the best management ideas ever

Ever asked a colleague about an email or task, only to get sidetracked talking about something else entirely? At StellaPop we call these moments "squirrel time," after Doug the notoriously distractible dog in the film Up.

Not all squirrel time is bad. We all need a break every now and then, and sometimes squirrel time can result in valuable discussions or insights about a client, a task or a process. But how do you control squirrel time so that you don't go nuts?

Here's how we ensure that we stay on task and meet our deadlines - while still allowing for occasional office chit chat and discussion. 

Every new project starts first with conception. Conception is when the germ of an idea is born. That idea is then brought to fruition by creativity, sweat, and a healthy dose of humility if you’re doing it right. You have to be humble because the path from first iterations to final approval is a dark road littered with twists and turns and peppered with umpteen revisions.

Ever since we are little, we are conditioned to think about what we want to be when we grow up (which really means what we want to do for work). As a kid, we start out dreaming big. We want to be a firefighter and face danger; we want to be a doctor and save lives; we want to help people. As we get older though, money often comes into the picture. Your career path may change based on salary, but if you're lucky it doesn't have to. 

Whether you’re dealing with wall-to-wall cubicles, an open layout, or a combination of both, here are four ways to help boost office morale and improve employee productivity.

1. Keep meetings to a minimum

One of the biggest traps most workplaces fall into is the habit of scheduling too many meetings a week. To help solve this issue, some offices have started designating specific timeframes for meetings (say, between 10 AM and noon), while others simply schedule one meeting a week and cover as many topics as they can. A weekly office gathering can often help cover most of the upcoming issues in one setting, as well as offer a little insight into what everyone has planned for the week.

The words "fail" and "failure" can have many connotations. There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes on the approach to understanding failure.

The first is failure means you didn't do whatever you set out to do and you never will. It's a period at the end of a sentence.

The second is its proof you're working towards a goal that's worth achieving.