Archive for the ‘General Business’ Category

Everyone is different, which makes it hard to determine the best way to deal with someone. If you’re having difficulty with a person, the best way to help is consider who you’re dealing with, and go from there.

Types of Coworkers

The Know It All

This person is generally always right, and knows it. When you’re having issues with a person like this, the best way to deal with it is come to them calm and collected. In private, tell them that you feel you’ve been having issues, and you need them to be understanding. Coming to the know it all with a calm relaxed manner puts them at ease.

The Team Player/Enthusiast

These people are very excited, and always willing to help. If you ever feel you’re having an issue, the team player will be willing to fix it immediately, to keep everyone happy and eager.

The Forgetter

It’s common to find one person in your office completely forgets assignments or responsibilities and completely abandons them. This can cause problems and stress for you and your other co-workers. If you’re working together, be sure to update them with progress reports along the way, and expect them to reciprocate. This will ensure their work is getting done, and they’ll feel as though they’re keeping up with everyone else.

The Joker

Some people just take work to lightly. If you have a problem with the joker’s comedy hour, be sure to tell them in private that you find their jokes distracting. Be careful in your wording, as some jokers take things very personally.

The Turtle

Some people…. are incapable….. of speaking at a normal speed. Not only does this kill your attention span, but it makes it impossible to get anything done. The best way to avoid issues with these people is to communicate via e-mail. That way they can take as long as they’d like to think about what they’d want to say, and you can read it at your own pace.

The Steamroller

There’s one in every office. The person that’s willing to squash you to get ahead. Stay wary of this person, as they can cause problems you never even thought of! If you come across an issue with a steamroller, being straight and to the point keeps things nice and simple.

The Do It All

Everyone thinks they can conquer the world. Unfortunately, some people actually try to do that by taking on more than they can handle. If you notice that this person seems stressed and you’ve got some extra time, ask them if they require any assistance. Not only will this let the Do-It-All know you care about them, but it will also keep their stress levels down.

The Expert

Some people are naturally modest about what they are capable of. Generally, these are the people that can do anything, without stress or issue. The best way to deal with this co-worker is to make them aware of how much you appreciate their assistance. They will fully appreciate your gratitude.

The Scatterbrain

As hard as some people try, it can be impossible for them to stay organized. To prevent any issues you can foresee when dealing with a scatterbrain, organize your information to the point where it’s almost impossible to unorganize it. You may not receive it back that way, but the organization system you had in place should help you to put it back together in no time.

The Whiner

In every group there’s someone who’s got something to complain about. Nothing is ever good enough for some people, and it just seems to get worse as you get to know them. If you have an issue with this person, discuss the problem very professionally, and don’t allow them the opportunity to complain about it. Once you’ve expressed your issue, if they seem uninterested, explain the importance to them, and they should get the point.

Remember, regardless of who you’re dealing with you should always keep it in a professional manner at work. This will keep things from getting complicated and confusing.

An article was brought to my attention by one of my colleagues that I think makes plenty of sense. The Globe And Mail recently wrote an article called Information-rich and attention poor, on how we as a society have an abundance of information but much less of an attention span. The thought is when there is an abundance of one thing there tends to be a shortage of something else. In this age of digital technology we receive everything so quickly and it is hard to process it and to discern the factual information from the disinformation. So the mind becomes overloaded and starts to not pay attention to what maybe important. If anyone has school age kids try talking to them when the TV or iPods are on.

Throughout the day in the workplace we are bombarded with information from every angle, it is often more difficult to take on new responsibilities because you just don’t have the time. Now more than ever there is reason to utilize consulting experts in such mundane tasks as gathering information, report preparation and implementing process improvements. In claiming Research And Development Tax Credits like SR&ED it make sense to employ a consultant’s services, due to the often 6 or 7 figure returns that outweigh the consultant costs. The difficulty for companies who want to claim on past innovation efforts, is finding time to dig up what was often done 2 years in the past. Often the information is available but the task becomes insurmountable for companies who do not know where to look. Often companies can’t see the forest for the trees or have no time and need a second pair of eyes to realize the benefits of claiming SR&ED.

E-mail is the most common method of communication among business professionals today. It allows people to communicate with numerous people from various organizations regarding many different topics. This saves countless hours for many people, ultimately making the business more efficient. However, there are some downfalls to electronic communication. While it does speed up the communication process between many different people, it almost makes it too simple. This can cause quick one-lined e-mails to be sent to the wrong recipient – especially if the sender isn’t a techie.

There are a few guidelines to follow when sending e-mails that will prevent complications later on in your communications with this person.

Simplicity

One of the major issues with e-mail is the person complicating things unnecessarily. A confusing e-mail title or an unclear first statement confuses the recipient, which means they have to spend more time figuring out what you mean than if you’d been clear and concise. The same is true when respond to an e-mail. If you answer the question in a complex manner, or beat around the bush, the recipient will not understand what you’re trying to say, and nothing is more frustrating than having a question ignored.

The same Keep-It-Simple-Stupid method should be used in your formatting. Adding fancy colours and using a hard to read font may look pretty to you, but it takes away from the general concept you’re trying to get across. It’s also very common for someone to delete a message that they can’t read, or even stand to look at. Not to mention, it’s TACKY TACKY TACKY! Being unprofessional is like back-pedaling your career.

Professionalism

Professionalism means more than just saving your pretty colours for your private e-mail account. One of the major pitfalls of e-mail communication is starting an e-mail with “hey” or “yo”. Do not do this. While you can get away without a salutation, if you feel it necessary to use one, Good Morning/Day/Afternoon will be sufficient. Also do not use short forms for names unless you know they like it or go by it. I personally despise when people call me Jenny, and I don’t forget who uses it.

Consistency

Another issue that people come across when e-mailing is the simple inconsistencies in their day to day e-mails. If you normally sign your e-mails with your name, e-mail address and phone number, continue to do so. An easy way to do this is to set up a “signature” that is automatically included in your e-mails. That way the same amount of information is included each time, which will also help you prevent typos in your phone number, e-mail address and address. You can also include your company logo consistency for your clients.

Another common inconsistency is in the formatting. Do you have a favourite font that’s easy to read like Verdana, Times, or Arial? Perfect! Set that font as your “stationary” and the same formatting will always be used.

Proof-Reading

Believe it or not, proof reading can be your best friend. It can save you from something as simple as spelling the client’s name wrong to sending a frustrated e-mail to the person you’re talking about. After you complete an e-mail, read it over, and make sure the e-mail addresses and subject title are spelt right and make sense. This will help keep your image professional and organized.

I remember in the 90’s when during the tech boom there were countless new programs and technologies being introduced. Silicon Valley was the Mecca for all tech companies. Everybody thought that they had the new and best thing that would make them bigger than Microsoft. This all occurred in recent memory and we all know how this story played out.

Things are different now. People no longer invest blindly into technology companies that are not declaring any profits. The technology and specifically the software marketplace has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. There is still development going on but you do not hear too much about Silicon Valley anymore, but you do hear about great technological advances in other places that were previously unknown – such as Waterloo, Ontario.

The Canadian marketplace now has the chance and the advantage to become the leader in technology development. There are companies wanting to come here just because this environment is conducive to R&D efforts in funding and educated, creative employees. Soon we might have a silicon Ontario, but only time will tell.

One of our Business Development Managers has had an article in the June edition of Exchange Magazine about how the SR&ED program can be used to help improve your business’s bottom line.

You can read this article here.