Posted on September 29, 2019
By Nan Russell
Seated at the table next to me at a fast food restaurant, I couldn’t help hearing the lack of conversation between a young woman and a younger uniformed man, clearly employees of the establishment. “You need to take pride in your work,” she told him. There was no response.
“I told you last week, to start taking more pride in your work, but I don’t see any improvement,” she stated. This one way conversation went down hill from there. He kept glancing at her with a confused look as she repeated her unvaried message. Finally, the high school employee muttered something under his breath about “trying harder” and the conversation ended.
I understand his confusion. What does it mean to “take pride in your work?” What does “pride” behavior look like? How will he know if he’s taken enough pride to satisfy his shift leader? Since pride is not an action, the input she gave wasn’t something he could apply to improve his performance.
I expect their conversations won’t get any better as respective frustrations grow. Yet, conversations like these are typical in many workplace relationships. A team leader or supervisor tries to provide feedback or coach a staff member toward better performance. She thinks she’s providing direction, when in fact, she’s offering what a former boss of mine used to call “round” words. They’re pumped up and nice sounding, but they don’t communicate much.
Let’s say you inform your child that he needs to “study more” after a disappointing report card. You’re thinking “more” means an hour a day and he’s thinking another ten minutes. Even if you settle on the time allotment, “more” is one of those round words. It doesn’t (continue reading →)
Posted in: Winning at Working |
Tagged: behavior, coaching, helpful feedback, Nan Russell, performance, round words, seeable actions, success, what does it look like, Winning at Working, workplace, WorkStuff |
Posted on March 18, 2019
By Nan Russell
“I don’t know,” a young acquaintance mused. “I’m thinking about grad school, but it’s more work than I thought to prepare for the GREs. Then, if I do all that and don’t get into the program I want, it’s a waste of time. Plus, did you know it could cost more than $40,000 to get a masters degree? I don’t want that kind of debt, plus I’ll likely never make it up in a starting salary.”
By the end of answering my question about his post gap-year plans, this young man described several options he was pondering for his future. Woven into the threads of indecision and idealism were limiting beliefs:. It’s “too hard.” It’ll take “too long.” It costs “too much.” He had yet to discover who he was doing the work for.
He’s right. Getting the work you want, creating your future, developing your skills can be hard, take time, and cost money. But it isn’t a generational issue; it’s a life-potential issue. No matter our age, we can hold similar self-limiting beliefs.
When we think we work for other people instead of working for ourselves, we’re less likely to (continue reading →)
Posted in: Winning at Working |
Tagged: boss, career, create your future, development, Nan Russell, personal growth, success, victim thinking, who do you work for; limiting belief, who you work for, Winning at Working |
Posted on May 16, 2018
By Nan Russell
I once worked for a boss who was never wrong, never made a mistake or a bad decision. All you had to do was ask him. To his staff he was Teflon-man. Nothing stuck to him and everything came sliding toward us.
Accountability was not a concept he practiced unless things turned out well and then, he claimed the credit. But if they didn’t, he immediately embarked on endeavors to identify someone responsible. Being called to his office typically meant he was looking for information and trying to decide whom to blame.
Justify. Justify. Justify. Like a battle cry, he commissioned reports, graphs, charts and enhanced documentation whenever his boss questioned him. He found it easier to dig his heels into a position than admit he might have been wrong or change his mind. Working for someone I couldn’t respect eventually led me to transfer departments.
But it still baffles me. People do make mistakes, they do trip up sometimes and they do, on occasion, speak or act in error. And while there’s nothing that says we should be happy about it when we do it ourselves, trying to act (continue reading →)
Posted in: Winning at Working |
Tagged: accountable, blame game, finger pointing, fix it, initiative, lack of accountability, mistakes, Nan S. Russell, ownership, success, Winning at Working |
Posted on February 17, 2016
By Beth Pelkofsky
I’m a colleague of Nan’s. I regularly post here about work, life and sometimes the blending of the two.
