ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > September
September 2007
Flashes of angst!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Recent developments allow us to carry our minds and most of our lives around on USB flash drives, those neat little thumb size thingies that hold so much data.
First they only held megabytes, now they’re up in the gigabytes with no end in sight. Miniaturization has gone wild hasn’t it? How many of you carry your life around in this small piece of plastic and chips? Isn’t it great? I can’t even begin to fathom what’s in the thing but when I plug it in, there’s all my data!
On the down side, have you ever lost one? These things are so small but carry so much data. If you have ever lost one, you know the sinking feeling that happens when you realize what is gone. I lost one recently and although I had backed up everything, whoever finds it, will see some interesting things on it including some work documents that are confidential to my job.
How do you replace months of work? What happens to the sensitive information from your company ends up in a taxi, on a plane or in an internet cafe on the other side of the country or world? Surely people will make an effort to return it to the rightful owner - not.
I’m still trying to find a way to keep my data safe and I know there are other ways to access my data remotely, but I still love my flash drive. My latest strategy is to put it on my key chain. Not having gotten used to this, I have locked my keys in my office when I left the zip plugged into the computer and ran out the door to a meeting. Worse yet, is when I use another set of keys and my data is left at home.
Help! I need some advice. What are some of your horror stories? How have you overcome the loss of your Flash drive?
As I save this entry on my flash drive, please tell me how to keep it with me without inconveniencing myself any further!
Any weirdo’s in your cube farm?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What is the definition of a weirdo at work?
When you Google “Weird People @ Work,” you’ll get the picture real quick … maybe they are just like some folks you know at work or maybe they’ll seem like they must be relatives!
I worked with a guy at a computer software company who was in charge of writing the operating system for the company; a whiz by any other name except weird!
He just about never slept at night, and would often stay at the office around the clock. Of course, he did sleep “on the job” though!
When we would have an operating system program bug, we could wake him and tell him the problem. He’d either tell us what to do or where to look … and then immediately go back to sleep! We never were really sure if he was awake when he was telling us what to do.
Have you worked with anyone that you would classify as anything but weird? Does it make for an interesting day?
Need to sharpen your saw?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While sitting in the Atlanta airport recently waiting on a flight, I found myself wondering how many people were traveling for business and how many were traveling for pleasure.
As my husband sat clattering on his laptop next to me, my next thought was to wonder how many people heading off on vacation would end up spending some time working during their time away from the office.
In today’s wireless world, most of us have been guilty of taking a work call after hours, or answering our office email from home. In moderation, this isn’t harmful or problematic.
But as we become more accessible, it is imperative that we become aware of how we’re spending our time. With technological advances, the lines between home and work are becoming permanently blurred.
Time management guru, Steven Covey, in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, advises us to regularly take time out to “Sharpen the Saw”. The idea is that if you allow your tools to dull by continuous use, you’ll end up having to exert more energy to accomplish the same task, than you would if your tools are well sharpened.
Obviously, in this case our tools are our minds and our bodies. For some, this saw sharpening exercise is easier than it is for others.
Those of us who work in traditional office environments can walk out the door at 5:00, turn off the light and tune work out for the evening, or for a week. Logging onto our office email or checking voice mail from home is usually something that is self-imposed and can be eliminated.
But for people who are field-based and are attached to Blackberries, home-based and are attached to their offices, or for people who work on-call shifts and are attached to their beepers, there are often no boundaries between their work lives and their personal lives.
Our personal time is increasingly encroached upon, leaving little time to sharpen our tools and rest our bodies and minds. So, the question becomes: “How long can someone be effective if they don’t take time off for a true, non-working vacation?”
Is the wireless world improving our productivity, or are we almost ready to crash and burn?
Divulging ‘too much Information’ in the office?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How many times have you been in the middle of a conversation with someone when they blurt out something totally inappropriate? I’m not talking about people who bring up issues like politics and religion in mixed company, although that’s dangerous conversational territory, too.
I’m referring to people who share entirely too much personal information with you when you’re really not that close. It may be Bob down the hall, who tells you more than you care to hear about his bunions. Or maybe it’s Stacy in Accounting who goes into a little too much detail about her wild weekend at the beach.
