good ol' days PART II

I once worked in a company that was very fast paced. Everyday we were pushed to hurry, pushed to do more, and pushed for results.

It was tiring in hindsight, my youth absorbing the 80 hour work weeks and high intensity. Luckily we were led by an amazing group of people and moral was high. Small incentives were plentiful as was recognition and project autonomy.

How hard would you work at something you loved?

Is it necessary to love your work?

As I reflect on my professional life, it is the projects I found most meaningful where I had the most input and where bonds with colleagues forged deeper as we worked diligently together each contributing as we knew how.

Each day and every project we take on will become a part of our past life. These are the best days.

These are my best days.

These are your best days.

These are the good old days.

How does this knowledge change how or what you're working on?

DIY

Sometimes it’s easier to just do something yourself than to worry if the thing got done at all or was done right.

These are two advantages to doing something yourself.

What about the advantages of delegating to those who report to you?

• Empowerment of the person you delegated to

• Input from another person on (doing this thing) that may offer a different perspective

• Respect and improved relationship of the person you delegated to

• Stronger and more diverse skilled team members

• Future peace of mind for when you really need to rely on someone else

• More time for you to do all your other things

When was the last time you delegated?

To be or not to be transparent?

I vol- unteered with a great nonprofit for over three years. They help people get into safe affordable decent housing where they can have the confidence of knowing it’s as permanent as they need it to be. It’s amazing how providing stability in someone’s life can turn their whole world upside down yet right side up.

Like many nonprofits (and commercial ventures), they have been struggling to raise funds.

As a volunteer, I was always surprised to learn that they struggled for donations because I knew their programming was so strong.

As a volunteer, I was always surprised to run into people who had grave misconceptions about the program and its benefits.

As a volunteer however, I could never find out exactly how the program was funded. No one could or would answer me directly about where the money went and how much was actually needed.

The goals were not clear.

I found it difficult to help them, often guessing at what they might need. My fellow volunteers shared the same concern with me. We’d guess as best we knew and do the best we could. I would find in conversation with potential donors that they also had the same questions as I did but with many misconceptions about the program as well.

What if this was a commercial venture?

What would you do if this was your commercial venture?

The same rules apply don’t they? Frankly, I can hear the gears over-heating in your head:

• Set clear goals!

• Communicate a clear message to the team on what needs to be accomplished!

• Get everyone unified around a real and tangible long term goal.

• Help the team create tactical plans that will enable the long term goal to be reached.

• Be transparent such that everyone can understand what is going on.

• Be transparent so that everyone will trust the plan and the motive.

What else would you add to this list?

Minus One

I threw a big party recently and had a sizable committee to help me execute the event as well as a few new and good friends to help me during the night of. I am very grateful for all their support as without each of them, the event would have been different.

Different bad? Different good?

Each friend brought their own unique ideas, bubbling personalities, and quirky humor. I tentatively assigned tasks to each based on their requests or for what I thought they might enjoy and be good at.

Of course like anything, things change, and new challenges arise requiring fast flexibility and initiation by each of us.

One of the women approached me after the party and started to almost apologize as she thought her presence wasn’t really needed that night. “I feel like I didn’t do very much, you really didn’t need me,” she said.

Au contraire!

Without her, I would have been nervous that I was one person short. Without her, I wouldn’t have had anyone to help the others when it became obvious that more hands were needed for the auction support.

While a party is a very different animal than a production line, producing a product and executing a seamless evening is quite similar mechanically.

PRODUCTION

Work flow and balance are equally important in both circumstances. Persons should be assigned tasks that keep each similarly and equally busy but along with flexibility to increase output –or temporarily lend a hand to someone else, without the process being interrupted.

In this design, there are many positive outcomes:

• 1) each person is not working at their maximum, thus energy is conserved,
  

• 2) should a customer request extra pieces, a slight speeding of the line is possible, and
  

• 3) should someone be absent, each person can absorb a little bit extra work to maintain balance and output.

PERSONALLY

My humble friend from the party forgot one thing about the importance of her presence.

By ‘showing up’, she was demonstrating her support to me that couldn’t be illustrated in any other way.

At work, we also demonstrate our commitment to the company and our colleagues by ‘showing up’. Sure, they could sustain themselves here and there without us, but by consistently showing up and doing what we commit to do; we honor our fellow workers and bring about better morale.