The Things That We Work For

Yes, we all like to be paid, but money is not among the three most important reason why we work. Andy Mulholland shares his insights as to what those three things are.

Create a blog entry discussing each of the motivators identified in this video and discuss their impact on you; additionally identify 3 additional motivators that have a major impact on you.

            When you look at some of the best professional athletes in the world we constantly see people taking smaller contracts to play on a team where they can be recognized on a larger scale or can compete for a championship. What drives many of these athletes is not a bigger pile of money because to them there is no difference between 120 million or 140 million, there is something much more important than money for many athletes. Many professional players want to be interested in the team and goals they are playing for, the fact that they can learn more from a better team, improve their skills, and to be adored and valued by the fans that cheer their names.

            These are the same goals which Andy Mulholland talks of in his four minute video. Now we are all not professional athletes but everyone looks for these three reasons in life no matter where it is coming from. Whether you are in a relationship, a family, or at your job; these are the three reasons that many people wake up every day. This hits home for me because lately I have not felt this way about my current job and I have the feeling that it is getting close to that time where I will be moving on.

            When I think about interesting work, I think about work that moves me, makes me laugh and smile, and most of all work that motivates me to be better. I want to know that I am making a difference in an organization and not just another busy bee worker. I believe that many people feel that way in this world but unfortunately they are stuck due to many different circumstances.

            Expanding our skill set, this is the second reason which Andy gave us and it is just as important as the other two in my opinion. Expanding our skills is what helps us continue to grow so that one day we can land that dream job. I always dream of a job where I am happy, interested, and feel important but I also recognize that no one in this world will hand this dream job to me. I have to gain valuable experience, work my way to the top, and take that job. We all want certain things in life, the difference in my opinion between achieving these goals and continuing to just dream about it, is that some individuals in this world are willing to work hard for what they want.

            The third motivator which Andy gives us is the fact that we all want to be recognized and valued as individuals. At my job we have a saying which is very discouraging and reflects on the culture of my organization we call workers “just a warm body in the chair”. Sometimes we feel like we are just another number or a warm body in the chair to keep things running. There is no sense of accomplishment, and recognition is just a pat on the back once in a blue moon; a large part is due to the industry that I am working in now but I know this will not last for long. The fact that I think about moving on every day of my life is proof of what Andy spoke of in this video, no matter how big my paycheck is I know that I will never be satisfied.

            For me I have my own three motivators which I also value aside from the three that Andy mentioned. I believe that change, upward mobility, and having a true and lasting bond amongst a team are what I would want from a job. It is funny because I could not wait to get out of the military four years ago but now I credit these three reasons to my eight year stint in the U.S.NAVY.

            These three reasons are fairly simple to understand because I believe that these are almost the basic needs of a human. I need change because I like to keep things exciting, fresh, and new. I value upward mobility because I want to feel like my hard work is taking me somewhere I have never been before, promotions are important even if I get paid the same amount.

 Last but not least there is something which I have been missing over the last four years since exiting the military, and that is a strong bond amongst a team. Now I know that not everyone will always get along in a team but I am definitely missing the strength that a team can have when there is an obvious bond present. When I was in the military we did such good work because we knew how each other worked and could foresee their next move. In our line of work this type of bond was important but I have to admit that it was much more than just work. Our bond made work fun, the weekends that we spent together to the pranks which we would pull on each other makes me constantly think about one of the best work environments I ever had. It did not even feel like a job at times, there was something truly special about the work that I did many years ago when I was out to sea; it was a period when I grew the most, had interesting work, felt recognized, achieved upward mobility, found constant change, and created bonds which I still think about to this day.

If I could find a job where I had all of these different reasons to come to work, maybe I would never retire. Perhaps I would jump out of bed in the morning as if I was a school kid who had a field trip that same day. I am sure that my hard work is guiding me to this dream job, it is a need which I feel that I have to fulfill. When I look at these needs I can see that many of them are related to the “hierarchical needs theories” (Whetton and Cameron pg. 345) which were developed by Maslow and Alderfer. With all of the reasons which were mentioned we tackle the need for self-actualization, esteem, belongingness, growth, and existence. These are all personal needs which cannot be over looked, these are the basic needs which many working individuals crave.

