t change – we just have to find a way to accept and live with them. But other things we can change and it helps to know where to start.

Changing the Things You Can!

Having decided what can be changed, the next step is to sort out…

Values and Why They Are Important

This is first post in a short series on values, what are they, why are they important and how to understand your own values. Understanding your own values is key to leading happy and fulfilled life. Knowing them can guide you in deciding the work you want to do and even how you choose a life partner. Understanding them can help you deal with many of the challenges you will meet through life and…

Mid-Career Dilemmas

Many clients come to me for help handling decisions they need to make in mid-career. Usually, they are people who have done pretty well so far and they have at least one promotion under their belts. The junior technician or junior manager has become the trusted professional or senior manager. Now, it is time to think about their next move and they find themselves at a…

We all encounter anger sometimes and encountering angry people at work is particularly difficult. But, you can learn how to calm people down and defuse their anger. Knowing how to defuse anger helps you do your job better and look more competent. It helps you be a better manager.

When you face an angry person at work! We all encounter anger sometimes and encountering angry people at work is particularly difficult. But, you can learn how to calm people down and defuse their anger. Knowing how to defuse anger helps you do your job better and look more competent. It helps you be a better manager.

It can be tempting to let your own emotions take over and become angry…

Are you a manager behaving badly?

Are your anxieties reducing the performance of those you work with?

I’ve been coaching and blogging about career development for a few years now. And there seem to be a number of recurring themes when people talk to me about happiness at work. The most common is “trouble” with boss.

Problems can arise for all kinds of reasons.

Sometimes the person talking to me has had a history of difficulties…

WiseWolf Talking enters 2015

I wish a very Happy New Year to all our readers and I’m very pleased to reassure you that next week, from 12th January 2015, normal service will be resumed.

We’ve taken a long holiday break which has included, not only marking Yule and the turn of the year, but also my marriage which took place on New Year’s eve . (No excuse then for forgotten wedding anniversaries.)

Now, it is time to return to…