Work With Friends

I love working at Phonathon, but something I have been thinking about lately is the dilemma that is working with friends.

NOPE! This is not a game people!

NOPE! This is not a game people!

Not only am I friends/friendly with everyone at Phonathon by virtue of being on the team for almost four semesters and being a manager, I also have a couple outside-of-work friends on Phonathon with me. This is both good and messy sometimes.

Elisabeth not LOVING something about Phonathon? How could this be?!

Elisabeth not LOVING something about Phonathon? How could this be?! PS: I love these two <3

Don’t get me wrong! I love having friends on shift with me and I am so glad that I work in a friendly and awesome environment. A friendly Phonathon is a happy Phonathon because you really need solid morale in the call center some shifts. Part of my job as a Shift Leader is to make things fun and to make sure that people are building rapport on and off the phones.

Okay, so no one looks like that while calling....no one.

Okay, so no one looks like that while calling….no one.

So I love making friends at Phonathon and having friends at Phonathon. But it gets messy because the lines between caller and manager start to blur and suddenly there can be a totally different tone in the call center–sometimes even out of the call center.

Realistic reaction to me in the call center....basically I don't dress up to go to the basement

Realistic reaction to me in the call center….basically I don’t dress up to go to the basement. DUH!

I really try to make sure that everything in the call center is the best mix of professional and friendly. I want all my callers to like me and for everyone to feel valuable to our team! Sometimes I struggle with the balance, but it’s good to know that I’m not alone in this. Our management team is trying as a whole to strike a good balance between a casual and professional work environment. We all want Phonathon to be fun and still a professional space. At the end of the day, I remind my friends, if an issue comes up, that I’m just doing my job and that they’re paid to do theirs.

But sometimes it still ends up being awkward.

But sometimes it still ends up being awkward.

For Posterity

Leaving instructions and guidance for future holders of your position is something all employees should be thinking about. What advice can you leave for them? What things weren’t explicitly mentioned during training that you had to learn over the course of your time there? What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?

The intern before me left me notes for me everywhere—on the computer, on sticky notes, in note pads—and she even stopped by the office after I started to give me as much guidance as possible when I was just starting out. She told me a lot: everything from where things are stored in the office and where important files are located to what to do when someone hostile calls and what our boss’s favorite drink is (so I can stash some in my bag if I get to travel with her).

When I googled the word “posterity” the first hit was John Adams. Happy 4th, everyone.

Since then, I’ve been thinking about what I can pass on to the next person who has this job. Doing so may seem a little premature. Why would I already be thinking about the next intern when I’m not even a month and a half into the summer? Well, I’m realizing that there are things I can be doing throughout the internship to make my successor’s (and my own!) job easier. Curious what I mean? Here’s some tips that I’ve rounded up so far!

1. Get samples of good work and save them in a convenient place.

Pin this on your lapel. Everyone will know what you mean.

Whether you’re working on correspondence (as in my case) or some other process that changes from situation to situation, it’s a good idea to get some examples of the job done really well. Lucky for me, everything our office sends out gets saved into a database that I can access. It’s also a good idea to ask your supervisors for samples of strong letters that they’ve written and stash those somewhere handy. I also save copies of documents my manager or our office director have edited and revised for me (including my original copy with the changes tracked!) to that folder so that future interns have an idea of how to do it when they’re starting from scratch.

2. Learn the technology and processes related to your job better than you have to.

If you find this button, ALERT US ALL.

In this job, I’m working with legislative software that isn’t always especially user-friendly. I was lucky to get good training on the everyday basics of the software, which meets my needs about 90% of the time. But every once in a while I need to do something different than what I’m used to, so I call our tech support folks for help. They can do whatever I need remotely if I ask, but instead I always have them walk me through it and take detailed notes of the process as they describe it. This way our office has a permanent copy of these notes and won’t need to call tech support every time, and training new interns will be just that much easier.

3. Keep things organized.

“You can get ALL this for just THREE easy payments of $19.99!”

