There's a Writer in the House: A Day in the Life Sunday

There's a writer in the house and by the look of the kid's poem below, it's not me. All this from the kid I can't get out of bed in the morning. Go figure.

Predator to Prey

My mouth waters at the scent of food as I look at the town square.

I catch the eye of a young boy,

and for a long time,

hold his stare.

He starts to come toward me,

and I inch away from him.

I should not let him touch me,

he doesn’t know where I’ve been.

I look into his eyes so innocent and pure.

He,

unlike me,

 does not deserve to ever be on death’s door.

He reminds me of myself when I was young,

before I knew what a terrible thing I had done.

I’ve shared it with no one,

for no one deserves to be poisoned by those thoughts,

so no one will know how many secret wars I have fought.

SLAM! I’m brought back to reality by the sound of footsteps,

and look up to see the carrier of all my regrets.

The boy runs away in fright,

for no one should ever have to see

such a sight.

Tall acrimonious figure covered in black,

like a statement that’s an opinion or fact.

Not death or life.

Not dark or bright.

If you take life from another,

they never truly leave you.

They haunt you in a form that

is always depressed and blue.

They seek to destroy you,

they know no love or guilt.

So when you die heaven does not embrace like a warm quilt.

You are stuck on the earth,

dragged down by sin.

You’re swimming in horror until it gets to you from the outside in.

The hole where his  face should be

stared into my eyes,

and by his reaction,

I knew he would bring another horrid surprise.

He searched a second for the boy,

picked him up

and flicked him at me like a broken toy.

Then it was it,

I was tired of having no say.

He’d better watch out.

The predator becomes the prey.

How about we show the kid some blogging, writing, rhyming, deep thoughts for a 'tween, love your poem . . . love?

Career Development: 100 Questions to Grow By

You may want to pull my SHRM card when I tell you this but you have to know, I don't give enough regular feedback to my staff.

In fact, days can go by without me having a conversation (feedback or otherwise) with any given member of the department. Look closely and you may find my subscribing to the leadership approach, "No yelling, screaming, blood or broken bones so all must be OK."

When I do meet with staff, I am very intentional about moving beyond the performance review and am always on the lookout for ideas on how to shift the conversation and add value. And, it almost always involves asking questions.

A resource I reviewed recently is Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want, a new leadership book written by Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni. The authors share their approach to career development as career development through conversation. There are three conversations, hindsight, foresight and insight, and each has a distinct purpose and set of questions.

Of the nearly 100 questions in the book, three that caught my attention are from the hindsight conversation:

• For each position, role or job held, what parts brought you joy, energy and a sense of persistence and which led to boredom, disengagement and a sense of just going through the motions?
• What are you known for?
• What skills do you appreciate in others that you don't always see in yourself?

Full of useful and simple ideas, this book is a solid resource for supervisors and mentors looking for a guide to get a career conversation going or a framework for a complete series of guiding conversations.

Toss the rigid career ladder and share the benefits of hindsight, foresight and insight with your staff as you engage them in conversations that make them think.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.