Summer’s Here—Take a Real Break!

It appears that Americans are finally getting the message that taking time off is a good thing. We’ve all heard the statistics that tell us how many vacation days are unused annually and there has been a very slight decrease which means more people are actually taking the time off they’ve earned. Let’s be honest—it’s not just that we’ve earned the time off—it is that we NEED the time off. 

But, taking time off is just the beginning. How do we get people to actually disconnect from work? Most of us, even if we’re sitting on a beach and looking out at a beautiful ocean, lake or river, still check our email far too often. 

If you really want to disconnect, there are things you can do.

• Use the out of office feature on your email. Even if you plan to check messages from time to time, let people know that you will have limited access to email.
• Set one time a day to check your messages and stick to it.
• Lock your phone in the hotel safe if you can’t stop yourself from looking at it!
• If you need your phone to take pictures, keep your phone in airplane mode.

It’s not rocket science to understand that taking a real break from work can have real benefits toward your mental health. This may take some practice but give it a try! And, by the way, if you lock your phone up but keep your tablet by your side at all times, put it away as well!

When You Need Help at Work

Unfortunately, it happens to most of us. A personal crisis impacts us at work – our ability to focus and our ability to do quality work.  We don’t quite know what to do about it. We know this Does it make sense to ask for help or should we try to hide it and muddle through?

We all want to protect our privacy at work but if you find yourself in a personal situation, talk with your manager first. You don’t have to share everything but you should feel comfortable in letting your manager know that you have a personal issue that may require you to be gone from the workplace and also take your focus away from work even when you’re there. 

Hopefully, you’ve been a dependable employee who does good work so that you’ve built up a reserve of good will with your manager. I had a manager who said it’s like a bank account. You deposit money and then, when you need it, you can withdraw it.  Work, he said is the same—you do good work and contribute to the organization’s success and then, if you need time off or whatever, you’ve built up a reserve to draw upon.

Be clear about what you will need. It may be you need to work from home a day or two a week or some assistance with a deliverable with a tight deadline. Let your manager know what you think will be the most helpful and work it out so that the work gets done especially if you need to be away from work.

Do the same thing with trusted colleagues—you don’t have to share all the details but if you need help on a project, ask for it and of course, let your colleagues know how much you appreciate their support and that when you’re back to full capacity at work, you will be there for them. And support them if they need your help at some time!

Yes, we’re employees but we’re also human beings who need help from time to time.

National Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7-11 was Teacher Appreciation Week in the US. This is a wonderful reminder to say thanks to the people who taught us.

I had wonderful teachers in elementary school—except for fifth grade when I had the teacher we all had heard about since we started school. Her name was Miss Nice and let me tell you—nice was not a word I would ever use to describe her.

Now I realize that Miss Nice was really a good teacher—she was preparing us for what was to come when we moved on to the next level. What we didn’t like about her was that she expected a lot from her students and if you did good work, she rewarded you by letting you leave class a little early at lunch time to make her a cup of tea! I can’t imagine a teacher doing that today but we fought for that opportunity!

I never thanked Miss Nice for what she did for me and I bet few of my classmates did either but I should have because what I learned in her class has stayed with me. 

Yesterday I was reminded of how much it matters when we’re appreciated. I chair a committee for a large volunteer organization which takes up a lot of my time and energy. Sometimes I wonder if I should keep it up. Well, I received an email from a long-time committee member who thanked me for my leadership and for my dedication and told me how much she appreciates me.

To say that message made my day is a total understatement! So I challenge you to think who you might contact today to let them know how much you appreciate them. Might be a former teacher, a mentor, a colleague, a coach. It doesn’t matter who it is, but do it today! You won’t regret it and you will touch them in a way that is beyond your wildest imagination!

Leading from Any Chair

 

Leadership is not a box on the organization chart! As Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander explain in their book, The Art of Possibility, you can lead from any chair.
 
According to an April 19, 2018 article in the Washington Post, Fortune magazine just named their pick for the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders." At the top of the list is not an individual but a group -- "the students" at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (and others around the country) whose "courage, tenacity and sheer eloquence" led the massive March for Our Lives.
 
Other groups are on the list, including the #MeToo movement, the West Virginia teachers who sparked protests in other states, and the gymnasts who spoke out about sexual abuse by the former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
 
What the members of all of these groups have in common is courage -- and it takes courage to be a successful manager and leader in any organization. This is a management trait that we did not overlook in our new book The Manager's Answer Book, which is available for pre-order now from Amazon. https://tinyurl.com/yd7todyc
 
What is a courageous manager? Someone who earns trust, who is comfortable speaking up if things are going in the wrong direction, who isn't afraid to respectfully confront a situation or a wrongdoing, who will take an opposing point of view and put the interest of others above their own.
 
What this year's greatest list from Fortune indicates is that leadership is not a top-down, hierarchical phenomenon that occurs only in organizations where power is centralized in the hands of a few individuals. Leadership and the power to make substantial changes can exist anywhere, in any organization, in any facet of our society. Leadership is not something that is bestowed on someone just because they hold a title -- it's something that is earned through actions. Leaders are all around us. Maybe they are sitting in the chair next to you!

Cornelia Gamlem

Ask the experts!

Computer problems disrupt standardized testing at schools in several states.”  This was the headline in an article in the Washington Post on April 20, 2018 by Valerie Strauss.  Full disclosures on two key issues:

1. The on-line edition was shorter than the print edition where I found some interesting facts.
2. I’m not an educator, so my opinions about standardized tests are not anchored on any facts and may be biased! 

Standardized tests are apparently administered via computers these days. (What happened to No. 2 pencils?) Among the problems that occurred, students in some schools could not log in, while others had no choices for multiple-choice questions. Glitches, hacks and other electronic and cyber nuisances take a toll on the process fueling concerns about them – the value of the results and the importance placed on them, especially as a way to evaluate teachers. Educators, I invite you to comment on this. 

Kudos and respect to the teachers.  I hold you in high regard.  However, the experts I’m referring to in the title, are the students. Given the opportunity by one fifth-grade teacher, her students wrote about how their opinions of the tests. Many expressed distaste, One complained (and rightfully so, in my humble opinion) about computers scoring tests including scoring the essays! (Seriously?)

That student wrote: “The legislators have never had to take the … test. I would love to see them sit down for 90 minutes at a time (at) this nuisance they call a test and I bet they would struggle during so many days of testing.”

Management lesson: Ask the people who actually do the work!  Don’t try to implement new processes and systems without consulting with the people involved. This week a fifth-grader is reinforcing that lesson!

Cornelia Gamlem