Geese fly over the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington.KEVIN LAMARQUE/Reuters
This is the latest news and information for workers and managers from across the Web universe, brought to you by Monday Morning Manager writer Harvey Schachter. Follow us on Twitter @Globe_Careers or join our Linked In group.
Like Martin Luther King in his "I Have a Dream" speech, you'll be more successful gaining buy-in and action when you communicate to others a large amount of "vision" imagery – words that describe people, colours and actions – with a small amount of "values," research by three academics shows. Academy of Management Journal
When it makes sense to say no
Executive Karin Hurt lists five times when no is the right response: To rude or disrespectful behaviour; to time wasters; to harebrained ideas by your boss; to negative self-talk; and to "scope creep," when others keep making additional requests without additional time or money. LetsGrowLeaders.com
Don't let fear delay your decisions
Important decisions carry risk and can unnerve us. Our instinct can be to delay. But entrepreneur Seth Godin says your hesitation can hurt. Make high-leverage decisions early, so you can take advantage while others are holding back in fear. Seth's Blog
Ease navigation by rejigging categories
On websites, category choices are usually listed alphabetically. But navigation specialist Kathryn Whitenton says there often are better organizing principles, like frequency of use or importance. Vital is whether visitors already know category names and how many categories exist. With a long list of equally important ones, alphabetization works. NNGroup.com
Stop others editing shared Word files
To prevent others editing important parts of a shared Word file, enable the Developer Toolbar and, after selecting the content to keep unchanged, click the tool bar's rich text or plain text control button. Click properties and under locking, check two options: Content control cannot be deleted; and content control cannot be edited. AddictiveTips.com
Harvey Schachter is a Battersea, Ont.-based writer specializing in management issues. He writes Monday Morning Manager and management book reviews for the print edition of Report on Business and an online work-life column, Balance. E-mail harvey@harveyschachter.com
Harvey Schachter