Your Life and Business

Ruth and Emily were sitting in a restaurant located not far from their office. They were studying the menu while waiting for Peter, their colleague. It was lunch time. “Do you have Aspirin? I have a slight headache,” Emily asked Ruth.

Good news travels fast but bad news travels faster. It was a day after Peter had sent an email to his colleagues in which he had informed them about his divorce and Peter had taken the day off.

It was some time ago when I wrote the last episode about a “virtual” company and its team: John (team leader), Ruth (his deputy), Emily (John’s personal assistant), Mike, Sam, and Peter (team members), Ron (senior manager), Helen (HR manager). My blog is going on – enjoy reading it: The door opened and Mike came into a small conference room. His colleagues, Emily, Peter, and Sam greeted him cheerfully.

Emily had just finished checking her appointments for the next day – it had been a very busy working day at the end of the year. She looked through the window and saw hundreds of starry snowflakes ...

 It was a nice and quiet evening - just a winter evening that John always enjoyed after a working day. He was sipping red wine and listening to music. Suddenly he recognized a well-known melody of the song “Why Does my Heart Feel so Bad?”

Ruth was sitting at her desk looking for something in her bag. It was an early Tuesday afternoon – just an ordinary working day. “Oh, I hate this bag. Each time when I want to find aspirin I can never find it. Maybe the bag is too big…,” Ruth mumbled. “Do you have a headache? Can I help you?” Mike asked her empathetically. Ruth nodded: “Thank you. I’ve just had a lunch with a colleague. She was talking non-stop and it made me crazy. Why can’t people listen?”

It was the second day of a very unusual teambuilding event. Ruth was hurriedly sipping coffee thinking about John’s unexpected idea of delegating authority to the team. She was glad that he was not going to change the team model. However, she knew John well enough and guessed there might be some hidden thoughts or plans.

It was a nice sunny summer’s day. John and his team were on their way to a countryside hotel where they were going to spend two days together. It was the so-called team-building event that they had every year. Each time it was almost the same – some sport activities, workshops, some kind of treasure hunt.

John came back to the office after a long afternoon meeting and was extremely glad to see all his team members lively discussing something. It was 17h30, the end of the working day, but he had some time for sharing thoughts and hearing feedback for the day. Interestingly, such discussions often helped him to bring the whole team together.

It was 08h30. Sam, Emily, John, and Peter were in the office. It was just an ordinary Monday morning but something was different. John was waiting for Mike, the new employee, that had been hired due to Helen’s courageous engagement. It was Mike’s first working day and John wanted to make it great because he knew that an employee’s first day on the job could be stressful. He looked quickly through the welcome activities plan. “Well, a comfortable working place, computer, Sam will do …, lunch…,” John murmured. Suddenly the door opened and Helen walked into the office: “Good morning, everybody!” She was not alone – a handsome man followed her. It was Mike. Helen introduced him to the team. John was the first who welcomed the new employee. “Hey, welcome,” Peter muttered and thought “he should be a nice coworker.” Emily gave Mike an up-down-over look as if she was going to say “It’s impossible not to like you - such a charming smile and soft voice.” Then she looked at Sam whose face expres...

Helen entered the conference room where Ron and John were listening to Peter’s presentation on napping. “Sorry, I am late,” Helen said as she took her seat near Ron. Being the HR manager she was glad to use every opportunity to learn more about employees’ concerns.

Ruth was still in the office sitting at her desk. She had just finished writing e-mails. Her mobile rang. It was John: “Ruth, where are you? We are waiting for you.” She looked at her watch. It was 19h00, high time to hurry up to the happy hour. “I am on my way. See you soon,” Ruth lied and didn’t know why. She grabbed her coat and went out.

John, a team leader, who had just come back from holiday, was sitting at his desk in the office. Emily, his personal assistant, and two other team members, Peter and Sam, had cheerfully greeted him. He’d found out that Ruth, his deputy, was in the face-to-face meeting with Ron, the new senior manager.

It had taken John only 30 minutes, to collect his bags and clear customs; and he was now on his way home. It was the last day of his holiday, and he’d arrived back to a beautiful sunny day. John had the window down in his car to keep him awake after his long flight; and he knew it would be a long day ahead because, later, he wanted to go to the office and meet his team.

Ruth looked at her watch and saw it was 08h50 and nearly time for their weekly team meeting. As John wasn’t here this week, she would be running the meeting herself. Ruth enjoyed bringing the team together on a regular basis to discuss progress and to hear everyone’s feedback.

Ron knew that starting a new job is considered to be one of the most stressful life events. He started as a senior manager two days before John went on holiday. Being John’s boss, Ron wanted to build a relationship with John’s team as quickly as possible.