Etiquette

Hi Deb! Your new TBBW feature is cool and, as long as my name is not used, I would LOVE my question to get answered. Here it is – What do you do when a manager is rude or dismissing someone else, in a meeting and the person doesn’t report to you. I want to

Dear Debbie,  Can you help with some Out of Office (OOO) coaching? I recently took some time off from work, but I always try to be available for urgent matters that need my attention. I explain that while I’m on vacation, for anything that needs immediate attention, I can be reached on my cell phone.

Having houseguests can be flattering since they want to stay at your home and enjoy your space and company. But having houseguests can be relationship-strainers since some people want to use your home as a crash pad and treat it worse than a rental car on spring break. If you can relate to those houseguest

Humans are a series of emotions, and habits. Our emotions can drive our commitment to well-serving habits and our habits can either quell, or enhance our emotional states in reaction, or response, to people and situations. What happens when emotions are presented at the office, on Zoom/Teams, or with clients, and colleagues in a way

While likely none of us want to be late, it happens. Kids, pets, traffic, distractions and more can keep us all from being on schedule and/or where we would like to be when we would like to be there. What to do? There’s no need to panic, lie or start rationalizing internally, or to others,

  We have been Zoom-ing and Teams-ing for years and while the frequency of these video meetings may have subsided since the height of the pandemic, the format is here to stay.  People have “Zoom Room” fatigue and Teams Meeting “taxed-outed-ness.” So being intentional can keep the time to a minimum and maximize the technology

You might agree that most unsolicited feedback is perceived as criticism. And, with that in mind, you also may agree that it takes constructive, useful feedback to grow. So, what happens when you receive an idea, criticism, feedback or a “You know, you really should …”? It is important to realize most people—not all—absolutely do

Depending on what year it is, and what source you’re looking at, it is reported that more than 3 billion emails are exchanged each day.  Because subject lines are like book titles, and we know the old “don’t judge a book by its cover” expression, emails are judged and, therefore, opened based on who sends

People can be difficult. Situations can be difficult. Relationships can be difficult. You can be difficult. While “difficult” is not typically on anyone’s to-do list for any given day, difficult conversations are likely to occur when we are leading, and aren’t we all leading in the way we think, act, speak and respond to others?

It’s true—tone and body language affect our interpretation of what is being said or shared. So, the words are skewed by the mood, as I like to say. Not ever, though, is a note, an email, a text, letter, announcement or instant message ever received in exactly the same time, mindset and energy that it

You get them—business emails, some you want, some you don’t, some you subscribe to and some that are spamming you. And you write them—business emails, some that people want and some they don’t. What’s the secret to making yours most welcomed and read? Have empathy and care in how you craft your emails. Yes, empathy

While habits are not glamorous and are rarely highlighted, let alone celebrated, we are, at our core, a series of habits. We may think of habits as our personalities or “the way I am,” and yet habits are made, not born, and for this reason, with focus and discipline, you can make your habits what