Teryl @ Work

This morning, as I was packing my boot to go to work, I felt a few drops of water on my arm. I looked up into a clear, blue sky.. Maybe it came off the car? I went inside for my goodbyes, came back out, and there it was, a steady drizzle seemingly coming from a cloudless sky. It seemed impossible. Our knowledge about our world, and the possibilities, is extensive, and yet we are often limited by what we believe to be possible. It is something I think about all the time, particularly when viewing my guilty pleasure, magicians and mind readers. How do they do it? Our holding company Telkom:Business Connexion has the mission of making the impossible possible through technology. And it is happening! Every day, we become aware of some amazing new development that only a mind like Da Vinci's could have conceptualised in advance. I would love to hear some impossible stories! Please let me know if you have one that made you gasp with disbelief. Personally, though, I...

Working at home – Lifestyle AND Career Choice It’s becoming easier.   Technology enables working from anywhere.   Go into any coffee shop and see the number of people working at laptops, holding meetings and sharing cell phone business conversations with the world at large… But if you work for a corporate and are planning a big career, do the advantages of missing the daily commute and the noise and buzz of open plan space outweigh the disadvantages? I do not believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder in the work environment.  In fact, just the opposite. Teams work because they are close together.  You don’t build ability in a sports team by everybody practicing in separate venues and coming together five minutes before a match.  The same goes for a choir. Or is that changing with social media?   Are people able to build up great team spirit and work effectively without proximity? I think it’s possible unless the model...

3 things to do BEFORE you sign your new employment contract 1.        Consider additional costs you might incur so that you know what take home pay is the basis for negotiation ·          Benefits you might be losing eg Canteen ·          Distance from home o     Higher transport costs o     Additional child care costs for earlier drop off/later collection 2.        Ask to see a copy of a payslip ·          Most companies will be happy to do this to ensure there is a clear understanding of take home pay ·          The time to negotiate your new salary is before the contract is drawn up.   Backwards and forwards paperwork and mail is time wasting and annoying.   It starts the relationship off on the wr...

or sign a new contract… 1.         Confirm your notice period ·          A lot of companies allow 30 days from date of resignation, but many ask for a calendar month 2.        Check your restraints ·          If you are joining a competitor ·          If you are joining a client 3.        Find out when your last payment will be transferred ·          Companies have been burned by paying over on the 25 th , and people not returning, so they may delay payment transfer until the last official working day, or even the first day of the following month.  You may need to make special arrangements regarding debit orders …. Both your current company and your new one deserve to be fairly treated.   Knowledge of ...

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy – Unknown source We all want different things from work: The list is diverse and, if you do some research, there are significant differences in the combinations of goals that people have. And this impacts on the workplace they want. The most significant feedback I have received over the years is: I need to feel safe, but I need to be stretched . While I know lots of people, mainly entrepreneurs, who love to live on the edge, already considering the next high risk project while the current ones are starting to roll out, it seems to me that there is a general resistance to change and risk.   Of course, with high risk comes high reward, although simply staying in the same position can leave you in the right place at the right time, too. So #WhereIWork was a thought process that I had considered for many...

How we love to elaborate…     Both in our personal and business lives.   It is rare to find somebody who simply answers the question. In sales, it is becoming more and more critical to just say yes or no.   If you want to embroider afterwards, by all means, but tell the client you can or you can’t do it, first. That’s what they remember, the yes or the no. Being married to an engineer, I have learnt that if I don’t answer the question, he simply repeats it, until he gets a definitive answer.. As the above is extremely bad for marital relationships, I try to say yes or no first and then give the details. I thought it was just me, but I have been observing my friends and the people I work with, and it is fascinating how few one word answers are immediately available. When you are selling and a client asks you: If the widget turns blue in the dark, say yes if it does,  then  ask if that is a key part ...