I'm fascinated by the fact that when the filter is clogged, the machine no longer works. It just stops mid vacuum. I can unplug it and plug it back in again and nothing. I try different outlets. Nothing. I'm somewhat convinced it's actually faulty. The only way to get it going again is to actually clean the whole thing out and give it a rest. And sure enough, when I leave the parts to dry overnight, I plug it in the next day and it works like a charm.
Doesn't that seem a little upside down?
You work 8 hours a day, at minimum.
Most people commute up to an hour a day in larger cities to get to their job.
That's 10 hours a day on the low end of the scale.
We try to sleep 8.
That leaves 6.
We need time with friends, partners, meals, fitness, children, events, hobbies.
The job takes the brunt.
A good solid 10 at best.
If you don't like what you do, give your head a shake. There are no guarantees in life. You spend more time at your job than with your spouse, your children, your hobbies or your sleep. Think about that for a second. You aren't entitled to anything. No one owes you. You owe it to yourself to want to wake up in the morning and get to work. That's on you.
Our minds seem to work the same way. We reach a capacity where we need to be unplugged. We need that break to recharge, clean out our filter and be ready for the next round.
Texting, Email, Voicemail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Hangouts, What's App, BBM...
Dear Japan... please stop.
Stop making more forms of instant communication.
I cannot keep up.
My filter is clogged.
Managing people draws a close parallel to my vacuum.
There are only two ways I know I can recharge.
I can expel the dirt that is clogging the filter or I can rest, recharge and view it all from 30,000 feet.
And at this stage in this year, I cannot unplug. The timing does not dictate that that can I fly to Bora Bora anytime soon.
So I'm going to expel the dirt.
I'm going to tell you a few things I wish I could say in HR, but most of us in this profession are too politically correct to do so.
The Unfiltered View.
In years of managing there are many recurring situations which have formed generalities in my mind. Trends that have carried through company to company, if only by a few individuals, worthy of noting. Advice for millennials to ponder as they are entering into the workforce. And for us all to reflect on how we operate on a daily basis.
1. Show Up
Sounds so simple, doesn't it? The easiest terminations to perform are the ones where people fail to show up for work. We can't control what you choose to do when you arrive. You may fail to perform, fail to understand, fail to retain the training. But you have a choice to show. Don't lose your job over attendance.
2. Sick Time Is Not Extra Vacation
Sick time is designed for bronchitis, the flu and food poisoning. Sick time is designed for the rare time you are unable to function and to get to work. Sick time is not designed for a self inflicted hangover or a day you wake up and think it's too hard to go to work or don't feel like it. Sick time is not for the norm.
If you treat sick time as vacation days, or you call in often enough that you are labelled as having a dependability problem, it will impact your career and has potential to end it. And when you are wondering why you do not have a job, the first question you should ask is how reliable was I? If your coworkers come forth to your manager and say "is XXX sick again today?" there is an issue.
You signed up to be committed to 40 hours a week at a job. That is your commitment.
No one will feel sorry for you if you are ill repetitively. You let your coworkers down and place extra stress on the company and your colleagues. No one will feel sorry for you if this is chronic. We all secretly wonder why you are not looking after your own health to allow it to impact your job to this level instead of making excuses on your wellbeing.
Get a handle on your dependability.
If you truly are sick that often (and I'm not speaking about families with sick kids or anyone with a true illness here), ask yourself what changes you need to make in your life to be healthy and dependable. And recognize the commitment you made.
If you treat sick time as vacation days, or you call in often enough that you are labelled as having a dependability problem, it will impact your career and has potential to end it. And when you are wondering why you do not have a job, the first question you should ask is how reliable was I? If your coworkers come forth to your manager and say "is XXX sick again today?" there is an issue.
You signed up to be committed to 40 hours a week at a job. That is your commitment.
No one will feel sorry for you if you are ill repetitively. You let your coworkers down and place extra stress on the company and your colleagues. No one will feel sorry for you if this is chronic. We all secretly wonder why you are not looking after your own health to allow it to impact your job to this level instead of making excuses on your wellbeing.
Get a handle on your dependability.
If you truly are sick that often (and I'm not speaking about families with sick kids or anyone with a true illness here), ask yourself what changes you need to make in your life to be healthy and dependable. And recognize the commitment you made.
