The Bloggone Truth

Handling Confrontation

2010-03-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

There is no “fool proof” way to confront another individual. Confrontations are like playing Russian roulette; you either get a bullet, or a save. But you can never know for sure, what you will get, which is what makes then especially difficult. I think situations where you hold the upper hand over someone else are somewhat easier, however, because you have the last say. For instance, a confrontation is more apt to go over somewhat peacefully between an employee and his/her boss, because unless it’s your wish to be fired, nine times out of ten you are going to exude a certain level of respect and self-restraint with your employer. But in any confrontational situation, preparation is an important key element. It’s important to be prepared and to have a game plan. You need to figure out how you are going to approach the situation, and decide on the outcome you hope to achieve by evaluating the severity of the problem. Is it worth working on, or would it be in everyone’s best interest to just let it go? Consider the following situation:

-----“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

As a manager, you are expected to handle difficult situations rationally. In the situation described above, the employee has been with the company for two years. Therefore, unless this business has been hard up for workers and couldn’t afford to let anyone go, this employee had to have been performing to standards at some point. So it would be important for me to take into consideration the employee’s work history.

The next step would be to let the employee know that we needed to have a discussion and set up a time to meet at some point during the day. I would probably begin the meeting by asking the employee how he/she felt work was going, or if he/she was unhappy or experiencing any difficulties that I could possibly help with. Before asserting any sort of reprimand, I would allow the employee the opportunity to express any issues that may potentially be causing a decline in his/her performance. Then I would let them know that I’d noticed a decline, and ask how he/she felt this issue could be resolved. Depending on the answers I received, I would either let the employee know that they would be on a probationary watch to see whether or not their performance improved, or that they would have to be let go. It’s as simple as that. If the individual expressed sincere remorse and was actually experiencing troubles that were causing the decline, I would try to work with them as much as possible to resolve the issue. But if it became a habitual problem, and there was just no indication that the individual was making any attempts towards improvement, I would have no other choice but to let them go.

You should always allow for explanation first because there may be a valid reason for the decline in performance, or the employee simply may not have noticed that their attitude had changed, or that their work ethic had begun to diminish. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that the lines of communication are open, before jumping to conclusions or acting irrationally.

Media Magic!

2010-03-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Communication and media, and the methods in which they are combined have slowly, yet significantly, evolved over time, and they continue to evolve as time progresses. If you think about it, at one point (way, way, way back in the day), not even typewriters existed. If you wanted to get certain information out or passed on, it had to be hand written and sent by messenger. It could take days for a message to get to its intended audience, but it was custom and no big deal. If we had to revert back to messenger media, our entire world structure would probably collapse. We couldn’t handle that. Most of us can’t even go a day without “tweeting”, let alone having to wait for Tiger Wood’s verdict on returning to Golf via snail mail as opposed to getting “breaking news coverage” on CNN. As technology continues to advance, so does our dependency on it.

Print media was THE original Don Dadda of the what, where, why, and how. When the printing press was created back in the mid 1400’s, I can imagine that the wrists of many people experienced much needed relief. Back then, newspapers only sold for pennies, and became the hottest commodity for news and entertainment. If you wanted to find out which country you were at war with, or who had committed adultery and with whom, all you had to do was spare a penny and pick up the paper; almost like today, except all you need to do now is enter a name in a Google search engine. It’s funny how the news never seems to change; however, what does change is how fast you have access to finding out the “what’s what” and “who’s who.”

The radio soon became the next hot item on the meat market. Radio wave lengths were initially used to communicate overseas for navigational means through Morse code. This was also around the time when the idea of being able to communicate through the telephone was created. Soon afterwards, the realization that a wider variety of people could be reached, and quicker, through radio, opened the door to the radio that we all know today. Even though newspapers never really lost their purpose, radio was soon also utilized as a ways to get information out to people. And then, it was like a light bulb went off in someone’s head and they said, “let there be music radio!” After that, the radio became a means of obtaining important information regarding world issues, and also a musical outlet for when you got tired of hearing those depressing stories about the world and its issues!