Office environments often lull people into a premature sense of camaraderie with others. Because we share space for 40 or more hours a week, people can sometimes forget that co-workers aren’t friends and family who love us despite our quirks and personal issues.
I have a very dear friend who seriously lacks an internal filter. On a personal level, I love her for that. She can be counted on, in her typically hilarious way, to say (out loud) the very thing that everyone else is thinking. She’s bubbly, well-educated and articulate and if we’re having a conversation between friends, I’m willing to overlook her tendency to tell me things that make me cringe.
That said, she usually has the good sense to watch what she’s saying in front of polite company and in the workplace. If we hadn’t been friends for more than 20 years, I would probably not be so charmed and amused.
How many of us, however, have worked with people who are oblivious to the fact that they’re divulging too much personal information on the job. Most of us, I would suspect.
Even if the offender isn’t overtly sharing too much information, we can still know more about our co-workers than we’d prefer to know. In cubicle-land, our private telephone conversations usually aren’t so private. So, someone’s marital spat or their personal medical issues can easily be overheard.
And don’t EVEN get me started on people who have these intensely private conversations on their cell phones in the grocery store, on the train, or in bathroom stalls!
When it comes to discussing personal issues at work, just how much information is too much information???
Welcome to ajcjobs.com, in partnership with Yahoo! HotJobs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Permission or forgiveness?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It is important to consider how you manage your career mistakes. We all make them and often what separates those that survive lay-offs and economic hardships are the career-climbers that understand how to address their professional failures.
A big number of get-ahead-quick employees have whole-hearted embraced the concept that it is better to ask for forgiveness than wait for permission. The idea sounds great and can prove you are self-directed, independent, and a ‘go-getter’ who is anxious to make an impact in your job.
The downside is that you may find yourself doing irreparable damage to client relationships, your employer’s reputation, and even worse, adversely impacting the bottom-line. Making decisions without buy-in from key stakeholders who are directly impacted by your choices can also make you seem like an uncontrolled maverick that can’t follow directions, isn’t a team-player, or is an over-zealous risk-taker who is blindly ambitious.
That said, if you do bull-doze ahead and find you have made a professional mistake remember that asking for forgiveness is much more important that you might think. Often when people realize they have made a mistake they either try to cover it up (bad choice) or defend it (not good either).
How many leaders in business, politics, and religion in the past decade have had to retract their excuses or find themselves having to own up to bold face lies that will be etched in history for the foreseeable future?
It requires character to admit mistakes. It also requires humility to deliver apologies that elicit true ‘forgiveness’ from those you have injured, intentionally or otherwise.
Some key elements of an effective apology that may salvage your career when you are seeking forgiveness are: Be specific about the offense; Admit what harm has been caused; Clearly accept responsibility for the mistake; Include the words “I am sorry;” Explain why this offense will not re-occur; Act quickly in apologizing-time is not on your side.
Mistakes are inevitable so learning to leverage the power of the apology is one way to ensure you are building favorable references with each employer, every step of your career. The bonus is this skill helps in your personal life too!
Performing under pressure…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was intrigued by a recent Wall Street Journal story about CEO distractions (as posted on azcentral.com). Apparently there is a growing body of research that is looking at the connection between outside distractions (for e.g., a death in the family, buying new houses or media attention) and company performance.
Researchers found that if a CEO of a public company experiences the death of a child, the performance of the company can dip as much as 21% after the event. That didn’t surprise me. However, a “lighter” finding about the passing of mother in laws did. This event was associated with an upturn in profitability (though slight!).
Most of us are not CEO’s, but we do have personal issues. Events need not be tragic to impact us and our organizations. I remember being in transition with childcare providers. At the time, I was incredibly anxious about finding a suitable place for my kids and am sure I didn’t get much work done that week.
I believe that being “distracted” by life is natural and normal. However when life’s challenges take a front seat for a while, we need to find a way to manage both worlds - either by being honest with our team or boss (for e.g., “I need some slack this month”, etc.) or by drawing upon outside sources of support (for e.g., family, friends, counselors , etc.).
What do you do when life intervenes with work? Does your employer do anything to allow you to deal with crises?
