No Laughing Matter

This just arrived in the Ghost Writer's Inbox.

"GW, I just got the weirdest feedback at work.  A peer told me 'every' leader in the business talks about how great I am at my job in every area and the only negative thing they have to say about me is my laugh - how it's too loud and sometimes ill-timed.  Further, he intimated it's hurting my career.  Then he continued on to tell me how my new boss questions whether I should be on the team and how he stood up for me.  What do I do with this?  You know if I quit laughing at work, I'll get the feedback that I'm humorless and unhappy next year. Laughless in Las Plantos"

Wow, Laughless!  That's tough feedback.  Tough for the person who gave it to you, and tough for you to hear, I'm sure.  For once in my life, I'm speechless (and laughless).  I have no idea how to counsel you.  I agree with your assessment that stopping laughing altogether is an overcorrection and will lead to its own consequences.  However, this feedback clearly needs some type of action on your part. 

 

The outraged part of me says, "Go to HR and file a claim that there are people adverse to diversity in the workplace.  This is clearly an attack on you as a person that has nothing to do with real job performance."  Sadly, though, that has its own consequences, especially if you are a minority in your workplace as your charge will be investigated.  While legally they can't fire you for the claim, this could make your already uncomfortable (based on this feedback) workplace even more so, as well as make people overtly sensitive about what they say in front of you which can hurt informal networking critical for workplace success.

 

The saddened part of me, because I do love a good laugh, says, "Tone it down a notch.  Raise your self-awareness about this.  Take it as a study in workplace humor."  That sounds pathetic, but at least it makes it your choice rather than being a victim in this scenario.  However, many would tell you a laugh is an autonomic response of the body.  Controlling it is like attempting to control a sneeze.  You can do it, but it may be painful, artificial, and inconsistent.

 

The seriously outraged part of me says, "QUIT!  Screw them.  If you're so damn good at your job, as the peer asserted, they'll miss you when you're gone, and the exit interview data could lead to an interesting set of changes for the company."  We all know, though, that the grass is rarely greener on the other side.  The next company will find something to pick at about you.  That's the nature of human-filled workplaces.  If you like what you do and, in general, where you do it, then take this as the sign it's work and not play for you.

 

This was a tough piece of mail from the Inbox.  If any of the HR pros out there in blog-land have something, I'm sure Laughless would love to hear it.

"Suck"cession Planning

While this is not the current state of affairs in my world, this is a scenario from a past life.
In the world of People Management, there are times when you get the gift of a challenged team. You exert the effort to be strategic and plan out how you will address the so-called talent in your space. As the executive team works through the ranking, 9-box, quadrant, or other succession planning system, it dawns on all of you that marginally average defines your facility leaders. Now what? You aren't even sure you have someone to train new people, and you are sure you will need new people. Time to revisit the original assessments with a view toward identifying the managers that have enthusiasm and potential to be more and the energy sucking downers that influence their co workers to engage in poo-like performance. The positive and negative leaders in the business need to be clearly known, so you can leverage the positive and neutralize the rest by persuasion or documentation. It is tough to identify and worse to have your boss remind you that your talent pool isn't deep enough to clean your own feet. This won't be a quick fix , so buckle in and hold onto the wheel. You get to steer this shaky mess until the talent evens out.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Exhaustion

Just when I think I am clear on the definition of exhaustion, I discover that I am capable of yet more sleep deprivation and poor personal habits. It is truly stunning what I will do for things that aren't very satisfying at the end of the day. It is a very hard thing to realize that we have made the fatal error of staking even a portion of our self worth on our career. Business is a merciless master with no compassion or empathy. It is time to seek out some other activities that offset the emptiness from

Reality Bites

Thanks to whoever came up with that bit of wisdom. Today we were walking ArtPrize which is an awesome showing of community spirit here in Grand Rapids, MI put on by one of our favorite sons. As I read the explanations of the different pieces of art, it occurred to me that we spend a lot of time attaching meaning to what we do. At the point that man decided he was more than another animal, the search for existential meaning began. Music was more than a means to convey information, art more than a way to describe history or present plans. We wanted to present our soul and be loved for it. People bare parts of their inner feelings looking for a generally self absorbed population to give them adulation. It made me think. What would happen, if I told everyone that my reason for art is that it makes me happy. Why do I write this blog? I can. Why do I knit? Sense of accomplishment; lord knows my work won't give me that feeling. My personal pride in making a vintage sock monkey from scrap comes from proving that we can still conserve and make great stuff. In a wasteful world, I like proving people wrong. Also known as, self-satisfaction. So why did I call this reality bites? I love those crazy, sensitive artsy folks and in the end they are not likely to find the mass admiration they seek. That bites. Keep doing what you do because you love it.

