Time – Page 8 – mardihumphreys.com

You May be a Leader

Time for a riddle:
What’s the difference between someone who is a leader and someone who is in charge?

Answer:
Leader = one who glues a team together and gets things done
Bureaucrat = one who is titled and officially in charge

Can this be the same person? Sure. Is it always? (That’s not a riddle.) If you don’t have a managerial title, how can you tell if you’re a leader?

Leadership is simply influence and everyone has it. You probably lead something or someone whether or not you recognize it as leadership. To find out, ask yourself these 10 questions.

1. Do I live in the future?

If you look two weeks down the road, plan two steps ahead, or see what currently exists and how it could be used to create something that doesn’t yet exist, you may be a leader.

2. Do I look at current processes and imagine how they could be improved?

When a coworker says, “But this is the way we’ve always done it.” If you say, “Yeah, but what if we can find a better way?” you may be a leader.

3. Do I communicate clearly?

If you can present the overview of how to achieve the project’s deliverable, as well as the steps necessary to create it, you may be a leader.

4. Do I collect people into teams?

If you identify coworkers who share your value system, solicit their opinions on your projects, invite collaboration, and facilitate partnership, you may be a leader.

5. Do I hate waste?

If you know a teammate has an underused ability that can enhance the project, and you appeal to their sense of purpose to focus it on accelerating the project, you may be a leader.

6. Do I reproduce myself?

If you teach teammates how to do what you do thereby sharing your power and encouraging them to find theirs, you may be a leader.

7. Do I connect people?

If you meet someone at a networking event and immediately think, “How can I help this person achieve her goals?” you may be a leader.

8. Do I eliminate obstacles?

If you know what action to take to keep the project moving toward completion and do it, if you ask for forgiveness instead of seeking approval, or if you think any decision is better than no decision, you may be a leader.

9. Do I make wise choices?

If you filter decisions through your company’s mission statement, you may be a leader.

10. Do I think more about others than about me?

If your main concern is advancing the project, even if it means a coworker will outshine you, you may be a leader.

The bureaucrat has the fancy title and big salary because he is held responsible for the team’s success. The leader has influence to achieve that success. If that person is not one and the same in your workplace, follow the leader.

Do you have managers in your office who aren’t leaders? Do you have managers in your office who are leaders? Please share your observations in the comments section.

The Never-ending Workday

I love to work. I love relieving companies of the pain their current processes cause them. When I see a business operation that could be automated, I just want to get my hands on the workflow and clean it up. Consequently, I see room for improvement everywhere. It’s tough to turn that section of my brain off, but I need to recharge those creative thinking batteries. With devices and software that allow constant communication with coworkers, shorter and shorter deadlines, and the ability to work remotely, how do I know when to put my foot (and my laptop) down and pay attention to my personal life?

Boundaries – It’s not enough to set them; I have to protect them. For example, I try not to work weekends. Typically, my weekend starts at 4:00PM on Friday, so around 3:00PM, I start prepping for Monday. Do I have all the data I’ll need for Monday’s meetings? Do I have calls/emails to return before Monday? What follow up needs done first thing next week? But when a project comes up at 2:45PM and it’s due by noon on Monday, I have to bend my boundary. When working over the weekend, I set the timer on my phone and force myself to take breaks. If I need to communicate with a coworker, it’s email or phone calls scheduled around existing weekend plans. I also have to be patient with delayed communication because it’s the weekend for whomever I need to communicate with too.

Exercise – Elle Woods was right about endorphins. When I start to feel overwhelmed, I close my eyes and box breathe. Forcing my body to calm down eases my mind. We often treat exercise like it’s optional, but it needs to be habitual much like brushing our teeth. I walk on our treadmill every day, lift weights five times a week, and take weekly walks with my husband. These activities not only reduce my stress, but build up my immune system. I don’t let work interfere with these activities because doing something good for my body makes my brain more productive.

Get ruthless – When life feels out of control, I need to analyze why. Do I have toxic people in my life? Is social media wasting my time? Is binge watching Stranger Things interfering with my sleep? Are there tasks I can delegate? Then I have to make difficult decisions based on the answers. For example, after weekly staff meetings, a coworker wants to update me on office gossip. I can decide to politely excuse myself.

Needing to balance work and life implies that one (usually work) is bad and the other (usually life) is good. I believe the trick is to play to my strengths in both because when I do that, I love whatever I’m doing.

What about you? Do you have any suggestions on balancing work and life?

Like Jogging in Three Feet of Water

Being busy is like jogging in three feet of water. We’re working hard, but not getting anywhere. When interpreted, busy usually means we just don’t:

Prioritize
Have the guts to say no
Want to do what needs done
Plan ahead
Want others to not like us if we say no

I’m guilty of all these things. Here’s what I learned.

