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Are You Having Fun At Work?

December 21, 2007 By 1 Comment

Noel Coward said, “Work is much more fun than fun.”

How many of us can honesty say that they feel as Noel Coward did?  In my career, I have encountered many people who firmly believe that work is work and by definition should never be fun.  This group believes that one works in order to have fun.

Based on personal experience particularly during the past several years, I am an advocate of the “life is short philosophy.  Recently, I have really been reviewing various aspects of my life and asking myself is this something I really want to do.  What I have realized in this process is that we all have choices and we can choose to do what we want to do.  Granted, some people may not be happy with the choices we make and we may have a limited number of options from which to choose.  Yet, we still have choices.

Occasionally, I meet people who are miserable in their jobs.  For them, work is far from being more fun than fun.  When I suggest that they have options, they often look at me like I have two heads and give me a litany of excuses why they are stuck.  Yet, every once in a while, one surprises me.  That person says, “you know, I’ve been unhappy in this job for years and maybe it is time to make a move.

Imagine what life would be like if we could have our work be a fun part of our lives. I am interested in hearing stories from people who have made a choice to enliven their work lives.  Is anyone out there willing to share his or hers?

Filed Under: Jobs and Careers, Observations

Thank you, Andrue…

December 18, 2007 By 3 Comments

On Saturday, December 1, 2007 at about 7PM CST, my dear friend Andrue Scott died peacefully at the Benedictine Care Center in Minneapolis, MN. Andrue had battled HIV-AIDS for more than 16 years. A 1966 graduate of NYC’s School for the Performing Arts, he always had an uncanny sense of timing. So by dying on World AIDS Day, Andrue was being Andrue until the end. What finally caught up with him was that sarcoma that had metastasized before his leg was amputated in June, 2004.

I met Andrue when he was managing the Barnes and Noble Music Department in downtown Minneapolis. I went in one day at lunch to purchase one opera , Puccini’s La Rondine and left with TEN operas and a new friend.

So why am I writing about Andrue who was born Drue Scott Oppenheim in Queens, NY on May 25, 1948 in a blog about working with others? Reader’s Digest had a feature entitled, “The Most Unforgettable Character I Have Ever Met. (Maybe they still do, I haven’t looked at an issue since Lyndon Johnson was president!) Andrue would be my subject if I were to write that essay today. He was very opinionated, somewhat assertive, and quite frankly, well, bossy! However, he had a certain wit and charm with which he could put people at ease and endear himself to many. His circle of friends included the rich and famous as well as the everyday regular people of the world. He was high on the likeability quotient.

There are at least two things we could learn from Andrue. The first is that he maintained that everything worth learning about in life comes from either a Broadway musical or a TV sitcom , and he could cite the exact show tune or episode to support his claim. Of course, this was back in the day when both musicals and sitcoms had substance. Second, Andrue always communicated directly , he said what he meant and meant what he said. I’ve maintained that if people could only communicate clearly with each other, many workplace issues would go away. So thank you Andrue for your friendship and what you have helped all of us to learn.

Filed Under: Observations, Work place issues

Some thoughts about the state of training….

December 18, 2007 By 1 Comment

About a month ago, I co-facilitated a workshop at a training conference.  As most conferences tend to do this one included a luncheon keynote speaker. Having played this role on many occasions, I can say with authority that I am not a fan of luncheon speakers.

Here’s why.  Most planning committees so highly structure a conference that there is very little time to connect with colleagues, share ideas, and meet new people in the field.  Usually these opportunities are available at 15-minute breaks or at those god-awful cocktail receptions. As Open Space Technology creator Harrison Owen noted years ago, the most interesting conversations usually occur outside the formal setting of a conference.

At this particular conference, the luncheon speaker gave a presentation on why lectures are de facto “bad and that “good’ trainers use a variety of gimmicks to “keep people engaged under the assumption that engagement equals learning.  The reason for this approach is that according to the presenter, television, with its ten-minute segments in between 3 minutes of commercials has conditioned everyone to only tolerate short periods of information exchange.  While the speaker was clearly professional and passionate about this approach, you’ve probably guessed by my tone that I was a little annoyed by the content.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a member of the American Society of Training and Development, and have been doing instructional design and training for about thirty years.  I completely support the importance of keeping the training class engaged and maximizing learning.

At times this session seemed like a mix of an out-of-control auction and the behavior of frenzied commodity dealers on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.  I see this disturbing trend in training in which sizzle gets rewarded over substance and feel like the training community is selling it’s collective soul because it is afraid to make training challenging.  Why do we have to “dumb down workshops just because network television has dumbed down what it offers in a format that conditions people to short sound bites instead of a deeper dialogue.  What is missing is the opportunity to reflect, to go deeper, to really promote understanding. I think it is important to find ways to make these activities more accessible.   And what was missing from this keynote was the presence of any opportunity for exchanging points of view on when this anti-lecture approach is NOT the best one.  From where I was sitting I found it interesting that there were a significant number of people who were not engaged in the activities being suggested by the presenter.