3. Stop Complaining
You choose your job. You choose where you work. These are not things to be taken for granted and nothing gives you the right to complain permanently. It is absolutely toxic to an organization. What are you complaining about? What is it that you truly want? Find a way to be constructive and positive about changes required and stop griping. Set a meeting with recommendations and try to make the workplace a better place to be instead of pulling down everyone around you with why it's such a horrible place to work.
4. Counter Offers Rarely Work
This is for the employers.
And occasionally job candidates.
On the employer side, if an employee comes forward to resign with an offer elsewhere, a counter rarely works. In fact, I can honestly say that in 25 years of managing people, I can't think of one situation where it has. If anyone will entertain a discussion or offer somewhere else, they have one foot out the door. We, as employers, tend to react in panic, and occasionally counter to try and keep the employee. We might keep the lid on the bubbling pot, but in my opinion, it is a time bomb.
Other elements besides salary have already got them to this place. We put ourselves in a hostage situation if we entertain and counter offer. It's always more than the money. We throw money at it and a year later we lose them anyways or become hostage to their needs. We also lose our integrity in our wage process. Other top notch employees hear of this through the grapevine and understand that their one shot of getting an increase is to come forward with an offer from somewhere else.
And it snowballs.
And for the candidates. If you aren't happy with the offer, it sets off a tone that from day one that you felt wronged. And it's very hard to play catch up from that. On both sides. Know what job you are applying for and understand the salary range. Negotiating is a different topic altogether.
And occasionally job candidates.
On the employer side, if an employee comes forward to resign with an offer elsewhere, a counter rarely works. In fact, I can honestly say that in 25 years of managing people, I can't think of one situation where it has. If anyone will entertain a discussion or offer somewhere else, they have one foot out the door. We, as employers, tend to react in panic, and occasionally counter to try and keep the employee. We might keep the lid on the bubbling pot, but in my opinion, it is a time bomb.
Other elements besides salary have already got them to this place. We put ourselves in a hostage situation if we entertain and counter offer. It's always more than the money. We throw money at it and a year later we lose them anyways or become hostage to their needs. We also lose our integrity in our wage process. Other top notch employees hear of this through the grapevine and understand that their one shot of getting an increase is to come forward with an offer from somewhere else.
And it snowballs.
And for the candidates. If you aren't happy with the offer, it sets off a tone that from day one that you felt wronged. And it's very hard to play catch up from that. On both sides. Know what job you are applying for and understand the salary range. Negotiating is a different topic altogether.
5. A Bonus Is A Bonus
I'm not sure when bonuses became entitlement but they need to be worked for and earned. And usually earned with a reflection of the bottom line of the company you work for. And, by the way, companies do not need to give you a dime. The Shareholders could hold all this back yet they choose to give back to the organization. You would think that the highest month of job satisfaction I have annually is handing out company bonuses- but it's the worst. I sit for months overanalyzing the dollars I have to work with and trying to ensure that it is handed out in the fairest manner to who should receive based on their overall contributions to the company and performance.
Do you know it is easier to send a company wide message stating that we failed to hit performance targets and no bonuses would be granted than to give them out?
Doesn't that seem a little upside down?
Because everyone over amplifies their own worth.
As employees, we equate how "hard" we work for how "much" bonus we receive or how much we "think" we should get paid. It doesn't work like that and there are wage grids for job functions and percentage ranges for bonuses based on the position. It blows my mind year after year that I am handing out thousands of dollars and it's never enough.
But if I handed out nothing, there would be no backlash.
It's really quite bizarre.
Always remember a bonus is money you are not guaranteed. If you are blessed enough to receive it in your pocket, go out for a nice dinner, put 1/3 into your RRSP's, donate 1/3 to a charity that is less fortunate and deserving and buy yourself something you normally wouldn't have.
As employees, we equate how "hard" we work for how "much" bonus we receive or how much we "think" we should get paid. It doesn't work like that and there are wage grids for job functions and percentage ranges for bonuses based on the position. It blows my mind year after year that I am handing out thousands of dollars and it's never enough.
But if I handed out nothing, there would be no backlash.
It's really quite bizarre.
Always remember a bonus is money you are not guaranteed. If you are blessed enough to receive it in your pocket, go out for a nice dinner, put 1/3 into your RRSP's, donate 1/3 to a charity that is less fortunate and deserving and buy yourself something you normally wouldn't have.
