Meetings

Erin and Kyle presented this week on holding meetings and I think this was one of my favorite lessons so far because it's so relevant. Meetings are tough because gathering people in your workplace, club or organization together in one room at the same time isn't always an easy task. Everyone has different schedules, and the timing is sometimes difficult. Once you've managed to get everyone in attendance, it's another matter to keep them engaged and contributing effectively throughout. I loved the video they showed about "every meeting ever"(linked below), and the different personality roles that people can have during meetings. It's easy for personalities to clash and for people to get offended in environments like this, so as they told us, it's important to establish ground rules and meeting etiquette.

I know I have not attended many formal business meetings yet, but my summer job at a restaurant has mini-meetings at the beginning of every shift run but the manager. They're really effective because they're quick and concise and they manage to get everyone on the same page as to what needs to be changed or accomplished that day.

Change

I accidentally clicked on an article about "staying married" when browsing the NY Times online, but ended up reading through and in a strange way, it reminded me of the relationship some people have with their professional careers.

"A couple of years ago, it seemed as if everyone I knew was on the verge of divorce.

“He’s not the man I married,” one friend told me.

“She didn’t change, and I did,” said another.

And then there was the no-fault version: “We grew apart.”

Emotional and physical abuse are clear-cut grounds for divorce, but they aren’t the most common causes of failing marriages, at least the ones I hear about. What’s the more typical villain? Change.

Feeling oppressed by change or lack of change; it’s a tale as old as time. Yet at some point in any long-term relationship, each partner is likely to evolve from the person we fell in love with into someone new — and not always into someone cuter or smarter or more fun...

Continue reading the main story

Sometimes people feel betrayed by this change. They fell in love with one person, and when that person doesn’t seem familiar anymore, they decide he or she violated the marriage contract. I have begun to wonder if perhaps the problem isn’t change itself but our susceptibility to what has been called the “end of history” illusion...

Nostalgia, which fuels our resentment toward change, is a natural human impulse. And yet being forever content with a spouse, or a street, requires finding ways to be happy with different versions of that person or neighborhood."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/style/modern-love-to-stay-married-embrace-change.html?action=click&module=InCaseYouMissedIt&region=Lists&pgtype=collection

Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but I feel like oftentimes people become frustrated with professional roles or jobs because they change from their original state or end up being something that the individual didn't expect. Unwanted change, whether it be in a personal relationship or a professional role, is tough to adapt to, and it causes us to weigh our options to determine if it's worth sticking it out, working through problems and trying to make the best of the situation, or to move on and find something that suits your needs in a more appropriate manner. I know I've had to leave jobs over time for a few different reasons; it was great at the beginning, but after a while I either needed a higher salary, different hours, or something else that that job couldn't provide for me anymore. It was a change that negatively effected my experience at the job, causing me to find another option.

Customer Service Lessons from Lyft

I recently read an article by Zeynep Ilgaz from entrepreneur.com that I thought was kind of cool. There's lessons about leadership everywhere we look, especially which the overwhelming presence of media today, but this woman actually said she learned one of the best lessons from an experience she had with a company after an injury that put her in an extremely inconvenient position. Successful companies today realize that bad news will always spread faster than good news, and bad news can swallow up your reputation in an instant. Take United Airlines as an example. The best way to succeed is to ensure above all else that customers have a positive experience and keep your name away from any sort of negative publicity. The excerpt from the article is as followed: 

"Recently, I garnered some new customer service lessons from an unexpected source. I had fractured my right foot, and doctors told me I wouldn't be able to drive for nearly three months. I began using Lyft for rides to and from work. And, en route, my amazing Lyft drivers revealed three key customer service concepts all entrepreneurs should apply to their business:

1. Leverage the employee effect: Nearly all drivers told me they loved working for Lyft. They said the company treats them fairly, and they especially appreciate the many incentives provided by the brand's Accelerate rewards program. As a customer, I felt great supporting a company that conscientiously works to reward its employees. Knowing my drivers were happy, in fact, made me happy -- which is actually a scientifically proven phenomenon

2. Focus on proactive improvement: According to the Harvard Business Review, the easier you make your customers' lives, the more likely they are to be loyal to your brand. This theory rang true in my experience with Lyft. The app was quick and easy to use, and the drivers proactively made sure the cleanliness of the car was first rate, and the temperature and even the music were all to my liking. I never once had to ask them to turn up the heat or turn down the music. 

3. Personalize the experience: It may sound simple, but seeing my name on a neon sign every time I entered a Lyft car made the experience feel extra special. It confirmed to me that the company recognized and valued me as a customer. This is no small thing: Microsoft’s 2016 U.S. State of Customer Servicereport revealed that 66 percent of consumers surveyed said they didn't want to reintroduce themselves every time they interact with a brand. They expected companies to consistently provide personalized support and service."

