growing pains

Well, it seems I'm down to just one post a month. At least it's for good reason. Working on this graduate project is sucking every last bit of extra energy I have. Keeping up with a 15 month old, school, and full-time work leaves about 10 minutes every day to play my new addiction, Scrabulous on Facebook. (And if you're a fan, feel free to start a game with me - I'm always looking for distractions!)

More important, though, I'm discovering, is the opportunity to take what I have learned over the last 4-5 years about organizational development and apply it to a consulting project. I can't disclose the details of the project... yet. I hope to someday. But it is incredibly fascinating to apply OD theory to this project. And to finally have a good reason to read the literature I've wanted to read.

But it is painful. It's painful to take my daughter to daycare while I sit at home on my Mac at the dining room table pecking away at a 30+ page proposal. It's painful to look at the living room strewn with toys. It's painful to refuse opportunities offered to me so that I can finish school. It's painful to have to schedule a date with my husband weeks in advance. It's painful to not spend the afternoon at the park. It's painful not to spend Sunday afternoon cooking dinner, instead picking up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store.

I hope the pain is worth it. I don't know yet that I'm going to do anything specific with this degree - like becoming an OD consultant. I've found the curriculum to be incredibly useful in everyday work. I think I'm becoming a more effective team leader, boss, employee, association executive, with my OD skills. Everything leads to something, that's for sure.

But I sure can't wait for an afternoon at the park, followed by a big homemade lasagna dinner. Soon.

rock on lisa!

And it happened so fast! Thanks to Lisa Junker, ASAE's Acronym blogger - whom I have yet to meet face-to-face, but with whom I have interacted frequently online. Lisa is my 100th connection on LinkedIn. I look forward to the day we meet!

nearing 100 in my network...

Following in the footsteps of my friend Ben Martin, I took the challenge to build my Linked In network. And now I'm just 2 away from crossing the 100 threshold! If you know me, link to me!

being thanked

Yes, we should all be giving thanks... it's probably coincidental timing though that this morning I received a thank you note from ASAE. It congratulated me on 10 years of membership and thanked me for my contributions. Yes, I joined, fresh out of college in my first association job, at the encouragement of my then-CEO Barbara Belmont.

Given that so few of us actually stick around in a job for 10 years, it was nice to know that someone noticed my longevity in the association space. This is such a great idea. And easy! Have you thanked your members lately?

caring for others

In an internal workshop on generational diversity a few weeks ago, our speaker, Jamie Notter, discussed an example of a generational conflict in the workplace. In essence, the example illustrated two coworkers at odds - one who valued "talk time" and one who wanted to get down to business. There was more to it than that, but this is the piece that spoke to me.

I've always seen myself as the get-down-to-business type. Yes, I think I'm pretty good at socializing when I need to, but my patience for chit-chat when a business agenda is at hand is pretty marginal. There's a lot of value in getting to know your colleagues, but I think there's a time and a place - usually on the periphery of work. And, even more, I was taught that you just don't discuss personal topics with coworkers - you never know when it might come back to bite you. And now, with a baby at home and school after hours, my preference is to just focus on work at work.

Recently, I've discovered just how much other people value that kind of engagement. I've struggled in relationships with people who place a lot of value on interpersonal relationships and exchanges. But, I realized that it's not so much about sharing personal information; it seems like it's mostly about demonstrating that you care. When you ask questions (not of the too personal type, of course) about other peoples' lives, you show that you care about them as a person. When you share your life, you show that you are human. It seems quite obvious, but it was an eye-opener for me when the light bulb switched on. And, thought it's early to judge, it has seemed to make a significant difference in my relationships when I recently made an effort to take an interest in others' lives. I think it may even make life easier when conflict arises with those individuals.

Something to give thanks for this week.

(Oh, and by the way, Jamie's presentation was terrific!)