Prioritize – I make a to-do list then don’t stop to think if the way I’m doing it is the best way to do it. Confused? Me too. (You’re imagining a caged hamster running on a wheel right now, aren’t you?) I prioritize tasks at the beginning of a work project. I seldom revise my list. Who has time to stop momentum for reflection? But reevaluating to-do lists weekly makes time to accommodate unexpected challenges that inevitably arise. This allows me to inject margin into my schedule, which is a big stress reliever.

Be brave – When I stop, observe, question, and listen, I have a better chance of putting all the pieces of the why-I’m-so-busy puzzle together. Unfortunately, sometimes I don’t like the picture the puzzle makes. At that point, I have to ask myself hard questions and answer them honestly: Why is this project so difficult? What can I do differently to achieve the results I want? Is it a big change? Do I need help? Courage to admit I don’t have all the answers can mobilize the team to push the project closer to completion.

Don’t be lazy – Google says the definition of busy is: “having a great deal to do or keep occupied” implying what we’re doing is important. What am I occupying my time with? Chatting with coworkers in the break room? I should be honest when I need a break, but I shouldn’t call it busyness and use it as an excuse to not return email.

Templates are my friends – Sometimes I can’t achieve my goal through sheer force of will. E.g., I can’t force people to buy my company’s service. What I can do is figure out the best plan to connect with potential partners by asking: How can I identify decision makers? How can I make them comfortable enough to tell me what their operational challenges are? How does what we offer relieve the pain points of their business? These questions are a universal roadmap I can follow to help any business.

Other people’s opinions – I once had a demanding coworker with a perpetual list of busy work she expected me to handle for her. Not all of her requests were out of line, but the way she requested them often was. I wanted her to like me, but not if it meant doing parts of her job for her. If it was a task she could do herself, I encouraged and empowered her to do it. (E.g.,“Oh, you need to send a package? Remember to fill out an expense report. You can get reimbursed for both shipping and mileage!”)

Saying I’m busy no longer makes me sound important, it makes me sound like I can’t handle my life.

Under what circumstances do you feel compelled to fall back on the “I’m busy” excuse? Please share in the comments section.

What’s it all for?

Captain Herschel L. Smith Photo Credit to the owner

Memorial Day is a holiday dedicated to honor those who died while serving in military service to America. It always reminds me of my Grandpa, Herschel L. Smith. Although, he didn’t die in the line of duty (Thank You, Lord), so I don’t know why Memorial Day makes me think of him. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps and piloted B-24 Liberators during WWII. His plane was shot down over Germany. As the enemy moved in to take his crew captive, he told his men, “We’re going to win the war. We’re just not gonna win it today.” And for the next 11 months they were POWs. He had a purpose: to keep hope alive in his team. Through the filter of winning a war, decision making gets simple; not easy, but straightforward. We benefit from our military personnel’s sacrifices to maintain our freedom. So what are we doing with this privilege? What is my purpose? What is yours?

Make time to find your purpose. Here is an article to help. Finding your purpose may take a while, but it’s a wise investment. Making decisions through the filter of purpose causes wise choices to be more obvious and simplifies the process. For example: If you are in sales (spoiler alert: everyone is in sales), your purpose is to help your customers. You want to provide them with a product or service they need at a price they can afford. When you approach a potential customer with that mindset, your instinct is to ask them what their pain points are. When you learn the obstacles they face, it helps you figure out how to fix their problems with your product or service.

Experiment. Have you always wanted to do something, but never had time: Gourmet cooking? Coding? Story telling? You’ll never just have time. You have to make time. Jump in and take a class. Or, are you really good at something? Get yourself a YouTube channel and teach others what you know. Do you love dogs? Volunteer at your local animal shelter. Do you want to make a difference in a young person’s life? Mentor.

Remember you have more than one. You bring one purpose to your partner. You bring a different purpose to your first child and a different purpose to each subsequent child. You bring a purpose to your mom and a different purpose to your dad and a different purpose to your bestie. You may bring multiple purposes to your job, church, school, intramural team, book club, etc.

It can evolve over time. When our daughter was little, my purpose as a mom was to guide and protect. Now that she’s an adult it’s to encourage and support.

In closing, I salute Captain Herschel L. Smith with some of his favorite words:
By the world I was soon forgotten
No one has mourned for me
as over the world I have wandered
across the boundless sea
So drink to me again boys through the midst of crocodile tears
for when I’m gone no one will mourn
the last of the bombardiers

Please share how your journey to finding your purpose is going in the comments section.

