Gifts of the Season

The holidays are a season of lights, and a season of gifts–gifts given, received, and cherished. In that spirit, I wanted to take a moment today to share with you some gifts that I have received from family, friends, and colleagues that have deeply touched my professional and personal life.

I have been truly blessed to have had many role models, guides, and mentors who have been so kind and caring to share their wisdom and their life’s example with me. To those named below, and to the many others not named but who have contributed a warm smile, a caring thought, or a helping hand, I thank you for all you have done for me and for the many lives you touch each day.

• For my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles – for showing me how to care for and about people every day, with kindness, support, compassion, and dignity
• For my brother James – who showed me how to conceive and develop the systems and  processes you need; and for my brother John – who showed me that success is showing up and getting the job done day after day with excellence
• For Kathy – who showed me that drawing clean lines and tidy policies is great, but reality isn’t always so neat and clear, and taking care of people’s needs is the important thing
• For Vicki and Gretchen – who both taught me that having a good answer is important, but doing the hard work to prepare the fields in advance is what helps the answer be accepted and take root
• For Doug – who showed me what thinking outside the box looks like, and that taking people out of boxes and putting them into positions where they can do their best work is really the only way to recruit and sustain excellence
• For Jeff – who taught me that the best way to support the business is to know and love the business
• For Martin – who showed me that the best “employee relations” starts with the question, “How can we help?”
• For Paula – who encouraged me to say what I needed to say with a clear voice and a strong heart, and that people would respond to clarity and sincerity above all else
• For Vicki – who taught me that executives are just like you and me–if you remember that they have their doubts and fears and want some peace and comfort and milk and cookies at the end of the day, you’ll be able to work with them all just fine

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and wishes and blessings for a year of peace, healing, happiness, and fulfillment. May we all have our milk and cookies and comforts today and always!

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Hearing Evident Truths

The firm I work for has recently received numerous requests from clients to assist them with employee surveys.  My experience is that the difficulty with employee surveys is not conducting them, but truly listening to the results — a truth that was reinforced to me while watching the classic holiday program, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Linus Speaks Up

Towards the end of the program, ever-beleaguered Charlie Brown — despairing over the commercialization of Christmas — asks, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”  His wise friend, Linus, steps forward calmly and confidently and gives an answer for the ages (click here):

It strikes me that Linus’ answer, like so many organizational truths, was known to all — but unspoken but by a few.  It took someone willing to ask the question … and someone willing to say what everyone was thinking … for the answer to come forth.

Missing the “Ah-Ha” Moment

A company I worked for used to conduct an employee survey every year about this time.  For several years, they received consistent answers to a number of questions surrounding “What can we do to improve the company?” Responses were invariably to the effect of, “Communication between managers and employees is very poor,” “The company doesn’t seem to have a clear direction,” “I personally like my manager, but people don’t have a lot of confidence in the management team in general,” and the like.

Unfortunately, rather than trying to solve the communication and confidence issues that the employees identified, the management team — hurt and perplexed by the perennially negative results — decided to discontinue the survey.  (Yes — a heavy sigh, indeed.  They did have a penchant for learning the wrong lesson, I‘m afraid).

A Hopeful Ending

The story above — albeit all too common, I’m afraid — isn’t the only possible conclusion to these issues, of course.  To end where we began, the closing scene of A Charlie Brown Christmas offers a dose of hope that groups that wish to learn from evident truths can do so.  After Linus’ heartfelt proclamation, the Peanuts gang has a chance to reflect of what he’s said and, one by one, they reconsider their views on a symbolically important issue — the beauty of Charlie Brown’s scraggly but noble tree.  In the end, the tree is given tender loving care and it “grows” into a true thing of beauty as the group gathers around it for a heartwarming hymn.

Once spoken out loud, Linus’ wisdom was taken to heart and behaviors changed. Here’s wishing that each of us can help our leadership teams to seek out, embrace, and act on the evident truths in our organizations in the coming year.  Happy New Year to all!

Related articles

• “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!” (donfharris.com)
• Movie Quote Christmas Day – A Charlie Brown Christmas (steadilyskippingstones.wordpress.com)

A Time of Gifts and Miracles

In my faith tradition and others, the holiday season is a time of great anticipation and preparation; a time of hope and of hopes fulfilled; a time of gifts, and a time of miracles.  These are my wishes for each of us …

… that we may prepare diligently for the tasks that are before us, and that we might look forward with great eagerness and anticipation to new adventures large and small in the new year

… that we never lose heart, always keeping hope and wonder alive, and that our fondest wishes might come to fulfillment in ways we could never expect

… that we share our gifts freely with those around us; and that we might recognize, encourage, and cherish the gifts others share with us

… that we experience a world of miracles that transform us into our better selves, always.

These are my hopes and wishes for us – both professionally and personally – this holiday season.  May peace and contentment be yours.

Related articles

• Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Clause
• Tis the Season for Miracles & Light! (dailymuse.spiritlightinsight.com)

Special Christmas Wishes

"God Bless Us, everyone"

I’d like to send special Christmas wishes to all my blogging friends, colleagues, and readers.  I’ve enjoyed sharing thoughts and perspectives these past several months, and I look forward to exploring many new ideas in the coming year.  Realizing that we celebrate and observe a wide range of religious and cultural traditions nationally and globally, I wish everyone a season of rest, reflection, and renewal, and sharing the most important things with those closest to us.  As Charles Dickens‘ Tiny Tim rightly observed … “God bless us, everyone.”

For those that celebrate the religious meaning of Christmas, I offer special wishes for Blessings and prayers this holy season.  May we always recall Charlie Brown’s wise young friend Linus’ beautiful monologue on the meaning of Christmas (click here).

A Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Michael