You put in the long hours at the office and after a period of time, you have earned enough hours to go on vacation!
In fact, given today’s naturally stressful work environment, vacations are important to help get recharged so you can continue to push forward and climb the corporate ladder.
This is a question that I have given thought to repeatedly over the years. You have good, hard working people who join a good company and, over time, the relationship between the two changes. That doesn’t necessarily imply things are bad, but just different. The result, unfortunately in many cases, is that the real loss is felt by the company losing the talent and not by the individual losing the company because that prominent individual is very capable to securing a new position elsewhere.
This is clearly evident by the lack of good talent available in the market today and why, in many cases, there are bidding wars on the limited talent pool. If you are in Silicon Valley – I’d like to see you find a great software programmer – go on… find one that is just sitting idle waiting for your call!
Communication, in itself, is a form of expression… communication between two people – well, that is an art! I think people tend to underestimate how important effective communication is, regardless of the topic, in ensuring understanding between all those involved.
At times, speaking to people can be challenging for a myriad of reasons. Layer on a topic sensitive in nature or frame the conversation around a tense situation, and suddenly your intent of that straightforward talk doesn’t play out as you originally thought.
So, what’s the best way to have this “type” conversation?
Power is a function of dependence.
The more someone depends on you, the more power you have over them.
With great power comes great responsibility.
it is inevitable that throughout the course of our lives, we will find ourselves in situations that potentially started out small, but through poor decision making, ends up becoming a much bigger issue. In essence – we basically dig ourselves into a hole.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you have heard of the term “outsourcing” or some variation thereof (e.g. near sourcing, co-sourcing, off-shoring, etc.). Fundamentally, they all mean the same thing – basically, it’s “viewed as involving the contracting out of a business function – commonly one performed in house – to an external provider”.
Outsourcing, when used correctly, can yield tremendous benefits – some financial and sometimes more importantly, some intangible benefits, such as peace of mind.
Okay, I confess – this post technically has nothing to do with air travel, but the concept of hopping on a plane, does serve as an important symbol for communication.
So let’s get started – referencing the airplane images provided in this post, I’d like for you to answer the following questions. And, for the record, they are not trick questions.
First, how high do you think the commercial airliner is flying? Answer = Very high.
Second, how high do you think the combat plane is flying? Answer = Not high at all. In fact, it’s very low near the ground.
Let these images resonate with you for a bit because in a moment, I’m going to illustrate to you one of the most common communication mistakes people make… specifically at the office, where the impact of the mistake, could prove detrimental.
Businesses are living, breathing entities. In fact, they are not that much different than the human body. Like the body, businesses have core functions (e.g. the equivalent of the “heart”) and they have supporting functions (e.g. the equivalent of “arms and legs”). Now, in the event of a negative incident, (e.g. an accident), the body’s focus immediately shifts from “business as usual” to “preservation mode” and it does so by harvesting a majority of the blood from other parts of the body to core functions so to ensure they remain active and functioning – even at the expense of its supporting functions. Why? Because the body knows that if it can’t keep its core functions operating, it’s a matter of time before death is its only option.
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