Who's in Control - You or Your Job?

I'd like to share a couple recent posts that are strung together by a common thread - the benefits of taking charge of your career. Managers and leaders, in particular, can get sucked into an organization's vortex of overwhelm and mind numbing irrelevance.

First up is the always energetic - in a sly and sharp kind of way, not the sweet and syrupy make you gag way - Sally Hogshead. Her post, Career Advice From Lab Rats is clever and scary - mostly because it is true. Sally paints an all too familiar picture of what happens when we buy into what's possible, what should happen, or what ought to happen since I have worked so darned hard and fail to see when it is time to take charge and make a change.

"Where in your life are you tapping a lever? Have you been unwittingly trained to stay engaged in a situation because you’re still waiting for the next reward, thinking to yourself, “Well I’ve already invested X, so I need to stay engaged until I receive Y.”

I toast ya with a liberally spiked chai Sally!

The second post comes from David over at Right Reality and is called, Why You are Overworked ...and What to Do About it. Read the comments, too. David offers five suggestions including one very close to my meeting fatigued heart:

"4) Hold meetings only when absolutely necessary. They are the biggest time drain in an organization. Most meetings are convened to get "everyone up to speed" if not "on the same page." Collaborative software should evolve into the process and the documentation of a project. A periodic team retreat that determines project scope and direction, on the other hand, offers a helpful framework for virtual collaboration."

Amen brother! Double amen!! Overwork is a problem and this is why we need to be extra tough and slay the dragon that I call irrelevance.

Irrelevance (Lisa's version) is a tragic event that occurs when hard working, but temporarily clueless, professionals squander their platinum precious time and energy doing dumb stuff and become rendered so weak that they have not the gumption to either see or put a stop to the madness.

Translation - I think we need a new hurdle for when a task is deemed relevant - a much higher hurdle. Our wireless satellite - can get email in a desert - lives have thrust us all into a spinning dust ball of information and tasks.

Imagine walking up to a fire hose, sticking it into your mouth and turning it on full blast. Oh wait, you don't need to imagine, you likely feel this way already.

I appreciate the commenter on David's blog that challenged David and asked for concrete examples. Sure examples are fine, but come on, this is not rocket science. It is fire hose 101. The only solution is to turn down the water.

(Note to self: Sounds kind of ranty and soapboxy. Do ya think you mixed enough metaphors! You typed this far too aggressively and with too much fire for it to make sense. Hmmm... this is not rocket science, they will get it! Drink less chai next time.)

 

 

Comments

[Rich]

Lisa,

Thanks for the poignant reminder that I spend way too much time keeping people up to speed and on the same page. Better to retrain your boss/staff by finding better ways to feed him/her the relevant information...

And if you like mixed metaphors, try "Rocket Surgery"!!!

[laurence haughton]

Sally is right. It's called the "sunk costs trap" and it's one of the reason humans hold on when they should let go.

Did you get that far in my book? The lesson is called "The Malay Monkey Trap."

[Lisa Haneberg]

Laurence - Yes, the Malay Monkey Trap. I need to up my dose of Ginko Biloba because my memory stinks. For those of you who do not have a copy of Laurence's book, he shares four common monkey traps for managers: 1) Blinders, 2) Comfort Zones (Amen), 3) Sacred Cows, and 4) Sunk Costs. Find more info in chapter 8, "Get Everyone to "Just Let Go."

[Lisa Haneberg]

Rocket Surgery - I love it!