Conference Call in real life

Ah I guess all of you will recognize this scenario.
I’m surprised they haven’t shown the guy eating his lunch while in mute.
I loved the guy at the end, that snicks in and just says goodbye at the end. All calls tend to have one of them. The dial in problems are a classic too, as well as talking to the wall, because we forgot to unmute.
Ideally all the meetings would be done F2F, but nowadays it’s not always possible. Than it’s a matter of finding a common time-zone and a space in the puzzle-calendars.
It seems comedy, but it happens, all the time.

About Work, Life, Balance

Ah, I have to say this is probably one of the most discussed topics ever. Starting from the term itself, as a colleague pointed out: does that mean we can’t have life at work?
Actually couldn’t agree more. How many of you make friends at work? If I didn’t I probably wouldn’t be working there. Not that I’m there to make friends, but it’s just easier if I do. In my opinion if you’re not happy with what you do for work, I would reconsider if you should be having that work at all. (Although I understand not everyone can really stop what they do even if they hate it).

But even if you like what you do, many times you feel that you live for working rather than work for living (while enjoying what you do). So I’ll start with a video

First it seems the guy didn’t had a sex life (not really relevant for this post). He actually points out some interesting things:

* Step back and think about what really works for you, and if you find it doesn’t, then what actions you need to take to improve it

* Social-formal-company-get-together can be perceived badly by the employees. People feel forced to go, because they believe that if they don’t go, the company will not “be happy”, so they go… and feel upset they have to use their free time to have some drinks.

On this point, I remember when in my company some people were fired, and many others had no salary increase because it was a very bad year, therefore we all had to save. Then we had this very expensive Christmas party and it was really badly perceived: “so it’s better to spend the money on the party than recognize the employees”. Many people ended up leaving the company after that (this was just 1 of the reasons)

So definitely this is something the companies struggle to get it right. Forget about casual Friday’s, or blunt social drinks, try to do something meaningful with your team. For example we play badminton together on Wednesday. On one hand, it’s a good time out of work, and on the other we’re doing something together that we enjoy doing. It’s so much easier to discuss any other topics in the office on the following days.

Contributing for this balanced life in the company it’s everyone’s job! So line managers stop being lazy and try to understand what can help your team to feel connected, and feel they can approach you more easily. After all, we’re humans and not machines (last time I’ve checked).

Me, myself and I

In our society it seems we are becoming more selfish, it’s all about me me me and me. We only remember about the others and to work together when something really bad shake us down. Since companies are the reflection of the people that work there. They are the reflection of their emotions and their behaviors. In the struggle for survival everyone fights for their own skin. Many times indeed it becomes a political jungle, everyone wants more power and be well perceived, because that what guarantees a promotion up to the next level. So why would you think about the others?

No company whatsoever would publicly recognize this as a culture: work your ass hard, understand the network, promote yourself and you’ll get there. (Although there are some well known companies where a candidate may not be hired, because he’s not arrogant enough, but let’s assume these are the exception). But this is there. I thought for a long while it was just a cultural thing from south European countries. But it’s just as simple as this. Human nature.

And then it comes the time for Performance feedback, which is supposed to be all about meritocracy and who has contributed the most for the success of the company. Ah! How many lone workers out-there, the team players feel let down by the results because someone else was recognized? Because he was not visible enough? I’m sure many.

I’ve always struggle with this: “should I spend more time showing that I work or should I work?” It’s also important to recognize the backstage guy, who has done a lot of the work, and without whom the team would have not performed well. Even the guy that serves your morning coffee with a smile. Did you thanked him? Without him, you would have no coffee, neither a smile. How would that have affected your work? Yap, little things that we can’t take for granted. Therefore it’s important to recognize everyone’s role.

On this topic, I’ve just read an article (for the full article click here)

Instead of being the one to share good news, let others receive the public glory. Sure, maybe you really did do all the work. Yeah, maybe you really did overcome every obstacle. Okay, maybe you really did lead a diverse, cross-departmental, multifunctional, high-performance team.

It doesn’t matter.Give someone else the glory. Pick a key subordinate who played a major role. Pick a person who could use a confidence boost from public acclaim. Everyone already knows you were in charge, so celebrate the accomplishment through others.

Stand back and let your team shine; the fact you lead such awesome people reflects well on you.

So next time, don’t forget to say thank you and recognize others as well. (ahhh the old saying: treat the others the way you would like to be treated). Again, one of those obvious thinks I’m sure every manager knows and applies, right?