Volunteer Opportunity

My mother is retired from the workforce, but I think she hustles harder now more than ever. She’s a perpetual volunteer in ministry to people. She offers her time and service to God as an act of worship. Some of her activities include: Teaching a weekly ladies’ Sunday School class, working in her church’s nursery, intervention counseling at her church’s private school as well as proctoring. She mentors younger women, facilitates Grief Share meetings, and visits shut-ins. That’s not the complete list, by the way, and I’m exhausted just typing it. I don’t know how she makes time to accomplish all her volunteer ministries. If she were job hunting right now, her volunteerism gives her a 27% better chance of getting hired than a job seeker who doesn’t volunteer.

How does volunteering help you get a job? Employers want to know you like to work even if you’re not paid for it. If you volunteer at an organization where you’d like to be employed, you have access to finding out about job openings; maybe even before they’re posted to the general public. Even if you don’t volunteer at an organization you want to work for, spending time helping others actually helps you. You feel good about yourself when you give. Feeling good about yourself makes it easier to maintain a positive attitude which bleeds over into your job search and in interviews. If you’re looking for a job because you’re unemployed, volunteering looks good on a resume. It fills time gaps. It telegraphs to potential employers that you value giving back to your community (and you want to work for an employer who feels the same way, right?). Volunteering gives you stories to tell when answering interview questions (e.g.: “What are you passionate about?” “What are your hobbies?”), and expands your network. You never know who you’ll meet, where they work, or who they know. Don’t volunteer too much, but don’t volunteer too little either. This study shows volunteering more than 100 hours a year does not raise your chances of getting hired; nor does volunteering less than 20 hours a year. When you do get hired, you might not have to give up volunteering. Ask your manager if the company offers Volunteer Time Off (VTO). It’s a trending perk. One in four American companies and non-profits offer VTO.

Mom and I, along with my husband and my dad, will spend this Mother’s Day attending my daughter’s college commencement ceremony. She is also known for her volunteerism. During her time at university, she’s volunteered on both her campus activities board and at Gospel Mission, and tutored African refugees. I’m grateful Mom has this influence on her. It’s no doubt one of the reasons she had a successful college career in both her classes and her student employment. It will no doubt continue contributing to her success as she begins her next life phase in the workforce.

Do you volunteer? Please tell us about your experience in the comment section.

Is There Something I Should Know?

When my friend found out I got a job with a company she was familiar with, she said, “Wait a minute. Are you smart? Because these guys are like, Big Bang Theory smart.” No pressure.

She’s right. I work with brilliant people. Everyday I’m reminded of how little I know; which is good. It both keeps me humble and forces me to learn new things. Walking into the office in the morning, I’m blissfully ignorant and full of confidence. Walking out of the office in the afternoon, I’m dolefully aware and have a to-learn list. Feeling like I know something when I actually don’t has a name: Unconscious Incompetence. And it’s dangerous. It prevents me from recognizing certain situations as problems, so I’m unaware I need help solving them. It’s the classic stage one of the learning model.

Right about now you’re asking yourself: “How do I know if I’m Unconsciously Incompetent?” You can get clues by using a process. For example, when your manager gives you an assignment, ask:

Q: What is the project?
A: Proofreading a report.
Q: What does she want done?
A: In addition to grammar and spellcheck, look at comma use and sentence fragments. Track any changes.
Q: When is it due?
A: One week from today.
Q: What should the deliverable look like?
A: A 12 page report in the company’s preferred format.

For bigger projects, give your manager regular status reports so she can course correct and ask her for KPIs. This mitigates the danger of misusing data or unintentionally ignoring important information. It decreases the odds you’ll be perceived as underperforming or at the other extreme, overconfident. This process can reveal what you don’t know. If you have much to learn, you now have time to either acquire the skills you need or reach out to a skilled team member for help before the deadline.

How can you proactively combat Unconscious Incompetence?
– Discover your weaknesses: Ask a trusted coworker where he thinks your blind spots are. Ask a friend what she think your strengths and weaknesses are.
–Take a skills test: like Strengths finder 2.0 (look for it at your local library) or you can take a free course on Lynda.com.
–Find out what skills your company values: These will be your learning objectives. For example: If your company is hiring programmers, learn some basic coding (Also from Lynda.com; it doesn’t have to cost money). There’s no point in learning to basketweave if your company doesn’t sell baskets. Learn a skill that will help you keep your (or get a new) job.
–Reflect: Recall a time you realized you didn’t know something. What did you do then? Did you read a book? Take a class? Interview a coworker who was a subject matter expert? Can you repeat that process in this situation?

Realizing you are Unconsciously Incompetent can be embarrassing at first, but it’s crucial for identifying the next step in growing your career, and that’s exciting!

Ever been Unconsciously Incompetent at work? Please share what you did to bridge your knowledge gap in the comments section below.