I Love Change, What Do You Mean You Don't?!

As part of my new job as a people manager I took an assessment so my HR department would be able to assign me a ton of training courses.

Well, maybe it was to identify by strengths and weaknesses and help me improve in a targeted manner.

Whatever the intent was, I now have 15 training classes to take.

One item that was identified as a weakness was my ability to cope with change.

I was shocked! I thrive on change, I honestly really like it.

I like to think I am pretty self aware and when I identify a problem I try to fix it.

But that's my weakness. The fixing it part. I always try to fix it even if it is not really my problem.

I know that. And I am working on that.

However this class showed me another weakness. My inability to understand that not everyone thrives on change like I do and how to work with and implement change that effects this segment of folks.

I was shocked to learn that most people fall into this resistance to change group.

No, that's a joke. I was not shocked to learn that. I know that, I am reminded of that by my boss, my husband, my father on a regular basis.

What I needed to learn was how to lead the change with them tagging a long, not dragging along.

The course I took was provided by Harvard ManageMentor. I think this program is available to employees of a lot of major corporations as a lot of my friends knew about Harvard ManageMentor when I mentioned it.

And yes, on successful completion of my first class I did pat myself on the back for scoring 100% on a class from Harvard. And yes, I do plan to tell people I graduated from Harvard when I complete all these training courses.

Come on. You would too! Admit it!

Throughout the training there were a few quotes that really stuck with me.  These are motto's I try to live daily.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared with what lies within us.

–Oliver WendellHolmes

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

–John F. Kennedy

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.

–Woodrow Wilson

Well, that one by WW isn't something I live as much as something I need to remember when I try to institute change.

I also have to remember that Rome was not built in a day.

I like this list, not just because I LOVE LISTS, but because it really is a great reminder of how to implement change in either the work place or your life.

Characteristics of an effective unit implementation plan:

• Be simple
• Be created by people at all affected levels
• Be structured in achievable chunks
• Specify roles and responsibilities
• Be flexible

And this list. Not just another list but it is a LIST about COMMUNICATION. How can I not love it?

What to communicate

• What the change program is and what it plans to do
• Why the change is taking place
• What the scope of the change program is
• What hurdles stand in the way of implementation
• What the criteria for success are and how success will be measured
• How people will be rewarded for success

The most important thing I took away from this course, besides all of the memories of times I have witnessed poorly rolled out change, was how to deal with resisters.

If you encounter resisters, try to gain their support by:

• Encouraging them to openly express their thoughts and feelings about the change program
• Listening carefully to their concerns, exploring their fears and taking their comments seriously
• Engaging them in the planning and implementation processes—making them a part of the solution
• Identifying those who have something to lose and anticipating how they might respond
• Helping them find new roles either in your group or somewhere else in the organization—roles that represent genuine contributions and mitigate their losses

Also, as you consider resisters, be sure to evaluate what part you may be playing in causing their resistance. It's possible that your approach to managing change or your leadership style may be threatening to others, thereby causing unnecessary friction and conflict.

That part about evaluating what part I might be playing in causing their resistance is HUGE! That's the part that most people are missing.

I am excited to put these practices into action and see if I can fix some of the failed changes we have implemented around here lately.

At least until I take the course about now not to be a fixer...

I am off to turn this weakness into a strength!

Hugs!

Kara

My source for this information is Harvard ManageMentor.

Weekend Update - Oh, How I Love Weekends Like This One

I am having a very difficult time typing this blog. Not because anything bad happened this weekend, in fact it was a nice and peaceful weekend.

I am having a difficult time because as I type there are two dogs fighting on my legs.

Hang on. I need to make this stop.

Okay, I am back. Cakes is nuts but Siri just wants to go back to sleep.

Ugh! Now Cakes is chewing on the tablet. Cakes, please stop.

This focusing thing on Monday morning at 6 am with only two sips of coffee in me and Cakes being nutzo is a bit much...

Anyway, this weekend was full of a lot of time to get organized and relax. After the summer we had this is exactly what I needed.

Hang on, Cakes is eating the cat tree.

They are super annoying this morning!

I was fully expecting they would be exhausted this morning after the evening they had last night. They took their first trip to the Saint Anthony Parkway Dog park and they loved it. Siri met a bunch of dogs who were much larger than her (three were Great Danes) and ran with them for about 45 minutes. She would get right in the mix like she was a 60 pound, two eyed dog, not the 40 pound, one eyed dog she is.

