Dispensable

It’s good to be back. I will admit that I could have spent some more time on holiday, resting and relaxing, but it’s the day to day stuff of life that makes holidays so special when they come along; and I love my job so that helps.

I spent the past week on Rottnest Island with extended family.

The weather was perfect and being with family is always a good thing.

I swam, I read, I cycled, drank good coffee and enjoyed good company.

Today looks a little different. I’m back at work, on air at Sonshine FM.

The interesting thing I find about holidays is that they prove just how dispensable I am at work. Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s a good thing.

When I get wrapped up in my work I can start to think that I’m absolutely necessary for the smooth running of wherever it is that I’m employed. Wisdom comes with age and as I get older I realise more and more that I have a part to play but that the world won’t fall apart if I’m not at work. Holidays help to remind me of that and reinforce the fact that the world doesn’t really depend on me. It’ll keep turning with or without me. I’m completely dispensable.

Announcer Peter Rowe did a wonderful job with my morning radio programme and the world didn’t fall apart over the past fortnight.

Does that mean that I don’t matter or that my efforts are for nothing? Absolutely not, but it does remind me of where my striving and attention is of most use. Who would miss me the most if I was no longer around? My radio audience? No. My workmates? No. My friends? No. They might all miss me to one degree or another but it’s really my family who would miss me the most if I wasn’t around.

That’s a great indicator as to where I should be putting my efforts and energies in life.

How about you? Have you discovered that you’re dispensable, yet at the same time valued and needed by those who love you?



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What Programmes Our Personalities?

mainboard.jpgHave you got what it takes?

That’s the question being asked in advertising trying to attract Western Australians to train as teachers.

You know something? I don’t have what it takes. I could never be a teacher. That’s not how I’m wired. I’m very happy that some people are wired that way and I have a real respect for those who choose teaching as a profession but it’s not something I could ever do or be.

When I saw the advertisement on television this evening I was reminded of a post I wrote almost three years ago titled How are you wired?

In the post I recounted catching up with an old neighbour. Until I was 16 our family lived in a house in the Perth suburb of Scarborough. The Browns were on one side of us and the Johnsons were on the other. Glenys Johnson heard me on 98.5 Sonshine FM during my regular weekday morning radio programme. She wondered if I was the boy she knew years ago so she rang up and asked if I’d ever lived in Colin Road. From there we chatted about families and old neighbours.

At one point, Glenys said that she knew that one of us Olsens was interested in radio back then. She thought it might have been Erik, one of my brothers. “Erik?” I could never imagine Erik wanting to work in radio.

That got me thinking. How is it that the five Olsen kids, brought up in the same home, could all go on to lead such different lives? Sure, there are lots of similarities between the siblings, but there are also some big differences.

The thought of being a high school maths teacher leaves me cold but my brother Chris has been doing just that for more years than I can remember and he’s great at it. Why would a guy in his late-forties still want to be involved in youth work? I could never do that but Erik does a fantastic job working with young people.

My eldest brother trained as a fitter and turner and is now working in a management job and my sister was a nurse. All such different job choices and not one that I’d choose for myself, despite all growing up with the same parents in the same home.

How is it that we are all wired so differently?

I am constantly amazed at seeing people derive such great job satisfaction from a range of jobs that would send me crazy. We are all so incredibly different.

I love what I’m doing and I’m more than happy that God wired me the way he did to enjoy working in radio. I’m also glad that he wired others to be technical geeks, cleaners, carpenters, builders, doctors, pilots, fence installers, gardeners and so on.

How about you? How differently are you wired to those around you? Are you currently working in the job that you’re wired to do? What are some of the jobs that you see others enjoying but know you could never get excited about?



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Having your cake and eating it

gift.jpgDo you ever take the day off just because it’s your birthday?

Have you rung work and told them you’re sick so that you could have your birthday off?

It seems that more and more businesses are giving employees the day off, with companies like American Express advertising for staff with the promise that “as a special thank you, you will never have to work on your birthday again!

News.com.au published the article Birthday leave the latest office perk claiming that the practice is becoming more widespread.

Of course there’ll always be someone willing to pour cold water over someone else’s good idea.

Organisational psychologist Christopher Shen welcomed the initiative but warned that it might be open to abuse.

“It’s a wonderful initiative but the complexities need to be considered and some boundaries set,” he said.

“People could start trying to replace their own birthday with a another special day such as a wedding. I think that’s problematic because it makes it difficult for managers to assess the merits of these claims and it opens up the prospect of discriminatory behaviour.”

Mr Shen also warned about the threat to staff morale if birthday cakes disappeared from the workplace.

“These events are seemingly unimportant but can actually be critical to building a good atmosphere at work,” he said.

I was a little gobsmakced with the idea that birthday cakes would disappear from the work place just because the person wasn’t there on that particular day. What happens for those who have a birthday on the weekend? If your workplace is anything like ours, we just have the cake before or after the day. Thankfully there are some people who can think things through.

Courtney Tippett, marketing project manager with telco Fone Zone, which offers birthday leave to all its employees, said her company had a different solution to the cake problem.

“We have it the day before,” she said.

So, would you take your birthday off if you were offered the opportunity? I love my job so I don’t mind being at work on the day. Besides, I’d probably end up be the only one at home. That’s no way to celebrate.

Do you think birthday leave is a good thing?



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At work on Christmas Day

I’m always amazed that so many people think that I shouldn’t have to work Christmas Day.

Each year when I tell people that I’ll be at work on Christmas morning they seem to think it’s rather sad but of course you can’t just switch off a radio station so that everyone can have the day off.

I’ve got to admit that I don’t really mind working on Christmas morning. It does take me away from my family for a few hours on this very special day but it’s not too bad.

No matter what day the 25th of December falls each year, all the regular weekday announcers at 98.5 Sonshine FM make their way to the studios to spread some Christmas cheer.

I’m sitting at the broadcast desk right now. I’ve got Christmas music playing and I’ve been talking about Christmas stuff all morning. Each year for Christmas Day we play Christmas music for the entire 24 hours. In fact, we started playing only Christmas music at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon and we’ll keep it going until midnight tonight.

I’ve already had a couple of listeners phone to wish me, my family and the rest of the team here a very happy Christmas. I’m sure there’ll be more calls before the morning’s over.

I’ll still have plenty of time to spend with family but it’s wonderful to be able to join the celebrations of thousands of other families on such a special day.



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