MANAGEMENT MINUTE: 4 qualities to look for in your coach

Now may be the time to bring in a business coach, says Gary Hensen, president and founder of www.BusinessCoach.com. A coach can help you “focus on your goals, make concrete plans, and work towards executing them in an effective manner,” he explains.

MICROSOFT OFFICE TUTOR: Instantly find a contact in Outlook

It’s impossible to remember all of your contacts’ first and last names, and that means you have to rifle through your Address Book to find the right contact in Outlook. Here’s a better solution.

CUSTOMER SERVICE CORNER: 7 methods to improve your memory

You can amp up your ability to remember crucial details, promises Dustin Wax, a project manager who often juggles multiple tasks. Here are his tricks of the trade.

MANAGEMENT MINUTE: Own the skill of the future

The most important skill is the ability to organize and process information. Tomorrow’s supervisor will handle an increasing amount of data. Her success is dependent upon her ability to “synthesize,” or handle and analyze that information, Dr. Howard Gardner claims.

MICROSOFT OFFICE TUTOR: Speed up your scrolling in large documents

If you’re editing a large document that also includes a number of images, you may find that scrolling is quite slow. This happens because Word has to load each image as you scroll, which can make your productivity drag. Fortunately, if you display picture placeholders rather than your actual images, you won’t have to worry about this needless slowdown any more.