Reference:

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Self-Awareness. In Developing Managment SkillsEighth ed., pp. 46-55, pp. 97-103). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc   

  

            

Supportive Communication

            There is a growing problem in my organization throughout the operations department amongst some of the newer employees which have been hired to take over the positions of the “baby boomer generation”, the employees which are soon to be retiring. There is a huge difference in the way that people communicate at work and I definitely think that supportive communication is necessary with this blend of younger and older generation of workers. It needs to be said that we no longer live in an era where we can just attack someone personally and hope that they get better at their job. There are many techniques to be a successful manager or leader and improve a work environment. We have to understand that times have changed and we are no longer in the 70’s or 80’s when many of the people who are retiring now started working.

            To understand supportive communication we need to understand the difference between coaching and counseling, these are two very different techniques which need to be used when the timing is right. Coaching is a situation where managers must pass along advice and information and counseling is used when trying to correct a deficiency like attitudes at work (Whetton and Cameron pg.245). Many times where I work at it seems that counseling and coaching are blended together, this type of behavior from an employer or manager creates negative moral and employees begin to feel unappreciated at work. I have seen many times where an accident at work is punished in the same manner as someone who constantly shows up late to work. This is not a fair way to punish a good employee who had an accident, I feel like it is an old fashioned outlook on handling employees and used more like a scare tactic.

            Another factor which I find that many of the younger and newer employees are having issues with is how they are approached by some of the senior employees. I think that many of the senior employees need to approach subordinates by acknowledging their true feelings and making sure that their thoughts are communicated authentically (Whetton and Cameron pg. 265). It is obvious that many times senior employees will act out how they are feeling in destructive ways, it seems that they are much more confrontational and place labels on the individual.

The senior employees will say things at work like “you are doing it wrong” or “you are incompetent”, this is not the right way to handle a situation. This type of behavior is an evaluative type of communication where an employee places judgement on a direct individual. As stated in our text “supportive communication is descriptive not evaluative” (Wheton and Cameron pg.248), the better way to handle conflict like this would be in a descriptive way. When approaching a problem in a descriptive way the common practice is to talk about what happened rather than talking about the person involved.

It is important for your employees to remain confident in themselves rather than being attacked, these type of negative correctional tactics can cause an employee to be submissive and paralytic over time, Paralytic behavior can be caused by an employee “being too afraid of the consequences of their decisions” (Forbes). Once an employee starts to become afraid of making decisions it is very hard to get great leadership qualities from them.

I believe that it is imperative that my organization understand what is going on in the operations department. I feel as though someone from our organization needs to step in and make sure that the training of the younger individuals is controlled by an organizational developer which is familiar with supportive communication. It is important that our company realize that their new hires will be the future leaders and we need to instill that notion into the training of our future leaders. I believe that even though the more senior employees do have the experience to make the better decisions, it is also important for them to keep the newer employees involved in the decision making process. We need to breed leaders within the organization not just people that will comply with orders.

References:

Boss, J. (n.d.). How To Overcome The 'Analysis Paralysis' Of Decision-Making. Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2015/03/20/how-to-overcome-the-analysis-paralysis-of-decision-making/

Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Decision Making

I often question rather I am making the right decision at my job, throughout my life, and with my family. These are all places in which people have to constantly make hard decisions which at times can be life changing; it is important how we come to a conclusion with all of our decisions. In the MSLD program I have been lucky enough to receive a lot of work which has been geared towards self-reflection and  self-improvement; it is important for all of us as leaders to take a look in the mirror and decide who it is we are and how we make decisions. The following questions are meant for us as leaders to understand our learning styles and self-reflect on what type of leaders we are when it comes to decision making.

