Career Advice: How To Make Gossip Work For You

That headline deserves an explanation, or else you'll think I've taken leave of my senses...or least that I am an off-the-wall contrarian.

Okay, in a perfect world gossipers wouldn't exist, but we all know the world has its imperfections a plenty. Gossip and gossipers are here to stay. Deal with it.

A survey by a research firm known as ISR showed that 63% of U. S. employees get all or most of their information about their companies from "water-cooler talk".

The fact is that every place of employment functions with two channels of communications. One is the official channel. The second is known by various names: gossip, rumors and grapevine.

The official channel is where your employer's version of the goals and procedures of the organization, the rules of the road, if you will, are laid out. The gossip mill is where you hear what your peers think of these plans, along with their assessment of them and those who sent them forth. The rumor mill provides more, ranging from malicious and personal attacks, to harmless chatter about who is flirting with whom, and what's on sale at the local mall.

Separate The Wheat From The Chaff
I don't mean to be cynical, but the conclusion is obvious. Gossip will exist whether you participate or not, and it will include some nourishing wheat along with a lot of worthless chaff. If you are not plugged into the back channel, as well as the official channel, you will be isolated. Therefore, you will not know what's going on in the environment in which you work. If you don't know the score, you cannot succeed.

Here are six steps you can take to separate the outrageous chatter from the meaningful information so the gossip mill works in your favor:

1. Don't waste your time jousting with windmills. Recognize you can't eliminate gossip, even if it is trash; but also know that if you try to shut down the gossip mill you will be cut out of the information loop.
2. Tune out the chatter that deals in personalities, especially the malicious stories that do damage to people and the organization that employs you.
3. Feed positive news into the grapevine at every opportunity.
4. Be alert to gossip about the workplace. Verify it or rule it out.
5. Identify the most active purveyors of gossip. Rank them according to their reliability and interpret their messages for what they are.
6. Confront the originator and set the record straight if the gossip is about you and it is untrue.

Ramon Greenwood, Senior Career Counselor for Common Sense At Work, is a former Senior Vice President of American Express.

10 Ways To Build Your Credibility In The Workplace

Old article but definitely worth posting! Hopes this helps you if you are in need of improving your performance at work.

One of the most important qualities to achieving success in your career is credibility. This is a quality that can take years worth of thoughtful actions to establish and yet can be seriously undermined by a single bad move.

To gain a reputation for personal creditability, integrity is unquestionably a key requirement. To achieve credibility in the business world, you must also deliver. What you deliver and the quality of what you deliver is very important to building your personal credibility.

It is your ability to perform that establishes professional credibility. Being responsible, being a person who can be counted on to get the job done, doing the job well, doing quality work, and doing it on a timely basis will build your credibility.

Keeping your promises is critical to building your credibility. One of the quickest ways to destroy your credibility is to say one thing and do another. Making commitments and not following through them or making promises and not delivering on them are the quickest ways to lose credibility and this can have devastating effects on a business.

For example, an owner or a manager who has lost his or her reputation for credibility among his or her staff will devastate the morale and productivity of the office. An owner or a manager is only as good as his or her credibility or the perception people have of him or her. If you don't have any credibility in your organization, you won't get a whole lot done.

Building your credibility is an evolving process. It's not something you can do overnight. Credibility is something you build gradually over time by having integrity, high ethical standards and doing the right things for your organization and it's customers.

Here are ten ways you can build your credibility:

1. Be yourself. To be credible, you don't have to appear perfect. You should concentrate on and play to your strengths. You want to show what you have to offer, how or why you can be valuable to the organization. It's true that you want to put your best foot forward and present things in a positive light, but you need to be honest, human and not present a plastic image.

2. Act the part. You have to look the part and act the part of a person who has the organization's interests uppermost in his or her mind and is competent in the way you handle yourself and represent the organization. When you do this it automatically builds your credibility.

3. Listen carefully and follow instructions. One of the surest ways to lose credibility is to botch a job due to carelessness. When you are given an assignment, make sure you understand exactly what is expected of you and when it is due. Paraphrase what you are being told, to verify accuracy, and write down the information you are being given, to avoid confusion.

4. Be knowledgeable. At the heart of credibility is being a professional and knowing what you're doing. You must be able to do the job. You can't fake it. When you don't know something, you have to figure out a tactful way of saying, "I don't know that particular computer program. Someone will have to show me the software."

5. Network. There is an old saying along the lines that it doesn't matter if you don't have all the answers, as long as you know the person who does. Having an extensive network of contacts, both in your field and in unrelated fields, is important no matter what profession you're in.

