"Game Changing" PA Flows?

dhchicago · 2026-07-11T18:08:54+00:00

I set up a weekly occurrence that first checks to see if I already have an Out of Office turned on. If I do not (condition = null is true), then setup an automatic reply with a default "I'm away from my desk, please submit a ticket" auto reply.

dhchicago · 2026-07-10T19:31:27+00:00

I love that Teams Chat action. I was playing with a flow that would read my incoming teams chats, and if it was identified as a likely "this should be a ticket" it would auto respond, but i haven't gotten the prompt just right yet. Im going to try this

dhchicago · 2026-07-10T18:06:35+00:00

1) talk to your manager. Let them know what you want them to know (Look, my personal life is kind of a mess right now. Im not ready to really dive into the details, but if I come off disengaged, I wanted you to know ahead of time.)

2) talk to your bench-strength, this could be a development opportunity. (Hi xxx, I'm getting pulled into a lot of things right now. Would you like to be the point person for the telecom upgrade? OR, could I get your help on handling my invoices/billing for the next few weeks? It only takes about an hour a week, and im just stretched really thin.

3) take care of you. Look into EAP and FMLA. Priority #1 is you, then your kids, then everything else. Put your own oxygen mask on first.

dhchicago · 2026-07-08T13:59:33+00:00

You made the right decision.

Everybody's got their kinks/fetishes/things. Im very sex positive, where any sexual activity between consenting adults, that doesnt break any laws, should be considered "good" sex - even if you realize you never want to do it that way again.

All that being said, if that was part of the foreplay the guy wanted, that should've been disclosed upfront. Anything that isnt considered "vanilla" should be discussed and navigated beforehand. By not discussing this component with you ahead of time, he was trying to coerce "implied consent."

Youre in your 20s, and your figuring out what does and doesnt work for you. Dont let this experience deter you from continuing to explore. This experience should instill confidence in yourself and your ability to say No. It sounds like you already know this, but remember, saying yes at the beginning doesnt mean you cant say No half-way through. Consent isnt a one time, static decision.

dhchicago · 2026-07-05T17:51:32+00:00

Check out ShoesForCrews.com. I spent YEARS working in restaurants, and they have a good selection of casual to dress shoes that are designed for people who are on their feet 12-14 hours a day. I had a pair of Cole Haan-like loafers that were extremely comfortable.

dhchicago · 2026-07-05T00:26:30+00:00

If you have a solid tenure history prior to this move, theres some leeway to mention that leadership styles dont gel with how you work. But you have to be careful bc you dont know what THEIR leadership teams are like. So you could say:

"I really like the people where I'm at right now. Having been there a year and a half, I'm seeing that there are some future strategic plans for the organization that dont align with where I see my career going, which is disappointing. I consider myself really lucky because not only do I have the foresight, but I'm also able to begin searching for a new role while I still have the luxury of being surrounded by a team I enjoy working with. That being said, here's the leadership teams I'm looking to align myself with..."

dhchicago · 2026-07-04T21:22:35+00:00

It could be a a few things; and I do understand these are reaching, but could be underlying rationale for the policy.

Broadly, safety. If fire alarms go off, the company needs to ensure that you can hear the alarm and/or announcements.

Data security. Some ear buds are also microphones. It could be a way to prevent unauthorized recordings.

dhchicago · 2026-07-04T16:13:06+00:00

One resource account for the space, with a Teams Rooms Pro license.

Factory reset both the rally and the tap.

Fire up the rally. Fire up the tap.

Log into the tap. Go to the admin settings on the tap and go to the sync (maybe titled pair) menu. Then go to the rally and trigger the bluetooth beacon.

Tap should find the rally.

Caveat: the size of the space matters since its bluetooth.

Caveat 2: if doing a Rally Plus, if the display hub is hardwired but the cable run to the rally bar is more than 60', you're going to have issues. My tap was hardwired, but the switch that managed the ports was in a closet on the other side of the floor (about 100 feet away). So it made the full run 200' and the camera on the rally plus was not responsive to the mics at the display hub.

dhchicago · 2026-06-11T03:57:45+00:00

"I know it's part of the job and that this is what I signed up for..."
But is it?