But alas, genius minds were not done yet. Why not take it a step further?, suggested our genius Einstein’s of the past. Why not also be able to hear AND see who is providing this ever necessary information we hear of on the radio. And poof, the television was invented! Well, it wasn’t really poof. It took time and effort put forth by many inventors such as Vladimir Kosma Zworykin and Philo Farnsworth ( in addition to others who contributed to the minute detailing of television success) in order to make what we have considered to be one of the biggest and most important inventions of all time, (up until the present point). You were really something hot if you owned a little 9 inch, black and white, rabbit eared television back in the day. Never could it have been imagined that pretty soon, 60 inch plasma flat screens would equate with being the cream of the crop. When the television was up and running, people began to realize it’s entertainment capability, and soon news and entertainment were broadcast side by side on the magnificent magical tube. The concept of movies and television shows began to take flight and the television became the new wheel invention.

Now, imagine a device similar to a T.V, which allows you to connect with millions of other people around the world! Yeah, someone’s already been there and done that. Our hot bravura commodity of today is the international information highway, better known as the internet. I would say that it is a sort of combination of all three of the prior media outlets mentioned above. Most of the information provided is received in print and must be read, but it also provides the option of audio as well as visual reception. However, its cherry on top of the pie is that it offers the ability to actually communicate with other people directly. The previous forms did not provide that same capability. With the internet, you can chat with someone who lives in Costa Rica, and actually see them while your chatting through a web cam, all while sitting in a café in Boston. You can pretty much do any and everything through the internet without even leaving your bed. It has opened the door to an even broader range of communication than the previous methods.

So far, the list stops here, but everyday another technological phenomenon is being tweaked to perfection. At one point before the creation of these media technologies, the notion of mechanical printing, hearing a voice through a box and then actually seeing them on screen, and being able to communicate (semi face-to-face) with someone who lives in another country, was farfetched. Even ludicrous perhaps. But it is now a reality. I’m only anxious to find out what’s next. Perhaps teleportation…

Performance VS Politics

2010-03-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

"First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics."
-Mo'nique (Academy Award winner for best actress in a supporting role)

Anyone who isn't living under a rock somewhere in Kalamazoo was probably up watching the Academy Awards last night. Although somewhat lengthy, it was a very exciting show. I'm sure that many of you were gagging, as I was during the opening performance. Luckily we had Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as hosts to take our minds off of the catastrophy that was Neil Patrick Harris and his entire performance!
I must admit, that one of the main reasons I watched was to see whether or not Miss. Mo'nique would bring an award home, and boy was I glad she did. During her speech, she made an excellent statement, which I quoted above. Performance definitely persevered over politics yesterday. Her performance in 'Precious' was definitely one to notice, and stood out from the rest. Going up against seasoned vets such as Penelope Cruz, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, really left room for doubt in a lot of minds; but she pulled it off and earned her Oscar for best actress in a supporting role.
Another pleasant surprise was Jeff bridges taking home the glory for best actor. His competition included George Clooney and Morgan Freeman. I'm sure many people, including myself, were sure either George or Morgan would be taking the Oscar home with them. So Jeff’s win was another testament to performance over politics. I haven't seen 'Crazy Heart' yet, but it's evident that his performance was chart topping!

Christoph Waltz stole the cookie from Vet's Matt Damon and Woody Harrelson. His performance in 'Inglorious Bastards' was definitely Oscar worthy. If you’ve seen ‘Inglorious Bastards’, you probably agree 100% that Christoph deserved that Oscar.
Another big winner last night was Sandra bullock who took Mr. Oscar home for best Actress in 'The Blind Side.' Although a seasoned vet herself, I'm sure it was nail biting being in the same category as Meryl Streep, who is never fails to receive a nomination (as it was pointed out, playfully, last night).
It was almost set in stone beforehand, that 'Avatar' would be the phenom of the awards last night, and although it came close, it was the masterminds behind 'The Hurt Locker' who hit it big , taking home the most Oscars last night, including best picture. A member of the crew also made history last night by becoming the first female to take home an Oscar for best director, Kathryn Bigelow.