The Secret to Job Satisfaction?

About a week ago I spent some time with some good friends and family. I really enjoyed the weekend not only because it was fun and I got to hang out with some great people, but also because I felt like I had a bit of time to just relax. We were busy, but I had lots of pockets of time as the kids had a blast quadding, playing outside, or just hanging out with my family.

One of the upsides to having this free time is that I was able to sit and plow through a couple books. I had actually brought one with me, but instead I found a couple interesting titles kicking around at my mom's house. Both were written by the same author, Peter Lencioni, and were focused on management and careers. It's a topic I have always been interested in and they were really easy to read and short, so I figured I might as well try and finish them off before having to head home again.

The first of these was addressing job satisfaction and it was entitled The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.Both of these books were written in what the author would call a 'Modern Day Fable' style. It was a fictional story written to demonstrate the author's main points. Some might also call it a parable. I found myself really enjoying the writing style and being able to really draw out the points in ways that made sense to me.

The Three Signs were as follows.

Anonymity - People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known.

This is a great point that I would guess is ignored by many in corporations. The author seemed to agree (or rather I was agreeing with him). In your work you need to feel known. You need to feel as if you are a part of a community, or a part of something bigger than yourself. The times when I have most enjoyed working for an organization have been when I have been treated as more than a number, but rather as a valued individual that has interests, goals, dreams and personal intricacies. The great thing about this is that it doesn't take a huge revamp of a company to achieve this. Managers simply need to ask questions and care about people and then respond accordingly. One particular story that highlighted this was when Phil Jackson handed out books to his player based on their backgrounds and interests.It's something he still does today and is a great way to connect with people in my mind!

Irrelevance - Everyone needs to know that their job matters, to someone.

This was laid out nicely in the book as a theory but I wonder about the difficulty of doing this practically in certain jobs. The point is well taken, that we need to know that what we do makes a difference, regardless of what it is that we are doing. The trick is to find ways of imparting that sense to someone who just sees their job as something to do to bring in money to get on with 'real life'. Even more, I would imagine it can be tough to really get folks to buy in as to why their job is really all that important in some cases. I've been thinking on this one quite a bit though.

Immeasurement - Employeers need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves.

Okay so this one was really interesting to me. At first glance this sounds like something that organizations do really well, but after reading this book I am not so convinced any more. The problem is that most of the time goals are laid out in terms of big picture metrics. "We want to increase revenue by 5% in the fourth quarter," or "We want to hire 5 new staff within the next 3 months."

These goals are not bad from an upper management standpoint, but they do nothing for the folks who are working hard to actually achieve those goals. There needs to be more tangible goals for those on the front lines.

In the book part of the story revolved around a little mom and pop sort of diner that the protagonist had decided to manage. In it the goals were things like measuring how often positive feedback was given by people coming through the drive-through, or by measuring the amount of tips.

How to create these sorts of personal and tangible goals for employees takes creativity but I think it would really work well to produce results.

The one interesting note is that this book places the bulk of the responsibility for creating job satisfaction on management. Is this where it should be placed? How much responsibility should be placed upon the employee to create their own sense of satisfaction at a job? Interesting questions that I feel have probably been answered in some other book if I wanted to look hard enough. This book didn't really address that point except to give folks who are looking for a job some tips on how to find jobs that carry out these three factors fairly well.

All in all it gave me some great things to think about and it was written in a way that I was able to connect well with. If you are interested in management, or career growth, then I'd recommend this book as a quick and easy read.

I'll cover the second book by the same author later on.

Two Different Takes on the Sea

Upon my last trip to the local public library I snagged a couple books from the New Releases section and took then home for a quick read.  Both of them had to do with the oceans but they had VERY different takes on the issue!

The first was a book by recently deceased author, Michael Crichton, the author of books like Jurassic Park and Timeline. I have read a couple of his things in the past and to be honest, I'm not sure what drew me to suffer through it again. I've never really liked his stuff all that much. This latest book, Pirate Latitudes, was discovered and published after he had passed away so in his defense, perhaps he never meant it to be read by people.

Either way I was pretty disappointed in the story. It has potential and that was what initially drew me to it. I enjoyed the movie Master and Commander and when I picked up this book it seemed to have the same sort of appeal but from the viewpoint of a group of pirates rather than soldiers. 

In the end it was a marginally entertaining story, but little else. The character development in the book felt pretty weak, it was riddled with basically every cliche you can possibly think of in a 'pirate' story, and frankly it was a little too gritty for my tastes.

If you're looking for a book that will take you a day or two to get through, you want some pretty sugary entertainment, and you don't mind some of the rough edges, then go for it. It's not one I'm looking to pick up again any time soon.

The second book was actually one that I felt had a bit more promise. Written by well known oceanographer Sylvia Earle, The World is Blue, How Our Fate And The Ocean's Are One is a book that "explains how human pollution and other destructive activity is destroying the Earth's ocean, why our neglect risks global catastrophe, and what we can do to restore the health of our blue world."

