Shutting It Down: How to Be a Productive Project Closer

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “A project is complete when it starts working for you, rather than you working for it.” — Scott Allen, American computer programmer and author. In business, there are two types of “closers,” both of which boost the organization’s performance in different ways. The more common type of closer is […]
The Right of Refusal: Six Ways to Politely Say No to More Work

“It’s only by saying “no” that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”—Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Longtime readers of this blog know that one of my least-favorite phrases is, “That’s not my job.” I believe most workers should willingly try to handle all aspects of their positions. Taking on new tasks […]
Bumping Up Productivity: Five (Relatively) Easy Team Performance Boosters

“Great acts are made up of small deeds.”— Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher Sometimes it’s hard enough just ensuring your own performance is up to snuff, much less implementing techniques to push it higher. But since few of us work alone (even I have a small entourage, virtual and otherwise), team performance is just […]