You never know what’s going to happen or whether you’ll have time to clean things up before the next person steps in. You might be scrambling to tie up all your loose ends before departing, or there may be days when someone needs to take over your work because you’re gone. Making everything organized and easy to find will make sure your successor (or substitute) can do their job efficiently. Label files, documents, and folders, and try not to tuck things away in mysterious places. Lists are also everybody’s friend. Before I leave for the day, I try to make a list of what I need to do the following day. This jogs my memory when I get in garishly early in the morning, and it provides a potential substitute clues about what I’ve been up to. The previous intern left me with a brief list of projects she hadn’t been able to finish before she left, and this gave me a place to start when I was still learning the ropes, and make for a smoother transition from her to me.

4. Keep a record of everything.

You may want to type up your notes if you’re not sure people will be able to read them.

This is in the same vein as #3, but a little more specific. Luckily for me, the documentation software we use allows for users to record pretty much everything we do and makes it available for anyone to see. If I’m working on a case for someone and can’t finish it, someone else can open the file in the program to see all my correspondence with them and any notes I made about what I was doing. The more detailed I am, the more useful my notes are to everyone involved. If you don’t have such a system in your office, make one for your work. For whatever you’re working on, make a list of things you need to do, and check tasks  off as you do complete them (rather than crossing them out). Save the list even after you’ve completed everything you need to do. Store the list in a place where it will easily be matched with the project it goes with. This little bit of maintenance will save the day for anyone who wants to access your work later—whether they’re trying to pick up where you left off or just wanting a good example of what to do in a similar situation (think of #1!).

5. Leave your contact information for your successor.

TIME WARP.

The previous intern and I exchanged information when she stopped by to show me the ropes. It’s been so comforting to know that she just a message away in case I have any questions or concerns I don’t feel like I can ask my manager. Getting to know people who have held or will hold your position isn’t a bad idea either, especially if you’re just starting to work in your target area. In the short time we chatted when she was in the office, my predecessor clued me in to a couple of other really interesting internships in the area and talked with me a little about her decision to go to law school. Don’t pass up this opportunity to get to know to other young professionals with similar interests!

Do you think there’s value in planning ahead to help your successor? Or does it detract from getting your own work done? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

“Can I Help You Find Something?”: Learning about life and work in Target

I thought to make this post a “Thanks-giving,” but each time I brainstormed a list of the people I could/would/should thank, it became a might unwieldy. I know I could never choose only a few from the mountain of people who have made me.

But, there is another “holiday” this month that got me thinking. Black Friday.

I wasn’t aware of Black Friday until I was sixteen. I was a junior in high school and I had started working at Target the month before, in preparation for the holiday season. I was assigned to come in at 6 a.m. and work the registers, even though I was normally a “soft-lines” team member, meaning I worked primarily in the clothing sections. I was both nervous and excited. I was wearing my comfortable work shoes with my red shirt and khaki pants. I was at my station and ready when they opened the doors, and customers jogged towards electronics.

Busy days like that were a blur of adrenaline, smiles, and morale-boosting food in the break room.

Target was my first place of employment, and it made a huge impact on me. I never played sports in high school, or participate in typical extra-curriculars like theater or model UN, but the last year and half of high school I was working 12-24 hours a week as a Target team member. Under those fluorescent lights, I had my first experiences with responsibility, diversity and teamwork. And yes, I also experienced the entitlement of American consumers. My job at Target was the first time I witnessed and really comprehended racism.

One of the most important things I learned at Target, though, was the importance of co-worker relationships. Even in retail, a field known for eating minimum wage worker’s souls, the right people can make the job bearable. The right people can make waking up at 6 a.m. for the Black Friday rush fun.

Target has such a high rate of turn-over that in two years, I experienced good, bad and mediocre teams. Good teams create energy, and that energy turns into productivity. They make work fun, even if you are stuck in infants organizing the bottle aisle for the third time that week. Mediocre and bad teams, don’t support each other that way. There’s drama, or maybe just apathy, that drains the energy and makes the atmosphere miserable. You avoid co-workers by taking on the long and unenviable task of organizing the clearance racks by percentage clearance and then by size. Time moves slowly. Bad teams blame each other if one section is taking longer than the others to clean after closing, instead of just helping to finish it.

