Thursday 22 November 2007

Spade a Spade

I've never been known to mince my words. And whilst everyone else is busy not talking about the elephant in the room, I am renowned the world over for speaking up loudly and clearly with "What about the elephant?"

This has gotten me into trouble on numerous occasions and more often than not has endeared me to others. I've had numerous managers tell me I shouldn't speak so freely and openly. It never stopped me. I've known acquaintances who have not become friends because they couldn't deal with my forthrightness.

At the end of day, a spade is a spade. I call it as I see it. People can count on me to give them my honest assessment.

Yesterday, I found out that the team I manage at work returned some of the highest scores in employee engagement in all of IS across our entire organisation. We scored first or second highest in all categories. I was thrilled to bits.

Employee Engagement measures an individual's satisfaction with their work and their manager, commitment to the organisation and general happiness with the work and their prospects for the future.

I'm not sure how much of our high scores has to do with me. I try to encourage an open and transparent environment. We have passionate debates and disagreements. We are all so different and every person brings different strengths to the team making us a powerful force to be reckoned with.

I trust them to continually strive to do their best and they trust me to have their backs. I make sure that we have as much fun as possible under what can be described as stressful, stifling and conflicting pressures. I hope they feel I take the heat for them. I stand up for them (even to senior management higher up the food chain than me).

I'd like to say thanks to my team for being the amazing team that they are. They give me their best and inspire me to do my best for them. They are all individual heroes who work together to create a superhero team and make an astonishing contribution to the value of our organisation.

I'm proud to work with them. I hope they are happy to work with me!

4 comments:

Janell said...

Congratulations to you and your team!

Unknown said...

LaDawn, congratulations on the results, of course it's no surprise to me. I just hope that there is no link between me leaving and the high scores!

LaDawn said...

Ed - You are truly missed and if Sapin doesn't work out you are always welcome back. I can only imagine how high the scores might have been if you had not abandoned us! Hope you are enjoying the warm sunshine and the love of your life.

stephanie said...

A Spade is a Spade!