Cupcake, ugh, hang on again, Cupcake just found a paper bag and is dragging it around the house. I am debating on taking it from her. Never mind. She is bored with it.

Man, dog. Just go back to sleep! She just flopped down on the couch. Which she can jump on now!!  I think she might go to sleep. Siri is happily snoring on my foot now. I am horribly uncomfortable but I don't dare move. Luckily my coffee is in reach!

Where was I? Oh! Cupcake was the hit of the dog park. She played with all the people and soaked up all the hugs and love. Then she met Lola, an ugly little terrier who was about her height and they spend the rest of the night rolling around in the dirt together.

Cupcake was covered in a healthy layer of dirt when we left but she had a blast and is looking forward to going back.

Siri ask if she could live at the dog park. We explained that dog parks close and with the sun going down all the other dogs would be leaving soon. Then she asked if she could marry the dog park. While we were explaining why that would not be possible she passed out in the back of the van under the fully blasting AC. Where she stayed until Cupcake jumped her.

Those stinken dogs came home, ate dinner, then went out in the back yard and played with each other for another 15 minutes.

Now we know, dog parks are a must for these too!!

Other things we did this weekend:
We went swimming on Friday night where Willy passed the deep water swim test for the first time so he was able to go on the diving board with Heidi. We were so proud of him!

We finished cleaning the guest room and now, finally, have a fully functional guest room that someone could actually stay in with no notice. Hooray!!

We cleaned the walkway part of the storage room so now you can actually get to the freezer and pantry. What a novel idea!!

I made a menu for the week using a new board on Pinterest I called "meals for this week" and a task in my Cozi calender for a reminder of what is to be cooked each night. I am very excited to get back to cooking dinner most nights!

Shawn and I logged 5 volunteer hours at the Ice Arena with a very slow shift in the concession stand. Our second shift was canceled but on the up side we only have 15 more hours... ugh, 15 hours...

Heidi had Emily spend the night marking Heidi's first ever sleep over at our house. They ate ice cream, watched a movie, camped out on the floor in the living room, and had a great time!

We met up with my parents for breakfast at Birdtown Cafe in Robbinsdale. If you live in the area check them out. They are pretty good.

The dogs are finally both sleeping, one on either side of me so it is time to shut the tablet down and get ready for work.

One parting thought -

My thoughts and positive energy is being sent to my friends and Co-workers in South Florida who are being hit by Isaac right now.

Happy Monday everyone!

Hugs!
Kara

Friday's Letters

Well, it's pretty much official. Our summer just about over.

Shawn went back to work yesterday. Heidi spent the day with her Grandma and will be with her Granny part of the day today and all next week.

We will hit the State Fair next weekend and then school officially starts on Tuesday, September 4th.

Where the heck did this summer go?

Dear Heidi: I am so proud of all the things you accomplished this summer. You never cease to amazing me and I love watching you transition from a first grader to a second grader. I love you Lulu.

Dear Shawn: I am sorry I adopted so many dogs this summer which in turn meant you didn't get much on your project list. Thank you for building me a fence so Siri cannot run away. I love you.

Dear Siri: you were a total rockstar at your first training class last night. I have some ideas on how to keep you from chasing Eddie and Pete and I am excited to start working with you on them.

Dear Cupcake: You are cute beyond words. Thank you for cuddling with me on the couch this morning and for being such a wonderful bulldog.

Dear Pete: You frightened me when you got outside the other day but I knew you would come home. I hope you enjoyed your time hunting in the neighbors yard.

Dear Eddie: I am sorry I kicked you last night when I got that horrible cramp in my foot. I totally deserved to be bitten. I hope letting you play with the water in the bathroom sink made up for kicking you.

Dear Mean Neighbor: I hope you are happy we put up a fence. I have so much more I want to say but I will keep that to myself.

Dear Weekend: I don't have a lot of plans so I hope you decide to hang around a little longer than normal. I will do my part by starting you at noon today. Please do your part and not fly by.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Hugs,
Kara

Oh, My Aching Foot!

We are in the process of integrating Siri with our cats. It's not very scientific. Basically the cats are barricaded in my bedroom during the day or anytime Siri is not in her crate and have free run of the house when she is in the crate.

They also are able to go into the basement anytime they want but they have to make the trek from my room, at one end of the house, to the basement door, at the other end of the house.

It's been about 3 weeks since Siri moved in and I am not sure if it's getting any better between the cats and her but the cats are getting a little bolder.

