To borrow from Lysander in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the course of true business never did run smooth. Whether we have meticulously planned or just thought things were going well, stuff happens to disrupt the flow of our workday. Where we can’t deny that it can possibly happen, we also can’t deny the impact it can have on the team or people you work with or manage.

Over the years I have lived through many stressful projects and events on the job. When I started out many times I would feel helpless, but as I moved up into manager and leadership roles, I always felt I needed to do something more – not just work hard to resolve the issue, but to ensure the morale of my team was addressed and supported when needed.

When I sat down to write this post, 2 stories immediately came to mind – 1 when I was on the receiving end of great leadership and the other when I took the lead to bolster my team’s morale.

It’s The Grande Things That Matter

When I approached my desk I knew things weren’t going well. A mass of people, from partners to directors, were huddled around where I sat next to my co-manager, whom I’ll call Becky. And the look on Becky’s face this early in the morning supported my concern.

The issue at hand was not a technical error, rather a business choice that was ultimately deemed incorrect, and now Becky, myself and our development team was deemed the critical path to resolve it. It resided in a part of the system that we had never worked on as we had no previous issues with it – the system was developed by consultants and turned over to the team we built from scratch. In the course of about an hour, there were meetings, finger-pointing, passing the buck, denials and a few heated words. But it was ultimately our job to troubleshoot the technology and work with a 3rd party vendor who provided part of the functionality to get the matter resolved.

As the dust settled from the meeting and we were back to our desks to start the triage, in slowly approached our new boss, the director of development, who started work that day. He did not charge in, rolling up his sleeves and diving into the problem, of which he really had less knowledge of than we did. Rather, he gradually approached us, said hi, acknowledged that there wasn’t much he could contribute to the work we were doing but knew we were on it and needed the time to do so.

And he offered to buy us a cup of coffee!

In the train wreck of our day so far, this was like a rainbow leading to a keg of beer next to a pot of gold. He caught us off guard, allowing is to take our mind off the problem for a minute, catch our breath and tell him how we wanted our coffee. That cup of coffee was one of the best I ever drank.

Talk Work And You Buy Your Own Lunch

At this same company, another fire drill happened a short while later. One of the top managers called for a meeting on a topic and wanted not only the managers but most of the development team – even my graphic designer – to attend. When he told me this I pushed back, as many times “all the king’s horses and men” were called out when they really weren’t needed, and I felt this was the case with this meeting as well. We did not need to get to the code and pixel level in this meeting, and as development manager I would work the team to create a solution to the issue.

Despite my common-sense plea, he demanded the team attend, and I apologized to my team as I told them they had to attend. Now I don’t want to brag but I was right – they did not need to attend, the meeting really went nowhere as was often the case and it sucked a couple of hours of our mornings we would never get back. The looks on my team’s faces were painful, and I felt bad for them but there was little I could do.

Well, there was little I could do about the meeting itself. When it ended and we walked back to our area I felt rumblings in my stomach as it was noon-time. So I gathered the team and I offered to take them to lunch at a new Italian restaurant that had opened nearby, and lunch was on the company under 1 condition – during lunch nobody could talk about work, and if they did, they would have to pay for their own meal. Color returned to the faces of everyone as we all walked together to lunch.

At the end of the meal I paid for everyone’s lunch – there was no talk of work at all, but just about every other topic in the universe was covered, from sports to religion to relationships to politics and beyond. We have had many team meetings and many people went out for lunch and drinks after work, but never had there been a gathering quite like this. I feel people got to really know each other a little better, and they were appreciative of my gesture.

Yea Team!

Maintaining positive morale in the workplace takes more thought time than it does in its action. As leaders, you need to be cognizant of it and the actions you take do not need to be grandiose all the time, but timely and appropriate.

I welcome you to share your comments or stories about morale in the comments of this post.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

---

Business • Thrive • (3) Comments • Permalink

On their own, business and sports are great areas of conversation in social media. Mix the two, and as it can be in real-life, it can be a tricky area to be in. Do it well, though, and it can go a long way.

This is what happened with me and a couple of others this past weekend, and related to the NFL’s AFC Divisional Playoff game between the New England Patriots (my team, which you may have gleaned from a post or 2 here on The Hot Iron) and the Denver Broncos. A couple of Broncos fans stepped up and offered bets with payouts via social media, and I jumped at the chance. With the Patriots handily beating the Broncos 45-10, My friend Glenn Letham and Jared from my favorite domain registrar Name.com paid me back this week via their blogs.

Glenn Letham

I met Glenn a few years back at Nokia OpenLab in Helsinki, Finland. Hailing from Vancouver, Canada – and formerly from the Denver area – Glenn is a journalist, speaker and expert in geographic information systems (GIS) and location-based services (LBS) and anything Geo for that matter. Though we have only seen each other in person a couple of times – once at the Nokia E73 Mode Beach Party (as pictured) and when he was in Chicago for a conference, Glenn is a great friend and collaborator, and always has time to answer a question or offer advice and support.

Add to that list a good sport, as he wrote a nice post on his blog, The AnyGeo Blog, about not only the Patriots win but a nice nod to 5 years of this blog. Had I won I had to write a post here about the Broncos. You can read that post on his blog here from this link.

Name.com

The fact that I made a bet on the Patriots/Broncos game with a Denver-based, globally renown domain name registrar is not unusual or surprising to me. From day 1 of my business relationship with Name.com, it has always been about people. I met my initial contact with them years back at a domain conference, and throughout the 4+ years working with them a person was always available to help if I needed one, in addition to them being proactive in offering assistance.

