Happy new year!

I’m not one to make new year’s resolutions, actually, but I liked what Amy Joyce wrote in her "Life at Work" column in the Washington Post on Sunday. Specifically, she made two work-related resolutions that she hopes everyone will make: (1) learn something new, and (2) communicate. Here’s an excerpt of what she said:

Learn something new. Are you bored at work? Does your job feel like a grind? If it does, then you’re bringing everyone down. Including yourself. And it doesn’t have to be that way. Learn something new and take it back to the office. If it doesn’t apply to your job but you think you could find a job where these new skills will be excitedly put to use, then make a search for that new opportunity part of your resolution.

There are so many classes, groups and organizations out there that can help us expand our brains and inspire us again. It’s time to figure out what we want to learn and go for it….

Communicate. Do you, as a manager, have a problem with an employee? Tell her. She needs to know. And the more she knows, the more she can fix her problem. Then the better off you, as a manager, are.

Employees: Think something in your workplace needs to change? Figure out what that is and why it needs to change. Then talk to someone about it. There is no use sitting around whining if you are only going to . . . whine.

I particularly liked the communicate one. I recognize that her advice is easier said than done, but as I so often tell people, it is not nearly as hard as you think. And what she doesn’t point to is the "other side" of each communication scenario. If you are the "problem" employee, will you openly receive your boss’ feedback? And if you’re the boss, what will you do when an employee comes to you with a suggested change in the way things are done?