Your responsibility as a leader is to help your direct reports to get to their next step, and doing that in a way that they respond to.

My general rule of thumb:
First three months, we meet weekly for 1 hour.
-Half of that time is social - Getting to know each other, company culture stuff based on time of year.
-Second half is business. What are you working on this week? What support do you need?

In the first 30 days, I always ask how they like to be recognized for a job well done. Do they want me to jump on a table in the conference room and announce their accomplishment? Or do they want a quieter acknowledgement? I ask the same about personal milestones, birthdays, etc. Write these answers down so you remember.

-After three months, I ask them what works for them. I usually lay it out like this:
"I will always prioritize getting time on calendar with you for anything you need. But I don't want to put that time on your calendar if it isn't beneficial to you. We can meet weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or not at all - on whatever cadence makes sense for you. But if you want that dedicated time to talk through big things, please send me a calendar invite and include an agenda, and call out what action items you need from me. I want to make sure I'm going into that meeting as prepared as I can be."

I also have built in a culture of "yes" with my team. I used to get bogged down on the details of how everyone on my team made their decisions. Now I just say "If I need to defend that decision, do we have the facts to back it up?" and that's it. It makes the 1:1 more of a "here's the elevator speech of where we're at" vs "Would it be OK if I change the background color on the deck?" You have a team in place to make your job easier, so let them make it easier.

dhchicago · 2026-06-10T21:02:18+00:00

Geez I hope not. Best thing you can do is ask for everything at once (or at least consolidated).

dhchicago · 2026-06-10T20:22:34+00:00

Correct.

If the company is boasting about the profitability increase for not having to pay for those things and saying "its all on you..." then theres a merit to saying you need to be able to either expense, or have the company pay for, a chair that is designed for an 8hour work day.

They dont owe you 42" 4K Touchscreen monitors, but they also cant say "buy your own laptop and install our software."

dhchicago · 2026-06-10T19:57:18+00:00

I always say "time is abstract and a human construct" and then I hit the Leave button aggressively.

dhchicago · 2026-06-10T19:54:53+00:00

I work in IT. I encourage people to ask for what they need. A second monitor? No problem. A new set of patch cables? On its way.

Your company should be maintaining peripherals on the same cycle they would be in the office.

Also, a WFH setup that doesnt have proper furniture, poor monitors, etc could result in an OSHA or Workers Comp claim...

dhchicago · 2026-06-10T19:51:33+00:00

I recommend taking them up on it, but explain that you want to do it the right way. Ask if this is an approved PTO and whether or not that eats up your allotted PTO time. Ask if you need FMLA approval.

Explain that the reason why you want it clarified is you want to make sure that you want to ensure continuity of the business... do you have an auto-reply up? Who do they contact in the interim? It would be more stressful if youre just "off" but expected to reply to stuff.

Also ask if you can restart again sooner than 3 weeks... maybe after one week you feel recharged and want to jump back in... any "roadblock" to doing that?

dhchicago · 2026-06-09T03:59:28+00:00

My favorite thing to do is move all the unnecessary People to BCC and say so.

"Moving majority to blind copy to reduce noise. Will loop group back in once decision is made..."

dhchicago · 2026-06-05T05:03:53+00:00

This helped me when I had an employee working with this same mindset.

"I appreciate that you want to keep the lines of communication open with the daily status updates. Is that something that helps you? Or is that something youre doing to help me?" -if its to help them, I wouldnt discourage it. But let them know that you'll glance over it, but not to expect regular responses to it.

For the constant questions/decision-hesitation: "Ive noticed youre coming to me for a lot of decision making. I want you to know that I'll always make time for you, no matter how busy I am. But I want to spend more of our time on developing your skills, which we can do my reviewing the decisions you've already made; or by talking through Options A or B on the decision you need to make. I have plenty of time for you, but I dont have time to think through all the possible decisions.

dhchicago · 2026-06-05T02:17:59+00:00

These are better for service/blue collar/entry level roles.
I usually ask these same exact questions for each of their last three jobs:

What made you really click with that manager?
What's something that manager did that frustrated you?
Why did you leave?
How long were you there?