I think Peter is just sick of being suck in my room or the basement, to be honest.

On Monday Peter was out in the living room when Siri was also in the living room. Siri has the scratches on her nose to prove it.

Siri just wants to meet the cats.

The cats think she wants to eat them.

Therefore the cats hiss and spit and growl anytime they see her.

It's a ton of fun.

Really.

Stop by and witness it for yourselves... But bring protective footwear or you will end up like me with three swollen and bruised toes from whacking said toes on a door frame when trying to scale a semi-Siri proof barricade when Peter decides he needs a window with a front yard view instead of a backyard view, makes his way into the guest room, and gets busted by Siri on his way back to my room.

Fun times.

Instead of showing you my ugly foot (again) I will share a picture of our bedroom barricade and the cat door in the basement door that Siri totally can fit through.

Our bedroom door, a pet gate that Siri leaps in a single bound, and two laundry baskets that Siri cannot jump.

The "cat" door on the new basement door (ignore the lack of molding, that's how we roll...)

If any of you have any ideas on integrating these wild beasts, I am all ears. Just know that holding the cats near the dog so she can sniff is not an option. These are two very large, fully clawed boy cats. I have the puncture wound on my thumb nail to prove it.

Hugs!

Kara

What We Have Been Doing For The Last Five Days...

You may have noticed I have been a bit absent the last few days.

Or maybe not.

In any case, things have been nuts at work so I come home exhausted. Home has been nuts because who ever thought it would be a good idea to adopt two dogs within 5 weeks of each other was insane.

Oh, that was me?

Um... I guess I am insane.

Last weekend we went out to see our friends new house. The dogs were in their crates for about 5 hours and when we got home Jess and the kids came over for dinner so it was normal crazy town in our house with in minutes.

Siri went into her spinning out of control mode that we, at this point, are not sure how to curb. She starts dog school on Thursday so that is number one on my list of things to learn.

Anyway, Siri goes outside, is totally cracked out with excitement and pent up energy and she spots a cat in the neighbors yard.

Next thing we know, she is in the neighbors yard.

Just like that! Jumped right over the fence.

Shawn went over the fence after her.

I was in the house finishing up dinner when Heidi walks in.

Let me tell you, this girl needs to upgrade her sense of urgency.  She just walks in the house and says "I have bad news..."

I ask her what her bad news is, expecting her to say Siri popped another ball when she says "Siri jumped the fence right into the mean neighbors yard and dad is trying to catch her."

WHAT?!

Jess jumped in her car and took off to meet Shawn, I grabbed the leash and ran around to the other side of the block to help. By the time I got over there Shawn had Siri by the collar and was tossing her into Jess's car.

That was the moment we knew we needed a bigger fence.

Siri spent the rest of the week on a tie out while on the backyard.

Shawn and I spent the rest of the week being mad about having to build a new fence.

And then we did what we always do.  We got over it and got to work.

First Shawn had to take down the old wire fence along the back of the yard.

Cupcake thought she was helping by surveying the folded up fencing.

Ryan and Shawn, with some help from Willy, and Tony marked where the new posts will go.

This is where the pictures stop for awhile. I was not able to be Team Photographer this time. I stained all the panels and was on Dog Duty. During one Dog Duty task I had to bring both dogs inside to get them out of the sun. I may or may not have watched two episodes of Warehouse 13 on the Netflix.

Many trips to Menards, a few trips to Home Depot, a trip to Patio Town, two days of hard labor, and a lot of sore muscles later, we have a beautiful fence.

We had it fully installed by Sunday night but it wasn't fully stained until Tuesday evening.

Siri posed for some pictures. She is such a ham!

And that's it. That is really all we did this weekend. It's really all we did Friday through Tuesday night.

While we were not expecting to install a fence this weekend, I am pleased with the finish product. And for once we are actually 100% completed with this project when we are walking away from it. No lose ends, no details. It's done.

What made me the most happy about this project was watching Siri and Cakes zoom around they yard together with no worry about them leaving the yard.

When my dogs are happy, I am happy.

Hugs!
Kara

Not to Busy to Be Funny...

I am to busy to write a proper post.

And my foot hurts.  I will tell you about that tomorrow.

Maybe.

Or Monday.

No promises.

Since I am too busy to write a proper post I will share two conversations with you that prove I am funny.

Shawn, take note.