1.      What are a few words that describe your decision-making style?

While I was watching this video I picked up on a few key words which made me reflect on how good or bad a leader I can be at times. I was actually a bit concerned after watching the video and thought to myself that I still have a lot of work to complete so that I can be a better leader. I think that when it comes to decision making I am a risk-taker, self-motivated, and assertive; when I want something there is nothing that will get in my way. On the negative side I realized that at times I can be impulsive, delaying and even paralytic. It seems that there are two sides to me and I need to find a way to meet somewhere in-between. While reading an article I find that sometimes a paralytic behavior at work can also be called “analysis paralysis” (Forbes); this behavior can sometimes be attributed to the fact that the decision maker is worried about too many variables which may arise on account of their decision.

2.      What are the opposites of the words you choose?

The opposite of the words I choose to describe my decision making skills are safe, unmotivated, timid, and confident. Some of these words I am glad I do not associate with myself but there are times when I do wish I could relate better to some of these words. The word safe can be a good thing and a bad thing; it is usually good after a bad decision has been made. For the most part I do not like the word safe because it feels like it is always the easier more logical decision to be made, the problem is that it is hard to improve yourself in life if you are always taking the safe route.

Being confident in my decisions would definitely be something which I could benefit from. ”Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows. Trying to teach leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It may have a nice coat of paint, but it is ultimately shaky at best” (INC). This statement is a good representation of how I feel about myself at times, I know I might look and sound like a leader on the outside but on the inside I am not confident yet. Over the last year in the MSLD program, I have come to understand that without confidence it would be almost impossible to lead a group of people if I do not believe in myself first.

3.       Could you see any benefits to making decision using an approach that is based on either the opposites or somewhere in-between and what outcomes would you expect to see?

I think if I can find a happy medium where I am confident yet safe at the same time while continuing to be self-motivated and logical I can succeed at a better rate no matter where I am at. There are many times when I know that I have to stop and force myself to think outside of the norm, I realized this when I read a quote during a class which I took a couple of months ago which changed my outlook on life. The quote said “To resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange” (Matthew Taylor). To me what this means is that we have to force ourselves to look at things from an opposite point of view and not just shut the door on something because it is “too” different. If I can overcome my normal tendencies and points of view and force myself to at times be different I think that the outcome would definitely be a positive one.

References:

Dao, F. (n.d.). Without Confidence, There is No Leadership. Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.inc.com/resources/leadership/articles/20080301/dao.html

Boss, J. (n.d.). How To Overcome The 'Analysis Paralysis' Of Decision-Making. Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2015/03/20/how-to-overcome-the-analysis-paralysis-of-decision-making/

Taylor, M. (n.d.).

Time Manegement

So I have decided to write this bog about the upcoming week which I am about to have. I am going on a two week vacation while I am a full time student working on graduate courses. Immediately the thought of this idea makes me cringe, just knowing that I will somehow have to find the time to complete schoolwork while on vacation makes me feel so stressed. It would be easy to take a semester off, but I have goals to accomplish and taking time off is not what I had in mind.

 Stress is something that has become normal to me since I have been a full time worker, student, parent, fitness fanatic, and avid NY Mets baseball team fan; recently I also took on the duty of being a t-ball coach. So as anyone can imagine with all of that on my plate stress cannot be far away, because I have such a busy schedule I have had to find a way to cram all this in while still getting the right amount of sleep in every day.

I like to think that I am fairly good at keeping track of all of my daily objectives and I also believe that my time management skills are definitely good enough to get me by. Now even though I am currently successful with my time management, being the person that I am I have to ask myself “can I get better at time management?” The answer to that question is yes; after reading this week’s assignment I was glad to see that I would learn another useful skill which I will be able to use throughout the rest of my life.

So in general I do believe that I have good time management skills and so far they have helped me succeed; but as I said before there is always room for improvement. One of the new techniques which I would like to adapt into my weekly routine is one which probably my professor would not be the happiest about but I can see the importance in mastering this skill. The skill which I am talking about is to “read selectively” (Whetton and Cameron pg. 125), by reading selectively I am reading the way that an individual would usually read a newspaper, and that is to skim through parts of it and reading what is most important. Up to this point I have tried my best to read what I am assigned but I think that if I can get good at this technique I will be able to save myself at least a couple of hours’ worth of work.  If I can reduce a couple of hours’ worth of work per week I know that I will be able to lower my already high stress levels which I will be faced with while on vacation.

