Family

Last Week’s Top Tweets

February 20, 2012

In case you missed it, here are some tweet & re-tweets of articles & other things that caught my eye last week: MUST READ: From Dan Markovitz (@timeback): Respect for people — treating them more like machines. bit.ly/zVyKew From Others: From Boston College Center for Work & Family (@BCCWF): Need more leadership support + manager training: Flexible Hours Aren’t Working As Well As Companies Say businessinsider.com/flexible-hours…#workflex From Joe Dager (@business9o1)RT @jchyip: w/out a clear overall shared vision, “improve” tends 2 B a lot of random ideas until everyone eventually gets bored & gives up From Dan Feliciano (@DanFeliciano): IndustryWeek : Demand Surges for Lean...

Flexible workplaces – the best in respect for people?

February 14, 2012

By David M. Kasprzak

Flexible workplaces – the best in respect for people?

Respect for people extends beyond the workplace and into the personal lives of employees. Certainly, there are a great many people (if not most) who argue that personal concerns have no place in the workplace. If an employer is willing to understand that employees are people, however, and believes that all people have concerns that involve family issues and other areas of fulfillment, that demonstrate a much deeper understanding of just what respect for the individual is.

Short-term thinking: Misery is OK, as long as it’s less lousy

January 31, 2012

By David M. Kasprzak

Short-term thinking: Misery is OK, as long as it’s less lousy

It's not acceptable to say that today's misery is acceptable as long as it's not as bad as what the other guy is doing. Even if we do not know of a better way, we should be diligent in our minds about whether or not something is tolerable. How often do we see underperforming departments, but continue to let them limp along? How often do we see wasteful practices and ignore the problems? Worse yet, how many senior members of the management team actively thwart their subordinates' attempts at sharing information and voicing criticism?

Plan for peak capacity, or get good at eliminating waste

January 25, 2012

By David M. Kasprzak

Plan for peak capacity, or get good at eliminating waste

when does anyone start to examine how we do things, to look for inefficiency? If we eliminated that inefficiency, how many hours of unnecessary processing, running around to find things or people, sitting in pointless meetings, etc. etc. could be done away with?

If you don’t like it, no one’s going to make you eat the whole thing

January 17, 2012

By David M. Kasprzak

If you don’t like it, no one’s going to make you eat the whole thing

Since I began blogging about ROWE a little while back, I’ve had a few emails from folks who have expressed that they have attempted to introduce ROWE in their own workplaces, only to find supervisors whose minds are closed to the concept (a situation I understand entirely). Typically, the supervisor / manager / business owner will state, even if he or she has bothered to become familiar with the concept is, “That will never work here.” The idea then is discarded, to wither and die on the slag heap of management indifference. Unfortunately, what these folks fail to realize,...

Getting Results: Starting with Why

January 2, 2012

By David M. Kasprzak

After a long Holiday break – I’m back! I hadn’t planned on letting the blog go for the Holidays, but a lot of good time spent around the house, catching up on unfinished projects and just spending time with the kids, was worth it. On to 2012….. If people are just tools, then any seemingly appropriate tool can be inserted into a process, and the process will run – more or less. (Yes, you can turn screws with a hammer. It’s not the best way – for either the screw or the hammer – but it can be done, even if...

Less Dad, more Grandpa

December 12, 2011

By David M. Kasprzak

Several times, I have heard people say that we need to get rid of the paternalistic, parenting relationships at work and gravitate more towards relationships based on patience, trust and mentoring. Every time I hear that sentiment, I get a shiver up my Dad spine, because it tends to reflect a lot of things about parenting that are, however unfortunate, full of grains of truth. Dads are expected to be authoritative. Their decisions are non-negotiable. They never show pain or fear. They have answers even when they don’t. Oh, and the last thing you ever want to do is piss...

Understanding why: Developing Critical Thinking in kids

December 5, 2011

By David M. Kasprzak

Understanding why: Developing Critical Thinking in kids

When faced with information that contradicts our understanding of the way things are supposed to be, we revert back to what we already know, claiming disbelief in the rightness of what we're seeing and failing to examine the situation in order to develop a new understanding. We are told to follow the rules, even if we don't understand them, and we insist on following the rules even when it is pointed out that those rules were based on false assumptions.

Ideas, not answers

November 1, 2011

By David M. Kasprzak

My 6-year-old son has show-and-tell at school every Friday. The night before his most recent presetation, I asked him what he wanted to bring to school. He simply said, “Hmmm….I don’t know!” and shrugged his shoulders, waiting for me to give him something he could use. It was then that my improvement genes went into hyperdrive, not to mention my parenting genes, too. “Well, let’s just come up with some ideas.” I told him. “You know, just some brainstorming.” “Umm…geee, I – I really just can’t think of anything.” “Really??” I said, “you have no thoughts at all??” “Well,...

Family Friday: Hiking Trails and Pretty Pink Dresses

October 28, 2011

By David M. Kasprzak

Family Friday: Hiking Trails and Pretty Pink Dresses

I was out hiking with my 6-year-old son this weekend at Beaver Brook in Hollis, NH. It was a perfect fall day to be out, and we walked well into the woods and around the pond on a 2 ½ hour trek. While we were out, we learned a few lessons about finding the fascinating in both the unusual, and the ordinary.

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Family

Last Week’s Top Tweets

Flexible workplaces – the best in respect for people?

Short-term thinking: Misery is OK, as long as it’s less lousy

Plan for peak capacity, or get good at eliminating waste

If you don’t like it, no one’s going to make you eat the whole thing

Getting Results: Starting with Why

Less Dad, more Grandpa

Understanding why: Developing Critical Thinking in kids

Ideas, not answers

Family Friday: Hiking Trails and Pretty Pink Dresses

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Site Creator & Author: David M. Kasprzak

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