Conversation 1 via IM:

Me: Do you know where that is?
Friend: Wisconsin
Me: Sounds Cheesy.  HA! Aren't I funny?
Friend: LOL wow, I see where Heidi gets it
Me: See what I did there? Wisconsin? Cheese? I am funny.

This is the point where my friend stops responding to me, walks over to my office and says, "I had to stop responding to you because you were cracking me up and I didn't want to encourage you any more."

Conversation 2 via IM:

Co-worker: here is my rant of the day:  Tired of rumors about bigger iPhones and smaller iPads
Kara: I bought a table a few weeks ago
Kara: an Asus Transformer
Kara: I love it.
Kara: it docks to a keyboard.
Kara: and runs on Andriod Ice Cream Sandwich
Co-worker: in lieu of my joke...you should complain about it being too big and your phone being too small
Kara: Okay, I will
Kara: My table it too big and I can't believe how small my phone was.
Co-worker: lol
Kara: I wish my phone was the size of a notebook
Kara: because that would be super cool.
Kara: I miss the days of cell phones that weighed 17 pounds. I want to go back to that.
Kara: But I want the battery to only last 4 hours.
Kara: Don't go back to the days of the 5 day batter. That would suck.
Kara: Okay. I am done.
Co-worker: lol
Kara: HAHA! I must type to fast. I did not buy a TABLE, I bought a TABLET. But I think you got that from the context.
Co-worker: I figured but then I thought you have a legit complaint about your table being too big
Kara: HA!!!
Kara: My table doesn't fit in my bag very well.
Kara: by my tablet does.
Kara: I need more sleep.
Co-worker: The only difference between the two is a 't'
Kara: Thanks for the laugh

See! Other people think I am funny. It's not just me.

The Time We Had Three Dogs For A Minute

I am in the guest room trying to put stuff away, throw stuff away, make a donation box, make the room not look like a storage locker, when I look out the window and see a Chihuahua run up the driveway.

"There's a Chi-wow-wow on the driveway." I call out to whoever is in the living room.

"Yeah, we have seen that dog before" they call back.

Me: "No, there is a Chi-wow-wow on the driveway right now. It just ran up towards the cars."

Heidi: "I will go get it!!"

Shawn: "Um Heidi, wait for me."

And then run out the door.

For the next 20 minutes Heidi, Shawn, and my nephew try to bribe this little Chihuahua out from under the van. In that time Heidi has named it "wah-wha" and Shawn has decided we will keep it and hang up fliers. And my eyes are aching from all the rolling they are doing in my head.

They finally pull this little dog out and we pop it into a cat carrier.

Shawn is telling Heidi to go get food and water when I say "I will not, cannot have another dog in this house so please tell me I can call Animal Control. PLEASE..."

Shawn reluctantly agrees.

Honestly, this dog has been at our house for about 30 minutes at this point and no one appears to be looking for her. How long do we have to keep her?

I call 911 and request the dog be picked up.

Fast forward a very long 20 minutes waiting for the Community Service Officer to come pick her up. Shawn has run out to pick up dinner and is just returning to the house. The dog is in the cat carrier on the front lawn. Siri and Cakes are in the backyard making a lot of upset noises because we are ignoring them.

The neighbor walks by with her dog and notices Siri. She has not met Siri yet so we invite her up to introduce the dogs.

Siri get all crazy because she LOVES other dogs but they are separated by a fence. She is on her tie out (a very temporary measure until we can get a bigger fence because, guess what?! She is a fence jumper! Yay me!!) so she cannot get out but when Shawn opens the gate out runs Cakes.

Just as Cakes runs out, the neighbor dog backs out of her collar.

At this point we have one very large yellow lab running circles around our car, a portly 4 month old English Bulldog chasing her, a one eye pitbull on a tie out behind a fence standing on her back legs dancing and crying at full volume, and a Chihuahua in a cat carrier.

So, because it only makes sense, this is the exact point when the CSO shows up to get the little dog.

My neighbor and I are running around like crazy women trying to catch dogs while laughing hysterically about the irony of the situation.

It was madness!

We had everyone back in their place by the time the CSO walked into the yard but we were still laughing so hard I am sure he thought we were nuts!

The CSO took the little pup out to PUPS in Maple Grove where they will try to locate their owners and we went back to being a slightly crazy normal family with only 2 dogs.

Yes, I did make Heidi talk to the dog in Spanish. No, I do not think there is anything wrong with that. Had Spanish class not been canceled for this week she would have been speaking Spanish with her friends and tutor and not entertaining this little pup anyway so it all worked out.