On average Americans work 47 hours a week. Yet, according to a recent Gallup Poll – only 32% of workers are engaged at work. Plus, to some work is an unpleasant four-letter word. We spend more than a third of our day where we aren’t engaged. So, what to do about it?
I went looking for ideas and inspiration. Here’s what I discovered from a few successful entrepreneurs and respected thinkers – the biggest index for success is – find something you believe in and love to do.
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Really getting to do what you love to do everyday–that’s really the ultimate luxury. And particularly when you get to do it with terrific people around you.” – Warren Buffet 
“You have to really love and believe in what you’re doing. I think that’s the most important thing. If you start to build something … it’s hard and you encounter a lot of challenges. If you don’t completely love and believe in what you’re doing, it actually ends up being the rational thing for you to stop doing it or succumb to some of the challenges, because there will be huge challenges that you face …” – Mark Zuckerberg
“Believe in your instincts, and (continue reading →)
Posted in: Tips, Today's Workplace |
Tagged: beliefs, believe, challenges, engaged, entrepeneurs, happiness, love, respected thinkers, success, trust, work |
Posted on April 27, 2015
By Beth Pelkofsky
As a colleague of Nan’s I regularly post here about work and sometimes life. I’d label myself an avid reader. I enjoy a combination of an e-reader and the printed page. I need to see book titles as I go through my daily activities. I have bookcases in my office, in several rooms at home plus a stack by my nightstand. They keep me grounded and often spark an idea or provide inspiration. The other day, I was flipping through a well-read book and came across this passage. I think it offers both a thoughtful perspective and a ‘how to’ for getting results in today’s complex workplaces. And, I thought I’d share:
Give What’s Missing*
If everyone is shouting, what’s missing is quiet reason.
If everyone is pointing fingers, what’s missing is accountability.
If everyone is finding fault, what’s missing is praise and recognition.
If everyone is in agreement, what’s missing is another perspective.
If everyone is focused on short-term gains, what’s missing is long-term thinking.
If everyone is thinking about their own department, what’s missing (continue reading →)
Posted in: Tips, Today's Workplace |
Tagged: accountability, appreciation, being yourself, Beth Pelkofsky, career, courage, inspiration, nibble, perspective, praise, quality, quiet reason, recognition, results, success, your voice |
Posted on April 15, 2015
By Nan Russell
Unfamiliar with the city and location where I was to speak, I added the address to the GPS before leaving home. Arriving in the conference city hours later, I turn it on and dutifully followed the route that chirped at me from the device. “That’s odd,” I thought as the directed turn took me away from the city towards the foothills and into a neighborhood. “Maybe it’s a retreat location,” I mulled as I followed that voice up a winding, steep hill.
But when instructed to turn onto a dirt road 15 minutes later, I knew the GPS was wrong. I double checked the address (correct), then retraced my steps, rebooted the GPS, and started again from the town center. A half hour after beginning my location hunt, I pulled into the hotel parking lot, less than two miles from where I first turned on the gadget.
Luckily that GPS misdirection became readily apparent, requiring a simple reboot to get me back on track. But that’s typically not the case at work when professional misdirection can (continue reading →)
Posted in: Winning at Working |
Tagged: career, inner-GPS, Nan Russell, off track, own path, own voice, professional misdirection, success, values, Winning at Working |
Posted on September 2, 2014
By Nan Russell
![MB900442396[1]](http://www.nanrussell.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/MB9004423961-150x150.jpg)
Summer is over and Fall is around the corner. Even that thought gives me a bit of stress. So in the interests of a less is more approach to begin this new month, I put together a small collage of information for those who lead, from hundreds of articles that crossed my desk the past few weeks, including my latest psychologytoday.com piece, in the hopes you might find them helpful:
(continue reading →)
Posted in: Leadership, Tips |
Tagged: Leadership, Nan Russell, success, trust, work tips |
Seated at the table next to me at a fast food restaurant, I couldn’t help hearing the lack of conversation between a young woman and a younger uniformed man, clearly employees of the establishment. “You need to take pride in your work,” she told him. There was no response.
![MB900442396[1]](http://www.nanrussell.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/MB9004423961.jpg)
