Tag Archives: corporate life

Still waters run deep

Staring at the water as I do most weekend mornings, enjoying the peace and coffee, I’m contemplating the simple satisfaction of cleaning a swimming pool.

It can be frustrating too sometimes but mostly I feel satisfied doing the work. The basics are always the same; scoop the leaves, empty filters, rescue sodden bees and gekkos. Then then there are the water tests, chemical balancing, and regular troubleshooting.

When it’s done and everything is working, we can all enjoy it.

Then you do it all over again – especially with towering trees, the rogue bees and other nature messing with perfection.

It’s not an easy job. I’m sure the lads at my local pool shop rue the 40-degree days when they’re lugging chemicals and equipment to clean someone else’s pool. But after long days in an office, sitting for hours in meetings or banging out copy at a desk, it’s a tonic.

So, what is it that makes cleaning the pool so satisfying and how can that translate to the office (or can it)?

Firstly, and most obviously, it’s active and outdoors.

Not sure that translates to corporate life but squeezing in outdoor time, a walk or using the stand- up desk could conquer the interminable sitting.

Every action is for a reason, everything you put into the water is designed to have an impact.

Minimise the meetings and emails that get nothing done. Ring people when you need an answer or walk up to their desk – it’s harder to dodge a question in person.

I’m in control (most of the time) with pool management. It’s up to me to decide what to do and how to do it. The pool is my domain.

Ensure your team has super clear roles and responsibilities, Reduce the layers of approvals and oversights to wade through.

Pool cleaning is a ‘just do it’ job – you get results. There can be complexity of course; the science of water management is a challenge I’m oddly enthralled by. The pH tests make me feel like a mad scientist.

Take on new challenges. Say yes to doing the things that scare you. The bigger the challenge, the greater the reward. Being the right kind of scared occasionally is healthy.

There are tangible, usually fast results with the pool. You can see success right there in front of you. No waiting or wondering.

Find something daily you can cross off the list – find a sense of achievement even if there are 50 other things hanging in limbo with multiple stakeholders and opinions at play.

There’s value in a clean pool that family and friends can swim in safely and comfortably.

Build a team that revels in success with you. Sharing the wins and lifting each other up is so much sweeter.

If you don’t get results, you have carte blanche to change tact and try something else. If you still can make it work, you have support. The local pool shop gets  a call when there’s a pool emergency.

Don’t point fingers or shirk accountability. Create a network that has your back and will help solve the problem with you.

You either do a great job and get results – a pool you can swim in. Or you don’t.

Focus on solutions, not problems. Minimise the debriefs and pointless rear-view of what could’ve- should’ve happened. Move on and park your judgement and unconscious biases.

Like mowing lawns or growing a garden, pool work isn’t easy. But nothing worth doing is.

Ghost(ing) Story

In business, many of us spend hours networking. We seek out opportunities to connect with other people to expand our existing networks, or to meet people whose skills or custom we might be able to use down the track.

Interacting with others is a basic human need, and a skill we try to hone for business success. But imagine if you walked up to someone at an event and they turned their back, or walked away.

You wouldn’t physically ghost someone, would you?

And yet, increasingly I hear of, or see people reaching out to business connections via email or providing a proposal or a piece of value-add work and  … crickets. No ‘thank you.’ No ‘I’m flat out at the moment but I really will come back to you.’ No, nothing.

It’s the corporate version of ghosting. It’s rife, it’s accepted, and it goes mostly unchallenged.

Ghosting, as the name suggests, is when someone suddenly stops communicating with another person without any explanation. It’s a term that gained traction in popular lingo in the dating world.

Poof! They’re gone

You connect with someone online and then, poof, they’re gone. Their profile vanishes, and it’s as if they never existed.

It’s increasingly evident in the recruitment sector too. Post Covid, I’ve heard countless cases of people going for a job interview and waiting for the follow-up call from the recruiter.

They’re still waiting. Apparently, it’s not the norm these days to advise unsuccessful applicants that they can move on. They are left hanging, wondering if the position was filled or if they’re still in with a shot, or where they went wrong? It’s a guessing game.

Likewise, job candidates don’t show for interviews. Successful candidates don’t turn up for the first day. They vanish without a word.

The Harvard Business Review quoted a 2018 study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships: 25% of participants reported having been ghosted by a partner. When it comes to job seeking, 93% of respondents in a 2020 LinkedIn poll said they had been ghosted during an active hiring process.

It’s a problem and it’s only getting worse.

At its core, ghosting is a sign of disrespect for the time and effort others invest in reaching out to us.

Just say No!

So why do people ghost?

In the era of everyone wins a prize, there are no losers, could it be that people have forgotten how to say no? Is there a phobia around rejecting an approach from someone or turning down a proposal. Are people scared to have a difficult conversation? Do they think that ignoring the elephant in the room will make it go away?

Of course, it will go away (eventually) and with it goes your reputation (eventually). When a business turns cold and fails to acknowledge your proposal or your email or a piece of work you’ve done for them, their brand is devalued by the people they ignore. Word travels fast and no one wants to be known as unresponsive, or rude.

So, short of sending a copy of Debrett’s etiquette guide, what do you do if professionally ghosted? Walk away and chalk it up to bad manners, or call it out and keep prodding for a response?