Changes in management reverberated through the store. I worked best with a supervisor who allowed me my independence, who encouraged problem solving. If something didn’t work one day, or took too long, I could try something different the next. After a year and a half of working there, a new manager would tell me to go by the book, every day, even when it wasn’t working for me or a particular clothing section I was in. That inflexibility to try new things or look for better solutions was extremely frustrating.

Target was my first experience in work-place culture, and it taught me which management styles and team relationships I value most. Retail gets a bad rap. Sure, by the end of senior year I was ready to leave, and it took me a long time to be able to wear red and khaki together again, but as a first job I could not have asked for better.

What are you worth?

Personal finance. Two incredibly intimidating words that, if I am to be quite honest, completely escape me. My knowledge of ‘personal financing’ extends to withdrawing and depositing money into my bank account. Beyond that, I’m at a bit of a loss. Which is why, when I learnt Life After Scripps was offering a workshop on personal financing, I immediately hopped on that train. As I was relieved to find out, so did a good portion of the rest of my class.

Professor Dillon—who is the most adorable and hilarious woman—led the crash course to a room full of “desperate seniors.” One of the reasons leaving Scripps feels so daunting is because for the first time in my life, I will be fully responsible for myself. I’ve never simultaneously paid rent, bought a car, managed bills, bought groceries, and worked—though that is exactly what the majority of the world is balancing. So while being wealthy does not necessarily fall under my perception of success, being financially independent does. Like most of the other students sitting in that room, I have so many visions and hopes for the future, and almost all of them require me to be in a financially secure position. This workshop was my first introduction to the steps in that life-long, ongoing process. Though I am by no means now an expert, I’ve highlighted a few points that may begin to demystify personal finance for you like it did for me:

Budgeting

A successful budget, also known as a spending plan, is contingent on creating a thorough and accurate cash flow statement.

Cash flow statement (or net income) = total income – total expenses

Total Expenses:  As Professor Dillon heavily stressed throughout the hour, the only way to control your financial life and build wealth is to know exactly where your money is going. That means following every, single penny. I’m not careless with my money, but I certainly can’t claim to keep a meticulous record of every late-night Yogurtland trip or spontaneous Target run. All those seemingly small expenditures add up to a significant, and often surprisingly large, amount. There are so many resources and tools available now to simplify the challenge of tracking your money—from online banking, to budget spreadsheets, to personal financing software. Apparently the new rage revolutionizing money management is a free site called mint.com. Valinda at CP&R recently discovered this handy innovation and, in her words, has “never been more excited about personal finance!” 🙂

Total Income: Your total income should be based off your net pay, i.e. your take home income after all taxes and deductions. Retirement savings accounts like a 401(k) or 403(b) are considered pre-tax deductions, meaning that money is deducted from your wages BEFORE taxes and put into your savings account, thereby reducing your taxable wages (that’s a good thing, yay!). You have probably heard this countless times in the past, but saving now means you are multiplying your wealth for later—all because of a magical little trick called compounding interest. Professor Dillon convinced me—‘open a savings account’ was just added to my growing to-do list for the weekend.

On another note, though this wasn’t a focus of the workshop, one line Professor Dillon said that really stuck with me was “Remember, your first job is not your career.” Most of the time, my post-graduation anxiety stems from the fear that I wont find or receive my dream job/internship/fellowship by May and will be forced into an arbitrary position completely unrelated to my passions and plans (shudder). Those are what I like to call my there-is-no-life-after-Scripps attacks. However, when I heard that line, it hit me—in a rare moment of comfort and reassurance—that seldom does a person’s first job define or limit their career path. While I would obviously prefer to be doing something I truly love this time next year, I am slowly coming to terms with the realistic possibility that I may also find myself back home in Texas working locally. Not that I am embracing that option—just understanding that it wouldn’t be permanent or reflective of the future.

P.S. In response to the title of the post, I just did the math (net worth = what you own – what you owe). As it turns out, I have a negative net worth. Awesome.