Category Archives: THINKING

When Culture Works Against a Customer

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There is a very humorous story of an employee who not only misplaced his cell phone once, but twice within the same day. True to form, he was able to continue his business trip.*  His story relates how he had the courage to recognize  – because of his own actions – his buttons were pushed and what he was capable of – it may be called:

Unresolved anger, rushing without focus, lack of self-management or a learning experience to depend on someone who is much younger than you are.

Yesterday on my way home, I stopped at the grocery store and found myself in a somewhat similar situation – a reversal of the above-story. The small electronic scanner, at the check-out counter failed.   After scanning my card, the screen did not link to the next page.   The moment I pressed the screen, it reverted to the welcome screen.  After at least five attempts, the Check-out Clerk announced, “She doesn’t know what she’s doing, call a Supervisor.”  She refused to hear how I explained the screen was malfunctioning.

The Supervisor arrived, attempted a fix, but the electronic scanner continued to fail. The Supervisor worked earnestly, while the Check-out Clerk mumbled for all to hear,  “She still doesn’t know what she’s doing.”   Finally, I asked if there was an ATM machine in the store.  I was told there was and had no trouble getting cash to pay for my groceries – which is what I attempted to do at the exit counter.  When I arrived back at the exit counter, both the Supervisor and the Bagger had their heads down in apology, while the Check-out Clerk, did not.  She only displayed an indignant face.

One definition of Culture in a workplace is, “It’s how we do things around here.”    I will probably visit this store again because there were other employees who had a friendly service attitude. Outbursts do occur, for a variety of reasons.   It’s How You Choose Who You Want to be Known As in the situation that matters to those around you and what you learned about yourself.   Have a great week in your career!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coach and Change Agent

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* http://fortune.com/tag/stanley-bing .   “A Tale of Terror in which my true status in the universe is revealed to me.” September 22, 2014 print edition of Fortune Magazine.

“Generates Generated Generation”

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Early this morning, I published a Post on the LinkedIn Platform.  Here’s the link:  https://t.co/n26H2VhXM7  Here is a copy of the text as it was published: “Generates Generated Generation  September 25, 2014 Last week I attended a two-day conference sponsored … Continue reading →

“Sameness in our Relationships”

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I published this post on another media this afternoon on LinkedIn.com.  Enjoy your week as you Choose Who You Want to be Known As. “As questions arise about Ethics and its place in our society, it’s not something people discuss … Continue reading →

Missed, Misstep or Mistake

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  Mistakes are the portals of discovery. James Joyce    Since we are not perfect, we often place stress on ourselves when we don’t fully understand what happened following a “blip” in our careers.  Was it a mistake or a … Continue reading →

Right now, at this moment, and no place else

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During your career, I’m sure you have realized it’s not easy to answer the question, “What do you want, right now, at this moment?”  Perhaps it’s because we don’t often get what we want or we don’t give ourselves permission to get what we want.  The reasons for this are so numerous; they would easily fill an unabridged dictionary.  So how would you answer the question, “Right now, at this moment, and no place else, what do you want?”

Perhaps there are actions available to you right now.  Are they reasonable, at this moment?  If the WANT is within your reach, what impact does not attaining your WANT have in your life right now?

A well-respected Neuroscientist, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, offers tips on “How to Reset Your Brain” as follows:

 

Change is Pain.     Behaviorism doesn’t work.

Humanism is over rated.  FOCUS is power.

Expectation shapes reality.

Start by leaving problems in the past.

Focus on identifying and creating new behaviors.

Self-insight creates change, not advices.

 

Dr. Schwartz explains that the reasons why goals weren’t met may be valid, i.e. the goals didn’t support or generate change.  So give yourself time to think.  When you do so, you generate new circuits of thought.  And with continued practice, new behaviors of change help you to achieve your WANTS.

Dr. Schwartz also tells us to remind ourselves to think regularly.  As you Choose Who You Want to be Known As this Summer weekend in July, consider whether this is an avenue that brings value to you.  Enjoy.

 

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coach and Change Agent

Notes:  AMEX OPEN FORUM, Strategy and Business Section, “The Neuroscience of Change, or How to Reset Your Brains.” Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine. December 8, 2011.

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Belief, Believed, Believing…

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A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.  Henrik Ibsen

 

Recently, I heard a statement made by former President Bill Clinton that made me stop what I was doing because I chose to believe what he said.  (http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-transcript-june-29-2014-n143826).  I was reminded how often we believe what we hear because it may make sense to us, yet it doesn’t meet the reality of facts.  What leads us to believe something is true or not?   Belief, Believed, Believing  may come into play with our answer.

We say, I can’t believe it” — when we hear good news about someone we know and we say, “I can’t believe it” when we hear very sad news about a tragedy.  On the other hand, we choose to believe our impressions of someone we just met, because we have a belief our judgment is correct.  Our birth and business cultures strongly influence us as to our Beliefs, what we Believed and are Believing.  Our experiences and schooling surely play out in our Beliefs as well.  As we are approaching the remembrance of the founding of our country in a few days, why do we believe so strongly in America and its values?

What we regard as true is a belief.  Frequently in our careers, we may be asked to describe what we do for a living and how we would describe what we do in a few words. We want our answers believed.

