This week was more exciting than usual because the beautiful dresses I ordered from the Johanna Ortiz x H&M collection arrived. I already wore one for a walk around the block and I am obsessed with it – pictured below. On top of that, add that we had our first reasonably priced Michelin star meal – take out from a Thai restaurant Kin Dee in Berlin – on Friday, and then we picked up delicious vegan doughnuts on Saturday; I mean what else could I wish for.
And, in case you’ve missed it, here is the post I published last week and that I poured my heart into, detailing the story of how I found what my strengths are at work + shared some tools that can be used for free and can help you find your strengths.
Weekly Reads
Managing up. There is a lot around anticipating needs in this piece, but for me personally, I think more than anything it’s about communicating effectively at different levels. That for me is the essence of managing up, and it does not only apply to your direct manager but also to other key people in the organization. What I’ve found is that relaying information to different parties – think levels – usually looks different, and being able to give them what (information) they need at the right time is key.
Money Diaries. I loved reading a European version of the Money Diaries this time around – a Project Manager based in Copenhagen living on 70,000 EUR a year.
My boss wants to cut my hours but keep my workload. With many companies looking at their finances more tightly right now, this sort of situation can occur more often. At my company, we have implemented reduced hours across the board and while I have a minimum reduction of hours – I will be doing 90% working hours with almost no salary cut – I kind of consider it a blessing, so I am actually looking forward to having Friday afternoons off over the warmer months. The other side to it is that as an overly responsible person, I think I will have my own battles to manage my workload so I am hoping I can learn some good skills during this time – namely, shutting off when the clock stops ticking.
Virtual job interview attire. Picking what to wear for an in-person interview is usually daunting, and with the lawless work from home attire, it can be confusing to choose what to wear for a virtual job interview. That’s why I love the virtual-interview outfits M.M. employees modelled for five different industries.
What does the world look like after the pandemic. I, personally, have high hopes for all the potential that this crisis has in terms of opportunities for change – and I mean for the better. I can only hope that the effects of the pandemic will make leaders around the world embrace the change coming – for example for things as obvious as flexible and remote working. Also loved these questions that you can ask instead of “how are you doing right now” .
Thank you for reading and I hope you are having a great start into the week!
