When we talk to each other at work, on Twitter, or on other social media sites, we assume that we know each other and it’s very cool that people develop that familiarity from short conversations or 140 characters.  We think we know someone when we usually only see one facet of who they are.  It’s important to realize that each person has many other facets.  We all have a myriad of roles we fill each day and one of the ones that I absolutely love is being the Scoutmaster of Troop 941 – a Boy Scout troop in West Chester, Ohio.  My son is in the Troop and I have been in scouting for eight years now!

My son and I recently completed our annual Summer Camp trip to Camp Frontier in the remote village of Pioneer, Ohio.  It was fabulous and each day brought more and more amazing opportunities to see what the boys were doing.  One particular highlight is that our Troop built an 11-hole putt-putt course in the woods of our campsite only using logs and rocks that they found on the ground.

So, what does this have to do with focus ??

Each day at camp, there is a Leader meeting for Scoutmasters. It’s a time to talk to the Camp Commissioner, discuss the schedule, and also give feedback about good things or concerns.  The vast majority of the feedback is negative, even though there are truly few negatives around. They are more “preferences” than complaints.  During one of the meetings, after the adults groused about how far they had to walk to the meeting, how the latrines smell, and if a swim test occurred or not, one of the leaders said, “Hey, did you see the Barred Owls near Ecology?”

I jumped at the chance to talk about something positive !!  The conversation then switched to the beautiful grounds and the many types of wildlife we all had seen during the week.

It reminded me of work environments and of HR in general.  Too often when we talk about work, and especially about the people we work with, we’re negative.  It is so easy to look at what’s “not working” vs. focusing on the great things that happen around us each day.Don’t get me wrong, I fall into this trap too.  But, this experience at camp shocked me out of it.  Since then, I have been  focusing on the positive things that happen each day.  Every day I do this, it gets to be more of how I choose to approach the day and I’m becoming a better human.

So, where’s your focus ??  Why don’t you take a second and take a look.  You’ll be surprised when you take some time to reflect.

By the way . . .

Here’s the owl !!