Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Category: Working Matters

  • Listen In -> Tangible Accountability #3: Relationships That Build In Support

    What if accountability were a means of support instead of a means of blame?

    What if leadership meant ensuring the success of your team instead of punishing the failures of your team?

    This week Claudia and I discuss how accountability can be a powerful means to build in the support relationships that check in occasionally, provide needed resources, are available for questions, and are committed to the project’s success.

    Isolation can be a real danger when a lot is going on and people are busy with multiple priorities. Situations can change in ways that affect others or have implications to the schedule or budget. The sooner such changes are communicated, the sooner appropriate and timely adjustments can be made.

    That’s when we’d be better off if those relationships were already in place and built right into the system.

    Listen in.

    If you are joining the conversation mid-topic, you can find the entire series on Tangible Accountability here.

  • The Gift of Work -> Chapter 5: Not a Trivial Pursuit

    thought-leadersWe have become a culture of “preventative ethics.”

    That’s my term for what Bill Heatley identifies as ethics that confines itself to avoiding either litigation or offending people. There’s a problem with defining or limiting anything to what it is not.

    gift-of-work1I hear the grieving of what has been lost in terms of moral vocabulary, social mores, and behavioral standards. Being the veritable pragmatist that I am, though, I want to move immediately to thinking through creative options for facing this current reality, however tragic, and creating, developing and experimenting with alternatives for maturing into a working community that is, in fact, characterized by love, goodness and justice.

    It might be more effective to have our working communities back into their ethics. If it’s not going to work to begin with the concept and move to the practice, then let’s talk together about our practices. Teams would discuss and agree upon what behaviors they would like their working relationships (more…)

  • Study Shows Personal Net Surfing Increases Work Productivity

    insightful-linkI love it when data emerges that validates my hunches.

    People who surf the internet while at work are more productive. Gotta love it.

    “People who do surf the Internet for fun at work – within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office – are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t.”

    The productivity arises from our need to zone out (take a break) every once in a while in order to restore our concentration. It’s simply not possible to focus all of the time.

    Seems obvious, but some employers are (now irrationally) concerned that they’re not getting their money’s worth out of employees who are not fully focused on work every moment they’re “on the clock.” I’ve long counseled that this attitude foments an adversarial posture with the very people on whom you depend for maximum engagement.

    With one set of policies (e.g. no personal internet use) you communicate that you don’t trust them. Then you turn around and ask them to give 110%, go the extra mile for a client or contribute to brainstorming restructuring ideas, and you wonder why they hold back.

    No matter how you feel about personal internet usage at work, the facts about its impact are emerging. Can you turn this information into a learning opportunity?

    Click here for the University of Melbourne article.

  • American Idol Savvy: Advantage to the Amateurs?

    IdolMaybe I’m a softy for the rags-to-riches or the going from complete unknown to pop superstar drama.

    To say it the other way around, there’s something about an amateur competition that provokes resentment when I discover what polished professionals some of the contestants are.

    Granted Adam Lambert and Alison Iraheta are amazing vocalists. But the fact that Adam has sung professionally for some time now, and that Alison has won a major singing competition previously takes something out of it for me.

    Let’s just say they don’t get any votes from me no matter how well they perform.

    Unfair? Or is it appropriate in an amateur competition that there be a bias toward the true amateurs?

  • Listen In -> Tangible Accountability #2: Structures That Build In Results

    Accountability is not the police force that comes in after the fact to point out everything we did wrong, accountability is the structures along the way that we put in place to make sure all that we intend in fact continues to take place.

    In motion, real time meetings, check-in points, deadlines, and specific plans that provide opportunities for issues to be addressed, problems to be anticipated, and changes to be coordinated.

    What are these accountability structures that get us where we’re going and help us adjust before it’s too late?

    Listen in.

  • Loving Monday: Who Brought The Donuts?

    loving_mondayOkay, maybe donuts aren’t the healthiest treat someone could bring into the office this morning. But talk about easy wins!

    If you’re looking for a low cost , low energy idea to give the team a simple morale boost, then donuts are the management secret you’ve been waiting for.

