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I Walk the Line – I’ll Treat ’em Fine

Last week I republished a short piece on Scribd titled “Employee Engagement – How Would You Advise an Organisation to Improve it?”

It’s a simple piece co-created by many people who provided short, ideally one sentence answers to the question. David Marklew got in touch to offer a little more. He rewrote a Johnny Cash classic song and in turn, I couldn’t resist giving it a go. There are a lot of low notes in this song and I found it very difficult to sing and play, but hey – that’s not the point is it. I’m grateful to David for taking the time to write this and get in touch – I hope you like it.

I know engagement takes a bit of time

I’ll keep a close eye on this team of mine

I know that it’s so hard to keep in mind

So first of all – I’ll treat them fine
We’ve got to keep or common goals in sight

Standing by each other fight the fight

Together we can do things right

So first of all – I’ll treat them fine
Communication nothing here to hide

The way we do things here is our pride

We’ll get creative when we’re all inspired

So first of all – I’ll treat them fine
Recognise our fellow workers every time

Help them develop grow and reach their prime

And our performance will be so sublime

So first of all – I’ll treat them fine

What is the point of us living?

Keira and I were returning from a fun day out late yesterday afternoon. Bowling had been followed by air hockey, then lunch, then the best seats in the house to see Mr Popper’s Penguins. We were choosing penguin names for each other. Keira decided she would be Captain, I would be Stinky, and I thought Nimrod suited Carole well. Then out of the blue Keira asked “What is the point of us living?” “That’s an interesting question. Why did you ask it and what do you think the answer is?” I replied. “Oh, I don’t know…” said Keira, and the conversation moved on. Quite a question eh?

On arriving home we posed the question on Twitter. Here’s how the dialogue unfolded:

@intheseheels: “to keep the earth turning. Everything on the planet has a role to play. Even the smallest things. Keira’s is obviously to be cute & ask hard questions”

@stirthesource replied: “wow! BIG question – I’d be curious to know what K thinks if she was asked. not deflection, just love the thoughts our kids have”. Then a short while later came: “after deflection, comes reflection. My take ~ to love, learn, experience & shift certain things consciously & unconsciously”

@wedge suggested: “To discover and create our own point to life”.

@phynbarr reflected that: “we’ve all asked that at some point or another” and @changecontinuum had the temerity to suggest: “isn’t that your job Mr Shaw? If you get stuck I suppose @chapmanbear might know…” We did ask Chapman Bear but his answer was something about poo, we think he misunderstood the question.

@allinsona offered some reassurance: “both ours asked this when 11 ish. Tried meaningful replies, love, zest and laughter etc. Best answer is the long game though.” before kindly going on to add: “and I suspect you are not so bad at that, and by the long game I mean, the by example approach :)”

News of last night’s utter vandalism on the streets of London was beginning to seep through and so for Twitter, this conversation closed. I think we gained useful insight from it. Just before bedtime I asked Keira her question again, this time she replied “to have fun”. “Is that all?” I asked, “yes, that is all” came the response. I thought back to our earlier air hockey game in which Keira trounced me 7 goals to 2. And I remember Keira’s happy looking face and all the laughter we shared.

Having fun, that’s what it’s all about alright.

 

Toast

We have a few less busy weeks on the go right now. Some good work to be done and some good relaxing too. And you can’t get a good days anything done without a fine breakfast. Today’s fun is brought to you by toast with nutella and berries.

Enjoy.