My Crazy Office | K Squared Enterprises

My Crazy Office is a weekly workplace podcast dedicated to helping listeners navigate their careers. Executive coach Kathi Elster and career therapist Katherine Crowley combine their expertise to solve both serious and silly situations at work. Join Kathi and Katherine as they answer real workplace questions with solid advice and a side of humor. Do you have someone or something at work that’s driving your crazy? Send your questions to info@mycrazyoffice.co. (All submissions kept confidential.)

3 Things Managers Do Wrong!!!

June 22, 2012

Letting their stress seep out in the form of anger, anxiety and even fear.
Telling staff things like – “You better watch out” or “Heads are going to role” or “You better figure out how to keep this place in business”
Having a lot of mysterious closed door meetings.

Principles For Managing Conflict At Work

June 20, 2012

Maintain Mutual Respect: Ask yourself or get parties to ask: “How can I discuss our differences in ways that allow the other person to retain his/her dignity? How can I avoid having the other person feel denigrated or put down?

Seek Common Ground: Explore overarching goals, values and shared purpose. Try to see things through the other person’s eyes.

Focus on The Problem, NOT The Attack: Focus on what people are saying about the problem.

Objectify The Situation: Help people focus on what happened, the behavior causing the problem, what the impact is and what ideas they have for solutions.

Emphasize and Acknowledge Both People’s Situation: Try putting yourself in both peoples shoes and try to understand the emotional impact which the situation is creating for them.

Acknowledge The Needs of Both People: Empathize verbally with them and allow them to vent their emotions so that you can establish yourself as being understanding of both sides.

Validate Feelings: Help make emotions explicit and acknowledge emotions as legitimate.

Listen Actively: Verify and provide feedback to both parties: let both parties know that you are genuinely trying to understand both parties’ position and interests, and that you are trying to help. Summarize what you are hearing as the more neutral source. Seek clarification on your feedback to make sure that what you heard is correct.
Separate fact from opinion

Keep Perspectives Open: Help both parties see the situation from their own perspective, from the other person’s perspective (getting into the other person’s shoes), and from the perspective of a neutral third party (or fly on the wall).

Mental Abuse at Work?

June 18, 2012

Mental abuse in the workplace is more common than you might think. It could be an angry aggressive boss, a mean condescending co-worker, or a group of bullies that band together and target others in the office. An abusive work environment erodes productivity and hurts those involved emotionally, sometimes escalating into making people physically sick.

Here are 5  signs that abuse is present at the office.  See if any of these are true for you

There is a 80 – 100% staff turnover every year.
The office is extremely quiet. People have their heads down, and  rarely make eye contact with supervisors.
You can cut the tension in the air with a knife.
Employees meet and organize outside of work to support one another.
Staff look drained and they call in sick more frequently than in a  healthy workplace.

If you relate to any of these signs, then abuse is present in your office. You may be suffering in silence or you may be looking for some help. Here are a few suggestions to get you out of your dilemma.

Always actively network for another job so that you are working on a way out.

Try not to take the behavior of the abuser personally: it’s not  about you. Abusers treat everyone that way.
Understand that the abuser is most likely good at managing up and only abuses those below. That’s why he/she doesn’t get caught.
Exercise after work to rid yourself of the toxic energy as often as necessary.
Participate in an activity that builds your self-confidence.  Join a task force, volunteer for a good cause, write down your successes every night.
Circulate, do not isolate and suffer in silence. Go out and have  fun after work.
Get another job a.s.a.p.

10 Signs That It’s Time to Leave Your Current Boss /Job

June 14, 2012

Everyone around you is tired of hearing about your situation – they frequently say things like “ Get out of there” “Why are you still at that job?”
Your physical symptoms are no longer symptoms. You are receiving medical treatment for the manifestation of stress in your body.
You cannot get out of bed in the morning. Sunday’s are full of feelings of dreadful anticipation.
You are numbing yourself more than usual with alcohol, painkillers, and unhealthy food, excessive sleeping, isolating from friends and family.
You feel depressed, you see no way to win. Your future looks hopeless.
Your boss does not fulfill your needs or expectations and she/he hits all of your fears.
Your boss is unethical, unreasonable; you and your boss are from different planets.
Your sphere of influence is no longer the winning politically power in your company.
Your protective boss has been replaced with a boss who you are not in favor with.
You have tried to work things out, but nothing has changed for you.

What Not To Do When You Have a Bad Boss

June 13, 2012

Avoid – you will come off as uncommitted and uncooperative
Sulk – others will view your conduct as childish and petty
Wish for the boss’s demise – toxic thoughts take up mental space and psychic energy
Gloat over the boss’s failures – you will look like the lesser person
Bad-Mouth – you will come across as the gossip
Confront – a frontal attack will leave you vulnerable to being misunderstood and attacked back
Retaliate or act out – striking back could hurt your reputation, burn bridges, and even get you fired
Shut Out – giving your boss the silent treatment makes you appear unreasonable (No Comments) | Subscribe: iTunes | Soundcloud | Google Play | Sticher | Android | RSS