6. Be a problem solver. You will gain credibility by having the reputation of someone who doesn't throw up his or her hands at the sight of difficulty. If you cultivate the attitude that you can conquer any problem, you will cultivate the image of a doer, of a credible and reliable individual.

7. Keep an open mind. Narrow-mindedness will quickly cause you to lose the respect of other people. You need to keep an open mind toward all people. You must also keep an open mind to new opportunities, skills and ways of doing things. That will make you a more flexible and adaptable employee and, in turn, more respected and valued. The more things you are able to do well and the more people you are on friendly terms with, the more esteemed you will be among your colleagues and superiors.

8. Cultivate self-awareness and set goals. Having goals gives your every action a sense of purpose. It conveys to people a feeling that you are someone who is going somewhere, someone not to be ignored, someone with credibility. However, to set clear and specific goals, you must first have self-awareness. You must first determine what is important to you.

9. Speak like a professional. Nothing will cause you to lose credibility faster than speech patterns that are unprofessional, or even worse, unintelligible. Ask your coworkers and colleagues if you use slang? Do you enunciate clearly? Do you speak organized thoughts and full sentences or do your thoughts jump around and your sentences trail off?

10. Look life a professional. Personal grooming plays an important role in shaping your office image. If your appearance is not professional, others will believe that you are sloppy and inept in your work as well. You will be perceived as being credible if you dress in a manner that is standard in your profession and that commands respect.

Every action or inaction contributes to your professional image, whether it's returning telephone calls promptly or implementing a program that will save your company thousands of dollars. Because of this, no detail is too small. The little things are important because they build your credibility. If you don't pay attention to the little things, your credibility is lost.

Copyright©2007 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and success coaching programs [http://www.jlmandassociates.com/coaching.html]. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in career coach training [http://www.jlmandassociates.com/coaching.html]. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing. Joe is the author of three books, Starting Your Own Business, Finding Your Purpose In Life, and The Guerrilla Marketing Workbook.

Effectively Managing Personal Issues at Work

Everyone goes through personal issues of some sort during their lives. Let's face it, when major family/personal issues arise, your time and energy is going to be focused on resolving these difficulties.

You're not a machine, you're human, so accept the realities as they are and don't bristle against them. Beating yourself up will accomplish nothing except low self-esteem something that will only add to already difficult circumstances. Accept the fact that you won't be at your best in the office during this time. Instead of taking the approach to "keep a stiff upper lip", try sharing with people around you. Let them in on the personal issues you're experiencing. Give them an understanding that your situation will require your absence from the office or will take up a lot of your time. Of course there's no need to share specifics unless you want to. Sometimes when you let others know the circumstances, it negates gossip and sets your co-workers' expectations properly. It also allows them to be more understanding and provide a way to reach out and offer help.

Some people prefer to "work through" a crisis and others may benefit from taking some time off or taking an unscheduled vacation. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to consider taking a sabbatical. Often we think we are handling things jut fine, but we really aren't.

Many years ago I was dealing with an issue that involved one of my children. It was a difficult and very challenging time for me and the rest of my family. A few close friends knew, but I felt that I couldn't or shouldn't let others know, and besides, I was handling it, right? Then one day, a client told me she thought I wasn't interested in her as a client anymore. When I asked why, she confided that I seemed distracted when we met and that I didn't send her emails or respond to her as I had in the past. I realized that while I thought I had myself under control, I didn't. I would have benefited from some time off, so I could focus on what needed handling without having to pretend' everything was all right while I was at work.

During this difficult time, size up your work load and priorities. Focus on what must be done and let everything else go. Make a point of reminding yourself that you can't do it all and only the things that absolutely must be done will get attention.

Be kind to yourself, ask for help from others and accept it graciously. For some reason, most people are hesitant or embarrassed about asking for help. It is during these times that we need others the most, so don't deprive yourself during these difficult times. And remember to take time for yourself. Going through a trying time will wear on you emotionally and physically, so take time to go to the gym, play golf, read a book or take a long, relaxing bath.

If you take care of yourself, you are better able to take of the personal issues in your life. Learn to embrace all facets of life. The cycles of personal problems and personal successes will flow and ebb and you will need to learn to flow along with them. Being kind to yourself is the first step.

