Helen Wilkie

Business Presentation Skills: Lessons From Public Speaking Contestants

It was a public speaking contest for high school kids. It was held in a big room, in a big hotel, in a big city. The judges were professional speakers who make their living at this. The audience was full of parents, each thinking nobody could touch their ... Read >

Upward Delegation: An Expensive Mistake

A client recently told me he was hugely frustrated over how much time he regularly spends editing reports and other written materials produced by his people. What he didn't understand was that they were delegating their work upwards to him! Here's how thi... Read >

Effective Staff Meetings: 3 Ways to Stay on Track

Although technology continues to change the face of the workplace, face-to-face meetings between team members is still a useful way to enable communication. Here are three simple techniques to help you hold effective staff meetings that meeting their obje... Read >

Networking: Change Your Focus, Reduce Your Stress

Even though most people in the business world recognize the value and importance of networking to build relationships, bring in business, get a better job and more, many are reluctant to actually do it. Oh they may show up at the events, but they don't wa... Read >

Networking: Make Yourself Memorable with a Little Extra Fact

Have you ever been to one of those networking events where everybody stands up to introduce themselves? The idea is fine, of course, but they can turn into a disaster because of two opposite responses. TOO LONG Apparently, some people don't know how... Read >

Dress the Part If You Want People to See You As a Manager

If you want to be successful as a manager, you need to look like a manager. And that means you need to dress the part. Shakespeare told us all the world's a stage and we each must play our part. If you've recently become a manager, you've taken on a ne... Read >

Time Management for Managers: Urgent vs Important

As a new manager, you are probably adding considerably to your own stress level by confusing the two ideas of urgency and importance. In his seminal book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Steven Covey gave us a four quadrant matrix, which is stil... Read >

Starting Your Presentation: Get Right Into the Action

Starting your presentation is not necessarily the hardest part, but it can get you off on the right or the wrong foot so it's important to give a lot of thought to the words you use. Think about how many people begin: "Good afternoon ladies and gent... Read >

Time Management for Managers: You Need a Better To Do List

Even though it's widely considered an essential time management tool, the traditional To Do List is really almost useless, particularly for managers, first because of the way we structure it and then because of the way we use it. As a manager, you need... Read >

Can You Still Make Money Selling Ebooks?

Is it still possible to make money selling ebooks? It's a good question, and one that seems to come up for discussion more and more on internet marketing forums and blogs. If you've been in the internet marketing field for some time, you may have notic... Read >

Business Problem Solving As a Management Skill

Business problems come in many varieties, and solving them is an essential skill for managers at all levels. But what many managers don't realize, particularly when they are new to management, is that there is a discipline, an order, a method --- in fact,... Read >

Business Problem Solving: Keep Asking Questions

If you are new to managing at work, you'll be facing many new tasks you never had to think about before, and one of them is business problem solvingâ€"solving your own problems and other people's problems. If you are like thousands of other new manager... Read >

Communication Breakdown at Work? 4 Solutions

When companies do needs assessments among employees, one thing that always comes up is breakdown in communication. Here are four actions steps to rid your department of this frustration.1. Find out what the problem really is. Three people complaining abou... Read >

Internet Marketing Advice: Don't Be Sucked Into Buying Something You Already Have!

When it comes to Internet Marketing advice, it's easy to make a mistake and buy some tool or system that does something you can already do with another tool you already have. The problem for newbies (and sometimes even for seasoned Internet marketers) ... Read >

Relationships At Work: Managing Former Peers

Among new and recently appointed managers, undoubtedly the number one issue that comes up is the challenge of managing people who once were peers, or perhaps even friends. Generally, people's concerns fall into two categories: 1. Keeping friendships... Read >