Samuel began speaking out in support of the working men and women of his day. He quickly became noticed by the Liberal Party, whose local leaders asked him to join.

Known as a voice of the people, Samuel eventually made his way into Parliament, where he continued championing labor issues and people’s rights. It didn’t take long for the plight of the English merchant sailor to arrive at his desk.

The Coffin Ships

They were called “coffin ships,” because so many poor souls had been dying on them as of late, leaving behind widows and orphans and broken families. Typically unseaworthy vessels, these ships were purchased literally from salvage yards (where they awaiting dismantling) by unscrupulous owners who had no intention of repairing them. Sailors who agreed to serve on board these floating wrecks typically knew nothing of the dangers until they were well out at sea. Concerned only with profits, these same ship owners heavily overburdened the ships then insured them against expected losses of cargo.

How seaworthy are you?

Are you trying to hold everything together in your life? Are you finding yourself increasingly trying to hide your cracking edifice from others, as burdens are piled on your shoulders well beyond your ability to stay afloat? We’re surrounded by what feels like a crumbling economy, continued layoffs, political discord being shouted from the rooftops, and natural disasters reminding us of the fragility of what we have. Does it feel like you’re waiting for that final issue to breach your life and sink you? You’re not alone, despite feeling like you are adrift without help…

Stress warning signs

Undue stress leads to not only mental unrest, but also physical symptoms in those suffering from it.   According to FamilyDoctor.org, personal signs that you may have reached (or exceeded limits) in what you can carry in life include:

1. Anxiety
2. Increased aches and pains in one’s back
3. Constipation or diarrhea
4. Depression
5. Fatigue
6. Headaches
7. Insomnia
8. Arguments with your significant other increase
9. Shortness of breath
10. Upset stomach
11. Weight gain or loss

Samuel’s fight for sailor safety

As you fill a ship with cargo, it sinks deeper into the water. Samuel pushed hard against the major shipping magnates, many of whom were also fellow members of Parliament, for increased safety for those sailors manning the ships. He demanded that a maximum cargo burden be determined for each ship, and a numbered line be painted on the hull, for all to plainly see when that upper limit was reached. No ship was to be filled such that this line went underwater.

In 1876, after shouting down the entire Parliament and shaking his fist in the face of the Speaker himself, Samuel Plimsoll managed to get a bill passed to require all ships have a visible line marking its maximum carrying capacity. This line became known as the Plimsoll Line, and today is known simply as the Water Line. Because ships move across waters of varying salinity levels and temperatures, this line can shift up or down, and ship owners are required to keep the changing conditions of their shipping lanes in mind when loading their vessels.

Do you know where your Water Line is?

So what is your personal Water Line? Have you figured it out yet? Do you know what changing stressors in your life can change how much personal load you can handle, and how to deal with them? Whether it is in our personal lives due to spouses, family or children, or at work with coworkers or bad working conditions, we all need to figure out ways to handle what we are given.    Remember that no matter your issues, someone somewhere is handling more than you – not because they are superhuman, but because they likely have developed coping mechanisms or techniques.  You can too…

How to move your personal water line

If you find yourself sinking due to feelings of being over-burdened, here are a few tips that may help you out.

1. Get out a piece of paper and write down your personal burdens.  Then write next to each whether or not you can control them.  Consider whether or not you should keep worrying about those things you can’t control, such as bad weather or a dropping stock market.
2. Order the list of issues from little to big.  Number them, and consider the first little problems on the list.  Tackling this one first will be easy, and provide a feeling of accomplishment that will help you with the others.
3. Take the bigger stressers, such as job interviews upcoming, and write down ways that you can prepare for them.  Use a formal calendar and write in times to prepare as best you can for these events.  Then move on.
4. The most troublesome of worries and stresses you have can be written down on a separate piece of paper, with some space.  Take some time to try and look at these issues from a variety of angles, not just your own.  Ask a friend to help you try and see these issues as challenges and not threats, and to see the value in the changes.
5. If you have issues with coworkers, family or friends, write down ways that you can slowly work toward resolving these conflicts.  Try the easier methods first and keep at it.
6. Talk.  I don’t care if it is a buddy, an uncle or aunt, a co-worker or boss, or a therapist.  Talk.  Social media can be therapeutic as well, as long as you have maintained some semblance of secrecy regarding your identity if the issue is very personal in nature, or you don’t want the issue to get out publicly.
7. Use that same calendar to put in what you are working on, your goals in life, whether it is at home or at work.  Block in time periods.  Learn to say no to others when you see that there are no more open time periods.  And don’t forget to block in times that you will be doing nothing but reading and relaxing.  Might seem odd at first, but pencil in time for a movie or latté.
8. Get a gym membership and actually use it.  Or buy some dumbells and go jogging.  But do it regularly.  Exercise is one of the best ways to relieve stress around.
9. Eat better and regularly.  Don’t skip breakfast, and you will see your energy level increase over the course of the entire day.  Oh, and get a little more sleep, already.  You look tired.  Seriously.
10. Spend some quiet time to simply close your eyes and meditate.  Let your mind wander free, and think about great things happening in your life.  Listen to soft music or sounds of nature CDs.
11. Belong to something outside of work, whether it be sports, a book club, church event or simply a hobby you have been meaning to take up.