Full of .... Ideas

Do you have tons of ideas? I have wondered what would happen if you carbonated chocolate milk or how much I can make teaching cats to type. Maybe I could join Congress or become our Executive in Chief, they seem to be graded on their ideas, since we can't come up with enough results to grade. By the way, how is it that they think it is okay to pitch an under developed concept to an impressionable crowd without reducing our highest offices to the same level as Billy Mays (May he rest in peace). That's BS! As much as we pay them, they should produce a well thought out and functional process that is ready for the market and able to compete. Let's face it, most of these folks have never had to write a business plan just to get funded. Maybe we need a special class for all of Congress and the Executive branch on writing business plans and proposals designed to earn funding. If your local loan officer won't approve it, don't get up on TV and hock it like the Sham Wow. I guess it has been so long since the American people have seen a 'snake oil' salesmen or a carnival sideshow where they tie antlers on a bunny that we have forgotten what hucksters look like. I am imploring our leaders to put the heart of an entrepreneur into creating a work of art they would stake their personal fortune on when they legislate. In the same breath I am begging the citizenry to scrutinize that same legislation like a scrupulous and diligent loan officer protecting the assets and success of the American enterprise.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Why Attacking Capitalism Didn't Work

We often hear that from the world's view the USA is a bunch of lazy, rich capitalists that only love their stuff. They have some points based on our personal debt choices and our far from conservative economic behaviors. However, 9-11-01 should have taught a few lessons to everyone else. We may be disfunctional, but we are a family. Burning down what they felt were symbols of our "destructive" capitalism only pissed us off and we focused on the true symbols of our culture. Freedom, Liberty, and Humanity. They gave us a new piece of clear ground to create another monument to these values that day. What the French realized when they sent us the Neoclassical beauty named LIberty Enlightening the World is a lesson our enemies would be wise to learn. Our Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886 and stands as the real symbol of us. We've had Civil War, severe economic depression, international war, peace and prosperity. The 50 children of this great republic wrestle, rangle and talk smack, but we won't let anyone bully our brothers and sisters. Capitalism is simply an expression of the significance of our Liberty. Certainly, if the USA was about Capitalism, we would have rebuilt the twin towers in nostalgic detail in tribute to our greatness. Instead, we made a stand on that rubble and cleared the way for a reminder that they missed the boat on what makes us who we are. The fine citizens of the USA will never understand why anyone would purposely murder thousands of non-combatants to make a point. By virtue of those choices, they have only caused the eyes of the eagle to focus on them. I am a patriot, because I believe in defending the country envisioned in 1776 and nobly defended for 245 years. Like the Bible, our Constitution and Bill of Rights are just as applicable today as the day they were written. We must continue to defend them from enemies both foreign and domestic.

It's Definitely NOT Free - A Labor Day Tribute

Hi folks, Ghost Writer has had plenty of time to work up some angst around circulating through the "general" public. In turn, I am celebrating Labor Day with my tribute to those of us that pay taxes. If you work but get all of your tax money back at the end of the year, thank you for contributing to FICA and taking a shot at being a productive member of society. If you work and get very little of your tax money back ever, this is our time to comisserate. I was watching a series of commercials about "Free" services including immunizations, health care, food, and housing. The Accountant on my couch clearly indicated that they aren't free. Now I know the participants don't pay, but all us do. Nothing is ever truly free, but I posit that something can be considered free when it is given freely out of a sense of charity with no expectation of a return. When we pay taxes we are compelled to do so. We also expect a return for the compulsory investment, whether it is a standing army to protect us or government involvement in managing foreign relationships. In the end, our money was not given freely and it feels very wrong to see dollars used for a growing portion of the population that does not contribute,as opposed to promoting the common defense and financial security of this union. "We the people" implies that all of us are putting something into the program. We are a union of states, so this great republic can use it's collective bargaining power for the benefit of the constituent parts. Instead our financial contributions, taken from the fruits of our labor, find their way to the support of governments that cannot clearly be linked to a trade or security advantage equal to the combined power of the 50 members of this great experiment. As I celebrate Labor Day and think of the loyal civil servants we support in the form of our standing army and foreign services teams, I applaud the sacrifice of people working hard, in dangerouse places, far from home for United States. Any distate I have for how our money is used belongs on the shoulders of our legislators. The representatives of the people responsible of the "executive" functions of the business of the U.S.A. Again, I ask that we start treating these folks like the executives of any free enterprise business in the country that has championed free enterprise more than any other. If the executives are botching the work, get a chief to align the team and then play corporate politics in the board room. We have done ourselves a tremendous disservice by playing corporate politics in the media with our CEO leading the charge to drive his agenda. I'm not saying that these guys leave us out of the loop; I'm saying don't air the mechanics of our decisions to our trade partners. The difference lies in ensuring the we know there is a disagreement with simple language like "we are not coming to an agreement" instead of saying that the opposition will cause the country to be imminently bankrupt, in spite of our tax paying labor, and the Chief Executive is powerless because of the mean legislators from the opposing party. Our leader identified himself as impotent to the whims of our executives and painted the executives as immovable blocks to the prosperity we want without any understanding if it is the agenda we want. Today, Detroit, one of the hardest hit and slowest growing bastions of labor lost, received an earful of promises that ring hollow. In a city with declining population therefore declining government support (not free)and a meager but growing list of improvements driven by the businesses that told the government to "pound sand" instead of taking stimulus the last thing we need is promises to become what we were. As a country of progress built on the hard work of our people, the way we were is not the way ahead. Our land still holds huge resources, among them a great and varied people, so let's get aligned with the moving target of industry and service and go back to kicking everyone else's butt. This is a celebration of what all of us working people from the entry level production worker to the company President contribute as members of the labor force. Go labor!