The First Cousins Club

I have a lot of first cousins. We used to have many family functions when I was growing up as a kid and young adult so I was able to see my cousins frequently.

Time has gone by with everyone busy raising their families just seeing each other at funerals, weddings, birthdays and graduations. These type of events would give us a chance to catch up with each other.

One of my cousins called me and said we need to get all the first cousins together for lunch periodically to just talk story. That is a great idea having a first cousins lunch with no agenda just talking to each and reminiscing the good times and updating everyone.

We did it and it was so much fun seeing each other and just talking story. We will make an effort to continue getting together.

Let's do a One on One

Staff vs Manager it's all good. I'm talking about a manager scheduling one on one meetings with their team members once a month to make sure everyone is on the same page. Bring up issues and concerns and make recommendations. This type of practice will help managers keep staff on track to get any needed feedback to them to improve their annual evaluations. Staff can make adjustments along the way not waiting for an annual review to receive a critique of their performance because that is too late.

I recommend a minimum of 15 minute meetings to start out with and you can vary the meeting length on staff that needs more time or less to just lay it out on the table no holds barred. This is a valuable time for managers and staff to get to know each other better.

The Project that Nobody Wants

This happens all the time. You get asked can you take on this project. It's a project that no one want's and it finally comes your way. You are aware of that project and you know why no one has taken ownership of it yet. Just take it and show those lazy Project Managers how it's done.

We don't always have the luxury of being involved at the inception of some projects to have input defining the scope and budget. The budget that can support the cost of the project is important to nail down if you want it done right.

It's not a perfect world that's why we have good Projects Managers to bring order out of chaos from projects with vague definitions. Start to organize all the information that you can get your hands on. Be a detective to sort though all that information to understand the deliverables. Locate key staff that you will recruit for the project team. Assemble the team and brief them on the deliverable and ask them for input on it. Write the Project Scope how you and the team see it. You need to propose a budget based on all the information that you have.

Present the project to the stakeholders and fill in any gaps. The objective is to get everyone on the same page. You might have to meet a few times if there are a lot of gaps that need to be filled in.

Keys to your success is communication, organization, leadership and detective work. 

Our digital friends

Have we become so in love with our smart phones and tablets that we are losing out on social interactions and not smelling the roses along the way. We should have seen the digital evolution coming. When phones were still dumb with only texting capabilities we would text up storms instead of calling a person. Now we still text,  but also post to social media sites and have video chats. We have come a long way in a short time.

Technology is good if you find a balance in it and don't let it control your life. I have to admit my phone and tablet are devices that I need now and can't part with them. My phone is an extension of me to the cloud where most of my data lives.

Our children are becoming technology addicts too. My young granddaughters have android tablets and have no problems using it. They know how to to install apps and remove apps. 

It's all about being connected to everything. We wait for text messages, social media posts or a call. Call? Oh yes, I guess we still call each other if we have too. We share our life on social media sites, some times with way to much information. Let's try to keep the drama to a minimum, we all have enough drama in our own life. 

One good and bad thing is that built in camera on our phones. Used properly it captures precious moments that we can share and remember. The bad thing is all those selfies and stupid pic posts to social media sites. I like a good selfies and pics, moderation is the key.

Watch your shopping cart

I was shopping at a Sam's Club with my family. We had a cart containing items that will be purchased. The cart also contained some of our personal items that we put in it. I was on cart duty and walked a few feet away from it to look at something and as I turned around to get the cart a guy was trying to walk away with the cart like it was his. I stared at him thinking what is he doing did he confuse my cart with his cart? After the brief stare down he let go of the cart and said "my bad" and disappeared. I realzed at that moment he was after my cart because that was the only cart in the area at the time and he was so bold to try that stunt with my family in the area too.

We lost nothing and reported it to Sam's Club that took the matter seriously. Lesson to the story do not put any personal items in the cart unless you have an eye on it all the time. Thieves are getting bolder these days and nothing is safe now. This can happen anywhere.