I know this entry may irritate some of my colleagues as much as the content of the presentation (not the speaker) irritated me.  However, I feel a need to put a stake in the ground and invite others to do the same.  I am all for making learning enjoyable and enlivening.  However, I want to do it in a way that does not sacrifice substance and that has respect for the intelligence of the learners.

Filed Under: Observations, Training

Back to Work!

December 18, 2007 By Leave a Comment

After a lengthy hiatus, www.workingwithothers.com is back.  Or more accurately, I am back with (hopefully) regular contributions once again.  Thanks to many subscribers who sent me emails wondering if I had dropped off the face of the earth. No, I didn’t.  I was just gathering more material and trying to practice what I’ve offered in this blog.

Filed Under: Work place issues

Is Your Boss a “Screamer”?

September 17, 2007 By 1 Comment

When my stepchildren were involved in youth sports, I remember a conversation among the parents in which we would wonder about the new coach. People would ask, “Is this person a screamer. In other words, except for when the coach is shouting encouragement or trying to get a player’s attention from across the field, does the coach routinely yell at the players – especially if they make a mistake , which (news flash to ALL coaches) they frequently do because they are learning how to play? We did not like the screamer coaches.

I’ve noted before that there are many websites devoted entirely to bad bosses (e.g., www.badbossology.com, www.badbosses.net). A question being asked around the water cooler is now, “Is that boss a screamer? In other words, is this boss someone who yells at his/her staff? It is a pretty sad state of affairs when this happens.

Well, here is the deal. It is NEVER OK for a boss to yell at a peer or a direct report in the workplace and that includes one-on-one meetings as well as larger gatherings. I think the worst example of this kind of behavior I have witnessed was when I was asked to coach the CEO of a small privately held services company several years ago. This CEO spent the entire leadership team meeting publicly humiliating each member of his team , for very trivial things. And if a given VP had not done anything wrong, this CEO would still berate them on general principles. What was even more amazing is that this team put up with it.

This happened to me once. It was about twenty years ago, and my boss started screaming at me because I responded to a request from her boss directly without having my boss review it before it was sent , not that my boss ever communicated this expectation. We were in the boss’ office. When she finished, I very calmly said, “It is quite reasonable for you to communicate your expectations about how you want me to handle a given situation. It is not acceptable for you to scream at me. I treat you with respect and I expect the same in return. My boss sat in stunned silence. She then apologized and said that she might have overreacted.

Sometimes bosses scream because they are scared of something , and more often than not because the organization has allowed the person to get away with it. Simply letting them know what is and is not acceptable , very calmly , will work most of the time. When it does not , then you have more data that will help you decide what to do. About six months after my conversation, I started my own company.

Filed Under: Jobs and Careers, Management Development, Observations, Work place issues

The Coach Needs to Learn a Thing or Two

September 17, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Last spring I wrote a blog about the hiring of Tim Brewster as the head football coach at the University of Minnesota.  My main point was that I thought it was a mistake to hire someone who had absolutely no head coaching experience at any level to run a Division IA football program.  I certainly wished the coach and program success, but was extremely skeptical that good things would happen.  In addition to a 1-2 record against weak non-conference opponents, I think I was justified in my criticism of this hire , for another completely different reason.

I was in Minneapolis last week conducting a couple of days of training and happened to catch an interview with Coach Brewster on the local radio station that broadcasts the Gopher football games.  The interviewer asked the coach about the process of recruiting , supposedly the main reason the University of Minnesota Athletic Director hired this guy , and I was dumbfounded by the answer.  First of all, the over-the-top positive thinking platitudes have this guy sounding like a cross between a motivational speaker and a used car salesman.  More importantly, he showed how out of touch he is with the current high school generation, when he said “I’m not just asking a kid to make a four year commitment to Minnesota, I’m asking them to make a 40 to 50 year commitment because they will love living here.

A couple of things¦  I lived in the Minneapolis , St. Paul area for more than thirty years, return frequently, and think it is a wonderful place.  And some athletes do in fact stay in the Twin Cities after they finish their playing career.  However, to ask a member of the youngest generation to make a 40-50 year commitment shows a complete lack of understanding of this group.  Young student athletes see choosing a college where they will play football as a four year , or less if they are a blue chip player , commitment period.  Once they have lived in Minneapolis for a while, they may see its advantages, but to tell a high school athlete they are making a multi-decade commitment at the tender age of 18 may be a bit scary.

One of things a leader needs to recognize is that everything he/she says is magnified greatly and everyone pays attention , even alumni!

We’ll see what other things the coach has to say.