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293038 

Handling Mistakes

It's no secret that in both our personal and professional lives, we're going to make plenty of mistakes throughout the course of our lives. While it's great to try to prepare for every situation as best you can, everyone falls flat on their face sometimes, and there's a few different ways I've found that people typically respond:

1) Get Defensive: I know this is a human tendency to try to explain yourself and try to deflect blame for something that occurred.

2) Avoid the situation entirely: Also known as denial. Some people just choose to ignore when they fail and act as if it didn't happen at all.

I know that each of these are easy coping mechanisms, and are sometimes seen as an "easy out" of a situation. Though it may definitely be harder, the best things I've found that you can do is simply own your mistakes. When others see that you acknowledge your mistakes and have a plan in place to either render and fix what you've done and move forward, they'll be less likely to be upset with the fact that you made a mistake in the first place. I know for myself, I have a greater amount of respect for people who admit that they're not perfect, are human and do indeed make mistakes. People who's ego's are too large to admit errors are sometimes hard to work with. Mistakes are human, and the faster we can accept that life happens, the faster we can work through it and strategize plans for forward movement.

Crisis Situations

This week Colleen and David presented on crisis management and I found their lesson interesting. I think a great test of leadership is ones ability to act responsibly and efficiently in crisis situations and make decisions that ensure safety for all.

Their activity was very engaging and really made all of us think. The questions weren't always easy but they were legitimate situations that some of us may find ourselves in when we're in leadership roles someday.

I remember last summer, I was at work one night at my waitressing job. A fellow employee had arrived for her shift earlier in the evening complaining of a headache, and just didn't look like herself. Later in the night she ended up fainting due to dehydration and a high fever, and at the same time, the restaurant was a mad house with a 2 hour wait for a table.

The manager on duty was the owners son, only a year older than myself. I was extremely impressed with the way he handled the situation. He tried as best he could to divert attention from the situation and helped Sue off the floor as soon as he could.. He brought her back to the office and got her water and crackers while she waited for 911. She was extremely embarrassed, but he assured her that everyone was just concerned for her safety. He directed the ambulance to the back door of the restaurant so sue didn't have to exit the building in front of all of the customers and other employees. He brought a free dessert to all of Sue's tables, apologized for the situation, and thanked them for being so patient. As soon as the crowd died down, he called in another manager and went to the hospital to make sure Sue was doing okay.

He made sure that the feelings of both Sue and the customers were taken into account and treated as a priority. He remained calm when the crisis occurred and handled it in a very responsible manner.

These are skills that every leader should have, and I was impressed that he handled it so well being such a young leader.

Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness

After watching the Ted Talk that Chris Armijo sent to us, I do agree that most people have a hard time asking for help and genuinely taking advice and constructive criticism for what it is. I find it often times with myself that I take criticism way too personally and I'm constantly worried that I'm letting people down, especially employers.  I've always preferred to work through something on my own before admitting I don't know how to do something and ask for help or instruction. I'm very stubborn in that sense.

But over the past few years in work and in school I've come to realize that this is a trait I really need to work on. Though I've never really had a tragic mess-up due to "working it out on my own", I know now that people don't usually get annoyed when you ask them something to clarify that you're completing a task the way they want it to be done. If anything, they'll be grateful that they won't have to go back and fix something that you've done incorrectly. It also allows you to complete the task with confidence, not having to second guess if you're doing it right, and this can save you time and stress that isn't needed.

People who ask for help are not weak, they are seizing an opportunity to learn and grow, and there is no shame in that.

To the girl at the front desk..

This past week I unfortunately had to take a friend to the emergency room who was experiencing severe pain and discomfort. We checked into the waiting room, and the young girl at the front desk apologized in advance for the wait we would experience. We thanked her, and proceeded to find a spot to sit on the floor since the waiting room was completely full, and then some.

Over the past year I've had a few accidents of my own and have spent a fair amount of time in hospital/doctors office waiting rooms. If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that these settings bring out the absolute worst behavior in people. Selfishness to the upmost degree.

It seems obvious that everyone is in the hospital waiting room because they're experiencing discomfort, poor health or some sort of injury. Nobody is there for fun. But the behavior I witnessed the other night was unlike anything I had seen before. You could tell just by the looks people were shooting each other back and forth around the room, that everyone assumed their problem was worse than everyone else's. There was actually a verbal confrontation that broke out because a woman who was there with her daughter, after waiting 20 minutes states loudly "This is f****** ridiculous. No one in this G** D*** waiting room is in more pain than you are. We better be next". At this point, we had already been waiting for 2 hours, so as much as this angered me since my friend was doubled over in pain, I bit my tongue. Other people didn't have the same self control.

