Category Archives: Starting out

Idealism meets REALism

After 5 months I quit my first job in my life.

I was a bright eyed bushy tailed greenhorn invested in the idea of working for a company that prides itself on the same values I believe I have. I was at the tip of the spear helping people where it all beings at the very bottom.
After a month of training our team of twenty excited and determined people graduated with the highest grade point average ever and without losing a person.

Within 4 months we had lost 40% of team.

I told anyone that would listen that In the military we would have been combat ineffective within a month and within two our chain of command would have been relieved. Regardless of who you raised issues to it was always the same response:

” We know and we have been trying to fix it for years”

What Happened?
Ultimately without a doubt the root cause was a lack of either concern or the ability to utilize the time and attendance system.
People that needed to work full time couldn’t get more hours even though there were calls everyday for people to stay beyond there shift.
People wanted less hours as they were hired part time (my case) but worked almost 40 and late into the night when only a very small percentage of people where present. Changes to schedule all the way up to the day before a persons required attendance where commonplace.
Start and stop times that changed between 15 minutes and hours daily, and days off that changed every week nor where concurrent.

For people in school, with children or any other commitments it was an unattainable goal to stay.

What a horrible waste of time, money and most important people that could easily be fixed if Leaders Lead. I wish I could go back.

Posted in Leadership, Situational, Starting out

I Don’t Understand

Jul 7

Posted by LOUJSWZ Inc.

This week I failed to understand a work assignment and a personal assignment.

“We need you to write a past performance narrative based on the provided historic record that will be judged on three factors”. I wrote an executive summary that says why we should be selected as the contractor for this solicitation.

My wife told me to make sure our Company provides her HSA allocation as an elective from her pay. I increased her salary which was basically the opposite of what she asked.

Both of these mistakes cost me our most precious thing, time and not making my wife angry. A non-angry wife is pretty much just as important.

So what can improve on? Active listening is something I have always struggled with. Through my life experiences and education I have learned communication is the ability have the receiver understand the message. Communication is not the ability to speak and be heard. The sender must listen to the receiver’s responses. If the receiver is not able to demonstrate understanding a good way to help them understand your message is to ask different questions to stimulate the receivers’ comprehension.

I believe I understand how to effectively communicate, so why was I not able to receive the message? Why was I not able to realize I was not clear on what the sender was sending in that moment?

The first question relates to process. In retrospect, I did not repeat back what the sender wanted. I failed to take notes to refer back to when doing the assignment. My ego got it the way. I keep thinking, I to smart and experienced to not understand what I construe as a simple task.

One of the very first things I learned as a leader in the military was to always have a pencil and paper to take notes. Writing things down always holds true. A person cannot go wrong concentrating by note taking. I thought I had learned very early to be humble. These mistakes are a good reminder to reinforce humility in every situation.

I hope this message is understandable and valuable as it is to me writing it down. I like this image below provided by Lyondellbasell. PMP 101.

Posted in Leadership, Starting out

Planning and Setting Up a #Backoffice for a #Small Business that brings #value, is #agile and keeps you focused on your services.

Does your Company offer a health plan? How about an 401K or HSA? A FSA to help with my commute? Pet Insurance? Why not? and If not, I’ll probably work somewhere else.

Even for a Company with as little as one employee benefits security and just plain old concern about their future provides a differential that will set you apart from so many other Companies. I hear all the time the excuses that we can not provide these benefits: it’s too costly, too expensive to the employee, too much time and effort to administer and how does it help me get more customers, retain customers and provide the services I have promised?

In my experience, I have heard of and witnessed many organizations that failed to pay social security taxes for their employees. The employee is faced with sometimes years of no credit towards federal retirement. This does not take into consideration the legal implications on the business for failing to pay taxes. I know of nationally known Companies that offer no health insurance or retirement and can get away with it because of their organizational structure. Providing a vanpool for a group of people might provide a great tax benefit to your company and allow folks to get to and from work easily and endear them to the organization.

Below is the diagram I use to manage my back office. Its our background image with hyperlinks to all the partners and systems we have relationships with. It might help your business let me know if it does or I can help you in your journey.