Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: contribution

  • Thought Leaders Unpacked -> The Answer to How is Yes #7: Claiming Full Citizenship

    thought-leadersThis is the chapter my soul has been waiting for.

    While the process of “growing up” didn’t sit well with Block, it describes my internal state incredibly well.

    I can feel the tension between complaining that positional leaders don’t see me on the one hand, and simply, freely, and boldly taking action on my values, convictions and ideas on the other.

    I can also feel the personal grief and internal resistance to Block’s assertion that growing up involves accepting “that living out our values and also winning the approval of those who have power over us, is an unfulfillable longing.”

    I don’t know where that “longing” comes from, but I can recognize it in myself.

    This is what I love about reading together. I get the opportunity to recognize in the vocabulary, experiences, and frames of reference of others what I have up until now not been seeing in myself.

    Block points to a different sort of maturity here. I would call is a form of poise. A centeredness. A peace about who I am and how different I am from most everyone around me.

    The significance of this poise is that suffices for taking bold action regardless of (more…)

  • Listen In -> The Hard Facts of Working with People #2: People Need to Contribute and Make a Difference

    Many of us, if we were honest, would prefer not to have other people on the team. But we need more arms and legs than we have ourselves!

    So we hire beings to function as utilities, which by their nature are anything but utilities. That is, we hire human beings.

    Hard fact to face about these creatures known as human beings is that they need to contribute and make a difference.

    Take this fact into account as you shape their job descriptions, responsibilities, communication patterns, and performance evaluations, and you will discover the most amazing source of energy, ideas, production and effectiveness imaginable.

    Ignore this fact and you will spend a fortune on high turnover, stagnant careers, negative attitudes, and a bare bones work ethic.

    You can crack the whip all you like. Yell and scream. Threaten and punish. Nothing will elicit anything more than the absolute minimum in effort.

    It’s your choice. Face this hard fact of working with people or not.

    Listen in.

    Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.

  • Listen In -> Job Hunting in a Difficult Market #2: What Do I Bring To The Table?

    If one more person asks me what kind of position I’m looking for, I’ll scream. There’s no position on the organizational chart that’s a good fit for me.

    Do you find yourself in a similar predicament? The vocabulary of job descriptions, roles, functions, and career paths isn’t flexible enough for multi-faceted changing, developing people like you and me.

    So what do we bring to the professional table? In this week’s show, Claudia and I discuss how we can describe the unique set of skills, values, working styles, approaches to problem solving, etc. that distinguish us on the job.

    We have a lot to offer, but we need vocabulary and means for communicating that value to prospective employers.

    Listen in.

  • When Crisis Presents Opportunity

    No doubt the news of 700,000 lost jobs can be nerve-wracking. Of course stress levels increase and worries of job security can fill our horizon.

    Maybe you have already lost your job. Maybe your nightmare has become your reality.

    But what if the current crisis were to present an opportunity? What if that opportunity outweighs the trouble and trauma experienced on the way to it? What if something far better lies on the other side of the muck and mire in which we currently find ourselves?

    Do we risk proceeding through the muck, knowing neither its extent nor its resolution? Or do we scramble back to where we were before, reverting to what we knew as safe and secure, (however much we hated our job at the time.)

    What if making our way forward involved three components: some creative re-visioning, some relational research and some intensive effort on our part? Would you choose to go forward? Or back?

    This month we look at the opportunity that may lie in some creative re-visioning of ourselves and our professional contribution.

    The creative re-visioning might be in any of three areas: your role at work, the professional field within which you exercise your role, or you may have an idea that changes how we view or use a product or service altogether.

    Maybe your role needs to change. Expand, focus, involve new skills or new responsibilities. Are you learning continually? Always challenging yourself? Do you try to add value to your role each year?

    Look around the office and ask yourself which roles and/or tasks are attractive to you. Do you admire Mark’s ability to work with others? Do you come up with ideas that you wish you could implement? Is Sarah overwhelmed by a project with which you could help?

    Maybe your skills would be better suited in another professional field. Which of your skills are task-specific and related to your particular job description, and which skills are transferable and applicable anywhere? Knowing how to use a particular contact management/calendar computer program would be an example of the first. Knowing how to make plans, organize events and stay in touch with people is an example of the second.

    Make a list of your transferable skills. Get people who know you to help. Transferable skills are the keys to expanding your opportunities to fields outside your own.

    Finally, maybe you don’t see the world the way others do. Maybe the source of your frustration is at a deeper, more fundamental, even structural level. A more radical change may be in store for you.

    Who would have imagined listening to music in random play lists? Who would have foreseen using a phone for multiple communication and organizational purposes? Maybe you’re like us at Bold Enterprises and foresee a working world where people design for themselves working environments that are worth getting up for and pouring oneself into.

    Maybe this economic crisis is your opportunity to take a step forward.


  • Question of the Week

    Does it matter who’s sitting in your chair? (What is your unique contribution to the role and functions of your position?)

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Does My Contribution Really Matter?

    A shaper of the future. Wow.

    Not me, surely. The forces and players around me are too big and too many and too complex for my contribution to make much of a difference.

    If you hear yourself in those words, then consider this: It is precisely because so much is going on all the time by so many that your contribution not only can make a difference, but is absolutely crucial.

    The future that emerges from the myriad of choices being made is not set in stone. Every tile added to the mosaic influences what sort of image ultimately emerges. We each need to believe that showing up fully and contributing whole-heartedly is like adding a tile to the mosaic.

    If you don’t contribute your tile, who will?