The next area which I will attempt to improve my time management skills will be an area which I usually drive myself crazy with; I need to “have a place or everything and keep everything in its place” (Whetton and Cameron pg.125). The one area where I lose so much useless time is looking for random things in my house, this is something which I really need to work on. I know that it might seem like a very minuet task to accomplish, but working on this technique can save me at least thirty minutes a day. I honestly believe that if I added all of the time which I spend a day looking for items which I have misplaced it would total at least over two hours a week and a whole lot of less stress which I would have to deal with when I am rushing out of my house.

Last but not least my third technique which I will use to improve my time management and decrease my stress levels will be to “do something productive while I wait” (Whetton and Cameron pg.126). This is essential to me making up time when I feel that I do not have it. This week I have used this technique and assured that I finish some of my weekly assignments during down times at my job so that I can get ahead of my weekly assignments. This is proving to be very useful as I know that over the next two weeks my access to the internet and a computer will be very limited while I am on the road. Finding time during which I do not have during the week is essential to my success and I truly believe that my stress levels would be even higher were it not for all of the extra time that I have taken advantage of since reading my text.

I believe that there are many techniques which can help a manager be successful, time management in my opinion ranks amongst the highest. Too many times I have felt like much of America where my life is spinning out of control and I no longer find the “me” time which I used to have during my early and carefree 20’s. I know that my life has changed over the last half decade but that does not mean that my stress levels need to increase. I believe that with the proper management tools and techniques I can gain control of my life once again, it just takes a bit of knowledge, practice, and time management.

Reference:

Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

A520 1.6.RB- Self Awareness

Since beginning the MSLD program I have gone through many changes in the way that I think and the way that I would react to certain situations. When I think about the “five core aspects of self-awareness (Whetton and Cameron pg. 63), I think about how much I have been able to learn about myself and the changes which I have made over this past year.

Right from the beginning of this program I was introduced to a new way of thinking, I learned how to critically think; critical thinking involves three parts “asking questions, answering those questions by reasoning, and believing in the results of our reasoning” (Gerald M. Nosich pg.5). Critical thinking gave me the skills I needed to actually think instead of react. I believe that many people cannot say that they trully think about problems, in life we resolve issues in a matter of seconds; I now believe that it can be advantageous to take my time and think about difficult problems. During my first class in this program I was able to catch all of the mistakes which I was constantly making through quick decision making. The process of recognizing that I need to work on my routines and the way I went about life was a powerful indicator of the importance of core self-evaluation.

In my previous course I was able to study and get to learn the ins and outs of what emotional intelligence truly is and its value to an organization. Many times in the past I have caught myself saying that employees need to work as hard as possible no matter what they are feeling; I felt that many times people spent too much time complaining and not enough time being productive. To understand emotional intelligence and to increase what many consider an emotional IQ, I had to really take a step back and think about how important it is for people in your team to be happy. When we talk about topics like organizations reaching their goals we have to realize where emotional intelligence and success go hand in hand. “When setting goals people must be able to attain them or they will view it as impossible or abandon it” (Donald R. Brown pg. 351); this is an example of how understanding your team and setting realistic goals to improve moral can really help an organization. Not understanding your employees and having a weak sense of emotional intelligence will hurt an organization. If I had not gone through my previous course I would have never been able to see certain issues about the psychological aspects of an employee’s health at work.

I believe that going through these changes have given me a new outlook on life and business and I have been able to adapt to a new way of study, I believe that through self-reflection I have been able to improve my “Attitude towards change” (Whetton and Cameron pg. 63). In our text it talks about how we know that humans are born with certain attributes and personalities but what we also have to realize is that fact that behaviors can be changed through knowledge and a thorough core self-evaluation. When we are able to take a look at where the business world is heading we have to keep an open mind as to how we will handle ourselves. We see that technology is improving every day and we are exposed to so much information that there is no telling where the world is headed. The important thing for a future leader to keep in my mind is that anything is possible and our attitude towards has to remain open and free of judgement.

