Reminder Regarding 'Level'

Small Business...
During the recent tiling of the bathroom I needed to draw some guidelines on the wall.  One of my tool bags has a laser level that would work.  Another, a gift from someone I no longer talk to, sits unopened on top of a refrigerator in the basement.  Frankly, I should just put it in the donation box.  Despite the cost and usefulness of the gift it's always going to remind of some family members that just are not worthy.

Big Business...
It's interesting how difficult it is for organizations to define (and continually refine) their mission, create a morphing vision of future trends and customer needs and keep employees focused and on track.  Each manager needs to coach, cajole and leverage their resources in the general direction of the future.  There are not a lot of shortcuts but you do need to move quickly and stay on task.

Re-visiting the big Target layoff I did confirm that those laid off were given severance packages that were reflective of years of service and were quite generous.  They also contained a provision that employees laid off be 'available.'  If Target reached out to you after the layoff and you could not be reached you'd be in breach of the severance agreement and ... well, you'd lose some of the benefits.

At first I thought that a bit harsh.  I believe it's reflective of Target's admission that they were not 100% positive of the people and the timing of the layoff.  Organizations need to be humble and admit that their judgement is not always correct.  That's where Boards of Directors come into play; they leverage their experience outside the organization, question current practices and make recommendations on senior staff and major business strategy.

Outplacement Services...
This past week I did reach out to my outplacement firm.  Due to small business demands, settling some real estate issues, finances, etc. I put myself on a sabbatical from using their services.  Over the next 3-4 months I want to use some of their online resources and training to refresh myself and then thank them and move on.  The executive consultant assigned to me has been a good help.  In some ways I wish I'd waited a year before starting the engagement there.

Much of their work centers on getting the person making the job change excited, structured and motivated.  I'm tough to motivate or structure.  I liked one of their recommendations which was sort of a one page marketing plan for yourself.  Don't just throw a resume in everyone's face.  Give them your marketing plan and ask what they think.

Mentors are important.  Organizations have started to figure that out.  Typically bright rising stars will be assigned a senior person to be a resource.  I think that we should all have individual Board of Directors to guide us.  Apparently some families can do that.  If you come from a dysfunctional family or a family of tradesmen and you want to be a Doctor or a farmer or an academician they might not be much help.  Friends are a potential but friends are often best left as friends.  Women seem to do well in keeping friends.  Men seem to lose their friends as they work themselves towards heart attacks, paid off mortgages and death.

I'm going to re-visit this board of director concept with the outplacement service.  Some of the consultants there are totally full of themselves.  Others seem like people struggling to just develop their own future.  It does appear that those of the second group are more open to suggestion and guidance.  That will be added to what may be only a couple of additional conversations with my executive coach.

The Level...

My mother was the youngest of four sisters.  Always she was close to the next oldest and quite distant from the other two.  Her close sister was married to Don Nelsen who was born in the same town and grew up a few blocks from the four sisters.  His father was a 14 year old Danish immigrant who started a business harvesting ice from the local lake and distributing it throughout the summers.  Following WWII when refrigerators began to replace ice boxes he started a house moving business which was logical given his experience moving heavy things that did not  want to move.

Don and his brother Russ worked with their father Chris in the house moving business and took it over as Chris aged.  My father died when I was three.  My mother's sister and Don became another set of parents.  When I purchased my first home in 1978 Don gave me a two foot level.  In the house moving business there was more frequent use of levels than one might imagine and keeping things level and plumb in life is good advice.  I've used that level on every home and property I've used and pulled it out in lieu of the laser levels when setting tile.  Don always referred to levels as "whiskey sticks" since the fluid did not freeze.  Thirty-seven years after the gift I'm still using the gift whiskey stick.

When Don passed away 25 years ago I took his Stanley level which still had his name on it.  In a symbolic gesture I checked the accuracy of mine against his.

I'm going to work on this concept of applying a level to organizations.