Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Leadership and Professional Development


PHOTO BY: heretakis

I think I took a class once with that same title. Actually probably I didn't, but it's catchy.


Today I was talking to my boss.
He's a nice guy. I know the kiss of death for a man to be called nice. They liked to be called funny, btw. That's what all the magazines say. Any way, I asked boss man if there were any special projects he'd like for me to take on in July seeing as it's a slow month at the school. He thought about this financial database thingy that the state uses and suggested that I get comfortable with it. Kind of like a back up to his brain for tapping the resource.


That's all well and good and this girl can poke around databases and do that kind of thing, and she will but it's not my thang. While boss man was talking he mentioned others in his business office area (he's over operations, and I'm still the lunch lady, so read that as SO not in the business office) would have less of learning curve than me with getting intimate with the database.


I retreated to what I know best.
I asked him what the professional development plans looked liked for those folks and if he couldn't align his desire with a backup brain with someone else's desire to garner more responsibility. We of course got massively side tracked talking about performance evaluations and other such things, but really that's my sweet spot and all in all it was an awesome conversation.
I will learn the database thing, well because July is boring and it's learning and it will look good on the resume but really, snooze.


So if you are looking for advice from this post, I don't have it. Other than, don't tell your boss no, unless she or he's being ethically reprehensible but also know your limits. My biggest triumph really with this whole conversation is seeing that HR, training and development, really is where I want to invest my time. I've been making peace with that for a while now. Having it crystalline is helping.


Oh, as for the peace part, in business school, they say HR is where they stick the failures who can't directly contribute to the bottom line. I think that's a bit out of date, but it's biased my thinking for far too long. I want to be a coach. I want to help people realize their potential. I want businesses to flourish, and that will happen when brains are engaged and people are happy. I can do that.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Sometimes I Cry

Photo by: Mike Ingalls, my step dad.

I had reason today to move the file which contained this picture. I hadn't looked at it up close recently. I mean this is the photo I use as my standard 'before' shot, so I show it once or twice a month to people. I don't really look at it much.

I sent it Gabbi, she's a weight loss surgery girl too with a statement, "Sometimes I forget".

I do.

I don't really forget, I hope I never do. But sometimes I just worry about daily stuff like money and childcare and what to make for dinner and the reality of my weight loss is floating around in the back of my head.
Then I saw this picture today and sent a note. Moments later I was lacing my shoes to go for a three mile run. I run.

That girl in that picture there, she runs.

That's monumental. So much so that I cried. Where else do you but emotions of relief and joy and sorrow and gratitude? I hope I can capture just mind blowing that is someday, because it is. To go from being there to here has been amazing.
It's not just about accomplishing the goal. It's about understanding that one can do whatever it is that they want to do. If one takes the long view and breaks things down into manageable pieces. Oh then not giving up. There's so much more to this.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

What I spend my money on


PHOTO BY: Tribalious

So here's the thing. I'm living closer to the bone, as it were, since I've graduated and had plastic surgery than I did while I was a student.

There was a little cushion with the student loans when I was receiving them and I wasn't trying my hardest to pay off my debt like I am now. I could try less hard to pay it down, but I'm sure I'd just fitter away the extra hundred I keep back. So I pay and I worry.

I would like to not touch the $100 so I don't fret that I'll over draft my account, but I can't not touch it. I'm amazed how much I need something, be it a piece of pork loin-literally-on sale or a new set of markers for the kiddo, when I'm not down to my last penny.

I know this doesn't bode well for a debt free life. Or maybe it does.

I just need to budget every penny.

When I was too busy to take on new ideas I'd list them in my planner for a later date. Well that's now, this is the later date. I'm checking them off here and there and others are in the thinking stage. Perhaps that's what I need to do with my spending. Stuff I want to buy when I have the money needs to get put on a list for later so I can get it out of my head.

That list:

A bed and new frame that's not broken.

A refrigerator that doesn't leak copious amounts of water. I would not be surprised to find my refrigerator in the basement, haven fallen through the floor.

Flowers for the yard.

A new windshield for the car.

A host of home repairs.

An iPhone or the new Palm.

A pile of new make-up.

More clothing.

What I am spending money on that cost more than expected or was a splurge:

Dwarf hamsters and their accessories. Who knew that would cost me $135?!