As we Choose Who We Want to be Known As – We Believe in ourselves and what we do.  Have a great Holiday Week!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coach and Change Agent

Notes: http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-transcript-june-29-2014-n143826.

The description of the word “belief”, Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

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Chance Encounters…

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Don’t look down on people unless you’re trying to pull them up.  Anonymous
 
Early Friday evening she heard
That’s her – and she was called a b_ t_h.
He continued in bad form a few  minutes later.
It’s always surprising how often you need to
Control your reactions
So the situation is diffused and not reactive.©
 
 
Entering the store, she immediately felt uneasy,
     although she was
 Told the preceding evening to come to the store.
Having reached the counter, she was quizzed
     as to why she was in the store. 
It became clear her words were not believed.  She 
Carefully reached for her phone and 
Showed the call details.  Workplace public
     treatment of customers can discount good
     behavior of other employees.© 
As you CHOOSE WHO YOU WANT to be BE KNOWN AS this consider how you handle your close encounters.
Enjoy your week!
 
“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Agent and Change Agent
 
Note:  http://www.wordpress.com/disclaimers

 

 

“Curiouser and Curiouser”

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Google051414We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then. . .  is a habit.  Aristotle

 

A trusted  friend of mine and I had interesting chats about how office politics is like story plots from Alice in Wonderland,  by Lewis Carroll.   While we both held management positions, you do need to have an outlet in the office where “venting” can occur.  It was always a safe conversation, without violating any departmental confidences.  In fact, when we were close to ending the talk, we both looked forward to saying, “It’s like Alice in Wonderland, isn’t it.”   We smiled,  and moved onto the next Curiouser and Curiouser  situation we were paid to handle.

 

Today, some 150 years after Alice in Wonderland was published, we apply curiosity differently in our careers.  Curiosity is a good thing, especially in a coaching environment.  People want to be understood and a Coach wants to understand the client to facilitate the client achieving the agreed, targeted goal.

 

Curious – an act of empathy to learn from and engage another person.©

 

Curiosity – An emotional concept for serving another person.©

 

Curiouser and Curiouser – An ability of demonstrating servant leadership in the workplace.©

 

Have a great week As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As when curiosity presents itself!

 

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coach and Change Agent

A Way for Silence

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When you fall down, are you alone or are you in public, or was someone nearby that helped you stand straight.  Because I have a weak right ankle, there have been a few times I have fallen down during the daytime in pubic when the pavement was not even.  The way of Silence surrounding this event is astonishing.

Since I did grow up in a football family, I watched the 2014 Super Bowl.  Early on,  sports announcers gave positive explanations why the Professional Denver Broncos may have been nervous and missed certain plays.  This worldwide event has been taken apart and analyzed by many experts in the sports field.  This blog is focusing on a different aspect to this event. . . The way of Silence.

Many of us have grown up with advice, “If you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything.”  When someone is down, you don’t step on them and make they feel worse.

I took a look for a reporter’s take on the 2014 Super Bowl published this morning and found: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1947809-super-bowl-2014-blowout-score-was-most-shocking-result-in-years.  The way of Silence was taken by a reporter who gave quiet reflection.  He wrote in a positive way how the Broncos were not the only Offense Team beaten in a Super Bowl.  The way of Silence allowed reframing to take the sting out of the Broncos performance.

We can’t change what happened yesterday in our careers.  We can only Choose Who We Want to be Known As when we fall down.  Hopefully, we can fall into the Way of Silence and reframe the situation.  Have a great week!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coaching & Change Agent

Notes:  http://en.wordpress.com/tos/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1947809-super-bowl-2014-blowout-score-was-most-shocking-result-in-years

Vulnerability

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It’s not often that we speak about vulnerability in our private lives.   We tend to look to the experts around us to assess and manage the risks we may be exposed to in our neighborhoods, our communities and the world at large.   Our governments strive to keep order for the common good and our well being.  Yet, Vulnerability is an attribute we may not apply to ourselves.  Speaking positively, we are, have been and will continue to be vulnerable.  It’s how we learn about ourselves.

Staff within the Federal Government (at fs.fed.us) describe Vulnerability this way:

FSFedUSGoogle110313vulnerabilityandvaluesWhat’s the exposure if we pursue this strategy?  How are we ready because we’ve taken into account our sensitivities?  Will our contemplated action(s)  be in keeping with our value system?

Adjustment goes hand in hand with being vulnerable as demonstrated by the following graph from a Peace Corps worker named Bailey:

Baileyspeacecorpexperiencejuly2012fromGoogle110313Choosing to become vulnerable allows you to work though and learn about yourself in ways you had not considered before.  If you drew your last few months of activities, what would your graph look like?  How often did you consider yourself to be Vulnerable?  What sensitivities did you realize you had by letting go of a habit, or by learning something new?  

A well-known International Coaching Expert, Brené Brown describes Vulnerability as follows:

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Very recently, I attended a two-day Coaching Seminar on cultural competency.   I participated in a brief exercise to understand and recognize Vulnerability.  It was an enlightening experience.  So please enjoy your activities during this first full week of November as You Choose Who You Want to be Known As.

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coach and Change Agent