The tip of the ice berg

Yesterday I had an info day at work. That means all the HR people will gather together somewhere else than our own work space and talk about things that are important or relevant at the moment.

There are 4 people of the HR division that organize this – every time different people. I didn’t put much effort into organizing or I couldn’t find tasks to take on in the organizing process, so at the very last meeting I volunteered to be the MC of the day.

Since my upbringing has required a lot of public speaking and performance, I’m used to being in front of people and nowadays leading an event or even leading the choir practice, has given me skills to do well on stage. So this was a no brainer to me.

Apparently it was a big surprise to the others that it was easy for me. They see me at work everyday – I’m a good communicator, I’m fun and friendly and open and smiley – so they like me. But they don’t know that I’m also a great performer.

I didn’t want to write about how awesome I am (though I am, I know that) but I wanted to write about a realization I made through that little experience.

And that is – people don’t know the whole picture of me and isn’t this quite a big part of who I actually am? The real question is – how much do I know about my colleagues? How much do I know about my acquaintances or even my friends, in that matter? How does the picture of me look like in the people’s minds that surround me?

Another question – how careful and thoughtful am I in portraying others? Do I give them fair opportunity to be awesome in various ways? Or do I not want to or care to see the whole picture and be prejudice about what I see and close myself to the other colors of the image?

We think we know them. We think the others know us. But it’s soo not the case. Do we take time to find out who the other person is – what are the strengths, talents, interests, bucket-fillers etc? Not until it actually influences us, right?

We are pretty comfortable and convenient people. We try to do as little as possible but be as successful as possible.  So we get to know the person when it is useful to us – we either like the way they make us feel or they are useful to us in other ways. How do we measure our success? What are the measures of being good people?

I think we should try to be selfless and loving – little more every day. It all comes down to the most precious gift we can give to another person – our time and attention. The priceless gift and sometimes the hardest to give away.