Language is ambiguous in the best of cases, but the risk of miscommunication soars if someone answers a question with only "yes" or "no." However, it can be awkward to ask “Can you repeat what I said?” or “Are you sure you understand?” Naomi Karten has some suggestions for communicating beyond.

There are countless articles about how to be more productive, with tips that are good but familiar. But what about improving productivity by working less? Or not caring as much about your job? Read on to discover some tips for being more productive that you probably haven't heard before.

It's not the job of a leader to be likable. Still, for most leaders, there's little to be gained—and possibly much to lose—by being unlikable. But what makes someone likable isn't obvious. What traits and actions should a leader exhibit if he or she wants to be effective as well as likable?

People say you shouldn't manage your manager. But when you reach a point when you are overwhelmed with work, it’s time to fend for yourself and say no. However, you don't have to use threats or ultimatums. Read on to learn how you can stand up to your manager without sacrificing tact—or your job.

Too often when people address a conflict, they take an I-win-you-lose approach. That distracts from focusing on opportunities for agreement and can make ongoing relationships difficult. When people have to work together, the wise approach is one that serves the best interests of both parties.

At work, the evidence of something worth paying attention to is often front and center, and yet we dismiss it. If you ignore the data—negative survey results, team member absences, an increase in bugs, stakeholders who repeatedly miss meetings, etc.—you could be overlooking signs of trouble.

The psychological term "confirmation bias" means that once you have a certain belief, you tend to see evidence that supports that belief and to ignore, belittle, or miss evidence that refutes it. This can make you narrow-minded. Instead, try to seek evidence that challenges or refutes your beliefs.

Presentation flaws can turn off your listeners. Eliminating content you view as boring, presenting with enthusiasm, minimizing the use of text, and not reading your slides verbatim can make all the difference between whether your audience enjoys your presentation or spends the time nodding off.

If organizations really want customer feedback, why do they make it so difficult for customers to provide that feedback? Naomi Karten gives four examples from her own experience that suggest some things to keep in mind when gathering feedback from your customers.

Order takers are people who respond to a customer's needs when asked and respond exactly as stated, but do nothing more. If your products or services are complex, simply taking orders is risky because what customers request may not reflect what they really need—or what they could benefit by having.

Have you ever lied on your resume? If so, you're not alone—according to one study, more than half of job applications reviewed contained lies—and these are just the ones that were found. Even CEOs have done it! However, that doesn't mean you should. Read on to find out why it's not worth the risk.

Crying at work is often seen as a weakness, or even completely taboo. Whether the crying seems to be justified or not, the situation still has to be dealt with. Read on to learn what you should do if you're the one who shed tears, as well as how to respond if you witness an employee breakdown.

An issue that often arises in organizational change is when to tell employees about something they're likely to view as bad news. Sometimes managers are forced to keep bad news to themselves, but if that's not the case, it's better—and more honest—from the employees' perspective to share it earlier.

People say trust is something you have to earn, but several factors influence your ability to earn trust, and when it comes to your job, not all are within your control. Fortunately, there's one factor you can control: yourself. Read on to find out how you can prove yourself trustworthy at work.

The word "criticize" has such a negative connotation that it seems like a contradiction to talk about doing it with kindness. But being nice when giving feedback will make someone you disagree with more receptive to listening to your perspective. And that approach can help minimize conflict at work.

The idea behind offering unlimited vacation seems to be to build trust by giving salaried employees flexibility about time off and a greater chance of achieving a good work-life balance. But it's too soon to say whether such a policy actually works. Would you take advantage of unlimited vacation?

Studies have shown that sitting for too many hours is bad for your health—and sitting at your desk all day poses serious risks. However, standing periodically may not help much. Taking a walk not only gets you standing, it may also boost your mood and your ability to handle stress on your job.

There are many words in other dialects that have no equivalent in English. These language peculiarities suggest that we need to allow for errors when working on projects with team members whose first language isn't English. But what about communication intended for a professional audience? Read on.

Have you and your coworkers ever discussed your beliefs about your customers? Or questioned those beliefs? You may surprised at the discrepancy between what you think your customers want and what they actually want. It's a good idea to reconsider every now and then and shake up the status quo.

Between interruptions, meetings, changes in priorities, and general everyday chaos, it's difficult to do any creative thinking. You need to give your brain a break from heavy-duty, task-oriented thoughts. To find out how to stimulate your own best creative thinking, consider both where and when.

Everybody gets angry once in a while. That, by itself, is no big deal. It's when you respond in a way that's out of proportion to the circumstances that anger becomes a problem—and in the workplace, there can be big consequences. The next time someone pushes your buttons, read this first.

While engaged in the squabbles of the typical workday, it's sometimes hard to believe we're alike in any way at all. Yet, you and almost anyone else in your group have things in common that you don't know about because you haven't looked. Try finding what you and your group members have in common.

