I had a friend come over this afternoon and we were sitting on the balcony in the sun when he said 'you know what? this has been my biggest year yet, and it hasn't even finished'. I felt like it was a big year too. Probably my largest ever. But it was a familiar feeling.
Since I was 18 I feel like each year brings greater challenges, larger goals and fighting more difficult fears as we negotiate our vulnerabilities and weaknesses and try to get by. It made me wonder how I would feel if I was to look back on the year and thought 'not my best year, a little boring actually'... and I'm sure one year I will.
In the meantime, this year was my second interstate move, the first time I lived in Sydney, a whole bunch of family time, my first role outside of generalist HR and then a very swift move back, my first year as a proud uncle and all things going well, will be the first year I have participated in an ocean swim, or any major sporting event for that matter.
Next year I have plans to travel around the world for three months and I will start saving to buy a property. The year after I already have preliminary plans for further travel through south-east Asia and hopefully ready to make the move on that property. So for the time being, I'm not worried about having a small year, but one day it will come, and when it does, I think I'll be ready for the break.
This post wouldn't be complete without this wonderful clip of Missy.
October 2010. Over.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
We're amazing and nobody cares.
Australia is leading the Medal tally at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
As of today Australia is strongly placed in number 1 position with 64 Gold Medals and 143 overall. Our closest competitor is India with 30 Gold Medals and 81 Overall.
Not only are we winning, we are almost embarrassing other nations. I completely don't get it, why does no one care? If India was winning by that sort of a margin, we'd assume they were cheating and they would be celebrating like crazy. We get a small update on news and everyone sort of ignores it. Amazing.
I would like to say right here, right now, that Australian Athlete's are amazing. We have some of the most talented athletes in the world and they do a wonderful job. We live in a very lucky country and I'm proud to be part of it.
Go Aussie's!
As of today Australia is strongly placed in number 1 position with 64 Gold Medals and 143 overall. Our closest competitor is India with 30 Gold Medals and 81 Overall.
Not only are we winning, we are almost embarrassing other nations. I completely don't get it, why does no one care? If India was winning by that sort of a margin, we'd assume they were cheating and they would be celebrating like crazy. We get a small update on news and everyone sort of ignores it. Amazing.
I would like to say right here, right now, that Australian Athlete's are amazing. We have some of the most talented athletes in the world and they do a wonderful job. We live in a very lucky country and I'm proud to be part of it.
Go Aussie's!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Performance Ratings
Something that I hear constantly in my job is how poorly our company uses performance ratings.
I'm constantly asked if they are under review and if we could replace them with new more contemporary language. I always have to look at them with my 'I understand, but sorry' face and explain that we are stuck with it for now due to our old-school mentality and risk aversion.
Meanwhile if the decision was up to me, we would change them to this!
1. EX - Exceptional - if repeated ratings at this level then an indication that the role is too small for the employee and should move to a larger role.
would change to
HMB - Holy Mackerel Batman! - You are a legend and a star. You are always doing stuff way better than we thought you ever could. Thank you! If you hang around we'll pimp your career crazy style.
2. FE - Frequently Exceeds expectations - This rating indicates the employee is often exceeding expectations. Frequent ratings at this level indicate a potential future move to a larger role.
would change to
SS - Super Star - We are so lucky to have you on the team, you are always doing very well and often surprise us with your amazing performance. We consider you to be a very important contributor to our team, thanks, we couldn't have done it without you.
3. FS - Fully Satisfactory - The individual is mastering all requirements of the current role.
changes to
WAH - What a Hero - You have managed to meet every expectation of you in this role. You've done a great job and your future here looks bright! Keep up the great work!
4. PS - Partially Satisfactory - Indicates employee is only meeting some of the requirements of the role or is too new to be fully up to speed just yet.
changes to
YAT - You're almost there! - You are getting the hang of things around here, which is no easy feat. By this time next year, with a bit of drive and determination, you'll be leaping in the air and clicking your heals together in no time.
5. NS - Not Satisfactory - Performance has not yet met the required standards of performance.
to...
OO - Ot oh... - Wow, something went wrong. Either we're not giving you the support that you need or the job your in may not play to your strengths. Let's have a chat about it...
Performance management exists to engage and focus employees and I think using fun and interesting language contributes massively to the understanding and outcomes of this process.
After all, who wants to be 'fully satisfactory'? It's like saying, "Hi, you are very average. Thank you."
yuck.
I'm constantly asked if they are under review and if we could replace them with new more contemporary language. I always have to look at them with my 'I understand, but sorry' face and explain that we are stuck with it for now due to our old-school mentality and risk aversion.
Meanwhile if the decision was up to me, we would change them to this!
1. EX - Exceptional - if repeated ratings at this level then an indication that the role is too small for the employee and should move to a larger role.
would change to
HMB - Holy Mackerel Batman! - You are a legend and a star. You are always doing stuff way better than we thought you ever could. Thank you! If you hang around we'll pimp your career crazy style.
2. FE - Frequently Exceeds expectations - This rating indicates the employee is often exceeding expectations. Frequent ratings at this level indicate a potential future move to a larger role.
would change to
SS - Super Star - We are so lucky to have you on the team, you are always doing very well and often surprise us with your amazing performance. We consider you to be a very important contributor to our team, thanks, we couldn't have done it without you.
3. FS - Fully Satisfactory - The individual is mastering all requirements of the current role.
changes to
WAH - What a Hero - You have managed to meet every expectation of you in this role. You've done a great job and your future here looks bright! Keep up the great work!
