How many times do you hear people talk about needing more resources? They claim to need more money, more supplies, more time and more talent.
The question to ask them (and yourself) is whether the resources currently available are being used optimally?
Until current resources are used optimally, throwing more resources at a project is just a further waste of resources.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
On many job applications one of the important questions asked is “have you ever committed a felony?” or something similar.
Have you really thought about this? Would you ever hire a felon? Would you ever hire a person convicted of rape?
Many people and companies would answer “no” to both questions. The question is, do they bother to get all the facts?
Are all felons the same? What if the applicant is a 55 year old who was arrested (and convicted) of drug possession back in college? Should something that happened 35 years ago affect your hiring them today (especially knowing that what they were caught doing 35 years ago was something you might also have been doing around that time).
While the idea of hiring a sexual offender might seem awful, what if you found out this was a case of an 18 year old getting charged with having consensual sex with a 16 year old girlfriend and being charged by a parent with statutory rape. Should this be something that prohibits their hiring 30 years later?
My point isn’t to go out and hire felons. My point is to consider finding out what the details behind the facts are before you eliminate a candidate.
There are many other examples where the facts are true but the story behind the facts change the significance (possibly). It’s worth finding out the story sometimes
Just something to think about
Have a great day!
Do you see yourself the same way others see you?
Is it possible what you think is being quiet and confident might be perceived by others as aloof and arrogant? Is it possible when you try to use big words to sound intelligent others perceive you as being pretentious and overbearing?
If you keep an open mind, every once in awhile you will get a glimpse of the way others see you. The key is to take what they say and learn from it rather than arguing and disputing.
You might be surprised how differently others might see you as opposed to the way you see yourself.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
Too often decisions are made without regard for how the small decision affects the big picture.
A great example would be the NCAA. Over the years they have created many new rules to deal with specific situations but in doing so, haven’t always taken into consideration how the rules affect everything else. I read recently about the unfortunate situation where a high school student who had committed to play football at Boise State prematurely passed away (I don’t recall the circumstances). Because he was still in high school the football coaches at Boise State couldn’t call to offer their condolences or to help out in other ways because it would have been a violation of NCAA rules for an illegal contact EVEN THOUGH THE PLAYER WAS DEAD. The idea of limiting contacts by college coaches with high school students is a good one but when a rule is so limiting that unfortunate situations such as this occur, it’s a problem.
How many decisions are being made in your organization without really considering the ramifications to the big picture?
Who is there in your organization whose job it is to prevent little decisions creating big problems?
It’s even harder when you bring someone in as a consultant. Frequently they are given a specific task but if they don’t take the time to understand the big picture, they potentially can cause more problems than they can solve. The good news for the consultant is they usually get paid and then move on to the next project but for the organization they might pay for these errors for years to come
Have a great day!
Lawrence
It’s easy to assume we all live in the same world. While technically we do, realistically, not only do we live in different worlds but many of us live in multiple worlds.
Examples of how we live in multiple words is the people we associate with at work, might be completely different than the people we associate socially. We frequently act differently around these different groups, we dress differently and basically treat these different worlds as unrelated parts of our lives.
It’s easy to make the assumption that everyone has the same world but when you think of how different groups interact you quickly realize groups can be quite different. In some worlds, people have hundreds of friends who they communicate with online. They share information, share stories and share a world with each other. It’s easy to forget not everyone is that way. In other worlds, people have 3-5 real friends and these are people they see, talk to and touch on a regular basis. Is one world right and the other world wrong? No. However, it’s important for them to realize not everyone is in their world.
If someone from the “texting world” sends me a text message. I will get it..eventually. If I’m away from my house I almost always have my cell phone with me so even though I’m not much for texting, I will receive it quickly. If I’m at home and someone texts me, I probably wont get it till I leave my house since I don’t check my cell phone when I’m at home. On the other hand, if someone sends me an email, I get it quickly regardless of where I am. A texter might get frustrated that I don’t respond right away but it’s because they don’t understand that in my world, texting is not a priority.
Even simple conversation among friends can go into different worlds. While I enjoy most sports, as soon as someone starts talking about baseball, I tend to ignore the conversation. Baseball is not part of my world trying to get me into that world will end up with both sides being frustrated.
When communicating with others, try to stay within a common world in order to interest both sides. Some people have a larger world (or more worlds) than others and some people are more willing to cross into other worlds but when you really think about each others worlds, it can really alter the way you communicate with others, the way you think about others and how effective you are in all types of interaction.