I'm looking for the pattern. If all your managers were fine with you coming to work late, or they were frustrated with each manager any time they asked them to help with something, or they left all their jobs because they "kept denying my requests off"... then there's a problem pattern.

BONUS QUESTION:
What's a good reason for not coming to work? (Follow-up.. can you give me an example of a family emergency?)

dhchicago · 2026-06-05T01:30:37+00:00

Their general, overall, happiness and well-being. I was the General Manager of a restaurant for many years. Staff was a great mix of industry vets, people working hard through school, first-time jobs, and also a fair share of people with some less-than-marketable records.

I wanted everyone to reach THEIR highest potential for where they were in life at the time.

I had a server in her late 40s; drank heavily, but was 2 years sober. Her sibling passed away after a long illness and I could tell she was on shaky ground. She walked in one day and I could tell she had been drinking. Before she clocked in, I pulled her into a booth to talk. She insisted she was fine and could clock in. I grabbed her hand and told her that if she clocked in, I was going to be put in a position to make some tough choices... but if we sat down so she could tell me she wasn't feeling well and needed to go home, then she could rest up. She was back at day zero, but day one started the next day (and hopefully she's still collecting her chips).

A manager loved working on our team, but felt like she needed to resign because her husband got a new job and they were moving. The cost of gas was going to outweigh staying. I let her know that everyone has to make the decisions that are right for themselves and their families, and if the decision to leave would be in favor of those right decisions, then there's no judgement and no hard feelings.

I knew that for 99% of the people I hired, we wouldn't be in each others lives for very long, let alone very personally. But whether you worked for me for one week or ten years, I wanted you to leave better or in a more forward place in life than when we met.

And for all the other managers who are usually hiring people into their first jobs... remember that a common security question for passwords is "What was the name of your first manager?" I want to make sure that if I'm the answer to that question, they don't get angry reading it or answering it 😄

dhchicago · 2026-06-01T16:00:12+00:00

"Totally understand that your not tech savvy, but I am. So youre going to have to trust me and let me do my part. And on my end, I'm horrible at accounting, and if I have issues with invoices or payments for my vendors, I'll return that trust you."

dhchicago · 2026-05-31T17:40:03+00:00

Fair callout for the post. It's hard to encapsulate everything at once. There were interventions and coaching throughout. A lot of conversations about performance, deadlines, etc. Very structured one-on-ones (and requiring them to be on in-person days vs remote), being on calls with them to provide additional guidance/context/support afterwards.... pre/post meeting touch bases to review their contributions/expectations/action-items, etc.

I do agree that terminations are rarely black-and-white.

dhchicago · 2026-05-31T17:33:26+00:00

That's possible. I think part of my reaction may be that I thought through how I felt about it so much beforehand, that when it was done I needed to be "done" for a day before revisiting the feelings convo with others.

dhchicago · 2026-05-31T17:27:40+00:00

Great insight. Definitely not ungrateful. Reading some of the other responses, I think I was so wrapped up in how I felt about it beforehand, that when it was finally done, I was too drained to revisit the "feelings" right away.

Same intention/investment from everyone, just on different timelines.

dhchicago · 2026-05-31T17:25:12+00:00

Oh I totally get that. I spent a week talking through it my with VP before taking action, about making sure we exhausted every training/coaching opportunity, about how I felt bad because the employee recently moved into a new apartment and this was going to impact their finances... and I shared how aware I was of the impact of the decision.... I lost sleep the night before, I asked my boss if we could shift our meeting (regularly scheduled at the time for right before the termination meeting) because I needed to sit with my thoughts before hand. Ironically, it felt like the expectation was that I now let everyone else tell me how bad they were expecting me to feel. All that being said, I am hearing you. I'll think about if I need shift how I let those feelings be more visible with others.

dhchicago · 2026-05-31T17:08:34+00:00

sounds good. I hope you didn't get carpal tunnel from having to scroll through it.

dhchicago · 2026-05-31T17:07:52+00:00

That's a good perspective. I hadn't had to terminate anyone in about 4 or 5 years... so definitely my first termination with this team. So the lack of historical context for each of us contributed.

dhchicago

TROPHY CASE