Work Lunch

I’ve been reading a lot more business books/articles lately.  I never realized how useful the Harvar Business Review is.  I thought it had nothing to do with what I do and it’s quite the opposite.  Even reading about corporate companies like Jetblue, there are so many take aways that can be used on a smaller scale.  I was going to get a subscription, but $100/year is just too much.  Plus I can get it from my library which works well, since I don’t end up having more magazines in the house.

As I’m reading business articles, it’s nice to discuss them with people, but I don’t find a lot of people to discuss them with.  Most of my friends are in different types of roles and even at work, there are very few folks in my position and even fewer that want to discuss this type of stuff.  I have been having some interesting conversations with a past employee, he used to work in the electrical engineering department and now is going to business school.  I’ve been picking his brain to see what he’s been learning.  He actually shared a reader from one of the leadership courses that I’ve been reading.  Need to return it to him next week, but have been writing down a bunch of good notes.

I also figured I’d ask the top guy at work for lunch to pick his brain.  His father started the firm and he joined when it was just about 10 people and they were just really breaking even.  We’re now a 400+ firm and he seems to be doing quite well.  Emphasis on the quite.  Although he doesn’t hold an official leadership position, he’s very influential with the running of the firm and works closely with the president.  I was hesitant at first to ask him to lunch because I know there is always more that he wants me to be doing, but I’ve been learning that you shouldn’t let that get in the way of things.  We just had lunch yesterday and I learned a lot about his history - he started out in the rocket industry (space rockets), switched to nuclear before landing in the building industry.  And hearing his thoughts on how to run a business was quite interesting.  I had a list of ideas/questions that I wanted to bounce off him, but left it on my desk accidently.  Luckily I remembered some of the topics, one being succession planning.  Turns out he also thinks its crucial for the success of a company.  We chatted away and enjoyed a summer afternoon on the patio.  I tried to treat, but he insisted I expense it which was nice.

Well, fast forward to this morning and I get a call from him to come up to his office, he wanted to run an idea by me.  Very cryptic and it could go in any direction.  He basically asked me to write up a list of my accomplishments since being at the firm.  He acknowledged that I’ve not achieved some of the things he’s wanted, but have achieved a lot of other very important items.  Still very cryptic, needless to say I had a little hop in my step leaving the office.

Now I’m faced to put pen to paper and list out my accomplishments from the years I’ve been here.  Not an easy task for me.  It’s hard thinking of all you’ve accomplished in the past.  I’m always looking at what more can be done in the future. 

What a Weekend

I was down in DC last week for work. I was able to participate in our company spring fling thursday evening in Alexandria which was nice since I had missed the one in Boston. Smaller group and able to connect with folks. As it was winding down, I ducked out to call it an early night. On the walk back to the hotel, I enjoyed a leisurely walk and popped into a store or two before they closed. Walking by a Talbots I was admiring a few of the mannequin outfits. 

The next day I was able to pop in and ended up getting a summer dress. They were out of my size so I asked to try something similar in the smaller size. The sales person returned with the dress I wanted and in the right size. Turns out the mannequin was wearing what I wanted. And this way I didn't have to order it. 

Also caught up with an old grad school friend who works in the area. Great to swap stories over breakfast before heading into work. After leaving architecture he ended up going into engineering - in the facade side. 

It was nice having a leisurely Friday morning. Although getting up really early I still managed to hit a bunch of tasks before heading to the airport Friday afternoon. Now I'm sure I've espoused on my position on how early you should get to the airport before the flight. I thought I was in good shape until the kiosk wouldn't issue me a ticket and the guy at the counter prints my ticket and says he'll escort me through security - basically going in the shorter first class line. I still think I was fine and would have still made the flight going through regular security. Still, nice to be pampered. 

Arrived home, changed and headed towards my friends place for their Friday evening summer party which was in full swing when I arrived. Tons if laughing kids. Good catching up with folks and even got some cotton candy since they rented a machine. They've since bought one so am hunting down how to make maple syrup cotton candy - my favorite. I think it just uses Indian sugar. 