Given the demands that come with leadership, it can be difficult for anyone to succeed as a leader. But the task can be made easier by breaking down the role into promises, skills, qualities, and leadership style. Analyze what characteristics and goals you want to achieve and you're on your way.

When you introduce a new policy or give instructions and people do something completely different instead, it can seem like they are deliberately ignoring you. But it might actually be something you are doing (or not doing). Consider three ways in which you could be contributing to the situation.

How often do we glance a certain way, use a certain phrase, or make an innocuous comment and unintentionally offend a customer or coworker? Worse, how often do we do so and not even realize it? You don't have to worry whether every syllable or nod might cause offense. Just be conscientious.

Much has been written about motivating employees who spend time unproductively doing things they know they shouldn't (hello, Facebook). But what about tasks that are sanctioned or even mandated in your organization that are just as unproductive? See if your employees waste time in any of these ways.

Shared workspaces are becoming popular because they're said to encourage collaboration and interaction among employees. But a study of forty thousand American office workers found that they thought the downsides—increased noise levels and decreased privacy—outweigh the upsides. Let's take a look.

Many people tend to be scared of writing, and that's a shame, because these people are full of ideas and experiences worth writing about. If you want to get past a fear of writing, start with something smaller: a short story, a two-page essay, or a one-page article. Getting started is the hard part.

Asking for advice and getting it unsolicited are two different things. Usually, people who give unwanted advice truly are trying to help. But if you're on the receiving end, it may not seem that way. Don't be too hasty to jump to your response. Read on to learn how to deal with these advice-givers.

A “humblebrag” is the essence of false modesty, aptly capturing the notion of bragging while appearing to be humble. Technical professionals are rarely perceived as great self-promoters, but you shouldn't hedge your accomplishments by only talking about them in this tiresome way. Go ahead and brag!

In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell asserts that it takes about ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. But practice has its limits. Naomi Karten explores other reasons that contribute to becoming an expert—whether at your job or in your golf game.

When plans go awry, it’s easy to slip into a blaming frame of mind. After all, if everyone else did what they were supposed to, the problem you’re now facing wouldn’t have happened. Instead, you should ask: Could there be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this situation? You might be surprised.

It’s possible for people to hold positions that are described as professional yet behave in ways that are decidedly not professional. And the absence of professional behavior is usually a lot more obvious than its presence. Do you exhibit any of these unprofessional—or professional—characteristics?

No company is immune to a crisis. If you find your organization in a position where it could stand to lose customers, money, or its reputation, the first thing you need to do is own up to the situation. This story talks about what communications actions companies can take to mitigate a crisis.

It would be wonderful if success at work were as easy as following five simple steps, like you may be led to believe from many article titles. Still, an occasional glance at advice about how to be successful is worthwhile. Read on for attributes and practices that can help you down the right path.

It’s irritating to work with people who are always defensive. These are the people who, when things don’t work out as planned, are quick to blame circumstances, bad luck, or the people they work with. But if you can gain the trust of defensive people, you and the work you do together will benefit.

Although executive presence is something executives should have for success, it’s a demeanor people at all levels can benefit from acquiring, both to be effective in their current positions and to advance. Read on to find out what qualities entail executive presence and how you can cultivate them.

If reading articles about how to be a good boss were all it took to be one, there wouldn’t be so many articles about how to survive a horrible boss. The trouble is that the bad bosses usually don’t know they’re bad. But there are clues. Read on to see if you exhibit any of these bad-boss behaviors.

Not a day goes by that you don’t have occasion to try to persuade others, whether it’s for something big like canceling a project or something inconsequential like deciding where to go for lunch. Read on for tips to help convince people and get them on your side, both on a team and outside work.

From the outside, it’s difficult to assess an organization’s culture. But before taking a new job, it’s important to learn as much as you can so you won’t encounter a culture clash. If you've got an interview and are wondering whether a new workplace will be a good fit, read on for ways to find out.

The business world is full of jargon: words that sound like they mean something, but what exactly isn’t a sure thing. These vague, overused, and trite phrases increase the potential for misunderstanding. Here's why you should think outside the box (there's one phrase!) and eliminate jargon.

Treating employees, coworkers, and superiors with respect is a key component of good management. But did you ever stop to think that respect can mean different things to different people? Read on to discover the varying ways people can show respect. You might learn something about your team.

Poor performance can take many forms, but in general, poor performers consistently don’t deliver the results you expect, make too many mistakes, and require too much time to manage. The key is not to let matters slide. The sooner you determine the causes and offer guidance, the better for everyone.

No matter what field you're in or position you hold, chances are you sometimes have to collaborate with colleagues. And while collaboration can be made out to sound like a smooth process, the reality is that few teams can work well together for long. Read on for some tips on collaborating better.

Lacking formal authority means you have to use other means to get people to listen to you. And that’s not so bad, because the traits that will help you lead—and be seen as a leader—in the absence of formal authority are traits that will inspire followers. Read on for tips on becoming a motivator.

