When managers want to accomplish goals through their employees, they usually think in terms of accountability. It’s common to hear questions like “Who’s accountable for that project?” “Whose idea was that?” and “Whose fault is it?”

How do the answers to these questions accomplish goals? I don’t think they do. In my experience, questions that focus on accountability lead to discussions about blame, which often divide work groups into gossip camps and passive aggressive reactions. That wastes a lot of time.

A different approach is to focus on self-responsibility. Instead of the above questions, an employee with self-responsibility might say, “How can I help?” “I like / don’t like that idea because ______ and here’s what I suggest _____.” “How did our process (not a person) cause that problem?&r

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You wake up one morning and the world seems to be collapsing around you. Your tenuous time living with you parents because you are running out of money has gotten worse because you placed a bowl in the wrong place in a washing machine or forgot about a coupon to purchase a scooper for cleaning out leave troughs. The previous week a job hunting trip went bad because your car with 120,000 miles on it broke down on highway with steam coming out from underneath the hood. One day late in paying off your membership in your health club, you ask the owner if you can discount for doing some work around the gym. You are told that the gym has more than enough people working for them. Even if they did, you wouldn't be the one they would want. So it goes.

You can develop a real bad feeling about yourself if all this continues. Just because others suggest bad things doesn't mean they are true.

Life occassionally sends each of us life perservers. If these life persevers ar

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Just imagine working for the imaginary Cooper Sterling Advertising Agency? A Creative Director is hiding a past life that started when he assumed the identity of a commanding officer who was killed next to him in a Korean War battlefield incident. A sex obsessed senior partner has suffered a heart attack while indulging in a tryst on company premises. Publication of an article/book by one of the copywriters is greeted by ridicule and personal put downs by fellow employees.  An arrogant junior employee who undermines his boss is retained on staff because of the importance of his family's connections.

Gossip and scandal seem to run the Cooper Sterling Company. The quality of product and financial health of this company seem to be of secondary importance. Is it any wonder that an employee who feels passed over has started to search for ways to bring down his boss (and perhaps the company?)

During the Vietnam war 120 officers were

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The days are long and the Sun is going down, as an employee who shall remain nameless, driving a Rough Terrain Fork Lift, in rough terrain. Returning to the yard for the evening, at to high rate of speed, the folks bouncing, and as the road dipped, the forks caught in the ground. At about 13 MPH the machine comes to a sudden stop as one of the folks is bent at 30 degrees below horizontal and the right side fork rolls up in circle.  Some good comes of this in that as the safety lap belt is in place and on, the operators is saved from more than embarrassment.

As he called me on the raido I heard him say to some one in the background" I know better than that" " How could I be so stuipd?" Any time we take our mind off  Right Now we establish a zone of accident.

In the root cause investigation the employee stated, that he was tired beone belief, and was just thinking about getting home, to the hotel. The rough ter

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Do you use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel? If so, there are two quick changes you can make to your Office settings that will save you time and disk space!

Fast Saves

The first change you need to make is to turn off Fast Saves. Fast Saves is a feature that (at first glance) looks like a good idea. After all, who doesn't want to save thier documents faster? Unfortunately, when you have Fast Saves turned on, you are actually telling Office to save your documents fast, but open them slowly.

When Fast Saves are on, the changes you make to your files are not made to the actual spot in the file, but instead are stored as a change log at the end of the file. Imagine if you will a book which has had changes made to it, but where the changes are listed on a separate page at the end of the book. If a paragraph is inserted, a marker is added that says, "Jump to the change log and read paragraphs 33 to 37, then jump back." If a page is deleted, a line is drawn through it, but the content is not removed.

With a book or letter that has change markings in it, this may not seem to have a big impact. But imagine if you will that you aren't removing the page, but replacing it. You now have both copies in the file. And if that page had pictures on it, you now have both the old and the new pictures in the book. Bad news, huh?

What can you do? Turn off Fast Saves. Open Word, PowerPoint or Excel and go to Tools--> Options. Find the Save tab. On that tab, you will see a checked box labeled "Allow Fast Saves". OK your way out and close the program. You have now turned off Fast Saves for all there programs. As you open and close files, the changes will be merged into the main file and each file will shrink in size.

