This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: Can you help me deal with the amount of crying at work I’m dealing with at the moment? I manage a mid-size team of people who are all very caring and empathetic, and are through and through a great team. Every morning we have a meeting set up for the day....

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader asks: I’ve been working for a while with a senior colleague who has been amazing — knowledgeable, supportive, and patient. He recently moved on from my organization. When he left, he told me to keep in touch. I’d love to keep in touch but have no idea what to say! I...

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: I find myself in a truly bizarre situation. I attended a work conference overnight this weekend with almost all of my colleagues. We’re attorneys at a pretty large “small” law firm. At the end of the conference day, we all had dinner together. My close colleague,...

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Should managers have to train professionals on basic computer skills? We have an ongoing debate in my office – is a manager responsible for training an employee on non-essential but generally required skills? For example, my...

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: I have a question about working lunches. I manage a small team, and I recently held a brainstorming session for some professional development ideas for next year that the whole team can participate in. One of the options I suggested is (company-sponsored) lunch...

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: I have always thought of my job as a place where people didn’t get fired unless they were obviously and consistently bad at their jobs. I have been here for six years and I know that when we get the “goodbye so-and-so” emails from HR about people unexpectedly...