Status meetings let team members report what they’re doing and whether they’re hitting targets, and they help the project manager identify weaknesses early and make adjustments. Unfortunately, all too often these meetings are boring. They don't have to be! Read on for tips on making them productive.

Have you ever proposed an important change and those in charge stubbornly refused to back your ideas? Consider whether it was because your proposal was one-sided, misdirected, or poorly packaged. To persuade managers, stakeholders, or customers to support your ideas, keep these points in mind.

The potential toll from being overworked includes fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, stress, and difficulty concentrating. The team effort can suffer, too. Here are some tips on what to do if you're a boss who has to overwork employees for a time, or if you're a team member dealing with being overworked.

A great way to be your most productive is to start the day by doing your most important task. It's smart to do it first thing in the morning because if you put it off, it’ll get forgotten or buried under other tasks. If you do it first, you’ll be able to focus on your other priorities worry-free.

Do you feel anxious when you have to be offline for a while? Do you sleep with your phone by your side? You might have a digital addiction. It's easy to laugh off, but such an addiction affects relationships, stress levels, and even creativity. Read on for warning signs and how you can handle them.

When running a project, there will be many chances for things to go wrong. Usually, there are warning signs a project is going off the rails. You should be on the lookout for any of the signs listed in this story so you can take steps sooner rather than later to reorient your project toward success.

A blaming culture is one in which people are reluctant to speak out, take risks, or accept responsibility at work because they fear criticism, retribution, or worse. It’s no easy matter to reverse a blaming culture, but if you’re in one, read on for some ideas about changes that could make it better.

There are right and wrong ways to go about complaining at work. While the squeaky wheels may get the grease, people viewed as complainers limit their career advancement opportunities. To complain professionally, Naomi Karten says you should be calm, professional, and helpful. Read on for more tips.

Developing software is a complex undertaking and one that’s typically deadline driven. It’s impossible to test every conceivable scenario or even to conceive of every conceivable scenario. The result is that mistakes surface. The challenge is to find the balance between speed and quality.

You can’t avoid conflict at work. Once differences surface, a catalyst for serious conflict is the tendency for the parties to treat their differences as a zero sum game: For one party to win, the other has to lose. It doesn't have to be that way. Naomi Karten gives some tips for managing conflict.

It’s impossible to live life without making mistakes. Some people view the prospect of screwing up with dread, but if we’re going to grow and improve, we have to go beyond our comfort zones. Failure is inevitable. So if you fear it, try to shift your mindset and give yourself permission to screw up.

Many non-managers have misconceptions about what the role of manager entails. Some think being a manager means you get to leave early, you'll have free time, and your employees will always like you. Yeah, right! If you aspire to management, here are some other misconceptions to guard against.

Some people don’t get outside-the-box thinking. The idea is not to do things the same old way, but as this definition puts it, to do “thinking that moves away in diverging directions so as to involve a variety of aspects and which sometimes leads to novel ideas and solutions.”

It’s bad enough contending with rudeness outside of work. But when you have to deal with it at work—whether from customers, managers, coworkers, or anyone else—it’s especially annoying. Naomi Karten offers some helpful tips to respond to rude people.

Many managers claim to have an open-door policy. But if you take a glimpse inside their offices, you'll see that they're rarely there. Naomi Karten explains that if you’re a manager, it’s important to foster a culture that promotes idea exchange and open dialogue.

Have you ever called in sick when you weren’t sick? OK, of course you haven’t, but you probably know others who have. Naomi Karten lists some helpful (and sly) tips for taking the day off. Of course, if you truly are sick, stay home and don't spread those germs.

Confirmation bias is the tendency to notice evidence that supports our beliefs, preconceptions, and hypotheses, and to miss, ignore, or dismiss evidence that contradicts them. Instead of trying to falsify a hypothesis, we tend to try to confirm it. It’s a human thing to do.

Big data doesn’t refer to high fives or towering twelves. It refers to lots of data. The primary goal of handling big data is to capture all the data available in a given computing scenario and then analyze it to find identifiable business, behavior, or other patterns.

Time management is a myth. No matter what you do, time itself isn’t going to change. If you have too much to do, all you can change is yourself. Here are a few of the ideas to help you get on the right path.

Scope creep hasn’t been getting as much attention as in past years, perhaps due to more mature development processes, such as agile methods. Inevitably, though, some customers will want just one more thing and just one more other thing. So, the ability to say no will always be in style.

If the teens who attended the recent Apple Developers Conference are any indication, there’s a lot of development being done by teens. But, even as young people join the ranks of app developers, there’s growing concern about the dependence of kids—and adults—on technology.

If your customer interview questions focus too narrowly on a problem that must be solved, you run the risk of missing information that could be critical to a successful outcome. In this column, Naomi Karten says playing detective improves your ability to gather information. To improve the odds of success, it's important to ask questions from multiple perspectives—and to pay attention not only to the customers' response, but to how they say it as well.