I’m having a hard time following the rules at work lately.

In my defense, the rules have changed, and I have yet to figure out exactly why, or what the new rules are.  Come to find out?  Having a good understanding of “the rules” - or what’s expected of me - is closely linked to how well I’m able to comply.

It’s not that I don’t like to be told what to do.  (I mean, OK, I don’t like it, but I can handle it - especially for a paycheck.)  And I don’t expect to agree with every decision my superiors make.

I just want to know why.

I remember, in the past, being told that a new set of paperwork would be required for all employees.  It was a new system from what we were used to, and surely upper management was going through the trouble of training us on a new way of doing things for a reason.  But when my colleagues and I asked what that reason was, we were simply told “because that’s what corporate wants us to do”.

I never did end up getting the hang of that new system, and my questions remained unanswered when I left that company several months later.  I didn’t leave because of paperwork, but feeling like I was expending a lot of energy on meaningless tasks for no good reason certainly didn’t add to my job satisfaction.

Read the rest of this entry

If you stay abreast of social media happenings at all, you may have heard about the recent public argument between director Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines that occurred on Twitter.  If you don’t hound Twitter (or you missed it), here’s the short version: Kevin Smith got kicked off a Southwest flight due to size restrictions and took his complaints to Twitter.  Southwest responded on Twitter and on their blog.

Personally, I have no dog in that fight and am making no comment here about how either party handled themselves.  What I do find interesting, however, is how one uninvolved employee of Southwest Airlines responded to a satirical blog post about the incident - and used his employer’s name to identify himself.

Read the rest of this entry

Last week, I talked a little bit about my that mid-afternoon slump that many of us experience at work and gave you a few ideas for boosting your energy during the work day.  As usual, a commenter popped in to offer even better advice*.

Lynn @ Human, Being said:

“…I can usually manage my energy by planning my day and to-do list around when I know my energy is best for certain work. For example, I never start writing until after 230. If I start at 930, I’ll still be writing the piece at 230. If I start at 230, I’ll be done by 530 or 6. Late afternoon is my most creative time. However, it’s the wrong time for me to be doing things like scheduling meetings and working my budget because I don’t have a focus for minutae…”

I think this is brilliant and especially important for those of us who are lucky enough to have some control over how we schedule our work day.

Read the rest of this entry

I don’t know about you, but I eagerly anticipated the premier of Undercover Boss after Sunday’s Superbowl. Sure, I may be a reality TV junkie. But, really, this premise intrigued me more than Jake the Bachelor ever could. A CEO going undercover in his own company, taking on jobs of his everyday working class employees, and experiencing firsthand the impact of his decisions.

The first episode followed Lawerence O’Donnell, the President and COO of Waste Management, as he posed as a newbie on front-line jobs that his employees do every day. He learned firsthand that some of them do really hard, messy work for low pay. While most of us aren’t literally picking up other people’s shit, it sure can feel like it some days. Right?

If I was an employee of Waste Management, I would have a deeper appreciation for my COO right now. He saw problems with how his own policies were implemented and how his decisions, made in a pretty corner office, impacted the real people of Waste Management. In the end, he vowed to make some policy changes to make some of their work lives easier.

Don’t you want to know what really happened after the cameras left? I sure do.
Read the rest of this entry

I am constantly at war with my energy levels.  Constantly.

I am one of the lucky millions who battle with depression, which makes me especially prone to the need for a midday nap.  I’m also really sensitive to carbohydrates, which means eating too many of them causes my blood sugar spikes and five minutes later I’m crashing - hard.  Add to that a personal tendency to procrastinate and the attention span of a two year old, and you have a recipe for how in the heck am I constantly employed??

Getting through an eight (or 12) hour workday can, at times, require herculean effort.

While most people might not battle the exact same energy suck monsters that I do, finding yourself left with more hours left in the day than gas left in the proverbial tank is, I’m told, fairly common.  What can we do to push through the occasional energy slump?

First - let’s discuss what not to do.

Read the rest of this entry