Filed Under: Generational Issues, Observations

Knowing Someone Can Count on You

September 10, 2007 By Leave a Comment

I heard a story a while back that shows the power of a team , in an unexpected way. One member of a departmental team in a business organization had fallen on hard times. That person’s six-year-old daughter had a serious illness that really impacted his presence at work and his performance, and as a result, his team’s performance. Without any coaching from the team’s supervisor, the team came together for a meeting. They collectively realized that anyone of them could be in the other person’s shoes at some point in their lives, so they decided to do what it takes to carry this person’s load. In addition to covering the work responsibilities, they also collectively pooled their sick leave and vacation time to minimize for this person’s having to take days without pay at a time when he could least afford it. To make a long story short, his daughter completely recovered and as a result of their actions the team was stronger.

In looking at the relationships in your life do you have friends at work or in your personal life who would go to “hell and back for you when you are going through a rough time. I made a choice a long time ago that that was the kind of friend I wanted to be. I’ve certainly had my rough spots and my friends were there for me in many different ways. So when I tell someone, it is OK to call me anytime, I mean it. And what is important, it is not a quid pro quo kind of thing. It is just the right thing to do. In the above story, each team member was clear there was no other way they would have wanted to behave.

Filed Under: Observations, Team Development, Work place issues

On Commitment – An Addendum

August 30, 2007 By 1 Comment

I have a few minutes before I head back home after doing two days of training and based on some of the emails I have received about yesterday’s blog “On Commitment, I think an addendum is appropriate.

I do believe that “a deal is a deal.  However, I also remember one thing that my father added.  Sometimes things come up.  Sometimes things change and the nature of the deal changes. Sometimes something gets in the way of following through on a commitment. In that case, as my father would say, you need to communicate that fact to the others involved.  If circumstances change, maybe the nature of the commitment (or the deal) needs to change as well.  To those who have emailed me, I hope this addition helps.

Filed Under: Leadership, Observations, Team Development, Work place issues

On Commitment

August 29, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Whenever I work with a group around the topic of commitment, someone usually offers the following quote: “In a breakfast of ham and eggs, the chicken is involved and the pig is committed. And in the spirit of true confessions, I’ve also shared the same quote with organizations. And it has always bothered me because taken to its logical end, one could conclude, commitment involves death. That is a rather grim image of an otherwise honorable term.

So what is a good way to talk about commitment? One of the terms that my friends Will Stockton and Marjorie Herdes use is committed action. And I might add that Marjorie is quick to add as a corollary to the above quote that the pig was really coerced!

A few weeks ago I happened to catch the HBO documentary titled, “Brooklyn Dodgers – The Ghost of Flatbush. It is mostly about the love affair that the people of Brooklyn had with the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. Now for those of you who have a passing familiarity with the history of baseball, the residents of Brooklyn adored their Dodgers , even though they would repeatedly disappoint their fans , until, of course, 1955, when they finally won the World Series by defeating their hated rivals, the New York Yankees. In the documentary, when asked why after so many years of disappointment the fans would continue to support the Dodgers, one of the interviewees simply said, “You stick by your guys. In other words you hang in there through thick and thin because your guys are there for you and you are there for them , to accomplish something greater than any individual could. Brooklyn fans would refer to their team as “Dem Bums (there is a certain way of casting the English language that only people from Brooklyn know how to do) , and woe be tied to anyone not from Brooklyn who called the Dodgers bums. As loyal fans would say, “they may be bums but they are OUR bums¦

My father also had a way of talking about commitment. He would say, “a deal’s a deal. In other words, if you are member of a leadership team that agrees to a certain approach to move forward, you have made a deal with that team. And you stick by your guys (or girls!). If you renege on the deal , in my father’s frame of reference , that is one of the worst things a person could do because a deal is a deal. It does not entail death , but it is serious business. It does mean that you don’t let others down. It means you can count on each other!

Filed Under: Leadership, Observations, Team Development, Work place issues

Lessons from Minneapolis

August 2, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Sometimes real life events stop us in our tracks. By now everyone has seen the reports of the tragic I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, MN.  This event hit me personally because I lived in the Twin Cities for many years. And I have family and friends there. Of course, I wondered immediately if any of them were casualties of this catastrophic accident.  My stepdaughter called me to say she was fine.  And to report that my stepson and his family were also OK , even though they had just crossed this bridge a mere 5 minutes before the disaster. So far, many others have checked in to say they are OK as well.

I offer two observations.

First, the emergency response of the city of Minneapolis was incredible.  Law enforcement agencies and the fire department, and rescue squads worked in complete synchrony and were on the scene within minutes.  Hospitals were mobilized immediately.  And most importantly average citizens helped where they could.  All certainly worked well together.

Second, this event reminded me of just how fragile life is.  And that the ending of day can be quite different from its beginning.  I am reminded of a conversation I had with a professor of mine who told me after his wife died unexpectedly, “There were things I wished I would have said to my wife. If there is something you want to say to someone you care about, tell them.  Because you may never have that chance again.  So if there is someone you care about and there is a message you want to give that person, don’t wait.

Filed Under: Leadership, Observations, Work place issues
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