The idea intrigued me, not so much in the area of how we are treating the ocean like our own personal dumping ground (that was not so new to me), but rather I was hoping to hear more about the science of what the destruction of the ocean might mean for the rest of the planet. There is no doubt in my mind that the ocean and the health of the rest of the world are closely linked, but I was really looking for some interesting scientific insights into what exactly this relationship was.

In the end I was again disappointed with this second 'sea book'. It wasn't that the book wasn't interesting, but rather that only about 20 pages of the 300 page book actually dealt with the area I was most interested in. And of those 20 pages, most of them included the same old arguments that can be found in any discussion on global warming. Stuff is melting, other stuff is getting warmer, and the ocean is becoming more acidic. Nothing earth shattering, and certainly not the kind of stuff that is going to convince anyone that doesn't already buy into climate change that there is anything to be concerned about.

It's too bad really, since I think the health of the ocean, and it's ability (or lack of due to damage) to soak up carbon dioxide, is a really strong case for making some policy changes. Unfortunately, the book was more of a cross section of the horrible things we are doing to our world as human beings written from someone who is in love with the ocean. Note that I say unfortunately only because I thought I was going to be reading more about some of the other issues, not that it isn't true or important.

If you're interested in the ocean, in marine life, or in what one can do to try and help them out then you'd probably enjoy this book.

As a prairie boy who finds the ocean generally smelly and frightening, I found it marginally interesting but not my cup of tea.

So back to the library with them both and onto other reading. Not sure I'll read a fiction book again for a while unless it's something that I have been wanting to read for some time.

The Definition of a Real Man

What makes a man? I mean a real man. I mean a man that DEFINES man?

If we are asking James Bond then it's being able to sleep with whoever you want, drive sweet cars, shoot big guns, and live the international spy life.

If we are asking Frank Sinatra then it's doing it your way. Frank defined a real man like this:

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Or maybe we should turn to the media, to shows like Everybody Loves Raymond, where guys are painted as emotionless, gas passing, football watching, brainless buffoons, who think only of where they can get their next helping of red meat and Spike Channel.

Well then perhaps the church, or the Christian subculture, might have some helpful things to say about what makes a man. John Eldredge, author of Wild at Heart (which I have read), believes that men need to reawaken the warrior inside them, to go on journeys of adventure and to stop being a wimpy bunch of nice guys.

Combined with all of these messages I have also heard two well known pastors, Mark Driscoll (who I'm not a fan of) and Matt Chandler (who I absolutely think is fantastic!), mention that they would not be able to believe in a Jesus that they could beat up.

All of these messages are utterly confusing for someone who might want a real answer to the question 'What is a man?' What is clear, is that us men are doing a really poor job of figuring it out.

First, what a man isn't.

Being a real man has no connection to Old Spice deodorant or chainsaws. It has nothing to do with enjoying the UFC. It has nothing to do with being able to lift things bigger than the guy next to you. It has nothing to do with being able to survive in the wilderness with only a ripped tarp, a shoelace and the skin off of a crocodile that you killed yourself five minutes earlier.

It also doesn't mean you get to avoid doing the dishes and putting the kids down to bed at night because you were so busy "working" all day while your wife was at home 'just being a mom.' It doesn't mean you have the right to bully, verbally berate, belittle, mock, or abuse your wife or children because that's what the 'man of the house' does.

Oh, and while I'm at it, it doesn't mean you get the veto power in all decisions made. Because of the way our culture has grown out of a completely patriarchal society there seems to be this line of thinking that in the case of any disagreement that the husband in a relationship gets the final say and his word rules. Well guess what guys? You're not God!

When my wife and I were making the decision to join Young Life on staff I was ready a year earlier than she was. I could have played my 'head of the household' trump card and forced the issue but instead I waited the year until we both agreed that it was time to proceed. As a result I have an amazing partnership with my wife who completely bought into what we were doing. Had I forced her to come along on my little dreams and plans then I might have 'won', but I would have quit long ago from doing it on my own.

Being a man is about leading through service. It is about being considerate. Yeah considerate. I know that might conflict with my plans to watch 10 straight hours of Hockey Night in Canada on a Saturday, but that IS what it's about. It's about nurturing, encouraging, and building up my wife into a woman who uses her gifts and talents to the best of her ability. It's about dying to self.

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about how men must fit into the mold of Grizzly Adams and be able to fix anything in MacGyver style.

And finally, Matt and Mark. If you're not willing to follow a Jesus who you can beat up then you could be in trouble. Jesus showed that not only was he willing to be beaten to serve in love, but was willing to be killed. That right there is more manly then anything that our media, church culture, or best selling authors has ever portrayed.

Canada and the Earthquake in Haiti - Stop Being Polite!

Watching how various organizations, countries, and individuals react to a situation like the recent earthquake in Haiti can evoke a number of emotions. On the one hand folks come out of the woodwork with great displays of generosity and concern and it is a great reminder of what we as human beings are capable of when we set aside our selfishness.

