A couple months back I listened to a TED Talk by Jon Bowers titled, “We should aim for perfection – and stop fearing failure”. I could not help but consider the relationship between ideas on perfection and failure to the recent trend of near daily stories of sexual harassment and impropriety of men in positions of power.
Managers and leaders are knowledge-thirsty by nature, constantly looking for ways to improve upon their existing skill-set. On top of this, they are looking for techniques to motivate and inspire their workforce. Though most successful people tend to spend a lot of their time reading, we’re lucky enough to live in an environment where we can digest information in a variety of different ways.
Teaching is an interesting art. There are so many things to learn from it. Students are a great source of inspiration for all educators. They bring in new information, new perspectives, and new points of view. If instructors think they know it all, teaching proves them wrong. You never know everything, and you can certainly absorb fresh knowledge daily.
It’s the time of year where many of us are talking about what we want to lose–a few pounds, some bad habits, a toxic relationship. Today, I’m inviting you to consider what you have to gain– investing in a few key actions to improve your credibility and enhance your reputation.
Consider the postage stamp. The postage stamp has sharp, laser focus. It does not get distracted. It has only one goal. It pays attention to what it must accomplish. At the end of its days, it will have engraved on its epitaph: “It secured its success through its ability to stick to one thing.” When I interviewed author Darren Hardy, he said, that the greatest challenge today is controlling our attention. “We are living in an era of epic distraction," he said. "There is so much that begs for our attention. We are forever in reaction mode, whether it be to our inbox or social media accounts. But we must learn to be insanely focused.
Earlier this fall, my wife and I attended a wonderful evening dinner theater, in which the themed evening was “A Tribute to Frank Sinatra”. During the course of the show, we were entertained to no fewer than 50 of the great melodies made classics by Ol’ Blue Eyes. Prior to the show, we settled in for a magnificent dinner, and during that time, our host came out to greet the audience. After announcing some memorable anniversaries and special occasions among those in attendance, the host offered a wonderful short story about Sinatra.
OK, we all know the ol’ stereotype of how bureaucratic government jobs can be. I’ll let you determine the extent to which that’s true in your own unique situation. Instead, I want to underscore just how damaging bureaucratic behavior can be and how to address its root cause—which we’ll get to momentarily.
2018 is right around the corner and isn’t too early to begin considering the HR and hiring trends for the upcoming year. 2017 was mainly about culture and performance. Another vast internal shift is coming, however, and this one will focus on technology and how it can be utilized in the recruiting process as well finding, connecting, engaging, and hiring people. In the upcoming year, one of the shifts will focus on technology as a way of life in the workplace.
Consider the postage stamp. It has one singular goal. It remains focused. This focus was a habit it developed in the face of fear. The fear of leaving its home and its other family of stamps, but it knows that in order to get what you want out of life, you must push through in order to create the life you want, and not just settle for the life that is given to you.
There are a lot of reasons performance appraisals can get wonky. Managers who don’t take the time to get the input they need or are just not paying attention; Forced stack ranks that have glowing words, and a “meets requirements” rating because there were too many other “exceptional” exceptional players in the mix; Or a boss who says, “You write it, I’ll sign it.”
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