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Résumé liars always get caught!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Sunday’s ajcjobs section, the lead story by Laura Raines addressed the surprisingly widespread habit of lying on résumés and the problems that can result from stretching the truth. The article also mentioned that more employers are checking for inaccuracies, and a sidebar pointed out the five top areas in which résumé lies are told (education, dates of employment, job titles/descriptions, numbers and technical knowledge).
Have you ever told a fib on your résumé or known someone who did? What was the lie about? Did you get caught or worry that you would? Did the lie ever come back to bite you in other ways? (For example, did you find yourself grappling for answers when you were asked about a specific technical certificate you claimed to have?) If you haven’t lied on your résumé, what part of it is the most tempting to lie about?
If you are a hiring manager or recruiter, have you ever discovered lies on candidates’ résumés? Were there any really outrageous ones that immediately raised suspicions? What did you do or what would you do?
Trouble with an office parasite?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At some point in most of our lives we’ve had to peacefully co-exist with a co-worker who was overly invested in our own personal and professional activities. It’s annoying at best and in some cases they can be a detriment to our career.
While they’re usually harmless, these office busy bodies often consider their workplace a critical part of their social life. Unfortunately, they can seem like they’re more interested in your private telephone conversation with your sister than they are in the report they’re supposed to be completing for the division manager.
But occasionally, these Nosy Nellies aren’t so benign. There is a special kind of office parasite out there, who will infiltrate our personal space in an attempt to gain information that they hope will make us look bad and propel them forward in the eyes of the boss.
They may be friendly or they may be adversarial, but their goal is the same: to make themselves look good at your expense.
I once had a coworker who called my boss to report that I was two hours late for work that morning. Fortunately, my boss knew the real story behind my absence, because she had asked me to attend a networking event that morning on her behalf. In her haste to make me look like a slacker, the co-worker ended up looking like a school yard tattle-tale.
If you suspect you have a co-worker who is committed to your professional demise, you must take preemptive steps to protect yourself.
First and foremost, make sure that you are without reproach. If you are doing what you’re supposed to be doing at work, you should have little need to worry about what might be relayed to the boss. But if, despite your clean-living, you fear that your reputation may be in danger then you’ll want to document, document, document!
Check in with your boss on a regular basis and keep him in the loop on your activities and accomplishments. Depending on your relationship with your boss, you might voice your concerns and ask that she give you the benefit of hearing your version of the story, should unsavory information come her way.
If your company has a separate HR department, it may be worthwhile to have a conversation with an impartial third party, who knows the culture of your organization, for guidance on how to proceed.
You may choose to confront the co-worker head on, and in certain cases this may be effective. However, do not under any circumstances become emotional and escalate the situation. Keep your conversation factual and your tone of voice calm and professional. If you start handing out accusations, you’ll only invite an argument.
Have you had to face a similar situation? Were you able to turn a negative into a positive, or did the situation harm your professional reputation?
Coke announces 125 layoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Coca-Cola will lay off up to 125 staffers by the end of this year, which accounts for 3.5 percent of their 3,500 North American nonhourly full time employees. [Read full story]
Most of these jobs are based out of Atlanta and this moves comes as Coke struggles to increase productivity through reorganization and profitability.
Does this announcement impact you or your family and friends? What do you think this move means for the landscape of Atlanta?
Workplace songs and movies!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Sunday’s ajcjobs, reporter Laura Raines compiled a suggested soundtrack for Labor Day, filled with songs inspired by work and workers.
Of course, the list cannot be comprehensive, because work — as a key part of most people’s lives — has been the subject of many songs. I remember learning my first “work song” as a child: “Heigh-Ho” by the Seven Dwarves.
Work also is a popular subject for movies and TV shows. One of my favorite work-related movies (and one that brilliantly captures the day-to-day existence in cubicle land) is “Office Space.” I also enjoy seeing movies that deal specifically with the newspaper industry — most recently, “Zodiac” — and comparing them with my experiences and those of the people around me.
Did our Labor Day soundtrack miss any of your favorite “work songs”? Are there any that resonate particularly with your job or industry? What work-inspired movies or TV shows are your favorites? (Maybe next year we’ll have a “Labor Day Movie Marathon” list in ajcjobs!)
