Working With People

It is with a feeling of qualified satisfaction that I share this final podcast for the year 2025. Working With People is a simple sounding topic… but as we all know, in real life, it contains a large list of leadership challenges. Are some challenges fun to take on… Yes! But do we mostly deal with the more complex personal side… also Yes! 

Well my Working With People podcast tries to offer five simple but specific “words of advice” in this topic area. Will they help… yes… but the five are just a beginning. 

Enjoy the listen and the holiday season. 

Transcript

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Hello again, and welcome to the December of 2025 Inspiring Innovations Learning Moments Podcast. As always, this is your monthly discussionist host, Marv Pickla, and I probably don't need to remind everyone that Christmas yeah is just around the corner, and that this is our last podcast for the year 2025. Did the year fly by? You bet. Did I have some fun and progressiveness helping people in my consultant and community college instructor roles this year? Again, absolutely yes. Plus, did I enjoy sharing and discussing these monthly podcasts and sharing my weekly triple I time blog messages with everyone? You bet I did. And I still remember, I still remember the days when my colleagues talked me about doing podcasts and blogs and how I had to directly admit that I didn't have any idea what they were talking about. And now, many years later, I've lost count of exactly how many blog messages I have shared every Friday, every week for a good number of years, and also now how many podcasts I have recorded and sent out on the 15th of every month, also for a solid group of years. Even when I think I have run my course of ideas and I'm thinking maybe this is the last one, okay, one or two more show up, and I really appreciate that you read them and that you listen. So now it's time for this month's discussionist topic. This month we're going to go into greater detail about the multiple challenges that go around working with people. Yep, that's the focus. This month we're going to talk about working with people. And let me start out by sharing a few statements that really should be no surprise to anyone. First, working with people is the toughest part of any job, right? Don't just know that. And and for me to issue the statement is just part of a basic understanding in that personnel field. And there is no job in the world that allows you to avoid working with people. At first glance, you might think working with people is just around jobs like sales and teaching and fast food and insurance and health care. Am I kind of right? But the fact is that in some way, shape, or form, every job at some point or experience requires you to interact directly or indirectly with other people. So you can't avoid it? You can't avoid mood swings and family challenges, age differences, education impacts, money matters, and the list goes on and on, both for the good and the not so good. Reality, therefore, tells you that it is high value for you to be regularly aware for the human nature factors that may add to or distract from the life or job issues you may face from time to time. And it does no good to assign blame for this challenge. It is a standard personnel management element that everyone comes in contact with, working with people. Okay, I can feel the sense of anticipation that you know comes along with this Christmas time inspiring innovations learning moments podcast. And I know you want me to share maybe a couple what I consider the greatest keys to working successfully with people everywhere, every day. Maybe? Well, I can't tell you that in these next few minutes that I'll deliver some kind of special magic. But today I'll talk about five valuable working with people concepts that have helped me and hopefully now can help you. Alright? Number one. Always realize the great value of being authentic with people. Be you as a coworker, as a friend, manager, whatever. Because being authentic helps to avoid misinterpretations of what information or instructions or concerns you may be discussing. Next, additionally, authenticity often raises the short and long-term trust value you will have with people as you work with them in the future. And also being just you when it comes to working with people creates kind of a professional worker-to-worker standard that often becomes shared with others that maybe in the end has collaborative value in the workplace. So number one, always be authentic. Number two, flexibility matters when effectively working with people. Think about it. No two people think or operate exactly the same. So keeping interactive flexibility in mind is always, always an excellent kind of working with people asset that you would want to have in your pocket. Plus, most times, if flexibility is in the working with people mode that you operate in, things like creativity and innovation in the workplace has an effective way of showing up. And the result can only be progressive and positive as a push to find that better way, and it becomes natural in your working relationships. So number two is always be flexible. Number three, number three, make it a common thought working with people process to trade places with them as an understandability improvement action. Okay, let me say that again. Make it a common thought working with people process to trade places with them as an attempt to improve understandability of the whole process. I know you get the specific point that I'm trying to share, right? By personally and or professionally changing chairs with whomever you are working with on a problem or an issue will help. It just helps you understand their point of view and and maybe uh they'll understand yours better. By swapping positions you know with people, the better you will, you know, they'll know where you're coming from and hopefully better respond to the better, the better to the specific challenges that you have put on the table, or that maybe that they put on the table. So remember, be ready to change places when you're working with people. Okay. Number four, organize your help thoughts, and issues. Organize your help thoughts and issues. Too often, when working with people on critical situations, you know, the lead person does not prepare for that moment, doesn't put their thoughts in order. So maybe instead of only one or two important basic issues that that are end up being discussed, fourteen are tossed on on what might be a 30-minute table. Too much. Okay? You understand? So don't do that. Rather put a plan, an agenda of sorts together, you know, with an achievable number of discussion items. And then push that quality versus quantity button in your mind and save the other topics for another day. Organize your help. And finally, number five, finally, number five. Don't have big surprises. You understand that, right? Don't toss out big surprises when working with people. And I must admit that because of my historic, let's try something new, different, innovative, the reaction to my surprises was not always great when I was working with people. As you establish a working culture with people in the end, major changes in creativity items will find their way more logically into timely discussions, but don't, you know, toss out surprises and and only do it in moderation. And your working with people process will go so much better. Remember, don't have surprises. Okay. Well, it's way past the time for me to sign off for 2025. But before I go, remember when working with people, be authentic, be flexible, be ready to change places, organize your help, and don't toss out surprises. And I know these will help. Have a good holiday season, take care and travel safe. As always, thanks for listening, and we will discuss more next year.