A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine. January's Theme: "Significance"
Volume 10 Issue 2 ISSN# 1708-3265

Index Meet Our Staff Karma Yoga Advertise in TSM Donations Free Subscription Archived Issues

Illuminations Aleesha Sattva About the Cover Seva Kourzis A Life Changing Moment Julie Hoyle A Tree's Tale Parzival Sattva Just Be Kind John Ptacek Sprouting For Health Brian Nexus Lifetalks Dawn Baumann Brunke Walk Your Talk Aleesha Sattva Po and the Stones Phil Kotofskie Wiccan Voices Crystal Blanton, HPs Let's Talk Tarot Marcia McCord Living… Naturally Nicole Gardner Meditate a Moment Parzival Sattva Cards & Curios Tarot Deck Reviews: with Dan Pelletier You Can Count On Me/Shyam Bolo David Newman and Donna De Lory Remixes Donna De Lory Pilgrimage MC Yogi Indian Summer Auburn

We both sat uncomfortably in the small conference room, there for a reason, a difficult reason. I was the manager and he was the employee. He wasn't doing well.

No matter how much training you have, formal or otherwise, each performance development "opportunity" is different.

My corporate job had a strange evolution. As a clerk at a major telephone company, I had taken advantage of their employee development program that encouraged people to advance by paying for their college tuition for coursework which would lead to a better job there. A master's degree in English would not qualify, but a bachelor's degree in computer science would.

For three years I worked all day, plus overtime, then dashed over to the nearby university to take courses from 6 pm until 10 pm, then worked on my practical programming projects until they threw us out of the computer lab at midnight. Resigned to the rigors of the clock, I would go home and study. I would get up at 5 am the next morning to start the day again. It was hard, very hard, but I was determined to make my life better than it was.

I met my goal, became a programmer for years, then moved to a more technical job called a DBA. I changed companies, got a "battlefield promotion" to a management position and learned all new skills to get software projects from idea to reality with a team of wonderfully diverse and talented people.

My team was wonderful except this one guy. Everything I had been taught said that his performance put all our team's projects in jeopardy. I knew enough, maybe more than most because of my specialized background, that he was having trouble with the basics. Other people on the team had to spend time to make up for his mistakes.

The King of Swords isn't the most popular card in the deck. His energy is executive and decisive, for the overall good. It's based on logic. Sensitive people fear he lacks compassion. He can't be held back by emotion, his own or others'. What people don't know about the King of Swords is that he is just as tough on himself as he is on everyone else.

So here I was in the conference room with my struggling employee, weighing the significance of all of the parts of the problem. My goal had been to work with him so that he would "get it." With the understanding of what was going wrong, we could both work together to make it better.

It wasn't going well. And we had run out of time.

"But," he asked, big blue eyes swimming in his pale, lost face, "how do you feel about me?"

I considered his question carefully as I looked at him across the imitation wood conference table. So much was at stake. He had a wife, two children, a home, and friends. He had put together his own plan for performance improvement and he had not come close to his own goals, goals which we all agreed were reasonable, even easy.

Now, in this critical moment, I was struck by his question. More than that, I was struck by what he did not ask. Still, in these last hours, he only wanted to know how I felt about him.

I started slowly.

"I feel," stepping through the words clearly and carefully, "that you are a nice guy."

He realized he had grasped one last clutch for a cup. But the topic here was, sadly, a sword. He had mistaken the significance of all that had come before.

"But I think you aren't doing your job. I'm sorry." As the King of Swords might, I had been clear, logical, direct and decisive. I had done my job well.

***

A few weeks later I learned he had been hired by another company closer to his house. I was relieved.

Years later, it became clear that my own life of significance lay in helping others, not as management with a sword, but as an enthusiastic and creative individual contributor. And I learned the better lesson: Being good at something is not necessarily the measure of success.

Best wishes.

Marcia McCord joined us (2009) as an Associate Proofreading Editor here at Timeless Spirit Magazine and is a regular columnist. Marcia is a professional tarot reader and computer analyst. She lives with her husband, six cats and one very patient cocker spaniel near San Francisco. Be sure to check out her blog!

This just in! Marcia McCord's new tarot decks are now available for purchase, $25 USD plus postage. For more information, visit her blog: marciamccordtarotreader.blogspot.com

Copyright (c) 2012 by Timeless Spirit Magazine. All articles are the copyright of the particular writers and cannot be reprinted without their expressed permission. All rights reserved. International copyright laws prohibit reproduction or distribution of this page by any means whatsoever, electronic or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permission of the copyright holder. We retain legal counsel to protect our copyrights.

Any advice given is for informational purposes only.