Have a great day!
Lawrencen
Frequently you are not judged based on a situation but rather how you react to the situation.
As an example, recently I stayed at a hotel and it was supposed to be billed directly to a company. When I checked out, the entire stay ended up being billed to my credit card. I didn’t notice it right away so when I did I called the hotel and left a message for the manager. I also sent an email to the person who made the original arrangements with the hotel. She ended up calling the hotel and getting the charge reversed and billed to the organization. The next day I received a call from the manager of the hotel apologizing for the mix up and explaining that the charge to my card had been reversed and was being direct billed instead.
The key to this mans call is what he did and didn’t do. He didn’t place blame elsewhere (toward me or to anyone at the hotel). He didn’t make an excuse. He didn’t try to explain the mistake away. He took responsibility, he apologized and he explained how it had been corrected.
When I look back at my stay at this hotel, my memory wont be of the initial mistake but rather, it will be of how professionally the mistake was dealt with, corrected and apologized for,
I think a lot of organizations can learn from this mans response.
Just something to think about
Have a great day!
Lawrence
When did I give up my right to privacy?
Who gave other people the right to tweet about me? Who gave them the right to post my picture without my permission?
If you don’t think this is happening, read what people are tweeting about on twitter, or posting on various “walls” on facebook.
Is it ok for someone to write about me attending a meeting out of town? While this might seem like an innocent thing to do, what if someone else uses this information to know my house is empty so they decide this would be a good house and a good time to break in to. Do others have the right to provide this type of information to the general public?
How far can this go? If it’s ok to post my picture on twitpix, does this mean they can also post my PIN for my debit card? How about tweeting my login information to my bank account?
Shouldn’t I (and you) have a right to privacy?
I realize that most of the people who are using various types of social networking are doing so for innocent reasons but just because they are tweeting for the right reason doesn’t mean the reader is reading for the same reason (or the reader of the retweet).
Twitter and Facebook aren’t responsible because they are simply providing the platform for information to be exchanged, they aren’t monitoring or controlling information (with the exception of things such as pornography and hate issues) It’s the person who is posting this information that will ultimately be held accountable (or the organizations they represent if they are perceived to be the deep pockets).
My two questions are how do I opt out of other people including me in their social networking and why should I have to? Unless we choose to be public figures don’t we have the right to privacy?
Just something to think about
Have a great day!
Lawrence
We can each set deadlines and time lines for our projects. Some people might like the deadlines we set, others might not.
The thing to remember is while we can set our own deadlines, that doesn’t mean others have to abide by them
When you set a deadline (or extend a deadline) understand that others might be working on a different deadline. If you go in understanding that…great. If not, you might be very disappointed
Have a great day!
Lawrence
Your organization might have millions of followers on twitter. Thousands of friends on Facebook. Hundreds of thousands of unique visitors to your web site. You might have many users of your newest iPhone app. Your software might be getting rave reviews.
The thing to remember is, even with all of the above, if the organization isn’t profitable, it’s not sustainable.
Profit might be from sale of merchandise. It might be from membership dues. It might be from grants from agencies. It doesn’t matter where the money is coming from but if it’s not coming in (and more coming in then going out) in the long run, it’s not sustainable.
I don’t care if you are a for profit organization, a non profit organization or something else. These are simply taxation designations. If your organization is a “do good” organization you still need the money coming in to pay the bills and do the things you want to do.
If it’s not profitable, it’s either not sustainable or it’s just a hobby.
Sadly, when dealing with people involved with too many organizations, they forget this
Have a great day!
Lawrence
If you really want to manage your time wisely there is one word you must get comfortable using. It’s a word many of us hate to use (because we don’t like to disappoint) but the word we must get comfortable with is “NO”.
Do you want to be a member of yet another committee? NO
Do you want to take on another project? NO
Do you want to give up a relaxing evening at home to go to yet another dinner party? NO
There is no doubt we have to sometimes do things we don’t want to do but too many of us do things we don’t want to or don’t need to.
Remember, your time is valuable, learn to say NO sometimes
Have a great day!
Lawrence
If there is one thing Lawrence Fine is most passionate about it's teaching. From sharing his knowledge about soccer as a soccer coach, he now shares his expertise in the field of human resources and the Internet. (More...)