Meet Elite Admin: Barb Balle, EA to the CEO of McDonald's Corporation

Ms. Barb Balle has been employed at McDonald’s Corporation for 33 years. She is currently the Executive Assistant to the recently appointed President and CEO, Mr. Don Thompson.

Facing Career Challenges

She notes that one of the challenges in her job is the ever changing schedule. Ms. Balle says that, “…you have to be flexible and able to adapt to changes quickly.” With schedules changing constantly, she stays organized by using charts. By compiling information in charts, she is better able to see what is pending and complete. She feels that multitasking is “not as good as everyone makes it out to be” and only focuses on one task at a time before moving on to the next item on her to-do list. Her to-do lists keep her organized and on target.

Stress Management

Stress comes in all forms on any job and Ms. Balle is no stranger to stressful moments. As a breast cancer survivor, she attributes her ability to manage stress at work with the support of a team of co-workers who pitch in when necessary. She notes that it is important to know who you can get answers from when you need help. Her favorite quote by McDonald’s Founder Ray Kroc, “None of us is as good as all of us,” confirms her feelings.

Ms. Balle has been married for 20 years and has 11 ½ year old twins. She was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and is a White Sox fan. In her spare time, she enjoys Jazzercise, baking and watching reality television.

Visit the McDonald’s Corporation website for more information. 

If you would like to be featured as an Elite Admin or know someone who deserves the spotlight, contact me at worklifecoach@excite.com. 

Anymeeting.com Contest Winner

I was overjoyed to find out that I had won the latest contest hosted by Anymeeting.com! I use the service frequently to conduct webinars and it is wonderful! Attendees have fun and walk away with valuable information. Here is what attendees recently had to say about a webinar I conducted: 

"Really enjoyed and got a lot out of the webinar." Christine H.

"This was an awesome presentation" Janice G.

"I thought the presenter was great!" Lisa C.

"Excellent presentation! The information was presented in a easy to understand manner and its lit my fire."
Debra M.

"This was FANTASTIC!  Dewoun is execptional!" MaryAnn M. 

Check out the article and winning presentation, Thinking Differently about Difficult People. 

Part II: During the meeting (Chairing)

Preparing to host the meeting is just as important as the preparation stage. Now you have to keep attendees engaged and make sure the meeting is productive. It sounds like a difficult task, but can be it done, if done correctly.

The meeting notice has been sent and the meeting is scheduled, it's time to think about how the meeting will flow. Here are some tips on how to keep the meeting running smoothly, besides utilizing Robert’s Rules of Order.

How to host meaningful meetings (3-part series)

Part I: Before the meeting – The preparation

Meetings have become one of the workplace’s abominations. When you mention the word meeting people shudder because they feel that it will either be unproductive, unorganized, or boring. On average, we spend 80% of our time in meetings and over half of them are time wasters. 

Sometimes meetings have meetings, the unnecessary side chatter that is going on when meetings are being conducted. People come in with displeasure and quickly lose interest. This is a 3-part article series that will provide tips on how to host productive meetings. The article series includes:

Part I: Before the Meeting (The Preparation)

Part II: During the Meeting (Chairing)

Part III: After the Meeting (Post-meeting tasks)

If you want to change attitudes about meetings, get more participation, and be productive, here are 7 preparation tips to do prior to the meeting day:

Join me and the Quad City Chapter for an 

evening of stress relief! 

Register Today!

Short acronyms for the Administrative Professional

Do people realize that the first text acronyms were used by secretaries? Remember Shorthand? Shorthand was the language secretaries used when transcribing messages which was in the form of lines that were symbols with meaning. Today, acronyms are used when sending text messages or casual email messages.  Many acronyms have been added to the Urban Dictionary such as: LOL, LMAO, and ROFLMAO, and the list goes on.

Professionals will say that this form of "short text" is unprofessional and lack proper business etiquette in writing; however, with the increase in the usage of Smartphones, email, and other electronic vices that speed up business communication, the use of short language will be the norm in the business world as it is in our personal lives. 

I recommend that we add the following acronyms to the Urban Dictionary to be used in business writing:

RFI	Request for Information
NMD	Need More Direction
PYR	Per your Request
OTS	Open to Suggestions
OFD	Open for Discussion
WFR	Waiting for a Response
BAU	Business as Usual

Are there any other acronyms we can add? I am OTS.

For goodness sakes, take a break!

Eating at your desk is not taking a break.

It’s 11 a.m. and you have been working diligently since 8:30 a.m. sitting at your computer, answering phones, and greeting visitors with an occasional swivel of your chair to access items on and around your work space.  At lunchtime, you, like many other people in the world, will be sitting at your desk eating. After lunch, you will resume your rigorous work day until 5 p.m. (that’s if you’re not working overtime). If this scenario closely describes a typical day in your life, keep reading if you want to save your sanity, be healthier, and be more successful in your job. 

In an article entitled, Sitting All Day: Worse for you than you think, Epidemiologist Steven Blair, a professor of public health at the University of South Carolina say, “If you're sitting, your muscles are not contracting, perhaps except to type. But the big muscles, like in your legs and back, are sitting there pretty quietly, and because the major muscles aren't moving, metabolism slows down.”¹ This is why at certain times of the day it feels like you have run out of gas or you feel run down and need an energy drink to make it through the rest of the day. 

Here are 3 reasons why you should take a break

Happy 3rd Anniversary to the Office Professionals Place!

It is our third anniversary! I would like to thank everyone for visiting and reading the content. If you have used the techniques or found them to be of use for someone else and forwarded the info - THANKS! You keep us going and we appreciate you!

The Office Professionals Place is changing for the better. Be on the lookout for contests, special offers, and new content. We are three years old and moving out of diapers and into training pants!

Thank you for your support and keep reading!

The Administrative Professional's Ultimate Time Wasters

Wasting time is like watching the clock.

The typical workday is filled with distractions, interruptions, and routine tasks. Researchers have found that the average employee does just four hours of productive work a day. The remaining four hours are spent fielding phone calls and emails, or wasting time by surfing the Internet and gossiping (2008). Here are three time wasters that the administrative professional has to face in any given day:

Curb negativity from others by making a U-Turn

"This is the worst meeting I have ever attended. The food is gross and the speaker is terrible."

"The room was so cold and I couldn't see the slides."

Norman Vincent Peale, author of the Power of Positive Thinking once said, "The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results."

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and they immediately start listing the negative aspects of an event or of life in general? Negativity breeds negativity; emotions are contagious. The longer you talk with this individual, the easier it will be for you to eventually chime in and feed the negativity. There is good news to preserve your emotional sanity. Here are 2 ways to curb negativity in others: