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Leaving a Legacy at Work

When I was the business editor for a daily newspaper, some friends and I started a tradition. Every Friday, one of us would stop at our favorite doughnut shop on the way to work and pick up two dozen pastries to share with our colleagues. It was a delicious way to celebrate the end of another crazy week in print journalism. Later, when I was the assignment editor for the same newspaper, one of my jobs was to prepare a list of the stories that were available for each day’s edition. I would indicate which pieces were going to run on A1 and the front of the metro section, as well as the priorities for spots inside the paper. I sent this list to the staff each day, but I didn’t want it to be boring. So, as a lover of bacon, I started including a bacon- or pig-related joke or pun with each day’s email. Many of the funnies I used were real groaners—definitely in the “dad jokes” category—but my colleagues came to expect and (usually) appreciate their inclusion on the daily rundown. I left th
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Encouraging the 'Quiet Ones' to Speak Up

Most of us are not eager to attend the many meetings that clog our calendars, but we recognize that they are an inevitable part of office life. And once you’ve been to enough meetings, you start to recognize the different types of meeting attendees.  First, you’ve got the enthusiastic ones. They’re excited to interact with colleagues, so they arrive in the meeting room or join the video call a few minutes early to lead the pre-meeting small talk. During the meeting itself, they are active participants, always ready to offer opinions or lighten the mood with a funny story. Then you’ve got the disconnected ones. If it’s an in-person meeting, they are there in body, but not in spirit. They’re likely to be surreptitiously working on something else during the meeting. If they’re on a video call, they probably have their camera off, actively multitasking. The regular attendees are there because they must be, but they understand the need for the meeting and want to help the team achieve its
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Finding Value in Forgotten Talents

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When I was in middle school, I played cornet in the band. I was still learning, so I was just OK at it. Then I got braces, and my playing regressed. Significantly. The director noticed I was struggling with my embouchure as my braces pressed against my gums every time I put my lips to the relatively small mouthpiece. He suggested I try a low-brass instrument with a larger mouthpiece and handed me a baritone horn.  Thus began a beautiful musical relationship. I thoroughly enjoyed playing the baritone and got pretty good at it during high school. My parents eventually bought me a silver euphonium (a close cousin of the baritone) from a friend and classmate who was a much better musician. That instrument has been in our family ever since. I went on to play in the marching band and symphonic band in college, and I played in a few summer community bands over the years. However, as time passed, those moments of picking up my horn to play a few measures became fewer and further between. Event
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Creating a Communications Protocol

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Successful internal communication requires more than a finely crafted message. That message also must be delivered by the right person, using the right platform, at the right time. And all those decisions should be handled consistently across your organization. At one of my recent employers, we discovered we had a problem with several of these steps. Some situations that required specific messaging came up frequently, but they were managed differently depending on the team leader involved. That’s understandable, because each of them had a different take on what would be best in the various situations. However, this lack of consistency and standardization with our messaging led to confusion, miscommunication, and misunderstandings, which hurt morale. When I moved into the internal communications role for that division, one of my initial tasks was to create a communications protocol to clean up this mess. The first step in this process is to make a list of the different types of messages
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Discovering the Magic of Gratitude

I was stressed.  I was about two months into a three-month stint of filling in for a colleague who was on leave. She had trained me thoroughly before she left, but the tasks I needed to complete had nothing to do with my education, background, and experience. I did my best, but I was in over my head.  On this particular day, I was struggling to resolve a particularly confusing and irritating problem. I knew people were depending on me to find a solution so they could avoid delays in their work, but it wasn’t coming together.   I felt bad about myself and my predicament. I assumed everyone was upset with me. Then an amazing thing happened. One of my colleagues contacted me out of the blue to thank me. They said they wanted me to know how much they appreciated the work I was doing, even though it was well outside my wheelhouse, and they ended with a few words of encouragement. All told, the message was maybe four sentences. But it completely turned my day around. Instead of feeling frust
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A Message to My Son as He Graduates

My son, Max, is about to graduate from high school. He’ll spend this summer working a part-time job to earn some money (or at least, he’d better!), and then he’ll be off to college in the fall. This is an open letter to him with advice for his time in school and the workplace, based on my experiences—and my hopes. Dear Max, Congratulations on your graduation! I’m so proud of you! I know you’ve thoroughly enjoyed your high school years and made the most of them. You worked hard in classes and earned good grades. You found a passion for acting and the theater. You’ve been friendly and kind to classmates and teachers. And you’ve started to discover who you are. As you prepare to take your first big steps into the adult world, I’ve got a few words of advice. I promise these suggestions are more important than my frequent, nagging reminders that you need to clean your room. I hope you’ll find them useful. First, always remember that little things matter . You have a gift for kindness—you ge
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Getting the Most out of One-on-Ones

When I started as an operations manager at my most recent workplace, I had more than 15 direct reports. That eventually rose to 25 before I shifted roles and was responsible for between five and ten people for the rest of my time there. Managing 25 people was a challenge. Writing their annual performance appraisals took two weeks! However, one of my favorite parts of managing that large group was the opportunity it gave me to have lots of one-on-one meetings. I committed to having those one-on-ones every other week, so I’d usually have 13 one week and 12 the next. They usually lasted between 15 and 30 minutes, although some ran longer. One colleague was routinely in my office for an hour or more, but we spent much of that time laughing. Those epic meetings often meant I’d have a longer day at the office, but it was worth it to have a bit of fun . One-on-one meetings between a leader and employee are vital for building connections, providing information, managing performance , and guidi
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