Random Topics 3.1

[LyceeFruit PE]

Very interesting read:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191001-the-bias-behind-the-worlds-greatest-catastrophes

that was an interesting read, thanks for sharing!

 

[leggo PE]

Sounds like one of the partners at my firm, who always gets on unrelated tangents in meetings and circles back around to earlier parts of the tangents repeatedly before someone is able to interject and bring the discussion back to its original point...

 

[Road Guy]

Serious question here - 

How does one coach his employee to stop making 30-second question / answer discussions last 30 minutes with EVERYONE?  It's his personality and he can talk forever about everything steering from the original topic to another seamlessly.

keep notes throughout the week and then delete the time from his timesheet on Friday? Sure its passive aggressive, but effective!

 

[Dleg]

Very interesting read:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191001-the-bias-behind-the-worlds-greatest-catastrophes

Good article. This principle really stands out having worked in multiple organizations with different attitudes toward risk. Not to mention having been involved (peripherally) in a couple of fatal accidents, where outcome bias was clearly at play ("I've done this dozens of times and nothing has ever happened").  I recently watched my new host organization allow staff to be placed in a dangerous environment without the proper protective equipment, and the answer was "it's an emergency, and it's pretty unlikely anything will happen to anyone". Sure enough, nothing happened and they will be far more likely to ignore safety precautions (and objections from employees) again in the future.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Serious question here - 

How does one coach his employee to stop making 30-second question / answer discussions last 30 minutes with EVERYONE?  It's his personality and he can talk forever about everything steering from the original topic to another seamlessly.

Dunno...but let me know if you find out.  My boss and another supervisor at work are both like this.  I dread whenever either of them drop by to ask a 'simple' question.  It's at least 30 minutes of my day that I'm not going to get back.

 

[JayKay PE]

Serious question here - 

How does one coach his employee to stop making 30-second question / answer discussions last 30 minutes with EVERYONE?  It's his personality and he can talk forever about everything steering from the original topic to another seamlessly.

Hmmmm, usually when I've had someone like that 'trap' me, be it supervisor, fellow employee, or field staff, I usually wait until a little lull and say something like, "Hey, I've got some stuff I need to get done/address/whatever, and I'm sure you're busy too (like all of us, ha ha ha).  I'll talk to you later, but let me know if you need any more help with 'insert original topic item here'."  It seems to work most of the time and makes the person realize how much time they've been talking.

 

[mudpuppy]

Hmmmm, usually when I've had someone like that 'trap' me, be it supervisor, fellow employee, or field staff, I usually wait until a little lull and say something like, "Hey, I've got some stuff I need to get done/address/whatever, and I'm sure you're busy too (like all of us, ha ha ha).  I'll talk to you later, but let me know if you need any more help with 'insert original topic item here'."  It seems to work most of the time and makes the person realize how much time they've been talking.

We had one guy like this who would chew up everyone's time.  This person wouldn't react to any normal social cues suggesting they should stop talking.  So we set up a secret pact among our work group that if they heard the guy in your office they would walk by, and sneak a glance in your office.  If you were waving a pencil (the secret signal) then they would go back to their office and call you, so the phone ringing would give an excuse to get away.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Serious question here - 

How does one coach his employee to stop making 30-second question / answer discussions last 30 minutes with EVERYONE?  It's his personality and he can talk forever about everything steering from the original topic to another seamlessly.

There are a couple of ways. End the meeting (perhaps by interrupting) with "I want to answer your questions but also want to be sensitive to everyone's time, please put your questions into an email and if appropriate I will share with the entire group." And the other suggestion I have, to end these sort of discussions is to start handing out action items to the one asking questions. Take the approach of "These are good and valuable questions Dave, I'd like you to compile your questions, research the answers on your own and present to the team next week, send your presentation to me to review when you are ready and you can present to the team at an appropriate time."  Essentially start tasking "Dave" with being more solutions oriented.

Also, ending meetings on time is part of the culture that you can and need to foster as a manager. Meetings have hard stops, that if questions linger they must be asked after via email... just as policy.

