Every boss denies the small print.
Karl Edwards
Category: Working Matters
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Loving Monday: Detour to the Friendly Voice
There are a lot of voices around us.The boss voice telling us to get busy. The employee voice asking us to make a decision. The co-worker voice requesting assistance.
We hear critical voices second-guessing our choices. We hear fearful voices resisting our initiatives. We hear angry voices attacking our motives.
Each voice articulates something worth listening to and much more that needs to be ignored. We spend a lifetime learning to discern between what has substance and what is the speaker’s personal issues spilling out all over us.Getting our week off to a good start involves beginning with a friendly voice or two.
Someone who believes in you. Someone who is already on your side. Someone who has demonstrated that they want good things for you.
These people are a rich source of encouragement, affirmation, compliments, and confidence.
Not that we are going to these people in search of the unsolicited pat-on-the-back. (Though that is certainly an idea worth exploring.) We are choosing, however, to begin our weeks with the truth about ourselves. A positive truth about ourselves that we can do something with.
We are setting our perspective for the week in terms of our capabilities, our strengths and our potential. Beginning with a friendly voice in our ear, we are better situated to face the obstacles, the conflict, and the mistakes we encounter along the way.
We cannot inoculate ourselves from the dark voices or the difficult events that arise in the course of a week. But we can be well-grounded in all that is solid and constructive in who we are.
Why start the week with someone yelling at you or complaining to you, if you can take a small detour and find a friendly voice to enthusiastically greet you, affirm you, or appreciate you?!
On your side,
– Karl Edwards
Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.
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Quote to Consider: The Problem with Power
“Power is always right, weakness always wrong. Power is always insolent and despotic.”Noah Webster
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Karl Shares Six Words… #42
Coping one donut at a time.
Karl Edwards
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Loving Monday: Inserting a Warm Word in a Cold World
It would probably catch everyone off guard.Out of the blue, or so it would seem, you blurt out, “You really know your stuff. Thank you for all you contribute.”
Or when she’s not looking, you sneak up and announce, “I couldn’t do this without you.”
Even more inexplicably, you confess, “This team is one of the things I love most about this job.”
It can be a cold world. Tight deadlines. Tighter margins. Nasty vendors. Nastier clients. And a tough economy to boot.We are busy. We are stressed. We are juggling multiple responsibilities, and it’s taking our full focus not to drop anything.
It’s into this cold world that a warm word can make the difference between surviving and thriving.
To hear that one’s ideas are appreciated, that one’s contribution is recognized, or that one’s presence is valued can transform a stressed, weary, minimal effort into an energetic and passionate engagement.
We get caught up in the busyness and stress of the job’s intensity ourselves. It is easy to forget that people run on more than a paycheck to keep their motivation and energy levels up.
Yes, it would be nice if someone directed a warm word your way. In the mean time, though, take the initiative yourself and insert a warm word into someone else’s otherwise cold world.
Looking for a simple structure to guide your words? Download a copy of our “Say Thank You and Mean It” tool. (click here)
Let me know what happens!
On your side,
– Karl Edwards
Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.
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Quote to Consider: Depending On Your Perspective
“Vexed sailors curse the rain
For which poor shepherds prayed in vain.”Edmund Waller
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Karl Shares Six Words… #41
Glazed eyes betray fake listening technique.
Karl Edwards
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Loving Monday: Lighten Things Up
 Yes, work is difficult more often than it is fun. Yes, difficult work can be meaningful and rewarding in many ways even if it is not fun.This week, though, I want to focus on making work fun.
Or at least inserting a bit of fun into an otherwise serious and focused environment every once in a while.
While I couldn’t resist the image of a full-on practical joke, I’m not suggesting that practical jokes are the best way to bring a bit of lightness into the workplace. (Though I do love the occasional clever stunt.)
I‘m thinking more of maintaining a good sense of humor. Of being able to poke fun at the ridiculous side of some of your policies and procedures. Of sharing funny stories from home about the antics of your kids or relatives.
I’m thinking about making ice-cream runs in the afternoon. Of refilling coffee cups just to be nice. Of all standing up and stretching legs at the same time.
Transform envelope-stuffing into a party. Turn a dreaded deadline into a race.
Work too easily morphs into pressure and stress instead of meaning and reward. We need to intervene and help everyone keep a sense of perspective.
Humor is one such tool for maintaining perspective. Keeping things light. Injecting some fun. Enjoying the others on the team.
How do you lighten things up in the serious world of work?
Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.
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Quote to Consider: Eyes on the Goal
“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.”Dag Hammarskjold
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Karl Shares Six Words… #40
Stiff arm greeting to approaching assignment.
Karl Edwards
