What problem are we trying to solve?

What problem are we trying to solve?

My former manager asked me this on Thursday. It was in response to the new Public Service Performance Management Agreements, but I think the question applies to what is going on in government and in business. The problem we seem to be trying to solve is perceived apathy- whether it is voter apathy or a workforce that has disengaged, we want people to connect to the systems that they are working within. The funny thing is that people are doing lots and sometimes even more, but yet feel disassociated from the rewards of contributing.

Young people and immigrants (who typically don’t vote) are very active in activities that we would consider to be reflections of engagement- participation in community groups, volunteering, social media, We Day ect. yet they remain hesitant to engage in the formal processes and roles in democracy.

Public servants who are constantly asked to do more with less, have jokes and derision heaped upon them in the media and social media are in fact doing really great jobs delivering service. My road was plowed this morning, even though nasty things are being said about public works budget and management in our local paper.

In the private sector employees still show up at Blackberry and work hard at making it work even though job losses are always looming in the background. The same was true of Nortel when it was in its dying throws.

So what is going on? I think it is that deep down everyone cares about the contribution they are making. No matter what, on some level just saying “to hell with it” isn’t an option. So people work outside and around systems because in the end it is the systems that are broken not the people.

Doing nothing and enjoying it!

 

There is an irony that everyone wants more leisure time and then in the limited leisure time they have they keep themselves ridiculously busy. As a self-professed introvert I am perfectly happy to be by myself doing nothing. The frenetic energy of others doesn’t faze me anymore, however it used to.

I used to feel the need to keep up, to hyper-engage, to fill every moment… and then I realized it made me unhappy and resentful. The ability to be quiet and to enjoy the quiet is being lost (and devalued) in a constantly connected world. Once I began to say no to the dinner invitations, play dates, candle parties and workout sessions a magical thing happened- I reclaimed my life.

It was not always easy to say no. A friend of mine gave me a mantra I now repeat “Nothing to justify, nothing to defend.” When saying no we often feel we need to defend the no. “I can’t go because….” In reality there is no such need to justify why you are not participating. You have the right to simply opt out.

Warning- an interesting thing happens when you do this, you find your true friends. A true friend accepts a no for what it is, a declination of an event, not of them. However others see this as an affront to them, you choosing anything over them is unacceptable. Then they try to make you feel guilty or small. These encounters offer an opportunity for reflection; now that you have carved out some time. Maybe they are just having a bad day, or maybe if you really reflect on it, this person always needs to be in control of the agenda, of you. Eventually, by spending the time to reflect, you will start to see yourself and the relationships in your life as they are, not as you imagine them to be as you whiz through life.  

To learn about yourself and others you need to step away, to get outside of your normal. This is why most training sessions happen outside of your work place. We want to create a new environment where there are no distractions. So think of doing nothing as a life class, where you get away from the distractions, so you can learn something new. What better investment of your time could you make?

Are you READY to communicate via email?

 

Recently an anti-bullying campaign has come up with an acronym to help student decide if what they are about to say it needs to be said. This acronym is T.H.I.N.K. Is what you are about to say True, Helpful, Important, Necessary, Kind? In the workplace this makes sense for the conversations held around the water cooler- but we need something more robust when it comes to corporate emails.

Some days I feel like I am under attack by email. They come in like machine gun fire, often contradicting themselves and the quality of the writing wouldn’t pass my son’s grade 6 teacher. How can we become more thoughtful about what we send? We need to check our emails to see if they are READY to send.

Readable – As people use mobile devices more and more they seem to believe that this terse, truncated from of writing is somehow appropriate for business email. While it is true that “No.” is a complete sentence we should expect sentences to be fully developed and properly punctuated. Paragraphs should be used to separate different ideas or topics. Both spelling and grammar check should be enabled on all outgoing emails.

Engages- When writing you should always have the reader in mind. Too often the author only has themselves in mind. They need to get something out so they do it as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort possible. If you need to communicate something in writing it should engage the reader, welcome them into the topic, explore it and then have the call to action or summary.

Angle- What are you trying to achieve with this email? Show your boss how smart you are, show up your co-workers, poke fun… Email always has an angle. People forward everything they receive in an attempt to show you how busy/important they are, thus clogging up your email and making you unnecessarily busy too! People write emails to put others in their place, either subtly or not so subtly. When you begin an email you should do so fully understanding what your intention is.

Dialogue- All too often these days emails end with “email mail me if you have any questions”. The interesting thing about this statement is it really limits the possibilities. I have found myself wanting to provide feedback or discuss but questions imply that something was not understood or is unknown. What if I get it and I want this to be a two way street instead of a one way street?  Closings like “Please feel free to provide feedback.” “Does anyone have any thoughts or anything to add?”. Encourages engagement and dialogue which – before email is what we used to do, have conversations.

You sure? Ask yourself this question before you send an email.

·         Are you sure they need it?

·         Are you sure that it will have the desired impact? (Your desire should always be positive- if it isn’t reword your email. Always take the high road.)

·         Are you sure that the grammar and spelling are correct?

 

There is a joke around my office that my outgoing mail is more like dissertations than an email. However I put the same amount of effort into formulating my written ideas in any format as I would having a thoughtful conversation. The net result is not a lot of emails, but when I send them out they draw people into a discussion that they want to have.