6. Speak To Others As You Wish To Be Spoken To
Before you click send on every email, read the email as if it was to you. The tone, attitude and emotion that can come through in heated moments can cripple an organization and lose top performers.
The failure of our technology is that there is no time to reflect.
We react instantly - an angry employee, an upset client - and we spiral messages without understanding the damage of who we are inflicting this on. The emotional unintended abuse that is counter productive in every way can be extremely costly in the long run if we don't take a breath.
The failure of our technology is that there is no time to reflect.
We react instantly - an angry employee, an upset client - and we spiral messages without understanding the damage of who we are inflicting this on. The emotional unintended abuse that is counter productive in every way can be extremely costly in the long run if we don't take a breath.
7. Self Promotion Is Exhausting To Listen To
Instead of wasting time on why the company cannot survive without you, spend more time on lifting others and commending their accomplishments. It promotes a healthy, positive work culture and the irony is, the recognition you are looking for is far more likely to come from this approach than the former.
8. Own Up To Your Errors and Learn From Them
There are 3 ways to handle errors in a company at all levels.
Blame someone else.
Own it and apologize.
Own it and learn from it.
The employees and management that both own errors, understand them and learn from them are the ones who progress. What good comes from blaming someone else? What good comes from saying you're sorry only to do it again the following week?
Take the time to own up, analyze and understand and correct moving forward.
There are 3 ways to handle errors in a company at all levels.
Blame someone else.
Own it and apologize.
Own it and learn from it.
The employees and management that both own errors, understand them and learn from them are the ones who progress. What good comes from blaming someone else? What good comes from saying you're sorry only to do it again the following week?
Take the time to own up, analyze and understand and correct moving forward.
9. Love What You Do
You work 8 hours a day, at minimum.
Most people commute up to an hour a day in larger cities to get to their job.
That's 10 hours a day on the low end of the scale.
We try to sleep 8.
That leaves 6.
We need time with friends, partners, meals, fitness, children, events, hobbies.
The job takes the brunt.
A good solid 10 at best.
If you don't like what you do, give your head a shake. There are no guarantees in life. You spend more time at your job than with your spouse, your children, your hobbies or your sleep. Think about that for a second. You aren't entitled to anything. No one owes you. You owe it to yourself to want to wake up in the morning and get to work. That's on you.
10. The Grass Isn't Always Greener
Sometimes the grass is greener. Sometimes the only way out of a toxic environment is to leave it. But not always. Sometimes it is your perception of the environment, or your attitude, and the grass isn't greener at all. Maybe you have shut down. Checked out. Not really willing to do the hard work of finding the way through because it's so much easier to say "I'm out of here and deserve better". Maybe there is the off chance that had you stayed, the hard times work themselves out in the long run and there is better times ahead right there. Loyalty and longevity with a company, a pension and a future. Words we so rarely hear in 2016.
Work is like a relationship with your best friend, a marriage, a relationship, a family. Anyone who believes that you get up, go to work and have no bad days usually spends an eternity complaining - and is going to do exactly that at their next job also.
It is a grind.
There are ebbs and flows.
There are times of adversity that are so challenging you do not have time to shut down and reflect.
Unplug.
Unclog the filter.
Tomorrow is a new day.
And maybe, just maybe, in the right perspective when the filter is cleaned out, we have it pretty good.
Sometimes the grass is greener. Sometimes the only way out of a toxic environment is to leave it. But not always. Sometimes it is your perception of the environment, or your attitude, and the grass isn't greener at all. Maybe you have shut down. Checked out. Not really willing to do the hard work of finding the way through because it's so much easier to say "I'm out of here and deserve better". Maybe there is the off chance that had you stayed, the hard times work themselves out in the long run and there is better times ahead right there. Loyalty and longevity with a company, a pension and a future. Words we so rarely hear in 2016.
Work is like a relationship with your best friend, a marriage, a relationship, a family. Anyone who believes that you get up, go to work and have no bad days usually spends an eternity complaining - and is going to do exactly that at their next job also.
It is a grind.
There are ebbs and flows.
There are times of adversity that are so challenging you do not have time to shut down and reflect.
Unplug.
Unclog the filter.
Tomorrow is a new day.
And maybe, just maybe, in the right perspective when the filter is cleaned out, we have it pretty good.
