Lessons

I found this on someones tagline:



A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, "In every life there is a terrible fight – a fight between two wolves.
One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit.
The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.

" A child asked, "Grandfather, which wolf will win?"

The elder looked the child in the eye. "The one you feed."

The Horror of Meetings

You walk into the room. The silence is deafening. Everyone shuffles, gathers pens, paper, bottles of water. Polite greetings are uttered with no friendliness. Where you sit is one of the most important factors. You need to make eye contact with allies but not be directly across from the person you want or need to avoid. Eye contact could mean you get volunteered for some unwanted task. It also means that you may have to express your opinion. A dangerous thing, this speaking out. All members of this alliance toss their emotional baggage on the table waiting for the moment that it gets opened, the contents new and old awaiting exposure. Hidden agendas are checked and on the ready. It would be lovely if everything were straightforward. But it’s not and words are weighed as if they were poker chips in a high stake game. Information sharing begins with trust. Trust, a commodity that at times seems to be in short supply. A spattering of information is given and taken, nothing that would upset the balance. An uneasy truce Experience makes you do new mistakes instead of old ones.

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to give a big Happy Birthday to my sister Arlene who is turning (fill in the blank) years old. Heartfelt wishes on your special day!

Love All Trust Few

I have become addicted to listening to Podcasts and have found some wisdom in the most unlikely places. There is a Podcast called Sales Strategy Radio with Tim McMahon that I have subscribed to that deals with increasing sales. He always has solid examples and always has an interesting way of getting his point across. In a Podcast titled “The Meaning of Partnership” I have found that at this time how much it applies to my work. In a group home you have people who depend on you to help them with life skills, a partnership that if the person is to have any measure of success depends on mutual trust. There is the person’s family who joins in with this partnership of trust. They have to trust the counsellor, the organization and the person in our care. There has to be a measure of trust between all parties including the managerial personal. Which brings me to the Podcast.

In his Podcast Tim McMahon talks about partnerships. Partnership is about helping each other over life’s little obstacles. This applies in all relationships including work, home and out in the community. What is doesn’t include is trying to be victorious over your peers. Competition and control destroy trust. A single mindedness that is focused on victory or getting something on or over someone seems to be the norm in a lot of businesses. The point of trust is having a partnership with all. Partnership is based on real values not products or politics and it takes time to create and effort to be maintained. The currency is trust and it's measure is mutual success. The measure of maturity is when the achievement of results becomes more important than victory.

I paraphrased his Podcast to what I had been experiencing at work. In a business that stresses compassion, safe learning, and accountability for whatever reasons it sometimes misses the mark on trust. I met an elderly woman in a nursing home years ago, she said out of the blue “Love all, trust few.” It’s an odd insight that has stuck with me but expresses so much about us as humans.