Can you BLUF or KISS your way to success?

by Rhonda Scharf | Apr 11, 2023 | Ask Rhonda, Communication, Efficiency, Help Me Rhonda

I was chatting with Heather, one of our finalists for the Canadian Administrative Professional of the Year, and she threw out the term BLUF. I smiled, as I hadn’t heard that in many years. BLUF – bottom line up front. How many of you work for professionals that are...

Spring Cleaning for the Office

by Rhonda Scharf | Apr 2, 2023 | Ask Rhonda, Efficiency, Help Me Rhonda

  I can smell the spring in the air. While I still see snow in my yard, the days are getting longer, the birds are louder, the trees are waking up, and I can smell that winter is finally ending. At this time of year, the annual “spring cleaning” bug...

TIPS FOR ADDING SELF-CARE TO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE

by Rhonda Scharf | Mar 28, 2023 | Ask Rhonda, Efficiency, Goal Setting, Help Me Rhonda

My week-long vacation included six full days on the beach. I read four books cover to cover (and the fifth one started), a beautiful dinner with my honey each night, time in the bathtub to soak and chat, followed by ten-plus hours of sleep each night. Less than an...

Keeping Work Sane When Life is Not

by Rhonda Scharf | Mar 17, 2023 | Ask Rhonda, Efficiency, Goal Setting, Help Me Rhonda

  I was working with a client in San Francisco when I listened to the doctors’ meeting at my dad’s bedside. He had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks, underwent many tests, and was clearly not improving. We knew the meeting wasn’t going...

Avoiding Scope Creep

by Rhonda Scharf | Mar 12, 2023 | Ask Rhonda, Efficiency, Help Me Rhonda, Management, Office Solutions

  No one likes a creep, and scope creep is the same thing. We don’t like it! According to PMI’s The Pulse of the Profession 2018, 52% of all projects face scope creep in one way or another. We hear about it and understand how normal it is, but we want...

When Does Being “Nice” Cross to “Enabling”? … Should you say no?

by Rhonda Scharf | Mar 6, 2023 | Ask Rhonda, Communication, Help Me Rhonda, Office Solutions

It’s 8 pm, and you’re sitting on the couch after a long day at work; the phone rings, and it’s your executive calling, who happens to be traveling. You answer the phone knowing there will be a request for you to take care of … long after the day of work is over. He is...