While I was tweeting with Glenn about the game last Friday, Jared the community manager at Name.com chimed in and offered to bet. Had I won, my Patriots fan Web site, GoPats.com, would have to pay homage to the Broncos. As I won, Jared had to go out and get and wear a Tom Brady jersey and post the picture on the Name.com blog. As a fellow bald guy I can say the colors work well for him, though I don’t think he quite sees it that way.

I tip my hat (which happens to be from the Patriots win in Super Bowl XXXVI) to Glenn and Jared and thank them for not only holding up their end of the bet, but in showing great examples of how tastefully done niche engagement on social media can be done well.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

---

Blogging • Business • Social Media • Thrive • (0) Comments • Permalink

If you are on Twitter, please tweet the following to help a great charity I support, YouthBuild Boston, win $2,500 from Nokia. All you need to do is click on the following link:

Click here to tweet/vote!

If the link does not work, please copy and paste the text to tweet it.

I’m voting for Entry #15 in the #NokiaCareUSContest! RT and help us win. [url=http://on.fb.me/tyNRR7]http://on.fb.me/tyNRR7[/url]

By tweeting this, you are entering YouthBuild Boston in a contest run by Nokia Care US, the domestic support arm of the mobile phone giant. There are 15 charities around the US vying for this, and the top 10 charities, as counted by the number of tweets they receive, will make it to the final round, where judges will select the winner of the $2,500 prize.

And I couldn’t think of a better charity to win this prize! YouthBuiild Boston, or YBB for short, is located in the Roxbury section of Boston and daily lives their tagline of “strengthening you, rebuilding communities.” This is the description of YBB which I submitted when I nominated them for this contest:

Since its inception, YouthBuild Boston (YBB) has been dedicated to improving the lives of young people of Boston by teaching skills that will enable them to become both self-sufficient and civically engaged. While YBB promotes the core values of youth development and community service, it stands out as an innovative non-profit by offering young people a hands-on approach to skills training and community building.

Its Theory of Change is predicated on the belief that, “young people, when empowered with the skills and education necessary to improve their quality of life, will realize that they can play a leadership role in strengthening their communities.” From construction to landscaping to design skills to encouraging and supporting young people to get their GED degree, YBB has become a cornerstone for all whose lives are touched by their work. During its 20 year history, YBB has helped more than 1,000 young people develop the skills and opportunities necessary to successfully enter the workforce.

YBB has adapted to the needs of the community over the years and their programs reflect it, branching out from their early programs solely on construction. They also offer the greater Boston community the opportunity to get involved, benefitting the students even more. As a result of what they do and how well they do it, YouthBuild Boston has gained a stellar reputation in the community, and with your support they can only make a greater impact.

I have been proud to support YBB for almost a decade, going back to when I lived in the Boston area, helping them with their Web technology over the years. What impresses me most about YBB is not only the amazing things they do, but also how they do it. Their level of professionalism is only matched by their dedication and compassionate service to the youth who are involved with their programs as well as to the community.

The deadline for tweet voting is this Friday, November 18, 2011. One vote per person, but feel free to pass it along to your friends. More information on the contest is available on the contest page on Facebook. As this is a contest sponsored by Nokia, and I evaluate their mobile devices on this blog, I must mention that, but it will have no impact on this contest.

Click here to tweet/vote!

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

---

Announcements • Business • Mobile Technology • Thrive • (0) Comments • Permalink

The next likemind will be Friday, August 19, 2011 in dozens of cities around the world.

In Chicago, it will be at Argo Tea, 140 S Dearborn St. at the corner of Adams and Dearborn Streets in the Loop from 8:00 am to 10:00 am.

I call likemind a gathering of creative-minded people, from various disciplines including Internet, advertising, art, social media, et. al. For more on likemind, read this great article on likemind Chicago from the Newcity and likemind from the New York Times.

Follow @likemindchicago on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

The first edition of our lame design, yet functional Web site is live at http://likemindchicago.com/.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

---

Announcements • Business • Technology • Thrive • likemind • (0) Comments • Permalink

I've always been an interactive guy. With crowds, as a DJ and improv performer. With causes, raising money and awareness for non-profits such as the fight against liver disease. With customers, as a Web strategist and developer.

Interaction defines me, and now it’s leading me down a new professional path.

In recent years, my professional interaction has meant building Web sites and Web applications strategically integrated with marketing, sales, HR and other key functions. Through my Web business, advising corporations to small businesses as a Web consultant fulfills a lifelong goal. And it provides incredible insight into different businesses – where I listen, collaborate, help think through strategic implications and costs, and ultimately, build some pretty tough sites.

Consulting independently has been nothing short of amazing. Where I have always worked with some equally amazing people on a project basis, it has not been a full-time practice. The interactive side of me is pushing me toward a new path of engaging again directly with a team. After much soul-searching, I’ve decided to seek a partner for my current business, or to take on a new professional role with an established firm.

At this point, I’m open to where talent, experience and any interesting opportunities may lead. My LinkedIn profile sums up my tenure as a manager, director and consultant – delivering Web solutions across development technologies, taking a big picture approach with comprehensive understanding of all aspects from strategy to building sites to the ensuring sites thrive with analytics, SEO, SEM and social media.

As usual here on The Hot Iron, and on such weighty matters, I’m first interacting with you. What kinds of experiences do you have with shifts in your career path – corporate, startup, independent consulting or other scenarios? Do you have suggestions or perhaps an opportunity for an interactive guy like me? I would love to hear your voice in this conversation that I’ve only mulled about on my own (and with my lovely wife) in recent months.

Editor's Note: This post was edited to remove and replace broken links.

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email

Announcements • Business • Strategize • Technology • Thrive • (14) Comments • Permalink