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How to Say It: Phrases for a Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisals can create stress for supervisors, particularly when you need to provide corrective feedback. Even the most experienced managers can find themselves at a loss for words during the conversation. Here are some phrases to help engage the employee in a two-way dialogue. “The ABC Project was a key…
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Performance Appraisals: Preparing to Give and Receive
At their best, performance appraisals should be a two-way dialogue between the rater (often the supervisor) and the receiver (the employee). Here are some tips for both the giver and receiver of performance appraisal feedback. Giving: Be prepared and anticipate possible responses. Ideally, you have been keeping notes over the…
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The First Rule of Appraisals: No Surprises
Samantha and James ran into each other in the break room and began discussing their upcoming employee review. James is feeling a great deal of stress because he has a lot of uncertainties. Samantha is looking forward to meeting with her supervisor and getting a chance to discuss her future…
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How to Create Excel Graphs Templates
We might not normally think of creating templates for Excel charts and graphs. But if you’re a frequent user of the charts feature in Excel, you may spend quite a bit of time getting the colors, appearance and elements of a chart just right. Who wants to keep doing that…
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Excel PivotTable Formulas
It’s easy to create formulas with PivotTable data. The key is to remember that you are working with aggregate values, not individual ones. We’ll take a look at how to create a simple formula using something called a Calculated Field. And then, we’ll take a look at two common causes…
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DOLs Final Rule for FLSA Overtime Exemption: Next Steps (Video)
Transcript What's an employer to do? December 1st, 2016, the final rule is going to kick in. And we all have to be ready. So let's say you've performed the internal audit in your organization, and you found out, uh-oh, we have some folks that don't qualify for the exemption.…
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Interactive Excel Charts: Create a Chart Selector
More and more data has led to more and more opportunities to present it in visually understandable ways. However, it can get frustrating having to navigate through a large workbook, just to find the exact chart you need. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create an interactive chart selector.…
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DOLs Final Rule for Overtime Exemption: The Duties Test (Video)
Do you know and understand the overtime exemption rule recently released by the Department of Labor? In this video, Lisa Smith gives an overview of which duties qualify an individual for exemption. Transcript Under the final rule that was issued May 18 of 2016, we know that the duties tests…
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Leadership and Teamwork: Blending I and We
"There is no I in TEAM" is a popular expression, but great teams know that individual leadership is essential to effective teamwork. In fact, without effective leadership, teams often lose focus and direction, and work and morale suffer as a result. Different leadership approaches work equally well on teams. When…
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External Leadership for Teams
When we talk about teamwork, we often focus on internal dynamics: goal setting, communication, leadership and process. It is equally important, however, to build team skills in political savvy and external awareness. These skills help the team scan their environment for new information, and prepare key stakeholders for future steps…
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