Well this is when things started getting expensive. On my way there I got rear ended in rush hour traffic. I thought the damage was minimal until the next day I saw the side was crumpled. So now I'm paying for the deductible. 

Saturday morning I had a vet appointment for Winston and ended up having to go to the vet hospital for emergency work that was in the four digits. 

And Sunday, finally made it back to ikea and got the sofa bed sectional I've been wanting to get for my back room. But didn't want to pay for shipping. So technically I saved money but it felt like I was spending a lot of money this weekend. 

My dad and Barbro were visiting and helped with the sofa. We took two cars and barely fit the four boxes the sofa came in, into the cars. Dad and I had visited ikea awhile back but found the sofa was sold out. As dad said, after we finally got the boxes in, it was a good thing they were sold out that time since we only had the one car and there was no way it would have worked. 

The cats are loving the new sofa. It's black so they really blend in, although not their fur which appears to be a bit on the gray side. They love hanging out on it and watching the back yard critter activity. It's taken them a little while to adjust to Winston, especially Wallace. She was still hissing and growling several days after. Winston was like whatever - I'm too tired to deal with it and frankly she seemed to mainly be hissing as she passed but acting normal otherwise as if it was a requirement to respond to the "new" cat but it really didn't matter to her. I ended up combing all three yesterday and I think that helped to mix up the smells and get things back to normal. 

Opps

I'm catching an early flight this morning. Everything going smoothly and then I walk into Terminal C and I question the time. The place is packed with some of the longest lines I've ever seen for this place. I chose to hustle as quickly as possible to the security - no stopping to take a picture no matter how strange.  Here's a taste of the masses from the security line.  

Thankfully the line is moving quickly, so far. Strange since parking was probably the most empty I've seen in ages. Looks like a lot of vacation travelers. But so early in the morning. It's only 6 am. Usually the place is a tenth as full. Lesson learned - Thursdays in June are heavy traffic days. 

10 minutes later:  well that was by far the fastest security line I've ever been in. So strange - empty parking garage, super fast security but a million people. Something doesn't add up. 

Work Changes

This morning I was suddenly struck by how busy my bike path was.  It was crowded and sometimes I was stuck behind slower people.  It's not that it's been an empty path before, it was just I didn't really take notice of the amount of people because it hadn't reached this critical mass.  At first I was a little frustrated as I was trying to get into work early.  But then I really liked that I was part of something so cool.  How awesome is it that in my daily schedule I'm part of the growing body of people who are walking and biking instead of being stuck behind the wheel of a car.  And in such a scenic setting too!

On the work front, I don't think I mentioned that this month my department tipped.  We are now majority female.  This is quite a feat in my industry that is majority male.  My first job I was the only female that wasn't support staff (admin, accounting, marketing).  Even today, there is still not a lot of females.  It was a strange congruence of events.  I had delegated some of the interviewing - the new grads and based on recommendations from my staff, put out offers to a selection of students, male and female.  In the end, we had three females, recent grads start this month.  I feel like it's a great achievement - how I can effect change in my industry.

Unfortunately in the same month, there was a step back.  With the new office furniture and the growth of the company, we have more bodies on each floor.  The result is busier bathrooms.  Since most floors are still predominately male, the decision was made to flip the bathrooms which allowed the men's bathroom to add an additional facility.  As a result, it reduces the women down to a single toilet.  It addresses the back-up for the men, but now the women will face it, especially if the firm works to be more balanced in gender.  It's an unfortunate message from management.

On the upside for work, I happened to have two professional development meetings today.  I started a new system with my annual reviews of staff.  I cover the regular stuff, but I give them an article from Harvard Business Review, called Job Sculpting and ask them to schedule a meeting for us to discuss in six months.  It's been surprisingly rewarding on multiple fronts.  My main aim was to help with staff retention.  But by opening up the dialogue and having a platform and structure for discussions I've been gaining invaluable insight about what people are interested in doing that I was not aware.  I would always ask staff in their review if there was other stuff they would like to be working on but the question was too open ended.  By having the framework it allowed me to ask more leading questions to get to the heart of the matter.  I found out today I have one staff who actually wanted to be a journalist before changing careers focus, but still loves that aspect.  And journalistic writing is something I can really leverage and utilize.  I had another staff that I found out that what really drives him is effecting change, it's not the figuring out of things just for the purpose of figuring things out, but figuring things out to then impact design to impact the earth.  It was really good for me to understand where he was coming from so I can frame our discussions in the future.