On the other hand I have found myself becoming more and more frustrated by one particular aspect of my country's "personality" and how it relates to this situation.

You see, Canada is generally a pretty laid back and polite country. We don't like to step on anyone's toes, we respect the rights of other countries for the most part, and we like to help out. We are sort of like that nice kid in class that everyone likes, but everyone knows he's probably not assertive enough in life to go anywhere.

In particular I have been following the situation that a couple friends of mine have been going through, Pete and Lindsay Van Genne, as they are trying to bring their adopted son Corbin home from an orphanage in that country. While currently safe from the immediate quake, there are very real dangers that exist for the orphanage and the children and staff that work there right now. Water and food shortages, aftershocks, and disease are just the start of the more longterm concerns. Add onto that the more immediate issue of massive groups of people fleeing Port-au-Prince towards the city that the orphanage currently is in and to feel comfortable with the current situation would be completely naive.

It is at a time like this that the politeness of my country is completely inappropriate. There are times where action needs to be taken even if it might be deemed a little brash or quick. Due process, "working through the proper channels", and making sure that all of the steps have been nicely wrapped up in a bow and signed off on works when a country has not just been devastated by one of the worst natural disasters on record. However, there are times when a country needs to do whatever it takes to save lives, and in this case it means doing something that we as Canadians don't like doing - being aggressive. 

The United States and the Netherlands have stepped forward and already done what needs to be done to get these kids out of Haiti and into the arms of the parents that have waited, at times, years, to go through the proper channels. Those two governments didn't worry about offending people, didn't worry about making sure the paperwork was 100% completed in every single case, and bullied their way into a situation to be sure that the safety of these children was addressed as quickly as possible.

We are talking about children who have already been proposed to their families and outside of the "system" are already members of their adoptive family. This isn't "those North Americans" stealing kids out of Haiti to take back. These are children who have already progressed through the adoptive process and just need to be home with their family.

Canada, it is time for you to stop being polite, stop worrying about your international "image", and step up to the plate to get these kids home. The consequences of being nice are far too grave.

If you're interested in more information on this particular situation and what you can potentially do to help please check out the Facebook group 'Canadians Adopting From Haiti' 

A Book a Week

At the start of December I decided I wanted to get back to reading more, as well as becoming more intentional about the way I read. I touched a little bit on this in a previous blog post and since that time have found myself tucked away on the couch with a blanket and some sort of hot beverage, scratching away with a pencil or highlighter, a lot more often.

I decided that I wanted to set myself some sort of goal, just because I am built that way. My goal, was over the course of the next 13 months (so until the end of 2010) to have read a book a week - or 57 books. Not quite as ambitious as Tim Challie who has committed to reading through the entire New York Times Bestseller list in 2010, over at 10 Million Words, but for someone like me who has a lot of other stuff on the plate, this is enough.

It's been an interesting experience already and I got a bit of a quick jump, knowing that there will be times where I won't have the time to get through a book during certain times of the year. With a few extra days off over the holidays I was able to give myself a little bit of extra space in my schedule for just those times.

For those of you who enjoy reading, and might be looking for some new things to pick up (or avoid), I'll even run down through some of my thoughts on the books I read. I can't promise they will all be excellent books, even the New York Times Bestseller List has some real stinkers.

In the mean time if any of you have some great things you have read and would recommend let me know. I have already stolen a couple ideas from some previous comments that some have made.

On the already completed list are:

• The Church of Facebook, by Jesse Rice
• Unfashionable, by Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced exactly as it's spelled...)
• The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's are One, by Sylvia A. Earle
• Leading on Empty, by Wayne Cordeiro
• Pirate Latitudes, by Michael Crichton (one of the first fiction books I have read in quite some time)

I am currently attempting to get started on reading slowly through Eugene Petersen's series on Spiritual Theology beginning with 'Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places' and I recently got 'The Meaning of The Pentateuch', by John Sailhammer in the mail which should take me all year to finish if I am lucky. These would be of the slow reading variety.

There are also about a half dozen other 'lighter' books sitting here waiting to be read as well, and I'm looking forward to digging into them.

Now, one of the consequences of doing this is that I have really had to intentionally find time in my day to do this.  There are certain non-negotiables in my life that cannot be sacrificed to make room to merely read books. I am sure they are the same for many other people: time with family, work, my own spiritual development (which includes reading, but is certainly not limited to it), eating, sleeping etc.

The rest of my time will have to be drawn out of leisure. Considering that it's been a goal of mine to reduce that anyways, this seems like a good fit. I've also been reintroducing myself to a little thing called the alarm clock. Once you have kids, the need for one seems to go away for the most part. That being said, I have found that if I go to bed earlier and get up a couple hours before my kids do, that I have some of the most productive, quiet, and enjoyable hours of my day available for me. 

So that's the idea for now. I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, hence why this was started in December. I figure if something is important enough to do, there is no need to wait for a ball to drop in New York City to start doing it.