4. PS - Partially Satisfactory - Indicates employee is only meeting some of the requirements of the role or is too new to be fully up to speed just yet.
changes to
YAT - You're almost there! - You are getting the hang of things around here, which is no easy feat. By this time next year, with a bit of drive and determination, you'll be leaping in the air and clicking your heals together in no time.
5. NS - Not Satisfactory - Performance has not yet met the required standards of performance.
to...
OO - Ot oh... - Wow, something went wrong. Either we're not giving you the support that you need or the job your in may not play to your strengths. Let's have a chat about it...
Performance management exists to engage and focus employees and I think using fun and interesting language contributes massively to the understanding and outcomes of this process.
After all, who wants to be 'fully satisfactory'? It's like saying, "Hi, you are very average. Thank you."
yuck.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
I love you.
My friend Ally Kay recently blogged about saying 'I love you' to family. It is a very funny and heart felt post (go Ally!). Read it here, it's awesome.
Every now and then I like to pull out the 'I love you's' on unsuspecting victims and see how they react. Only to people I actually love though of course. I read a book once called 'The Five Love Languages' which talked about how we give and receive love in different ways. Basically we all have a dominant way of giving and receiving love, and the others, to a lesser extent. We also usually have one or two that we react negatively to. Where there is confusion in relationships is when we don't properly understand the love language of our friends or partner.
The love languages are:
1. Word of Affirmation - using words like 'I love you' to express love
2. Physical Touch - not sex, but actually that is a form of it. Giving someone a hug, leaning on them or just being 'touchy' to show love.
3. Quality Time - You may notice it's not just 'time', but 'quality'\ time'. Like spending the afternoon on the couch, drinking tea and talking deeply about life type time.
4. Acts of Service - Doing something for someone or having someone do something for you.
5. Gifts - The giving of something to someone (usually special, not a token birthday gift, although I guess this is a form of it)
Knowing the preferences of your partners and friends helps you show love in a way which they can acknowledge and respond well to. For example, if I was an 'acts of service' person and you came over and cleaned the dishes for me, I would feel more loved than if you bought a gift for me. Makes perfect sense I reckon.
For the record, I'm a Quality Time and Physical Touch type. I really don't respond well to gifts (although I am surprised often how awesome they can be), and I feel uncomfortable with acts of service.
The one I love to toy with (and the purpose of this post) is Words of Affirmation. Usually when I usually spring this on someone in a telephone call, the friend on the other end would end the call within about 1 or 2 minutes because they feel a little uncomfortable. In a card, far less effect. In person, similar awkwardness to the phone call, but they have no where to run. I believe that secretly we all love to be told that we are loved, and even if we are awkward at the time, afterwards we probably get a whole bunch of warm fuzzies from it. Then of course, there are the people that can't be told enough.
Someone smart in a documentary I once watched said 'when you are lying on your death bed, you won't be thinking "gee I've lived in some lovely homes and driven some nice cars, I really loved my job and wished I had some more time to work a little more". No. Instead the more likely thought would be "do the people I love, know that I love them? Have I told them enough or done enough to show how much I care? Do they know who I truly am? Have I shared this with them?"
Find someone in your life who you love and just tell them. It will probably be met with dead silence like in Ally's blog, or they'll attempt to end the conversation quickly, but it's probably the start of something really important and special for your relationship, and they will definitely get those warm fuzzies later.
Every now and then I like to pull out the 'I love you's' on unsuspecting victims and see how they react. Only to people I actually love though of course. I read a book once called 'The Five Love Languages' which talked about how we give and receive love in different ways. Basically we all have a dominant way of giving and receiving love, and the others, to a lesser extent. We also usually have one or two that we react negatively to. Where there is confusion in relationships is when we don't properly understand the love language of our friends or partner.
The love languages are:
1. Word of Affirmation - using words like 'I love you' to express love
2. Physical Touch - not sex, but actually that is a form of it. Giving someone a hug, leaning on them or just being 'touchy' to show love.
3. Quality Time - You may notice it's not just 'time', but 'quality'\ time'. Like spending the afternoon on the couch, drinking tea and talking deeply about life type time.
4. Acts of Service - Doing something for someone or having someone do something for you.
5. Gifts - The giving of something to someone (usually special, not a token birthday gift, although I guess this is a form of it)
Knowing the preferences of your partners and friends helps you show love in a way which they can acknowledge and respond well to. For example, if I was an 'acts of service' person and you came over and cleaned the dishes for me, I would feel more loved than if you bought a gift for me. Makes perfect sense I reckon.
For the record, I'm a Quality Time and Physical Touch type. I really don't respond well to gifts (although I am surprised often how awesome they can be), and I feel uncomfortable with acts of service.
The one I love to toy with (and the purpose of this post) is Words of Affirmation. Usually when I usually spring this on someone in a telephone call, the friend on the other end would end the call within about 1 or 2 minutes because they feel a little uncomfortable. In a card, far less effect. In person, similar awkwardness to the phone call, but they have no where to run. I believe that secretly we all love to be told that we are loved, and even if we are awkward at the time, afterwards we probably get a whole bunch of warm fuzzies from it. Then of course, there are the people that can't be told enough.
Someone smart in a documentary I once watched said 'when you are lying on your death bed, you won't be thinking "gee I've lived in some lovely homes and driven some nice cars, I really loved my job and wished I had some more time to work a little more". No. Instead the more likely thought would be "do the people I love, know that I love them? Have I told them enough or done enough to show how much I care? Do they know who I truly am? Have I shared this with them?"
Find someone in your life who you love and just tell them. It will probably be met with dead silence like in Ally's blog, or they'll attempt to end the conversation quickly, but it's probably the start of something really important and special for your relationship, and they will definitely get those warm fuzzies later.
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