And finally, as a manager you can create developmental goals for your reports, and in the case of the question asker, discuss with him the fact that he has a lot of questions that don't appear to keep the discussion on task. Make it a goal for him to improve, and if he does not, you can ding pay (appropriately, not underhandedly) or benefits or even demotion, whatever you deem appropriate.

I can assure you, that your other reports see it more as a failing of your own for not dealing with it quickly and appropriately, so be cognizant of that.

 

[Booo]

Serious question here - 

How does one coach his employee to stop making 30-second question / answer discussions last 30 minutes with EVERYONE?  It's his personality and he can talk forever about everything steering from the original topic to another seamlessly.

I too have one of those. Luckily for me we do not work at the same office. So if they ever call I just let it go to voicemail or wait for an email. In case it is something which needs a call. I always call them back at something like 3:15 or 3:45 and then say I have a meeting at 3:30 or 4:00. 

As for coaching, all of my efforts have failed. 

 

[Supe]

We had one guy like this who would chew up everyone's time.  This person wouldn't react to any normal social cues suggesting they should stop talking.  So we set up a secret pact among our work group that if they heard the guy in your office they would walk by, and sneak a glance in your office.  If you were waving a pencil (the secret signal) then they would go back to their office and call you, so the phone ringing would give an excuse to get away.

Office life 101 - always have your desk phone# saved in your cell phone.  Only amateurs rely on cube mates to save them!

 

[mudpuppy]

Office life 101 - always have your desk phone# saved in your cell phone.  Only amateurs rely on cube mates to save them!

Ok, I'm dating myself now, but this was before everyone had cell phones.   ld-025:

 

[JayKay PE]

I hate trying to figure out investing.  I have a managed account at Vanguard, but I'm thinking of ending that since my retirement is so far off that I feel like I'm getting nothing from them just reinvesting my dividends.  So now I'm like, "can I just throw it in the S&P 500?  Is that a thing?" or should I throw it all in a target fund for 2055?  I haaaaaaaaate this.  I don't know where to start to research to kinda take control; like I really am a person who might check my investment accounts once every 3-4 months, so I really am trying to figure out what is easiest for someone who is potentially not retiring for like 35-years (Jesus, that seems like a long time away).

 

[Road Guy]

I don't recall the exact percentages but at your time in your career you should have something like:

70% - "Higher Risk" - Stocks S&P 500 stuff

30% - Bonds

Higher risk just means stocks will go down, but the 20 year ROI is usually in the 20% range - but you have time to absorb the downs and the ups

We have never paid someone to manage our 401K - just some decent research on our own.

 

[JayKay PE]

Yeah, I had this managed because I pulled it from a 401k (so it's technically free range), but I'm going to cancel it and start doing it myself.  Same with my other 401k that I am getting from  my old employer.  Mostly just me deciding to be less passive in this; my last companies had everything as target funds, so you had no choice in what happened to your money.

 

[Master slacker]

Like you, I don't look at the market or my investments but once every other blue moon.  We have it done like this:

401k - Target funds

IRA - Target funds

Non-retirement personal investments - Lazy Portfolio

 

[RBHeadge PE]

@JayKay0914 Why not roll it into your TSP?

 

[JayKay PE]

@JayKay0914 Why not roll it into your TSP?

Wait, can I do that?

 

[kevo_55]

@mudpuppy

He's the investing wizard around here.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Wait, can I do that?

https://www.tsp.gov/PlanParticipation/EligibilityAndContributions/RolloversTransfers/methods.html

 

[JayKay PE]

https://www.tsp.gov/PlanParticipation/EligibilityAndContributions/RolloversTransfers/methods.html

HHHHHMMMMMM.  What I might do is consolidate my Fidelity account to my TSP, since I have both roth and traditional funds in that one, and then keep my Vanguard where it is after I drop the managed account.  Def did not know I could transfer to the TSP.  For some reason I thought it wasn't considered a '401k' and thus I couldn't do a rollover into it if it wasn't 'federal' money.  Who knows, I might transfer over the Vanguard if the performance is really good.  Not sure if I can compare the TSP to normal stock plans; I'll have to look into that a bit more tonight.