How do I learn?

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my job lately. I’ve been evaluating the past two months and the circumstances in my office and some of the things that happened. I’m learning more about myself.

How do I learn? I need to think things over for a while. I need time and space to do this. I’ll have emotional reactions about things and then I have to figure out WHY I had those emotional reactions. Sometimes it takes me a few weeks to piece things together. I learn by talking to other people and getting their perspectives on things. I add that to the mental soup I’m sifting through in my mind. I journal - writing my thoughts down on paper helps bring clarity to what I’m mulling over.

So what have I learned in the past week? I like to be managed in a specific way. I need a framework to operate from. So if it’s something completely new to me I need someone to show me the best way to do it. I am NOT one to just go ahead and figure things out for myself when in completely foreign territory. But once I’ve got the framework, I need the freedom to figure things out for myself. I listen to people’s suggestions and I evaluate whether that will work for me or not. I don’t like being told what to do. I don’t like people taking over.

There are different personality types and different management styles. The trick is to figure out which management style will work best for which personality type.

I’m growing and I’m feeling excited about how I’m growing. It is liberating to understand oneself and to be able to communicate that to others.

Posted in Personal, Work || 1 Comment

Canadian Politics 101

I thought this person summed things up very well on his Facebook group “Get Informed: The Pro’s and Con’s of a Coalition Government”:

“I feel there is a great majority of Canadians that think this is a bad thing or think it is a coup. This rises from a misunderstanding of how our government works. In the current situation in Canada, Stephen Harper is the leader of a MINORITY government. This means that 7 weeks ago the MAJORITY of Canadians didn’t vote Conservative. In this situation, where a minority government is in power, it has to work with the other parties to govern Canada effectively. This is because Stephen Harper or any leader of a minority has to maintain the confidence of the House. Stephen Harper has with his MINORITY, ignored the MAJORITY and therefore is ignoring the majority of Canadians and their interests. Not only that last week he wanted to strip away government funding of political parties. This would destroy nearly every party except his own. Does that not sound like a dictatorship move? This coalition was formed because of the actions of Stephen Harper and represents a majority of Canadian votes. Stephen Harper has lost the confidence of the House and therefore deserves to be removed from power for his lack of action in this economic mess the world is facing. This coalition is completely legal and represents the majority of Canadians votes in the last election. This just highlights the 3 major opposing parties realizing a need to WORK TOGETHER during these troubled times instead of Mr. Harper who has no plan for this country and no respect for any other party besides his own.”

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Canadian politics - history in the making

Even those of us who aren’t very political are blogging about Canadian politics these days. So I thought I’d join in with my thoughts.

I’m finding the whole process quite interesting. Am I against the coalition? No, not at all. I really really dislike Stephen Harper and the actions of the Conservative Party.

First of all, when they were elected to lead Parliament the last go around, they made a big deal about setting election dates every four years. Why? They said it was so no political party could try to take advantage of things and call an election when it might be more in their favor. And this was actually passed in Parliament. Really??? Did the Conservatives follow their own legislation when calling the last election? No! Their platform stressed more accountability. I don’t see the Conservatives showing very much accountability at all.

And when Stephen Harper made a big fuss about Elizabeth May being included in the election debate, I was ticked! It was under the same grounds that a former Canadian Alliance leader was included in a previous election debate. Why make the big fuss? It only made Stephen Harper look more like a childish bully than anything else.

I cannot believe the audacity of Stephen Harper to propose to eliminate funding to the political parties in an effort to save a measly $30 million dollars when the country’s operating budget is in the billions. It is quite obvious that he was attempting to take down the other political parties so he could stay in power. In my opinion that is bordering on undemocratic.

And then in the midst of a worldwide recession, the Conservatives’ response is to do nothing. Leave everything as it is. What? Bury your heads in the sand!!! This attitude towards the current state of the economy makes no sense to me.

Since the announcement of a proposed coalition government, the Conservatives have thrown out such things as ‘this means the separatists will be running the country’. Well, actually, no, that is not the case. The Liberals and NDP are proposing to form a coalition government. The Bloc is not formally a part of the coalition. They have said they will support the coalition government for 18 months (in non-confidence votes). There’s a difference there. And previously the Canadian Alliance (which many Conservatives were a part of) on two occasions proposed forming an alliance with the Bloc in order to form a coalition government so its pretty hypocritical to freak out now.

I don’t like the Conservatives. I don’t like Harper. I don’t like their lack of ethics or integrity. I’d be glad to have them removed from power.

Posted in Misc || 4 Comments