Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Category: Working Matters

  • Loving Monday: Missing Important Routines

    I’m shutting down after an unusual day and just now realizing I missed my Monday morning routine… writing about Loving Monday!

    How’s that for irony?!

    Maybe the topic this week should be routines. Routines that facilitate regular, important activities versus routines that stifle, quench creativity and merely fill space.

    The distinction comes when deciding when to “violate” a routine in some manner. Or, in this case, deciding how to interpret being distracted into inadvertently missing a routine.

    Negligence or freedom? It could be either.

    Key to being able to welcome the unexpected, confront crisis, and respond to what cannot be anticipated is being able to operate out of freedom. Freedom to choose routine. Freedom to vary routine. Freedom to abandon routine.

    Are your routines blessings that facilitate consistent attention to what you value most? Or are your routines chains that bind your time and energies from attending to what you want?

    Two very different sorts of work weeks result. It’s the difference between loving Monday or dreading it.

    Would you share a routine of yours you value highly.

  • Where Do You Dig The Well In A Desert?

    When you need to stay in a job you hate, rolling out of bed in the morning can feel impossible.

    If your job gives you no reason to get up, then you need to give yourself one.

    The question becomes, “How can I create alternatives for myself, however limited they might be?” “How can I take some power back so I’m not merely being passive?” “How can I create my own meaning?”

    Creating an alternative for yourself will feel great, because you are shifting out of passive-mode into doing something for yourself. Of course, the question remains, Where do you dig the well in a desert?

    In this week’s podcast conversation, we offer three suggestions:

    1. Contribute something unsolicited.
    2. Connect with someone of interest.
    3. Explore something new that develops you.

    We’ll explore these three alternatives in future posts.

    I’m sorry you find yourself in the desert. Where do you look for sources of meaning, connection and/or development in the mean time?

    Joining the conversation just now? Catch up on the entire series, Toughing Out a Tough Job, by clicking here.

  • Listen In -> Toughing Out a Tough Job #5: When You Hate Your Job

    What could be worse?

    Hating your job and needing to keep it.

    It’s a worst case scenario, sure. But in these tough economic times, we may consider it wiser to tough out a nasty, soul-sucking, sanity-stripping job for a season of necessity.

    Should you find yourself in such a situation, is there anything you can do to redeem the experience? Anything that can help you survive? Maybe even get something beneficial out of the nightmare?

    This week’s podcast conversation has some hope for you. Join Claudia and I as we explore making the most of a horrible situation. Come back after you’ve listened and let us know about the situation you’re facing.

    Listen in.

    Joining the conversation just now? Catch up on the entire series, Toughing Out a Tough Job, by clicking here.

  • Learning Action Learning

    “Always learning. Always learning how to learn.” Two key personal commitments of mine.

    I came across the concept of “Action Learning” over on Marshall Goldsmith’s blog. Check it out. He provides a very articulate summary of how to take what you are currently doing and turning those “actions” into learning opportunities.

    At first blush it comes across pretty simple and obvious. If you think, though, about how difficult it is for many leaders to acknowledge there is anything they need to learn at all, establishing such a pattern of reflection and adjustment into your project cycle would be a near miracle. Unless, of course, you are that leader.

    What kind of leader are you? In the spirit of No Excuses Leadershipâ„¢, we are intent on starting any change with ourself. Here is a practical idea you can start experimenting with. Check it out.

    On your side,

    – Karl

  • Loving Monday: Neglected Babies First

    This is going to be a great week.

    This is going to be a great week because you are going to start it off by doing something for yourself.

    While buying show tickets, game tickets or indulging in a high speed traffic ticket may be what first comes to mind when you think of doing something for yourself, I’m looking for something that will enthuse us about going into work this morning.

    My suspicion is that there is a “neglected baby” somewhere in your office. A neglected baby that has been crying for some time, but can’t get your attention because you’ve been so busy with everything else.

    Your neglected baby might be a messy workspace that keeps you from working effectively. Do something for yourself. This is the week you will commit to getting it organized.

    Your neglected baby may be a pet project that no one else believes in… yet. Do something for yourself. This is the week you will take one specific and concrete step toward its implementation.

