Black(berry) Hole – The Blackberry, with all of its pluses and minuses has created a black hole in an important part of the workplace. With this “improvement” in communication, you can be on call anywhere, anytime. You can’t even go on vacation without taking it with you. So, there is never a time to refresh and regroup. But there is an even worse effect than being on call 100% of the time. We have nearly eliminated the short-term delegation aspect of management. I’m old enough to remember that when a manager was gone for an extended period of time he would send out a memo that said, “I will be out of the office from March 13 – March 24. In my absence, Joe Jones will have authority for all matters except salary and capital issues.” This was real delegation. If something came up, Joe had to make the decision. There were enough people around so Joe couldn’t bankrupt the company, and in most cases, nothing that important happened anyway. But for those two weeks, Joe had to approve some things, meet with different people, etc. In many cases, the Blackberry has taken this away. And when you move on to your next big thing, you’ll find there is black hole where somebody with a little experience could have been. So if you are one of those “Blackheads,” try turning it off when you are away and devising an emergency response system if it turns out that Joe really can’t handle things. But I bet Joe won’t need to (or want to) call you.

Pop Meeting – Do you ever wonder if anyone who works for you really knows what’s going on? Some people actually know the details while some people only know the talking points. The latter group prep in advance so they can “get by” but they always have to get back to you with the details. In school, to make sure that kids were doing their homework, teachers would have a pop quiz. This is one that you didn’t know was coming so you couldn’t cram for it. So why not have “pop meetings” at work. Call a pop meeting and inquire about a specific issue, problem, customer, etc. By doing this, you might find out which people are connected, have the inside track, or are just more diligent in finding out what’s going on. It might be surprising to find out who really knows what.

Looking Good – I noticed a couple of people today that even though they are not that attractive (as crass as that may sound) they have a way of making themselves look good. They highlight the positive features and that’s the first thing you notice. By the time you notice the rest, you have moved past the “appearance” stage of your relationship and it doesn’t make that much difference. What happens is that they made a good first impression, not by hiding anything, but by focusing on the good stuff. So is there a way that you can do this? Maybe simmer some potpourri or play some background music so guests notice that when they come over to your house (instead of seeing that everything isn’t spotless). At work, you might have some products or pictures displayed in your office and draw people’s attention there instead of the pile of unfinished work behind your desk. That first contact doesn’t have to be fake, but if you can control the focus of the attention, you’ll have a better time making a good impression.

The Trimmings – I was on my lunchtime walk today and the lawn service was trimming the grass. I get to wondering who determines the schedule for this. Is it done weekly? Well, why not do it once a month, or once a day, or not at all? Is the trimming important for the presentation of the property or is it just for vanity’s sake? I find that in our lives, a lot of the trimmings are for our own gratification. Oh, we’ll say it’s to make a good impression, but it’s really the impression of how we view ourselves. And our vanity attempts to trump the person before us. Here’s how this works. A group is planning a party so one person prepares a shopping list. The next person prepares the list on PowerPoint. The next person adds a picture of each item to the presentation. The next person embeds a video clip of a commercial for each item. This is extreme, buts it’s the kind of thing that happens when our vanity outpaces our need to make a good impression. We try to impress our bosses or our clients, but all we really do is spend a lot of time on something that isn’t very important. Try this: ask for a report “without the trimmings” and see how much time gets saved.