I've really enjoyed the professional and personal relationships that have blossomed from social networking.  While I'm active on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, I also try to connect with people personally (IRL) as often as possible.

The following are networking events on my agenda for next week.  Hope to see you there!

Please let me know if you plan on attending either: Twitter @AWomansWork

Connect Work Chicago Launch Party: Twitter: @connectworkchi, Website: http://www.connectworkchicago.com/ 

WHEN: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, Time: 6pm-9pm

Location: LaSalle Power Company, 500 N. LaSalle, Chicago, IL

Social Media Club Chicago (SMC Chicago) Twitter: @SMCChicago

SMC Chicago presents: "How Social Media Makes Financial Cents"  http://smcchicagofeb.eventbrite.com

WHEN: Thursday, February 25, 2010, Time:  5:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Location: Morningstar, Inc., 22 W. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602

I am the admin for an upcoming blog "Durty 30s".  I want to give a voice to some friends and contacts who have some funny stories and good lessons in navigating their 30s.  Check out the new community here: durty30s.posterous.com

We are building a community of 30-Something guest bloggers who are willing to share funny experiences from their "Durty 30s".  Our 30's didn't come with an instruction book so I thought sharing our experiences is just as good...and more funny.  Please email durty30s@yahoo.com or on Twitter DM or @durty30s if you are interested in guest blogging/contributing.

An episode of Demetri Martin's "Important Things" tonight, highlighted ATTENTION as a topic.  There are great resources on "listening" (particular to social media), but what are you personal attention span skills?  A sketch on the show highlighted a fictional product, (The Forehead Texter) allowing the person texting to hologram the words on someone else's forehead.  Basically, you could text without looking down at your phone and you could also maintain eye contact and feign interest with any conversation you are engaged in.

As our attention spans and free time shrink daily, our responsibilities and information feed grows too.  However, your employees (whether in sales, service, operations) are probably creating, collecting, and improving revenue for you.  Their satisfaction DIRECTLY relates to your customers' experiences.  Would you dare pull these common "I'm not listening to you" tactics with your customers?  No?  Then why would you treat your employees with any less respect? 

COMMON "DISINTERESTED" MANAGER SINS:

1.  SIN: Working on your laptop/IPhone/Blackberry while taking a meeting/interview/review with an employee.  (Would your clients appreciate this?  No?  Guess what...your employees aren't impressed either.)

• RESOLUTION: Put your electronic distractions away.  Most things can wait the 15-30 minutes to give your attention to your employee(s) during a meeting.  If there are pressing things that absolutely CANNOT wait, reschedule the meeting ASAP to a time where you can commit your attention.

2.  SIN:  Having an "always open door policy"...even during meetings. (Would you let your staff interrupt a client meeting?  No?  Why is it okay to interrupt an important employee meeting?)

• RESOLUTION:  Encourage an open door policy, but let your staff know that during closed-door meetings "unless it's on fire" it can wait.  Imagine the trust and respect you could gain from your staff by acknowledging their time is important too.

3.  SIN:  The procrastinator's recurring, but never happens "let's meet tomorrow" meeting.  (You would lose your clients trust, and business, if you continued break client promises.  What do you think your employee thinks when you've rescheduled that meeting with them 3 times this week.)

• RESOLUTION: Planning and commitment go a long way to keeping promises.  Know your schedule and days/times that are the best.  Try removing yourself from the distractions (i.e. take your employee to coffee, lunch, dinner).

4.  SIN:  Ignoring the casual or formal opportunities to provide feedback to your employees throughout the year and saving them for "review time".  (Please tell me you don't ignore opportunities to engage and learn from your customers and just wait around for their annual order.)

• RESOLUTION:  Planning: make room in your schedule to observe and engage with your employees to build trust, have coaching opportunities, and learn from them.  Make time to connect with your employees casually, building your relationships.  Empathy/Emotional IQ:  Find it in you and grow it.

What other ways are you ignoring or disrespecting your employees?  Would your clients put up with it?  Chances are your employees won't either.  There are many more examples I have observed and early in my career, engaged in.  (GUILTY, I was a fairly clueless leader in the beginning.)

 I adopted Cricket over 2 years ago when her previous owner went into a nursing home and passed away shortly there after.  She is turning 15 years old this month, although I don't know her exact birthday.

(download)

Click here to download:

Cricket_-_The_Bad_Ass_Rat_Terr.zip (585 KB)

For anyone that likes to re-purpose things in their house we use only seasonally, for anyone that likes D.I.Y., and for anyone that likes to use power tools and/or duct tape any chance they get.

Are your clothes taking forever to dry even though you keep the dryer’s internal lint screen clean?  You probably need to clean out your dryer vent duct.  I came up with this invention on a lark faced with a laborius task (a tight angled dryer duct and fish tape) and a perfectly good power tool that was begging to be used in additional ways.   (This is as close as my brain comes to engineering.)

Items Needed:
2 Large Paper Plates or 1 Large Silicone Baking Sheet (anything flexible to use as a wide funnel)
1 Electric Leaf Blower
1 Screwdriver
1 Roll Duct Tape
1 Paper or Re-Usable Bag (because you’re stopped using plastic, right?)
1 Ladder/Step Stool/or really tall person

1. Unscrew or (in my case un-duct tape) your flexible dryer vent house where it attaches to the interior ceiling duct.

2. Unscrew the cap to the end of the vent run outside your house. (If you’re not sure which is the dryer & which is the exhaust…TURN ON YOUR DRYER BEFORE UNCAPPING THE EXTERIOR or UNSCREWING THE DUCT HOSE AT THE INTERIOR CEILING DUCT.)

3. Roll/Bend your “funnel” material (either paper plates or silicone baking sheet) and stick it into the opening of the interior ceiling duct.

4. Stick leaf blower into funnel instered into ceiling duct and power that baby up!  (THE FUN PART!)

5. When done “blowing” the duct (about 30-60 seconds) go outside and check out the cool tumbleweed of lint and other debris now in your backyard and no longer in your vent!

6. Either toss your lint tumbleweed out in your paper bag, give your kids a new craft material/project or disburse it in your gardens for the birds to put in their nests.

7. Have somebody else tape/screw back the duct hose into the ceiling and put the cap back on the outside of the vent.

Why someone else you ask?  You’ve got other MacGruber projects you’re now dreaming about since you rediscovered your lawn blower in the middle of winter…Mu Ha Ha Ha…the possibilities are endless.  All I ask is that you credit me when you impress your friends with the most fun they’ve ever had clearing a clogged dryer vent.