From Good to Great, or L-5: Down & Dirty on the Dance Floor

There is a new manager (who has been referred to as Ned Flanders by my favorite ex-temp, appropriately) at work who is drilling the book "Good to Great" into the minds of the Administrative Staff.

Every week, in a full-on hour-long staff meeting, we are subjected to "exploring" the book's lessons and themes on how to turn our organization into a "great one."

One of the lessons hones in on what the authors coined as "Level 5 Leadership".

How, dear employee, do you exude Level 5 Leadership every day?

L-5, as I have come to call it, is all about "looking in the mirror, taking the blame, being humble, yadda, yadda, yadda. The content of the book definitely has good points, but every week, each staff member in our office is supposed to share a professional moment with the group in which they exhibited L-5 Leadership.

Considering that we are all lower-level employees who spend the majority of our days filing and putting out fires for the people in charge, it isn't any easy task to just toss off a little diddy about what a great leaders we are.

I have nothing for tomorrow's meeting. I used up all my kiss-ass-L-5 crap last week.

While pulling out my hair trying to come up with SOMETHING to "share," I zoned in on the word humble. Well, certainly could use that. Since having my child and returning to work, I have been eating a lot of crow.

Yesterday's personal lesson in humility would be a great example...during my lunch hour at the gym, I was absolutely embarrassed and made to look like a big white girl who ain't got no moves. What is even better about this story is that is true. Nedster couldn't deny me that.

Salt-shaker? Cabbage Patch? Jazz Hands? That's right. All these and more in an aerobic workout class. And I couldn't get one of them right. No, literally - not one.

Maybe I should tell the Administrative Staff that yesterday I impulsively joined into a "Body JAM" class rather than hitting my usual spinning lunchtime class. I thought mixing up my workout routines might just accelerate some weight loss and would could ward off any boredom I might be feeling. (Shows initiative and spontaneity? CHECK!)

And was that ever a mistake. (Eating Crow/Being Humble? CHECK!)

Not only did I totally wear the most inappropriate gym outfit that only accentuated all of my body flaws as I was faced with staring at myself for the entire class in the mirror, I seem to have totally lost my ability to dance or even mimic dance-like moves. (Looking in the mirror!? CHECK!)

And "Body JAM" is all about shaking your caboose. Which I certainly can do just by walking - adding gyrations and twist, step, TURN to the mix only made me feel like singing Aretha Franklin songs.

Wiggling and jiggling and trying desperately to remember the combinations, I wanted to cry. All of that motion while trying to look somewhat sexy as the instructor kept telling us to do.

For all my effort, I succeeded only in slamming directly into the instructor when miscalculating my turning distance and accidentally bitch-slapping this old woman next to me when we were instructed to "raise the roof."

(Does that make me humbled enough for an L-5 session of the week?)