That jolt you feel after a sudden layoff is from fear of income loss, change, anger, loss of relationships, and disbelief hitting you at the same time. It's hard not to panic, but manage this moment with one-day-at-a-time approach so you can prepare for a new phase in your life that may surpass this one. Line up resources -- ranging from internal supports offered by your employer to meeting with your counselor (e.g., your EAP). Process the upheaval to keep it from interfering with your action…

You may have hard-fought education and training in one area of work, but if you are not communicating a strong sense of willingness to learn new skills, you may be overlooking opportunities and a critical way to engage with your employer in the modern era. Willingness and a desire to learn demonstrate your motivation for personal improvement and achievement. Your willingness and desire to learn a soft skill employers value says a lot about you. Employers look for potential, capability, and the…

Everyone makes mistakes at work, but do you know how to manage these mini crises when they occur? The first rule is to remain calm and assess the true impact. If needed, determine how best to rectify the problem and bring the error, along with your suggested solution, to your boss. Get out in front of any work error rather than have it be discovered by others. Own the error when it's yours. Learn the lesson from the mistake and commit to not repeating it. Apologize for your mistake. People…

Change can come quickly in the workplace. How well do you cope with sudden office moves, reassigned duties, taking on more work, or being removed from an unfinished project to start another one? You may have no control over management decisions requiring difficult change, and coping with this sort of stress requires learning to be flexible. Flexibility demonstrates tolerance, maturity, understanding, and a desire to engage with the organization. Responding to change with a cooperative attitude,…

Frequent fatigue affects one out of three workers. Overwork, multitasking, and workplace demands are the main culprits. Although work pressures can feel inescapable, the strain you experience from them combined with communication and information sharing technology makes fatigue a major health issue for the modern workplace. Work-life boundaries blur, making it seem like work is endless. Proper management and awareness of fatigue is a personal health responsibility in the modern era. Fatigue is…

If you don't supervise others, you can still demonstrate leadership skills by practicing the work habits of good leaders:

• Be genuine and praise others when they deserve it, making sure to articulate what they did well. This is a leadership skill that helps develop talent. 
• Have clear goals for what you want to achieve in your position. This demonstrates engagement with the organization.
• Practice empathy to perceive others' needs, not just your own. Empathy shows that you value and invest…

No matter what your job or position, you can be certain that you will experience criticism periodically. This inevitability calls for a personal strategy to master its impact so you can make it work for you. Whether you are corrected by peers in a group or criticized during an annual review, consider these four pillars of managing criticism like a pro: 1) Criticism usually stings, and it's often a surprise over which you have little or no control. Accepting this can help you respond to it with…

Handling criticism well is a workplace skill you may never quite perfect, but there are ways to build emotional resilience to it. 1) Criticism doesn't mean you're wrong, but some truth probably exists. Search for it. 2) One complaint does not mean everyone feels the same way. 3) Criticism may originate from a reaction to only a small part of your work, not the entire effort. Don't discard what is working well. 4) Like the ring of a bell, the sting of criticism dissipates. Don't risk an improper…

If you are a good workplace collaborator, you are prized by your employer because you are a goal achiever. Effective collaboration is a learned skill to maximize productivity by teaming with others. Don't confuse collaboration with simple cooperation. Both are positive behaviors, but collaboration is proactive and heavy on taking initiative. Think of bicycle pedals. One pedal does not "cooperate" with the other. Instead, it is an equal push. This is collaboration. Enhance your ability to…