What Really Bugs Me

Checking out 8 hours & a lunch, I saw my recent thoughts captured perfectly in a post by Deb. It really is freaky how she does that some times.

Deb writes, "people who get on our every last living nerve tend to teach us more about ourselves than those who don't.. . this, of course, depends on us paying attention to those lessons though. we've got to be aware, and think about these things before just automatically making it all about the other person."

Deb ends her post asking who is bugging us today. Well, since she asked.. . .the faces may change (and they do) but the traits below definitely get me going in the workplace:

  • Careless Communication  
  • Pass (and Drop) Responsibility
  • Leadership without Personal Accountability

I am not sure exactly what it has been, probably a combination of time, experience, and coaching, but I know that what Deb is saying is true. You can't change other people but you can control your reactions and responses to them. You can manage your relationships, you can manage your meetings, you can manage how you permit people to interact and engage with you. But, you have got to be awake, present and willing to accept that double edged sword . . . .it really is all about you.

I know the things that get me going, I know the reasons they get to me. I know that knowing doesn't automatically make me any less crabby when I come face to face with them. I know that knowing does help me to be less reactive.Knowing helps me to create some space between me and the "offender." Knowing helps me to get the demons in check and plan my response thoughtfully.

Most of the time.

How Awesome of a Delegator Are You?

There is only so much time in a day. You prioritize on the fly. You dedicate time to the things that you must do. You delegate the rest. Right?

Try this. Plan a vacation. Not a long weekend. Not 5 days. Not even 7 days. Go for 14 days. Go for more. Plan a vacation long enough that forces you to identify the tasks to be delegated out during your absence. 

Identify the appropriate staff member(s) to assume responsibility and begin the hand-off a week before you leave so you are available for questions. Set up rules for email messages that can be routed to your junk folder or permanently deleted while you are out. Begin this a week or so before you leave.

Get my drift?

god_kennel_type.jpgGo to work the week before vacation. What types of things are you doing now that you are not reviewing and recommending approval/disapproval of advanced leave, FMLA or leave without pay requests; reviewing results and adjudicating initial and final background investigations; or compiling information for the director's monthly worker's compensation report and tracking performance monitors?

There are some tasks that have been delegated directly to you and can not be delegated beyond you on a regular basis. Then, there are there others. What would happen if you did not take those back when you returned from vacation? What would happen if you provided staff the tools, training and authority to assume these responsibilities on a regular basis? What if you unsubscribed from the messages and news groups that filled up your junk folder over vacation?

How awesome of a delegator would you be then? More importantly, how much more effective could you be?