Linda Finkle is a leading expert on organizational communication strategies and human potential development. As CEO of her executive coaching firm, INCEDO GROUP, Linda has helped countless leaders build internal communication and conflict resolution strategies. She brings about changes in attitude and leadership style that yield dramatic results. Company profitability is an inevitable side effect. Learn more at =>http://www.IncedoGroup.com

How to Manage Life at Work in a Job You Hate

When you realize that the average American spends over two thousand hours per year at work, almost half of their total waking time in a year, it quickly becomes clear how much of an impact your life at work can have on your life in general. Knowing how to make the most out of your life at work can greatly improve your quality of life, and at no time is this more important than when you're working in a job you dislike.

First, be friendly. Chances are, at least one other person is as unhappy with their job as you are with yours, so that can be a point of bonding. Or you may find that you share outside interests with others at work. Either way, you should always be cordial and pleasant to your co-workers, because nothing can make your work life less miserable like having someone to share it with.

A corollary of being friendly is never, ever talking about your co-workers or boss behind their backs, even though it is extremely tempting to vent when you're in a job you hate. Although participating in the office grapevine may initially ingratiate you to your co-workers, there truly is no quicker way to get burned. In the politics of life at work, what goes around inevitably comes around.

However, don't be too friendly. You were hired to work, not chat, play fantasy football, or forward e-mails, and your boss can make your work life much more unpleasant if they find out that you're slacking. Not being overly friendly is also an good way to protect yourself from scheming or sticky-fingered co-workers. You need to set boundaries, and likewise respect the boundaries that your co-workers set for you. This is an integral step for keeping yourself sane in your life at work, and lets others know that you are not a good person to "borrow" supplies from, or an easy mark for backstabbing.

Finally, in order to keep your life at work from ruining your life outside work when you're in a job you hate, find ways to make the most of your non-work time. If you come home and crash on the couch every day after work, the highlight of the non-work portion of your day becomes a TV show or a bag of chips, which is not only physically and psychologically unhealthy, but can make you feel even more miserable when you are actually at work. By giving yourself something to look forward to -- say, a post-work bike ride or home facial -- you can actually make your work time go by more quickly.

Spending most of your waking hours in a job you hate can be a nightmare, but is sometimes unavoidable. Whether it's gossipy co-workers, unpleasant bosses, or simply a boring job, a bad work life can quickly put a damper on the rest of your time. However, by following a few simple steps, you can keep your work life from making you miserable.

Feeling down at work and thinking you need a new career? It is possible! There are opportunities for every person, even if they don't have much time or money for college. By Jade Knight

Dating in the Workplace - Be Careful When Considering Such a Relationship

Given how much time the majority of us spend at work these days, it is hardly surprising that many relationships blossom there. While some people disapprove of dating in the workplace, preferring to keep their work and personal lives separate, dating a co-worker can also add a little excitement to your working week. Before you decide to start dating someone you work with however you should consider a few factors.

Some companies discourage the practice of dating within the workplace and it is important to check out your company's regulations regarding this before you leap into a passionate relationship with the top sales executive. The more strict company policies regarding dating may require you to notify human resources or even to transfer to a new position before embarking on the relationship.

If the object of your attraction is your secretary or another subordinate, you need to proceed very carefully. Dating someone who reports to you directly or is dependent on you for possible promotion can be particularly complicated and may cause frictions within the workplace. Other jealous staff members might be tempted to accuse you of offering your date a promotion in return for certain sexual favours; accusations that could prove seriously damaging to your career.

It is much easier dating someone from a different department or floor to your own as this will tend to have less impact on the atmosphere within the workplace. Not only are you free from the possibility of any accusations or tensions developing as a result of you and your co-worker dating, you will also be able to maintain a little more distance at work and keep a sensible separation between your office and your love life. It also means that, should you break up, you will not have to see that person every single day which can be difficult when feelings have been hurt.

If your dating experience goes well and starts to develop into a more intimate relationship it might be tempting to express your love in public. This is not recommended and could harm your professional image, as well as encouraging gossip within the office. Similarly, fights or arguments should be left at home and not brought into work. Any kind of in-fighting spoils the atmosphere and has a negative effect on productivity.

Even if your company has no official policy about dating in the workplace, it is still important to exercise some common sense. If your personal relationship starts to impact on your work or the productivity of your department as a whole, this presents the company with every reason to introduce stringent rules in the future.

It is also recommended that you inform your manager about your relationship with a co-worker. This can both protect you and can also protect the company from any future allegations about sexual misconduct within the workplace. As with dating in any context, be sensitive to how your intimacy is making other people feel and be professional about your relationship and the possible effects it can have within the workplace.

Jan Boulton enjoys writing articles on a wide range of topics.