Appreciate the Unexpected Delights

Check out the pink blanket in our formal Living Room!

The other day I was walking through my home when I discovered an unexpected delight in our formal living room. My youngest daughter (age 3) had hidden her pink blanket behind our sofa, in a place that would not be noticeable unless walking in from a certain angle.

I had to smile - these are the days that will be over in no time at all, as our children grow up and no longer have pink blankets, let alone hide them in the areas of the house we *try* to keep clutter-free.

Thinking it over for a few days now, it seems that there are unexpected delights to be appreciated in many aspects of life, including the workplace. Does your office have a shower, for example? Could you go for a walk or run at lunch and still be ready to face the afternoon? Do people bring in food to share, or bring in a cake to celebrate all birthdays that month? Does your boss let you work off energy with manual dexterity toys placed on conference room tables? Do they hang Super Hero signs in the bathrooms? What about a company "happy hour" once a week, complete with company-paid Uber/Lyft/taxi drivers to take people home? Does your company allow employees to bring their pets to work? Do they hold Safety Appreciation Lunches? Free gourmet coffee? Bike racks in the office? Wireless speakers to allow music to port around the building for office parties? A driving range on the roof? Live band during the annual company picnic? Garden space on campus? A fitness center? Yoga class? Pizza Fridays? Paid sabbaticals (and decorated office space upon return)?

Some of these delights are extremely unexpected (golf on the roof?), but each example is one that I have seen somewhere in my career. Still, unexpected delights don't have to be anything extra-ordinary. Do you especially enjoy working with a friendly colleague? Does your boss compliment your work and offer coaching, rather than micro-management? When you smile at your peers, do they smile back?

So many people bypass the joy in life and focus on the drudgery. Yet I will submit that if you look for the uplifting, and you're bound to find it! It doesn't always matter exactly *what* you do for work, there are ways to help others, be kind, and make a difference everywhere. And a little joy tends to be infectious.

I challenge each reader to try stepping outside yourself in your workplace or home and seeing a little something out of the ordinary as an unexpected delight. In other words, look for that pink blanket.

Read this article and more on AJC’s blog, and sign up for our newsletter online at: http://andreajonesconsulting.com/blog.aspx

Five Ways to Quickly Uplift Your Mood at Your Desk

Here in Portland, OR we have had one of the wettest "water years" in history of rain.  Yesterday the rain, sun, hail mix harkened of winter more than of spring!

During this period of dismal weather, here are five quick ways to uplift your mood - all from the comfort of your own desk:

1. Look at the sky in awe!  Blue sky or no, looking up at the sky tends to remind us that there is a great wide world - nay, UNIVERSE - out there, and increases our sense of awe which lifts our mood.

2. Smile! Guess what - even if you're faking it, this actually is proven to help both your mood and that of others.

3. Sit (or stand) up straight!  Your mother was right about this, though not only to prevent your spine from chronic injury.  Sitting up straight can boost confidence and reduce stress.

4. Lift your arms!  Stretching your arms up can make you more alert and increase focus; plus feels good and seems to pull your spirits up with it.

5. Take a deep breath!  In / hold / out - repeat a few times.  I also read in college, and found this link more recently, that deep breathing can increase calorie burn.  Great news for those of us who may sit at a desk for much of the day.

Now - try all five of these at once and REALLY reap those benefits! Happy uplifting!

Is Going Above and Beyond Always the Best Choice?

People often will compliment a worker by saying that he or she has gone “above and beyond.”  This usually means going above and beyond the call of duty, or doing more than what is expected.  There is a very positive connotation with this compliment as it often indicates a willingness to work hard, and to solve anticipated needs before they are even formally requested.  This may lead an employee to believe that going above and beyond is a sure-fire way to succeed.

Are there times, however, where going “above and beyond” is not the best choice?  Just a few weeks ago, I was working with a team on an upcoming project involving data mining and analysis.  We discussed the main activities required to implement, and the supporting action items for the first few activities on the Implementation Plan.  After those few actions were completed by their assigned team members, we would reconvene to review and provide feedback which would direct the next activity.

One team member not only accomplished his tasks, but also went on to the next round of activities, bypassing the review step (which was also listed in the Implementation Plan).  He spent a lot of time detailing out several charts, when really only one is needed, and that one was going to be designed by the team given establishing some preliminary data fields in the company’s ERP system.  Complicating things now is that the main stakeholder who needs to buy-in to the chart(s) is super busy and has not had time to review any of them at all. 

It is nice to have a team member who is willing to put in extra effort to go above and beyond, but in this case, he now feels a bit unappreciated because the main stakeholder hasn’t had time to review his work.  Also, he has spent all the time that he has to give to this project in creating multiple charts, and no longer has any more time to allocate for refinements.  When the project team reviews the charts together, we may have to select one of the options even if it does not provide the exact information we need and/or in the easiest to understand format because now the person who would improve the chart(s) has already used up all his available project time. 

The bottom line here is that sometimes there is a reason for detailing out milestone activities and including team review and buy-in into the Implementation Plan.  In those cases, going above and beyond the next step may lead to problems.  In this case, the project’s resource budget from this team member is fully used, and the desired results are not necessarily in place.  In other cases, it may be a financial budget being used, or insufficient training or feedback from all stakeholders before launch which could improve ultimate adoption of the project’s desired result. 

My personal learning here is that, as the consultant project manager, I should have emphasized with the team the importance of the review step before moving on to creating the desired chart(s).  At least it provides a good question to bring up to readers – when should employees go “above and beyond?”  While this phrase still feels complimentary, the actual practice should be undertaken only with a keen understanding of how the extra effort will affect the project and/or project team, including your allocated support time, as a whole.

Read this article and more on AJC’s blog, and sign up for our newsletter online at: http://andreajonesconsulting.com/blog.aspx