A new laptop, the old one has lines through the screen and it viral infected. Sort of. It's going to the kiddo who put the lines through the screen by being mobile with the thing.

I suppose some of the clothing I've been buying is unnecessary. I really only need 5 pair of shorts and a few shirts, but that seems sparse even for me, the girl with out much wardrobe.

I can't say dinners out or unnecessary shoes. I'm not doing that at all these days.

And before I get crap for poor mouthing, I'm not saying I'm the working poor. Working 3 jobs and still unable to cover my bills. I'm saying that it stinks to worry about money.

I think this is a study in motivation toward getting that next job.

What do you spend your money on? Do you feel okay about your spending personality?

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Eschew Obfuscation-or-Keep it Simple

PHOTO BY: emborg
Dear me, I hate it when people get wordy.

Don't get me wrong, I love the language, but when people drop a 10 point word in their conversation, I feel like I'm being tested.

I typically react with "you're a dumb ass". Well not out loud but in my head, then I've lost all respect for the person. It's over. I suppose they really don't care if I respect them or not, but that's how it works for me.
Respect is key.

If you don't have mine just go on with yourself. It's going to take a while for you to regain it, if ever. I was at a workshop of the lower levels management, the bottom feeders, where I reside, when the facilitator kept dropping the giant words, quietly. Then the custodian supervisor who is a bit long in the tooth, who couldn't really hear the the man and his big old words would say, "Excuse me" the man inserted a simpler, more humble word in it's place. This happened over and over again. I was insulted. I wrote a bad evaluation. Oh, the scandal. I'm writing about it now. It impacted me.

Then there's a flip side to this. Jeni, my dearest friend, and I play the 10 point word game where we drop a big word then the other person finds a simpler version and tosses that in for clarity.
Always gratifying, I mean, fun.

If you are self promoting when you should be promoting someone else, teaching, or lifting him up, stop it. They are disengaged and no one thinks you're awesome.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

To Thy Own Self Be True

PHOTO BY: notsogoodphotography

I was asked today if I thought being interviewed for a new job was fun or terrible. I asked if those were my only two choices. I am want for doing that. Give me options A or B and I'll ask if there isn't perhaps C or D. It's what I do. The GF pointed that out. But she's also the first person to ask me a series of A or B style questions. It's how we got to know each other. And yes, it was she who asked the "fun or terrible" question.

I find it fun.

I'm an odd duck, perhaps. And fun isn't the most accurate word but I have this odd confidence that has always been a piece of me. Stepping into a room and telling someone how I could potentially rock their world really is like a trying on new lipstick colors. I can imagine myself in whole different contexts in which I don't typically function. I'm a dancer, no a CEO, no a movie star. I get to purse and smack my lips and otherwise show off. Plus there is no sweat on my nose if the color doesn't work. (At this point I'm still gainfully employed, if that were to change perhaps my nose would sweat.)

I do have some interesting talents that I can show off.

I mean I'm no management ninja, but I've been around and I love big picture stuff. I can tell you my weaknesses oops, I mean opportunities and how I surmount them. I can site examples of bad and good situations. How I've been shot down and misunderstood and I can paint rosy pictures of my learning and the benefits to the organization. I'm that good.

I just really don't want to go and look for a job. I'd like the perfect one to fall into my lap. Don't we all? What has me scratching my head is that looking is akin to work. I don't mind work. So I don't know where the disconnect is happening. Well, yeah I do. It's coming to me as I type.



I don't know where to find the job that I want. I know what it is. It's coaching and consulting. It's getting results in a big way, not fixing simple problems. It's having measurable impact, and by measurable I don't mean reducing labor costs by 1% but by kicking ass and taking names.

Oh that's ugly. There's a reason why they say, "don't write with cliches." I want to hold you down by the throat and make you accountable? I want to show you who is boss and never let you forget it? No, I want to take your knotty issues and I want to help you find elegant solutions of which make you proud.

So now I'm pondering the question, do I work at creating Julianna: The Industry (JTI) with more earnestness while attempting to cipher out my place in the job market or do I dive head first into the job market and back burner the JTI.

And kids, I think I just named my business.

Well not really. I need to come up with something that is active and catchy that equals JTI, "Julianna: The Industry" will be our little inside joke. Share your ideas. And really I think earnestness is going to win over back burnering it. Feel free to weigh in on that as well. All both of you.