I believe that all of the topics which I have talked about earlier are all interconnected but one important key aspects when making yourself aware of the change which has occurred in me throughout the MSLD program is the dedication to my values. My personal standards and moral judgement is what in my opinion brings everything together. For me to make a proper evaluation on myself I have to start at the base of my values and realize who or what I want to become. I know that being a leader will require me to keep an open mind in a changing world, keep pushing myself to continue improving, and to be fair to others. Without these values I will not be able to make an honest evaluation of myself and welcome the change which is needed to be the best at my job. The MSLD program is helping me become what I need to be so that one day I can become a great leader but it is in my hands to allow the program to accomplish this transformation.

Reference:

-       Brown, D. (2011). An experiential approach to organizational development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

-       Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

-       Nosich, G. (2012). What is Critical Thinking? In Learning To Think Things Through (Fourth ed., p. 5). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

A520.1.2.RB Diagnostic surveys for self-awareness

Being a manager, I believe that this is one of the hardest positions for any person to hold in a company. As a manager you are in charge of many employees and you are given the task of leading the team so that your company can succeed. Many managers are not able to succeed at this task and it becomes a chore to have to get in front of people which one might not be able to lead. On the other hand you do have people who are naturals at the position or well-trained individuals which can guide your team or organization to be one of the best. During this past year while being a student of the MSLD program I have been able to truly reflect on my leadership skills and where I can improve, I think I have increased my management skills and it might have shown in my PAMS results. The following questions were asked of the results which I received after taking my personal assessment of management skills. 

1.      What do you notice in your results?

So my results say that I am in the top quartile of management skills (Whetton and Cameron pg. 97), I believe that this might not be true or maybe I might have answered some of the questions wrong. Although I am confident in my management skills I do not believe that I am among the top quartile yet. I notice that a lot of what the results had to do with my own self-reflection and how I felt about how others thought about me. This was an interesting way to asses a manager because I feel that a good manager is able to take feedback from others and turn it into a great learning experience.

2.      How much of this rang true for you?

As I said before I do not believe that I am close to being among the top quartile when it comes to my management skills. I feel that I have a long way to go because I have not had enough experience yet to be able to evaluate myself. Even though my self-disclosure and openness to feedback is a part which I scored high in I do believe that I can do better. I believe that an important part of being a manger is when you are able to understand yourself and how you react when faced with certain situations. I still have not seen the way that I react when faced with a big dilemma in front of people which I am supposed to be leading. This will be a true test of my leadership skills which I look forward to learning from someday.

3.      What did you see that you were expecting in the results?

I was definitely expecting to score high on the emotional intelligence portion of the assessment. I feel that I know the importance of relating with your employees and knowing exactly what is going through their minds is essential to the success of an organization. Many experts have talked about the importance of emotional intelligence, “In fact, many experts now believe that a person’s emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) may be more important than their IQ and is certainly a better predictor of success, quality of relationships, and overall happiness”(Lifehack.com).

I know that even though I might be in charge of a certain situation I still need to count on my subordinates to get the job done. Many times as managers we begin to give out too many orders and delegate work to others without taking the time to read how our employees are feeling on certain occasions. I believe that when I am put in charge I am able to pick up and read certain employees actions throughout the day. I feel that I am good at realizing if I need to give certain people brakes or perhaps keep two employees apart which might not be getting along.

4.      What were the surprises?

I was surprised that I was not as open to feedback as I would have thought that I would be. I believe that feedback is important because many times we do not recognize how we react in certain situations. It is important for a manager to go through a difficult situation and then have someone that is willing to give them honest feedback. This is how a manager learns that they are making mistakes and it is the best opportunity to improve themselves.

5.      How will you make use of this information?

I will make sure that I leave myself open to suggestions and try to make myself as approachable as possible when I am in the management role. I believe that I will make it a point to get good feedback from the ones which I trust and also those which my critique me the harshest. I will make it a point to get diverse responses not just the ones that I want to hear, diverse responses are the ones which will help us grow the most as leaders. I know that this is information is vital to my growth and I will not brush it off without evaluating the different situations which I will encounter. 

Reference:

-          Scuderi, R. (2015, April 10). Emotional Intelligence, why is it important? Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/emotional-intelligence-why-important.html

-          Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.