23 June - entry 1

For the first part of this journal, i was given the assignment of writing down what my values where. Here's what I wrote down.

Hard Work - I value the sweat on the brow thats earned through laboring. There are plenty of easy patches and quick fixes out there, but if you really want to solve a problem, build a solution, and learn how to prevent/solve future problems in the process, you have to put in the long hours, put your nose to the grindstone, and put your heart and soul into working the process.

Personal Pride - This stems partly from how highly i value work. When you really put your time into something, it becomes and extension of yourself in many ways. People look at the product and know, simply because your name is attached to it that its going to be right, and if it's not right, they know you will do whatever it takes in order to fix it. If you take on your projects and responsiblities as if they directly reflected who you are as a person, the hard work follows.

Humility - Its one thing to take pride in a job well done, its an entirely different however when you let that personal pride in your job extend itself into boastfulness and feelings of superiority. If you want other's adulation, let your work speak for you, let your work earn it, don't promote your own actions or deeds because when you do so, the only praise you will receive is that which you give yourself.

That's what I initially wrote during the class, and i feel its an accurate reflection of my real values. Those are what i would consider to be the core of who i am, and traits that I work on every day. However, as the class discussion continued i realized that those values are great for the guy turning the wrench, they aren't great for the leader of 20 guys turning the wrenches. Hard work, personel pride, and humility will get me very far at lower levels, but in order to lead, in order to truely inspire the best in others, I need to adopt new values. Here's a couple i propose to work on.

Give praise where praise due- I have people that bust their asses every day for me. While I don't expect or ask them to do any more than I do, I don't always give them the praise they deserve. I need to recognize my people for the hard work they do, and let them know i see how hard they work every day.

Effective communication - This goes along with giving praise. I often find myself so far in the weeds that I don't stop to communicate my plans, my goals, my expectations, my current perceptions, as well as taking the time to stop and listen to their plans, goals, expectations, and current perceptions. I need to make time to communicate.

At the end of class, part 2, turning the ideal values into real values was announced. I've just come up with my 2 ideal values, praising others, and effective communication. Here's my current plan on how to implement.

More structured shop meetings - Currently I'm holding ad hoc shop meetings on a biweekly basis. These aren't planned, they don't have a set time, and they very rarely have an agenda. While I constantly communicate with my people, i very rarely communicate anything other than the day to day. I don't let them in on my thoughts, my plans, and my perceptions. For now, I'll plan on weekly formal shop meetings monday mornings, with an actual agenda, and more of the informal meetings that i use right now.

More regular individual feedbacks - The only time I'm really giving feedback to my troops currently is when I'm required to or when they approach me. I need to give more regular feedbacks to let them in on my perceptions, where i see their strengths, their weaknesses, as well as give them a private forum to address any grievances with me. For now, I'll plan on informal feedback sessions every 6 weeks.

Its only a two part action plan, but i think it adequately cover's my two goals. Praise will be given on the spot, during informal meetings, and during feedback sessions, and in the process I'll have more face time to communicate with my troops.