    It’s hard to explain why this one treat’s impact is so out of proportion with either the effort required to provide it or its nutritional value. But it’s hard to argue with the stampede to the lunch room when word gets out.

    Maybe the lesson donuts offer us is that showing appreciation, being kind, and/or changing things up at work is much simpler than we think. If you’re waiting until it’s time to award Christmas bonuses or until you can afford a knock-out company retreat, then you might be missing the myriad of simple, everyday expressions of acknowledgment, validation, attentiveness, interest, humor, sensitivity, and camaraderie that win hearts, build trust and renew spirits.

    While you’re at it, get a few extra glazed. They’re my favorite.

  • The Gift of Work -> Chapter 4: You Are Here. God As Our Reference Point

    thought-leadersIntegration. A whole person whose whole life flows out of and reflects a common core. A complex and beautiful tapestry, whose many and seemingly unrelated threads combine in a single yet endlessly creative and generative work of art.

    gift-of-work1Many of us who share a Christian spirituality struggle to relate our faith and our work. They seem to function in separate categories, and that’s just fine with us thank you very much. The links our religious leaders suggest (be ethical, strive for excellence, convert co-workers, etc.) feel like a reach and we intuit the deep disconnect.

    Bill Heatley suggests an insightful and helpful alternative. Instead of two separate compartments that need to be connected, he offers God as the reference point out of which and from which all of life flows.

    To the extent that we are familiar with, deeply connected to, and highly interactive with this one (more…)

  • Listen In -> Tangible Accountability #1: How Politicians and CEO’s Have It Backwards

    Accountability has gotten a bad reputation.

    It’s associated either with finding people to blame after a huge mess has been made, or used as an excuse to micromanage and second-guess along the way.

    Accountability is an important, positive, constructive component of healthy working cultures.

    But it is neither the public shaming that the President promises for any who misspend the economic stimulus funds, nor the power-grabbing oversight that so many executives and politicians want in order to countermand anything they disagree with.

    What then is “Tangible Accountability?” How does accountability become a positive, constructive force for accomplishing what a company intends?

    Over the next five weeks Claudia and I will be discussing:

    Tangible Accountability

    Week 1: How CEO’s and Politicians Have It Backwards

    Week 2: Structures That Build In Actual Results

    Week 3: Relationships That Build In Constructive Support

    Week 4: Motivators That Build In Lifelong Learning

    Week 5: Criteria That Builds In Meaningful Measurement

    Listen in.

  • When Crisis Presents Opportunity #2: ReConnecting With The People In Your Life

    people-connectIn our last newsletter I posed the question, what if the current financial crisis were to present an opportunity?

    We first looked at the opportunity that may lie in some creative re-visioning of ourselves and our professional contribution. (Read the previous article here.)

    We turn our attention secondly to what opportunity might lie in doing some relational research. We do not need to find our way through this financial morass alone. While not every acquaintance, friend or family member can be the source of your next job, these connections can be more valuable than you think.

    When we place too much pressure on relationships at time of need, networking can feel contrived and manipulative. Where have we been all this time?

    But if in the course of life we stay in touch with people on a casual, personal, yet (more…)

  • Loving Monday: Checking In With Others

    loving_mondayIf you’ve got a big workload staring you in the face this week, it can be wise to hide somewhere that you can focus and push without the distraction of others.

    While an excellent strategy in principle, first thing Monday morning might not be the best time to implement it in practice.

    To hide away before checking in with the others on the team leaves an unnecessary communication gap. Someone might need a decision from you before they can take their work forward. Someone else may need some information out of your office. A third might want to coordinate an upcoming event or meeting with your calendar.

    Checking in with others before you lock yourself away is a practical vehicle for communicating that you are a part of the team even while you have something to do alone.

    Checking in with others doesn’t need to be time consuming. You will want to communicate three simple things:

    1. Greet with sincere words of interest in how they’re doing and what their week ahead looks like.
    2. Inform that you plan to work alone until 3:00 p.m. or so in order to “focus and push” on a project, and that their understanding and support would be appreciated.
    3. Ask if there’s anything they need from you before you “disappear” for a while.

    Loving Monday is easier for everyone when we make the effort to acknowledge that others’ work is as important as our own.