Q&A: How To Deal With Co-workers Who Develop Bad Habits
Question: After a coworker let me know that another coworker had a domestic violence restraining order filed against him, I looked the man up on Court View. What I learned…
Q&A: How Do I Handle A Workplace Infatuation?
Question: Late last year, I fell into a mild infatuation with a sales rep that does business with our company. As our company’s sole purchasing agent, I had and have…
Effective Leadership and Creating A Great Company Culture
You feel it the moment you enter the organization. Ask the employees “what’s it like around here?” and they confirm the vibe. An employee in one organization says, “I love…
Q&A: What Do I Do When My Ex-Employee Tries Blackmail
Question: Three weeks ago a client called with an urgent question. When I could not locate the employee who was handling the client’s account, I visited his cubicle. I didn’t…
How To Deal With Bullies In the Workplace
He’s smug and arrogant. He’s bullied you for three months. Before you, he bullied a string of talented employees, all of whom had the good sense to quit before he…
How To Manage Rumors In The Workplace
Question: I’m the Director of Operations for our company. When we downsized, I absorbed HR duties. This morning, I received an anonymous email asking me to question the promotions received…
My addiction made me a terrible employee. I’m in recovery – but how can I find a new job with such poor references?
Q: I'm a recovering addict who moved to Alaska three years ago for a dream job, but didn't leave my problem drinking behind. I blew deadlines, behaved inappropriately at work…
How to recover when an office confrontation turns into the showdown at the O.K. Corral
Q: I'm a mid-level manager in a large company and supervise an overbearing woman whose special circumstances give her immunity from discipline. When she doesn't get her way, she goes…
I’m totally being played by my ambitious, overbearing assistant – and I can’t fire her
Q: I work in a large corporation. Because senior management takes a top-down approach to all personnel decisions, I lack hiring or firing control over the individual assigned as my…
When a new supervisor clashes with long-term employees, whose side to take?
Q: When we hired "Laura" as the new supervisor for our customer service department, we thought we'd picked the perfect person. Laura had nine years of supervisory experience, but had…