Posted on July 21, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
Sara’s post at Pajama Professional about asking yourself tough questions before starting a home business (here) made me think about the challenges of telecommuting and virtual work. I had been tagged for an interview about the topic — I didn’t make the cut — and my team is almost entirely virtual. The topic is always [...]
Filed under: Leadership, People Development, Performance Management, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: career trade-offs, hiring interviews, home-based work, interview questions, Pajama Professional, telecommuting, virtual work, working remotely | No Comments »
Posted on July 19, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
One of the most unique blog themes I’ve seen is the how to wake up early? blog. It hasn’t been updated in a while, perhaps all that early rising takes its toll. However, there are lots of spot-on tips about how to become an early riser (if one is so inclined, of course).
My early career [...]
Filed under: Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: alarm clocks, early risers, McDonald's | No Comments »
Posted on July 18, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
From my recent tag surfing spree, here’s a post from Barry Zweibel on making sure that one’s doghouse doesn’t get too full (here … hat tip: Your Executive Edge here). His first paragraphs set up the story well:
We get mad. We get cranky. We judge. We blame. We put people on ice. Send them to Siberia. [...]
Filed under: Leadership, People Development, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: 11th Step, anger, Barry Zweibel, forgiveness, in the doghouse, Myers-Briggs, resentments, St. Francis, St. Francis prayer | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 17, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
I was moping a bit before leaving for China and India when my bright and beautiful wife nodded indulgently and said: “Well, you do need to leave before you can come home…”
It was a good thought to have in my head as I headed out to the airport. The outbound leg is always the toughest [...]
Filed under: Random, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: Family, Melancholy, Smart wives, travel tips | No Comments »
Posted on July 12, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
Mike King at Learn This has a fairly long post on promoting employee engagement (here) — one last Hat Tip to the PM Blog Carnival (here). I liked the thoughts in this passage especially:
Make it Part of The System … In order to ensure that employee engagement is something that gets attention, is measured and has [...]
Filed under: Leadership, Organizational Change Management, People Development, Skills vs. competencies, Training | Tagged: Commitment, Diversity, employee engagement, Learn This, Learning, Mike King, Paul Ritchie | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 9, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
Phil B. has a little different take on boredom at work than I do (here). Per an earlier post, I believe it is my responsibility to not be bored (here). I certainly agree with him about the side effects of boredom at work:
Job stagnation can lead to much more than just boredom. First, job stagnation [...]
Filed under: Leadership, People Development, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: Paul Ritchie, boredom, Phil B., Scientific American | No Comments »
Posted on July 1, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
Extending my earlier post (here) on Charles Green’s Trust Quotient test (here), improving my strength in Credibility is related to my weakness: “Work on the “softer” sides of credibility—truthfulness, being more open, sharing more truth—about the emotional as well as the rational side of things.”
As you might guess, my primary weakness is in Intimacy, which [...]
Filed under: Communications, Leadership, Organizational Change Management, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: Charles Green, credibility, intimacy, Paul Ritchie, trust management, trusted advisor | No Comments »
Posted on June 29, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
Ah, the dubious pleasures of overthinking… I recently had been reminded of my overthinking pathology by someone who has known me a while (BTW, if you’re reading this I hope you’re well and taking care); so I smiled with recognition when I read this Wall Street Journal’s article (here).
There’s a lot of grist for the ol’ [...]
Filed under: Complexity, Leadership, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: consciousness, decision making, ora et labora, overthinking, Paul Ritchie | No Comments »
Posted on June 27, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
Here’s my Trust Quotient Score (as promised in posts here and here). I hope this doesn’t mean you all have to watch your back ;-)
Your TQ score is in a normal mid-range, though at the lower end…it typically means you are particularly strong or particularly weak in 1-2 Trust Equation components. If your score for all [...]
Filed under: Communications, Leadership, Organizational Change Management, People Development, Performance Management, Project Management, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: Paul Ritchie, Charles Green, trust management, trusted advisor | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 27, 2008 by Paul Ritchie
Now here’s a dangerous article…per my comment to Jonathan at Manage by Walking Around, maybe I shouldn’t have read it before slamming Yahoo. Schadenfreude and karma indeed…
Anyway, it comforts me that this article claims that sarcasm may well be an evolutionary adaptation (here). Not surprisingly given my recent snarky tone, I agree that there is something to this:
Sarcasm, [...]
Filed under: Communications, Skills vs. competencies | Tagged: humor, sarcasm | No Comments »