We often think we have very little power in challenging situations, but perhaps a change of perspective could improve our position.<\/p>\n
There is a joke making the rounds on the Internet about girls at a private school putting on lipstick after they got to school and testing it on the girl\u2019s restroom mirror leaving scores of lip prints.\u00a0 The teachers brought the problem up in class and threatened extra homework if the girls did not quit leaving lipstick prints on the mirror. The number of prints increased.\u00a0 The Principal tried to stop the girls from leaving lipstick prints on the mirror by threatening to expel anyone she caught testing their lipstick. There were even more lipstick prints on the mirror. Finally the janitor, who was frustrated with management\u2019s inability to put a stop to the lipstick prints on the mirror, asked the principal to assemble all the girls in the restroom.\u00a0 As the girls stood smirking at their handy work of a mirror covered with lipstick prints, the janitor addressed them.\u00a0 \u201cLadies I am the one who has to clean this mirror every day, and I just want to show how difficult it is to remove lipstick prints. \u201c The girls giggled at causing the janitor extra work.\u00a0 The giggles turned to gasps as the janitor dipped his squeegee into the toilet and swiped it across the mirror.\u00a0 There were no more lipstick prints on the mirror from that day forward.<\/p>\n
Like the janitor you may have more personal power than you realize. By properly analyzing situations and developing strategies you may be able to accomplish your goals more readily than you think.\u00a0 For example, I worked in an office that was a short drive from the nearest shopping center and coffee shop.\u00a0 The boss had developed a habit of sending the office assistant, Debbie, for breakfast every morning.\u00a0 She felt it was demeaning and not part of her job.\u00a0 To make matters worse the staff would give her orders like she was a waitress.\u00a0 Then there was always the matter of being shortchanged when she collected the money from everyone. Debbie needed her job and tolerated the situation for sometime.\u00a0 Then one day she was delayed on her way back to the office, and the coffee and food was cold when she arrived.\u00a0 Although everyone was a bit upset they knew they couldn\u2019t complain.\u00a0 It would mean trouble for everyone if Debbie reported her situation to HR.\u00a0\u00a0 Debbie was sharp and observant. Starting the next day, when Debbie would make the office coffee run she would take her time getting back to the office.\u00a0 Not only was the food and coffee cold, but also someone had to cover the phones while she was gone.\u00a0 After a few days Debbie wasn\u2019t going for coffee anymore.<\/p>\n
There may be downsides to strategies like Debbie\u2019s.\u00a0 This was a government office with legally established employment rules and regulations.\u00a0 Perhaps in a private business, part of the office assistant\u2019s job may be to run errands. \u00a0Then Debbie\u2019s strategy may not have been successful, and may even have been detrimental to her career.\u00a0\u00a0 There is no one size fits all solution to career challenges.\u00a0\u00a0 Each individual must develop strategies and solutions to fit their individual circumstances and personality.\u00a0 One goal of the PracticaL Mentor is to provide the analytical skills to apply in building career strategies. Observing a situation from different viewpoints enhances perspective.\u00a0 In the words of Yogi Berra \u201cYou can observe a lot just by watching\u201d ….. \u00a0 Leave a comment; tell a friend.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We often think we have very little power in challenging situations, but perhaps a change of perspective could improve our position. There is a joke making the rounds on the Internet about girls at a private school putting on lipstick after they got to school and testing it on the girl\u2019s restroom mirror leaving scores […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,17,7],"tags":[5,9,16,3],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advice","category-career-challenges","category-office-problems","category-personality","tag-career-advice","tag-career-strategies","tag-harassment","tag-practicalmentor"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}