    Your neglected baby may be a key relationship with an old friend, colleague or mentor. Do something for yourself. This is the week you arrange an uninterruptible telephone conversation.

    Neglected babies don’t do well on their own. And we don’t do well with them screaming bloody murder in the background. Do something for yourself. Make this a great week by attending to one of your neglected babies.

    Leave a comment and let us know what you’ve decided to do!

    On your side,

    – Karl

  • Understanding Instead of Winning When in Conflict

    Conflict can be the most difficult situation to tough out.

    Let’s remind ourselves we’re discussing conflict in the context of having chosen to stay in our current job. We’re choosing to tough it out because there are more reasons to stay than leave.

    Given that, the most difficult realization may be that these problems are not going to go away. We can’t simply wait them out and hope they’ll disappear. We can’t run from them or hide somewhere.

    Our best bet is to shift our focus.

    Instead of winning, our goal should be understanding. Changing the topic from getting my way to working alongside some awfully difficult characteristics.

    If I can understand where a difficult person is coming from, I can engage more strategically.

    What do they want? What are they trying to accomplish? What is so important to them?

    If I can affirm what is important to them, much of the tension in the relationship gets released and frees both of us to get back on a work-based issue.

    What might be going on with that under-performing co-worker who is attacking your motives for working hard? What are reasons your boss might be second-guessing your decisions that are related to his or her needs, priorities or pressures instead of you? What pressures might someone be facing which result in competitive tactics?

    What can you affirm about someone you don’t get along with? How might you use that as a basis for getting back to work?

    Joining the conversation just now? Catch up on the entire series, Toughing Out a Tough Job.

  • Carrows Restaurant Disses Community with Lame Claim

    Carrows doesn’t get it.

    I‘ve been taking each of my three daughters to weekly one-on-one breakfasts at Carrows for over seven years now.

    We know everyone on staff by name and many of the other regular customers as well. I don’t even want to think about what we’ve spent on meals there through the years.

    For the first time one of my daughters asks the local manager to place an ad in her middle school’s yearbook. The price is nominal and gives Carrows positive exposure to the local families they serve.

    Carrows doesn’t get it, though.

    That the local manager said, “No,” to sponsoring an ad is not the problem.

    What’s troubling is that he didn’t even have (more…)

  • Listen In -> Toughing Out a Tough Job #4: When the Conflict is Constant

    While boredom sucks the life out of you and workload may overwhelm you, conflict diminishes and demeans you.

    In this week’s podcast conversation, Claudia and I look at toughing out a job when conflict is rife.

    Are there alternatives to engaging in childish office politics or needing to win petty arguments? Do significant disagreements have to end with manipulative power plays or wither in spineless surrender?

    Listen in.

    Joining the conversation just now? Catch up on the entire series, Toughing Out a Tough Job.

  • No Teasing Whore, This Angel

    Inhaling deep wafts of the morning mist, I push my way into the day—that now familiar mix of courage and impotence coloring each step.

    Foreign are the airs of confidence and self assurance that others seem to wear so effortlessly. But I press forward. Destiny’s beckoning promise continues to visit in the night, dancing gracefully along the horizon of my imagination. My appreciation for this encouraging angel erases every suggestion that she is but a teasing whore.

    I am different. I am different for a reason. I am different because I have something to do. I have something I must do.

    First published in Nuance Alley, April 2004.

  • Loving Monday: Initiative is Power

    So maybe the coming week doesn’t look the brightest. Cranky co-workers, immature boss, impossible workload, shifting deadlines.

    Try adding something new to the mix. Add something small. Add something bright.

    Do something yourself to make work a brighter place to be this week.

    Buy flowers for your desk. Buy flowers for someone else’s desk.

    Brew some gourmet coffee and serve everyone. Buy donuts for the team.

    Post a humorous cartoon. Send everyone an appreciation email.

    Taking the initiative is an act of power. In the midst of so much that is out of our control, even the smallest initiative will affect your attitude for the better.

    Try it. Report back and let us know what you did.

    On your side,

    – Karl