In addition to be rewarding for me to know how to better utilize my staff, it was really rewarding to see how much they both appreciated my time and input and guidance on their professional development.  One of them even spent time going through it at the end, about he had never come across any boss who would spend time on this subject, and then taking it the level we were discussing.  He even was discussing it with his brother and wanted to share the article.  As I'm writing this, I realize I will need to search out some other useful article for next years discussion.  It is really helpful to have something to discuss - it leads to deeper answers.  But what is more rewarding than appreciation for your efforts.  And it's been amazing to see them grow and develop, not only intellectually on the technical side, but on the professional side too.

What A Week

It's been ridiculously high stress week. I've been using a new mantra as I climb the stairs from the subway each morning on my way into work: "I'm going to live today with grace and good humor."  It's been serving me well this week since I've been surrounded by the opposite. Good not to get sucked into that other thinking as it just slows you down. 

I thought I was doing pretty well but some signs indicate otherwise. Earlier this week I dropped my portable speaker in water and it's not its old self. And then last night I dropped my iPad and the screen shattered. Luckily only in a corner but it's not looking good. On the upside I'd rather have material objects be the indicator I need to adjust than the indicators manifesting themselves in my personal health. 

This afternoon I had one of my staff come over who wanted advise on how to handle all the work he has on his projects. He was feeling ok at first because he thought it was just a blip and he had to put in some extra hours here and there but now it's becoming continuous. It's a turning point for him in his career - how he handles the situation and learns to delegate. Turns out he didn't fully grasp he had the ability to delegate to the new staff. Lesson learned I need to message that differently. I feel like I've said it a bunch of times - just not the right way. It was a nice way to wrap up the week. It's all about growth - mine and others. 

Commute

This morning, on my way into work, I had to slam on my brakes.... on my bike.... to miss a rabbit that darted across my bucolic and luscious green bike path. I thought I was in a Disney movie for a moment. And then a rush of commuter bikers wizzed by and brought me back to reality. 

And then this evening, waiting for my bus after dark (it was a late night and decided to bus it home since my bike lamp is dead), I get pulled into listening to a conversation two strangers are having next to me about which comic they prefer - Marvel or DC. It was nice seeing the random conversation pop up and to voyeristically eavesdrop. I thought I'd covertly take a picture to share, checked my phone was on silent and went to take a picture, suddenly realizing part way through the flash was going off. I quickly aborted. I do enjoy my commute sometimes. Even when it takes me awhile to get home. 

First Day of Work

I’m bummed - I wrote about my Adirondack Memorial day weekend and it doesn’t look like it saved.  Ugh.  I was just going to post a quick note about today.  We had three new staff start, new grads from college.  It’s a first for our department.  I’m trying something new as we continue to face the gap in supply and demand of qualified staff.  It’s a very strange vibe in the air today since we suddenly have a lot more bodies and our area is near capacity now.  It’ll be interesting to see how this experiment goes.  The cool thing is the stats:

1.  We have a 100% PE licenses of staff who are eligible (they have the qualifying years). Highest in the company.

2. Last month we had 50% of the staff had PEs.  Highest in the company.

3. Today we tipped.  We have more females than males in the department.  And this was purely by accident.  I had delegated the interviewing and final selection.  We made offers to a few people and the ones that accepted ended up being all female.  Definitely unique in the company.

 
It's great to see since the company and industry is still overly male dominated.  Look forward to this next era as I work on growing the company through my department in new directions.  I've been working on what my agenda is and realize I keep coming back to a common theme: "Market Transformation Through Education".  Specifically working to grow the professional's "buidling design intelligence" when it comes to energy.  The first step is teachig it to new grads and developing resources and tools to teach it to our colleagues and eventually the clients.