Blog

October 19, 2020

Greg Thomas

The Hard Conversations are not Getting Easier

In fact they are getting harderer and the more you keep ignoring them, the more you keep brushing them under the rug, the more you keep pushing them to the side, the harder it gets to have the conversation. When everyone was on-site (that sounds better than on-premise) you could linger in the conference room and have that side chat to discuss the outcome of the meeting and next steps. But that rarely happens in the remote world, everyone is in a hurry to jump off the call and head to their next one. For this reason, this is why

October 18, 2020

Greg Thomas

How to Find Your Purpose… Again.

Finding what you want to do is a moment of clarity that you won’t soon forget. It is a brief moment in time, punctuated by the work you do. It brings fulfillment and understanding that you never thought possible. And then, for some unknown reason, perhaps it’s the work you are doing, perhaps it’s everything else going on in your life or maybe it simply wasn’t your purpose to begin with (and you didn’t know it). Whatever the reason though, you lost your purpose. So now you need to find it again or find a new one. And you start

October 17, 2020

Greg Thomas

Under the Rug

As far as expressions go, Sweeping it under the Rug is one of those sayings that bring up images of covering things up, hiding “stuff” or worst, simply ignoring what happened and moving on. There is a great episode of the Simpsons where Homer is put in charge of garbage and keeps sweeping the garbage under the rug (i.e., the city) until it explodes from golf courses and manholes. That’s what happens when you don’t deal with the problem and try to hide it. It’s always there, it never gets better until it explodes at the worst possible moment.

October 16, 2020

Greg Thomas

The Meeting Gap

You don’t notice it when you’re there, in the moment, having the meeting. You notice it the next day. Or maybe in a meeting later in the week. The timing isn’t precise, but what is precise is that statement that signifies the gap. “I didn’t know we discussed that?” Followed of course by statements by everyone else who was in attendance… “Did we discuss that? What was the outcome?” “Of course we talked about.” “Weren’t you there? Was that when your mic was off?” The list goes on and on but you get the idea, confusion. Confusion at the end

October 15, 2020

Greg Thomas

Everyone Needs to Own It

A problem on the team, is a team problem to solve. It’s not one person’s problem. It’s not the people most familiar with the problem. It’s the entire team. If your team isn’t owning the problem, if they don’t all feel that sense of ownership and need to do something to make it better. Then they are not owning it. And if your team isn’t owning it, that just became your new problem. Why won’t my team accept responsibility and why won’t they own this.