The Office Gal

Networking is an important tool regardless of the position that you hold. Not only will networking increase the resources at your disposal, but you can also gain a partnership with many of the people you meet. That is the true meaning of networking “establishing a beneficial relationship for all parties.” Becoming an effective tool for each other.

Those Seeking Networking

Corporate professionals seek networking to establish clients, create business resources to get answers to difficult questions, or many use their networking pool to get up the ladder. Asking for a reference or recommendation is not uncommon within a close network of associates.

Working at home may be your dream come true, but although you still have the tools to keep you in the loop, like e-mail, instant messaging, and the phone, you might miss the contact of having someone physically in the office with you. Now, although not alone, you could feel lonely. Your network could give you today’s lunch partner.

Have you chosen to stay at home? You still work, maybe not out in the corporate world or for a company within your home, but you still manage a household and family, your networking is most important. Reaching out for comradery is a strong emotion in us all. It helps to have friends to either have play dates with, lunch, or to just vent.

The Networks

There are a ton of places popping up on the Internet that offer social and business networking. Many sites ask you to sign up, create a profile, and then you have the World Wide Web at your fingertips. Here are a few suggestions of on-line networking spots to take a look at.

Linked In: For both the corporate and work-at-home professional, LinkedIn is a complete networking community with millions of potential clients, partners, and friends. You can add people to your network that are current or past colleagues, those you have offered a service to, and even find people within the same company or position/title that you hold in other companies. Growth for your network is phenomenal. There is even an option to ask those in your network for a recommendation.

Cafe Mom: The perfect place for stay-at-home-moms to create a profile and meet other moms, both around the world and locally right in your backyard. Make play date appointments, meet just for lunch, join interest groups, you name it! This is a great social networking site. Sorry dads - for moms only.

Dad Daily: Dads, you have a site just for you! This is a new social networking site for you to create a profile page and meet other dads to talk and discuss life. Create a group or just discuss the latest about what your little one is doing - al up to you! Finally a place where no moms are allowed.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Poor personal and professional scheduling is something many of us have issues with. When is the sales meeting at work? When does Caitlyn have her soccer practice? What time is my hair appointment? We have all suffered from the forget syndrome that lurks within the deep reaches of our brain, but thankfully there are a select few out in the world that have recognized scheduling issues within their own daily lives and struck out to create the ultimate one-size-fits-all planner.

Enter: The BusyBodyBook and Joan Goldner.

Seeing her own need to blend her entire life - work and family - Joan Goldner created a simple weekly grid form that allows for a column for every member of the family, with clear side by side and coordinating access to what everyone is doing at one time. There are no scheduling conflicts, no flipping back and forth, and all of the appointments are in one easy to remember location for the entire family.

The BusyBodyBook is made by a mom, but not just for moms. The planner will fit any lifestyle from parents that - stay at home, work at home, work in a corporate office, or even the professional without children just wanting the best tool for organizing time.  

 The BusyBodyBook Format

You can purchase the BusyBodyBook planner in either a spiral bound book or a refrigerator pad. You have two choices with the spiral bound, either the calendar year or the academic school year.  

The spiral bound gives you a page to create your to-do list and any notes that need to be taken, as well as 5 roomy columns to keep track of daily events. Uses for the spiral bound planner don’t just stop at family scheduling. The planner can also be used for school, life goals, business projects, and even an exercise log. The ideas are limitless.

The fridge pad is a great option for larger families which gives you 2 more columns, for a total of 7 columns to schedule your day and still gives you the added to-do list to keep you on track. This option would also be a great tool for the office as a group calendar to hang within your pods, either as a schedule tracker for members of the team, or a project tracker.

Joan was right on track when creating The BusyBodyBook. There are just so many features that make it the attractive fit within your life - ease of use, plenty of space, complete scheduler, organizer, tracker - I am surprised not everyone has one already!

Order your BusyBodyBook here.

Popularity: 40% [?]

It is hard to determine what will get you recognized within your office as the person to go to. So many people are worried about how to get ahead that they may not focus on how to succeed.  Recognizing that succeeding in the position you have now will set the pace for your promotion tomorrow.