And the poor girl at the check in desk, I wouldn't have traded places with her for a million dollars. She was getting verbally assaulted and questioned by people waiting, wondering why they weren't receiving care yet.

We unfortunately had to stay the night, and when I left in the morning, she was STILL sitting at the desk. I made a point to go over and say hello to her, and express how terribly I felt that people had been so nasty to her the night before. She wasn't much older than myself. She kind of laughed and commented on how the job has definitely given her thicker skin.

In a year or so, these are the kinds of entry level jobs that some of us may find ourselves in. It's a shame that some people struggle to understand the demand for care sometimes; yes, everyone in the waiting room was obviously there because they needed urgent attention, but there was nothing this girl could do to move them through any quicker. She was doing her job and notified every person that came in that it would be a little longer than normal because they were short staffed. Bottom line, I think she had a great attitude and I commend her for keeping her composure in a situation like that when people much much older than her got in her face and demanded something she couldn't give to them.

Ethics

Regan and Caroline recently presented on the topic of Ethics, and I have to say it was one of my favorite ones so far, just because it relates to closely to both professional and personal relationships. They asked how we would define ethics, and I've always thought of it as "who you are when you're all alone, and how you act when you know nobody is watching". Its your moral code and how you act on it, almost instinctively. It's having the devil on one shoulder and an angel on another and how you act when push comes to shove and a "right or wrong" decision has to be made.

So often in the news when a workplace scandal comes out, we hear "United Airlines is corrupt", "Pepsi is corrupt" etc., but really, it's (usually) one or two individuals at the top making a poor decision that has a trickle down effect on the rest of the company.

Being in a sorority, they always tell us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, and our everyday actions reflect not only ourselves, but the organization as a whole and everyone else involved. They emphasized to us that before acting upon something, saying something, posting something or doing anything to ask ourselves "Is there pride in what I'm doing? Would my parents and teachers be proud of me for doing this?" and I think that this is a great motto to live your life by. If you'd be embarrassed that someone found out you were doing something, you shouldn't do it at all, even if you know you won't get caught. Acting ethically both in your personal and professional life means you will never have to cover your tracks or conceal a lie, and there's a lot to be said for living an honest life. People do not forget when they are lied to or mistreated, and having a tarnished reputation in the workplace can follow you. It's a small world and the professional world is even smaller; employers always talk and you never want anyone to have a negative thing to say about you.

Though it's sometimes innate, behaving ethically may not always be the most tempting or easy choice, but it's a matter of maturity and respect and being able to live with the decisions you make.

Holacracy

Jason and I presented our third and final lesson of the semester on the concept of Holacracy. This is a management method that we both found to be very interesting and thought it would spark an interesting conversation with the class, especially looking at it through a healthcare management lens.

With Holacracy:

• Roles are defined around the work, not the people.
• Authority is distributed to teams and roles and decisions are made locally
• The organization structure is updated regularly and every team self-organizes
• Everyone is bound by the same roles, CEO and upper management included.

This concept is very different from traditional organizational structure where roles are clearly defined and day-to-day tasks of individual employees usually don't vary too much. There's also some sort of hierarchy in the traditional workplace, where upper management makes the rules, and lower level employees follow, no questions asked.

Most of the class seemed to think that achieving a true holacracy in a healthcare organization would be very difficult, simply because everyone in a hospital has such a specific role and is there for a particular reason, to provide their trained service. However, I believe it was Colleen that mentioned maybe on department levels (ex., within just the nurses) you could try to practice holacracy, where no one nurse is above or below another, and you work together to complete tasks.

We talked a lot about Zappos and their workplace philosophy. They practice holacracy, but again, they are a retail distributor, not a healthcare provider, so it would be a little bit different. However, I commend them for doing things the way they do and it seems that most Zappos employees are very satisfied with what their job does for them.

Online etiquette

Warning, this is a little bit of a rant...

Maybe it's just me, but nothing is more irritating when than when I take the time to write out a well-worded, thoughtful email, signed "Best regards, Erin McNamara" to someone, and all I receive back is "ok" or "k" or "Thanks, Sent from my iPhone".

I've noticed this more this year than ever, and it's made me really think about online etiquette and what it says about me as an individual. I think it just goes back to having pride in yourself and respect for the people you interact with. Even something as simple as proper grammar in a quick text or email, reiterating to someone that you're grateful for their help, or even taking the time to make a phone call or write a handwritten thank you note can make all the difference.

These skills are seemingly becoming a lost art, and it's a shame. Communication and professionalism go hand in and and I've found that the ability to write and speak well can get you very far.