I coach employed people all week. I also coach employers. And all those hours of human talking has led me to a fundamental belief about the nature of employment: individuals and companies are like two sides of a plastic Easter egg. Healthy companies use managers to pay attention to the way they CLICK. (Stay with…
I decided to spend Fridays in San Francisco for Q4 in 2016, half in an effort to grow my local network and half to prove that I’m out of ICU and back at work. So I set up a bunch of coffees and lunches. I learned how to ride the BART better and also learned…
Recently I was asked to write and speak about the topic of waiting. I thought I’d share it here. So here’s how it works: each employee gets 30 minutes. I introduce myself as a consultant, we sit down and I assure them confidentiality. I tell them that I’m there to look for patterns across all…
Kelsie Kerr is a well-known chef. She founded Standard Fare in West Berkeley in 2014 and has been involved with a number of well-known restaurants and projects, including Chez Panisse, cookbooks and designing curriculum for cooking schools. I’m a sucker for the scones, muffins and coffee at Standard Fare, which is one of my favorite…
I’ve been doing yoga two mornings a week for a few months now. At first I wasn’t very good (although any yoga teacher will diplomatically tell you that just showing up and trying is all that’s necessary). I wasn’t super bendy, I didn’t know the difference between warrior poses, I had a hard time remembering…
AAron Jones is the paralegal/office manager/accounting guru for a private defense attorney in West Berkeley. For a long time I thought he was our neighbor because we saw him so often, but then one day I realized that his office is on our block and he’s there so often because he works really, really hard.…
Plucky turned 3 years old this month! To celebrate, I’ll be publishing 3 interviews with workers in very different industries. I like thinking about overlap across jobs, the way we approach our work, our challenges and our high points. Crossing the border to talk about other industries is a great way to reflect on our…
I had a baby in July and in the last weeks of being pregnant I used to hear this song on the radio all the time. It’s called You’ll Be Okay by a band called A Great Big World. Since I spent many hours each week this spring coaching leaders and to-be-leaders, I thought about…
I am starting to seriously doubt my future with the company I currently work for. How do you know it’s time to leave? If it’s not time to leave, how do you make staying seem like a better option? Boy, this is a popular question. I want to start by saying that work and life…
Reflections on Year 2 of coaching, consulting and empowering humans in the workplace Recently I had a long conversation with my Dad about how religious institutions and other community-based groups are hurting these days. He asked me where people find what they used to get out of church or scouts or local communities. I suggested…
Dear Plucky, I’ve been waiting for a promotion for a long time and keep getting passed up, but my manager says I’m doing great. Should I just ask directly for the promotion? Is this seen as too self-centered? Thank you, Stuck but Ambitious ———– Heya Stuck, I’m picturing you in a holding pattern, like planes…
Dear Plucky, What’s a good approach to doing performance reviews at a very small company? There is a sense among all of us that we want performance reviews, because we want to improve. But also that it’s awkward at best and dangerous at worst. Dangerous, meaning, changing the nature of a friendship or uncovering something…