A side benefit... Making this change will also cut your chance of having a corrupted file by at least 50%.

Full Menus

Someone at Microsoft decided that one way to make the Office products less confusing to use was to hide the features you don't use as often. That decision still doesn't make sense to me. Why take the features I don't use and hide them so that I can't easily find them when I do need them?

The solution to this problem is to turn on full menus. How do you know if you have full menus turned off? Simple. Open Word, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher or Excel and bring up a menu. Does the menu end in a bar that contains a downward pointing chevron? If so, you need this hint.

To turn on full menus, you are going to use Tools--> Customize. Go to the Options tab. Check the box for "Always show full menus".  OK your way out and close the program. As with Fast Saves, your change will be automatically applied to all of the other Office products on your system.

What does this change do for you? First off, you are now seeing all of the possible functionality of each Office product. You will be surprised at how much more the products can do than you imagined. Second, you have taken back control of your environment. Instead of Microsoft deciding what functions you see and don't see, you have decided to see all of it at once.

One final note: If you use Office 2007, you don't need to make either of these changes. Both "features" were removed from the new version.

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Looking to save time, disk space, effort, and money when using your computer? Coach Kathy offers the ultimate in short - easy to understand hints for making sure the computer doesn't get in the way of getting work done.

As well as being an MVP Seminars coach, Coach Kathy is a Microsoft MVP in OneNote and PowerPoint. Check out Coach Kathy's bio for more information.

Want to bring Coach Kathy in to your organization to learn more about how to keep your computer from getting in the way of doing work? Contact MVP Seminars!

 Knowing when and how to say "no" is a constant battle for many people. This becomes especially difficult for business professionals who are looking to please and impress higher-ups. Almost from birth, the world has conditioned us to do what others ask without question for any number of reasons. We, too often, get pushed and pulled in all sorts of awkward directions that had not been on our intended agenda due to the inability to confidently speak that singular two-letter word.

Why do we allow ourselves to be ruled by people or things that make us uncomfortable? Does going the extra mile for that prospect result in cognitive dissonance in regards to your own morals? Is the undue stress caused by bending over backward for an overbearing manager worth the possible reward? What value does inviting such negativity into our lives really afford us?

Just say "NO".

Saying "no" is a very reasonable response to any request no matter how big or small. If you can't do what is being asked or even just don't want to, it is truly okay to say "no".  No further explanation is required. The fact that you don't want to is more than enough reason. If you are a person that has trouble saying "no" outright then respond by saying "I'll consider it and get back to you". This is alright too. It is much better to give no commitment at all than to commit to something you didn't want to do in the first place.  Mastering the art of delegation is another way to lessen the burden of being so agreeable.  Don't be afraid to request help from others of similar competence.  By delegating tasks that you are either unwilling or unable to perform, you can focus your attention on matters that are more pressing or important to you.

There is so much additional stress that develops when a person attempts to perform a task unwillingly. Think about times when you have worked at something you truly enjoyed. How easy was it for you to complete the task successfully? Now think about a time when you have agreed to a task that was not really your cup of tea but you just couldn't say "no". Did you give the task your complete 100%? Was the task completed and completed on schedule? How did you feel during the process?

Saying "no" firmly and asserting your position can give you power beyond your wildest dreams. Speaking "no" is to overcome your fear of rejection. It is to embrace independence. It is to get in touch with your true values. What do you stand for? How do you want to live your day? Saying "no" gives you back the control over how and with whom your time and energy is spent. So where does one begin? By just choosing the positive power of saying "NO".

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© 2006 by Niquenya D. Fulbright-All Rights Reserved.

About the Author:

Niquenya D. Fulbright is a Chicago area executive life coach, professional speaker and corporate trainer with over 10 years experience specializing in motivating small business owners, entrepreneurs, executives, and individuals in a career or life transition to use their innate abilities to master their goals and achieve successes beyond their wildest dreams. Contact MVP Seminars to secure Niquenya for your next big event or training session.