Recently I was asked to write and speak about the topic of waiting. I thought I’d share it here. So here’s how it works: each employee gets 30 minutes. I introduce myself as a consultant, we sit down and I assure them confidentiality. I tell them that I’m there to look for patterns across all…
Dear Plucky, What’s a good approach to doing performance reviews at a very small company? There is a sense among all of us that we want performance reviews, because we want to improve. But also that it’s awkward at best and dangerous at worst. Dangerous, meaning, changing the nature of a friendship or uncovering something…
Dear Plucky, I’m managing a new team, and they’re not exactly getting along well. We’ve had some tense meetings lately with lots of passive aggressive remarks. How can I help them trust each other and communicate better together? They’re all pretty different and don’t have a lot in common. I’m worried that we won’t be successful…
My husband and I recently took a two night trip to Lake Tahoe, leaving our toddler home with my parents. I was doubtful that two nights would really feel like a getaway, but it was the best we could organize and in the end, we both felt closer and refreshed – some kind of Lake…
First, put your weapons down. By “weapons”, I mean: the negative sentiment left over from your previous meeting, the stress you felt this morning when your kid peed on the floor, the remnant energy you held in while being polite to the client, your frustration with the way the payroll software locked up your screen,…
I went to my local branch of the Brooklyn Public Library the other day to pick up a book I’d put on hold. When I couldn’t find it on the shelves, I approached the woman working the help desk. She looked it up and saw that it had mistakenly been sent to a different branch,…
People are motivated by different things. Some people want money, some people want titles, some people want to be well-respected by the group of people they work with. Some want to feel they are making a difference in the world. And some would like, very specifically, to do anything that allows them to damn. the.…