NOTE TO SELF
(aka Diary of a Desk Jockey)
In my 25+ years of working to make good things better, I have learned a thing or two.
I find it useful to remind myself of these things occasionally.
Perhaps you will find them to be helpful as well.
Take what you need. Leave the rest.
"Growth" as priority #1 can be bad. Very bad.
Bigger . . . bigger . . . bigger . . . and then?
As tempting as it may be to make “growth” priority numero uno, “growth above all else” often leads to problems.
The Five Things - Leadership Skills
There’s nothing wrong with figuring it out as you go along. After all - no one has all the answers. Still - here are five things I wish someone had told me before I began leading my own organization (and eventually managed to figure out).
More ghosts than ever.
If you are in the midst of a job hunt, you know: being “ghosted” is all too common. We all pretty much agree - it should not ever happen. "Ghosting" is belittling for the person on the receiving end . . . and is simply no way to conduct business.
But there is good news for all the job seekers that have been ghosted: it is not your fault.
5 signs your workplace is toxic.
Solving difficult problems in the workplace can be a true struggle - but from that struggle comes progress and growth. It's often hard to tell, though . . . is the struggle a natural part of progress and growth - or is the struggle indicative of a toxic work environment?
How does one differentiate between the purpose-driven “struggle” and pointless “toxicity”?
Don't put a ring on it - just yet, anyway.
Q: “How can HR and hiring managers identify poor-fitting/toxic candidates during the interviewing process. In other words, how can we mitigate the potential for a “messy divorce’?
A: “You most likely can’t - but here is what you CAN do to minimize the fall out”.
No reply.
A hammer can drive a nail in the process of building a home. That same hammer can also break glass as part of a smash and grab. Likewise - digital tools can be used to connect and communicate as much as they can be used to create distance and evade.
At their worst - digital tools can lull us into the sort of “at-a-distance” behavior that would be unthinkable in-person.
THIS is actually your job.
. . . .but now - my salary, my bonus, my career advancement - the things I wanted from work . . . these all hinged not on how well I did my job but on my ability to deliver on my boss’s wants and desires? To make matters worse, I had - in my boss’s opinion - failed at that.
My luck - it appeared - had run out.