What is the Superstar? Being a superstar within your office does not mean flaunting or gloating that you are the go-to-person with the positive outlook, it is basically a strategic role that puts you in the right place for the right people to see.

Cord Cooper, Investor’s Business Daily, does a great snapshot of the eight ways that you can be the superstar of your office. Taking a queue from author Cathie Black’s book “Basic Black, he gives you a quick notice of the eight steps and what you can do to achieve Superstardom.

Eight Tips to Superstardom:

• Decline the Oscar
• Handle it
• Go Deep
• Know what counts
• Don’t stop at no
• Know whom to call
• Do it later
• Scope the big picture

Cord Cooper’s Eight Ways to Be a Superstar at Work

Popularity: 25% [?]

The one bad part about having a great job that you love is the décor of your office your cubicle; basically the cubicle itself. A boring shade of gray or blue, a cubicle is a company’s cheapest route when it comes to making sure everyone has some privacy without having to rebuild the already formatted office. Cubicles are also a god-send for those offices lacking in space, but needing room for many more.

Past experience working in cubicles has left a sour taste in my mouth. A 3 foot by 3 foot area to call my own, with a depressing shade of blue or gray, sometimes both, that can leave you very depressed about going into work. The hardest part about working in a cubicle setting, everyone knows your business, leaving you with a feeling of your personal space being violated.

Well, over the past few years cubicles have taken the high road. Designers are giving the old cubicle a face lift, coming out with energetic looks that will give you reason to wake up and sprint off to work. OK, maybe not that great, but still awesome none the less.

I could definitely work in this cubicle setting, could you? Designed by Douglas Ball the cubicle offers a workspace worth working in; privacy, but still able to communicate with your team, and an added feature, a closing door for added privacy or a notice that you are busy at work.

I like the look of this cubicle because it has a very clean appealing look. Plus, an easy to clean feel so that you can easily clean the cubicle walls, something a bit difficult to do if you were ever lucky enough to spend time inside a blue or gray carpeted cubicle. You know what I’m talking about – shredding fabric that everything clung to.

Another cubicle that I found a bit interesting and that you have to see is by Knoll A3 Office. A design of what many think looks like the “furniture of the future”, takes on a whole new concept in workstations.

Really not seeing much privacy offered by this creation, but I find it to be a stylish way to go for a cubicle. A smart idea! Do you live in a loft setting? Use this cubicle to separate your office from the rest of your home.

Popularity: 47% [?]

Well over ten years ago I was given the best piece of advice for getting my day organized – Take 15. When I heard it I of course asked the inevitable question on everyone’s minds at the time, “Take fifteen? Can you explain?” The explanation made perfect sense and the advice is something I still use today in both my business and family life.

Take 15 gives me the piece of mind that my day is in order and on track and chaos will not reign. Well, there still is a bit of chaos, we all know there will be fires to put out, but overall my day runs smoothly.

The Concept

The whole point of taking 15 is giving yourself the first 15 minutes of your work day to think, plan and process your day. Clear your head and focus on your work. Focus on what needs to be accomplished; projects that need to be finished, and of course listing the normal to-dos that are a must as your day progresses.

If you are one of the many people that enter their office, sit down, look overwhelmed fidgeting through the growing pile of paperwork, and then jump right in, feeling you have accomplished nothing at the end of your day – then Take 15.

Going about your work day without an explanation of what needs to take place can leave a project forgotten, or possibly another deadline missed. Reign back in your work day by giving yourself a few minutes to simply review and plan.

Make it a Habit

It can be difficult to get rid of a bad habit, equally as hard to create a good one. It will be difficult at first to find your pace, remembering to take the 15 minutes to plan. I trained myself by sticky note. I placed a sticky note on my monitor to remind me to do my 15 minutes every morning. Eventually planning became habit and the sticky note went into to recycle bin.

I’m not saying I didn’t have my issues with forming my habit. Many times I just wanted to take my 15 minutes and get to work, forget about the planning. Now, the few times I did purposefully not plan, I was a mess. No tracking, no notes, no information about what was going on. I quickly realized giving myself the first 15 minutes, gave me back much more – an organized day that was on track and successful.

Popularity: 19% [?]