by Dwayne Phillips When someone is quite specific in what they convey, they often mean the opposite. “I will inject some humor here,” often means that nothing funny will be said. “I don’t care about the money,” often means that I really do care about the money coming my way. “We are transparent here,” often […]
Entries Tagged as 'Expectations'
Specifics Usually Mean the Opposite
July 29th, 2024 · No Comments
Tags: Authentic · Communication · Expectations · Respect · Trust
Pretty Printing
June 24th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes it is worth the effort to make the output “look good.” Sometimes this pretty printing is a waste and only aggravates those involved. This past week at work I spent hours and hours pretty printing. We had “done the work” and were trying to make a printout of the work for […]
Tags: Appearances · Clarity · Communication · Design · Expectations · Please · Work
I Don’t Understand What You Are Saying
June 10th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we just don’t understand when someone else doesn’t understand. I was recently attending a meeting online. This was one of those ZoomerTeams things where the PowerPoint was on the screen and the presenter was talking in a room with one of those microphones on the conference table. I couldn’t understand what […]
Tags: Clarity · Communication · Expectations · Honesty · Humility · Listening · Respect
Where I Come From, We…
May 13th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips It is easy to use my past as a reason for my behavior. It’s just an excuse. Put it and all other excuses behind and be here and now and better. “You have to understand” (when we hear those words, run and hide quickly) I could keep this list going for a […]
Tags: Accountability · Choose · Excuses · Expectations · Growth · History · Improvement · Influence · Learning
Oh, You Do Things Well Here
May 9th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Excellence is an exception. It is also a pleasant surprise. Enjoy it. Sometimes I am surprised in that I walk into a new situation with a new group of persons and, WOW, they are doing things well. Best practices, best tools, high expectations, high satisfaction. It is all here. They are well […]
Tags: Chaos · Competence · Expectations · Expertise · People
Higher Expectations for Human Intelligence
April 29th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips These chattering bots can “generate” all sorts of information. Humans must do more and better to keep their paying jobs. I recently sat in a lecture about some worthwhile topic. The lecturer started with, “There are eight aspects to this topic that we will cover in the next ten sessions.” The lecturer […]
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Change · Expectations · Expertise · Improvement · Tools
Lower the Bar
November 23rd, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we simply have to lower expectations when it comes to what other people will do. Too bad. We can do better. It happened again the other day at work. I needed signatures on paper, or at least the digital equivalent of them. It was all set. Go to this building on […]
Tags: Accountability · Alternatives · Expectations · Failure · Improvement · People · Work
We Don’t Have Time
November 6th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips The old saying about not having time to do it once still holds. Perhaps we will learn one day. There is an old saying about not having the time to do something right, but always having the time to do it over and over and over and… I’m not sure who said […]
Tags: Choose · Communication · Expectations · Time · Work
The Parking Lot Concierge
September 21st, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips This is something we need. Shopping centers, please read. I’ve seen it many times. An adult steps out of their car in the shopping center parking lot. They have two or more small children with them. All the children are strapped into car seats. Let’s see, unbuckle the oldest child first, or […]
Tags: Adults · Culture · Expectations · Observation · Rest · Security
Someone Else’s Experience
August 21st, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips People have their own experiences. Assuming their experience denies them as a person. Try to avoid such. Each person has their own experience with something. It is often the case that several people have similar experiences. That gives me the luxury of describing some “average” experience and continuing to satisfy the “average” […]
Tags: Adults · Expectations · Learning · Other · Patience · Self