The Pianaman
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
The Language of Acronym
In order to successfully navigate corporate America (and
probably any corporate environment), you need to be adept at speaking an ever
popular language: Acronym. I would surmise that Acronym may be the
most popular language in the world.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Humor: The Commute
It’s that time of year when schools let out for the
summer. It’s no doubt a challenging transition for parents to keep the
kiddos busy until the school year starts up again. But there’s one very
good thing about summer recess… the work commute gets better! No more
traffic jams in front of the multiple schools you pass by on the way to
work. No more stay at home parents on the roads taking kids to school
during the commute time. No more school buses stopping every other
block. Depending on your route, this could shave a ton of time off your
summer commute. Enjoy it for a couple months!
While the school-related delays are annoying, there’s an endless list of other frustrating factors to our daily commutes. Like most people, some tick me off more than others. But as I’ve gotten older (or as I call it, more mature and wise), I’ve gotten less ‘road-rage-ish’ and more ‘it is what it is-ish.’ Although many of these are general driving annoyances, they become amplified during the morning and evening commutes. Here’s some of the most annoying pet peeves of the daily commute:
While the school-related delays are annoying, there’s an endless list of other frustrating factors to our daily commutes. Like most people, some tick me off more than others. But as I’ve gotten older (or as I call it, more mature and wise), I’ve gotten less ‘road-rage-ish’ and more ‘it is what it is-ish.’ Although many of these are general driving annoyances, they become amplified during the morning and evening commutes. Here’s some of the most annoying pet peeves of the daily commute:
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Seniority Priority
Seniority priority. It’s a part of corporate America
that doesn’t get a lot of pub, but is at the heart of most everything we
do. Senior level execs say ‘Jump!’ and all colleagues quickly ask ‘How
high?’ Unless you want to commit career suicide, requests from senior
level execs naturally take priority. This concept can be extended
throughout all levels of the organization. Basically, the higher the
person is on the org chart above you, the higher the priority you will place on
the request.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Humor: Funny How the Story Changes
Remember the experiment where a person whispers a short
story to the person next to her and each person does the same until the story
has traveled around a roomful of people? By the time the story gets
around the room, the story has been completely changed from its original
version.
We see this ALL the time in Corporate America. Instead of a roomful of people, the story moves up the chain of command. As the story moves up the food chain, so does the team’s perceived capabilities. Overpromising or overreaching is commonplace, which can lead to horrific senior-level decision making. Here’s a humorous take on how the story may change at different levels of the chain of command when a simple question is asked about a potential project. Enjoy.
We see this ALL the time in Corporate America. Instead of a roomful of people, the story moves up the chain of command. As the story moves up the food chain, so does the team’s perceived capabilities. Overpromising or overreaching is commonplace, which can lead to horrific senior-level decision making. Here’s a humorous take on how the story may change at different levels of the chain of command when a simple question is asked about a potential project. Enjoy.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
You Might Be A Micromanager If…
Are you a micromanager? How do you know for sure? Most micromanagers aren’t
self-aware enough to know. If you’re curious whether or not you may be a micromanager, here’s a handy top
10 list. If you are guilty of multiple items on this list, you are likely
a micromanager (and for the sake of your employees please work on addressing this
behavior!).
You might be a micromanager if…
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Go Put Out That Fire Now! A Lesson in Providing Direction
Have you ever had a manager or colleague ask you to take
care of a problem, only to give you virtually no background or guidance?
And when you ask more than one question, you’re told you’ll need to figure
it out yourself. The good old delegate and dash. Talk about being set up to fail. But
now it’s your problem because you are not a mind reader. Plus, now you
are forced to prioritize the urgent over the important (my experience is most
fires turn out to be relatively unimportant).
Good luck with that.
Since we are always having to put out fires at work, I’ll
use the fire analogy to help managers understand the difficult position they
put staff members in when they do this.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Done or Done Right
What’s better, done or done right? Completion or
progress? Timeliness or accuracy? Ready, fire, aim or ready, aim,
fire? Quantity or quality?
We’ve heard the saying ‘Don’t let perfect be the enemy of
good.’ Fair point. If you only accept perfection, you may never
reach the finish line. That's a problem.
However, we’ve also heard ‘Do it once and do it right.’ If you
have to re-do something multiple times because it wasn’t completed correctly
the first time, that’s a problem too. So if both approaches are right,
you can see how trying to achieve the appropriate balance may be a significant
source of stress and frustration for workers everywhere.
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