Plimsoll Line Day

Today is Plimsoll Line Day, in honor of Samuel Plimsoll’s fight to save countless sailors from sure death.  Ship owners since have been reminded that there are things even more important than the loss of cargo.

It’s important to know your own personal limits, to know the signs of stress, and to figure out how to paint your own personal water line.  Don’t wait for others to fight on your behalf, while looking off into the worrisome, stormy future.  Test the waters, set your limits, and have a safe journey!

I’m sure by now you’ve read the story about how a bunch of people on January 20th of this year agreed to go to work without their pants.  I’m not going to actually suggest you bring on the Full Monty this time around.  Rather, I thought this would be a good time to discuss exposing yourself emotionally and professionally.  I’m talking about honesty.

We spend our workdays adrift in a sea of financial uncertainty, often leaving our very financial futures in the hands of a cast of varied characters assembled by our higher-ups.  Where we work is often little more than an organized group of competing, individualistic, and emergingly symbiotic relationships.  That’s a fancy way of saying it’s dog-eat-dog sometimes, and frankly I stopped trying to be the Alpha Male in the pack a long time ago…  Wow.  That picture needs a little cropping, doesn’t it?  Stop looking already…

Honesty in the workplace.  It’s one of the most difficult environments to create in such a field of competing egos, inflamed in a hard economy.  Many of us don’t like to have ourselves laid bare at work, open to questions from anyone, naked to constructive criticism.  But if you can figure out a way to develop a more nakedly honest office, you and your coworkers will be a lot happier, and productivity will actually increase.

After my obligatory in-depth research involving a quick and dirty 5-minute Google search, followed by reading 5 whole articles by other people with a lot more knowledge than I. (I know, I know, I work hard for you, I really do…) I came up with a few suggestions.  Read on as you strip down at your desk.  I’ll beat-box that boom-chicka-boom music for you, quietly so I don’t bother the guy in the next cubicle…

Never withhold information

You return after a 2-week vacation in Italy, tanned from the Tuscan sun, ready to tell everyone about your wine-and-laughter-filled experience, when you are called into a staff meeting. As you sit and sip your stinky American coffee, you realize that your coworkers and boss are head-long in implementing what you know to be a horrible idea. Whatever it is, was tried long before, and you know why it failed miserably. As that happy Italiany smile begins to melt from your face and your toes begin to curl up in your loafers, do you sit still and keep your mouth shut, or say something?

Being naked at work means never purposefully withholding information from your boss or coworkers, whether to make the situation seem better or to get along with what seems like a popular idea. You will have to bare it all and raise that hand and clear your throat. Take the time to explain fully your company’s past experience with this idea, and why it failed. With your new office nudity, also be ready to accept if conditions have changed, and the environment might be ripe to try that old idea again…

Never fake illness

It’s Monday, and as the alarm clock plays Achy Breaky Heart at a volume level designed to utilize sound waves to catapult the sheets off your warm body, you contemplate feigning the sniffles.  Get up, Stupid.  Let me paint a picture of you later that day hiding just inside the entrance of Victoria’s Secret, huddled under the colorful thong shelf with shopping bags crammed under your knees, your newly-spilled caramel latté next to you on the floor.  As your boss wanders in to check out the racey laceys, your cell phone begins to ring with your oft-played-at-the-office Jay-Z ringtone, as your mother calls you back to ask why you hung up so quickly.

Are you prepared to lose your job just because you need (or want) to run a few errands?   Yes, I know you work through your breaks and sip down a cup o’ soup at your desk half the time during lunch, but use some of that built-up comp time or take a short vacay in order to complete the things you need to do during work hours.  Naked honesty can be hard sometimes, especially when you know your coworkers are not as forthwith in their days off.  You can do it, and you will feel better about  yourself in the long run…

Don’t hide problems

You have a deadline staring at you from the shelf to your right.  It’s right by that plant that jerk of an ex-boyfriend gave you last month.  You know, the little once-green Dieffenbacchia you don’t water much anymore, a chlorophyllic voodoo doll held captive to your crumbling, roller-coaster emotional state.  If you don’t think you are going to meet a deadline, get your newly-naked self up and make an appointment with your boss.  Let him or her know when you are not going to meet a deadline, no matter how big or small the project is.

Letting your boss know of an impending missed deadline and the issues related to it says you care about the work needing to be done.  You might wind up getting others to help you, or a more respectful boss with a greater understanding of the issues involved with your work.  On the flip side, if your boss has to remind you that a deadline has come and gone, you will likely already look in his or her eyes as a procrastinator, or plain forgetful.  Lump that in with the Victoria’s Secret fiasco, and you might find yourself walking the pavement for another job…

Stop the gossip already

Did you hear that John had an affair?  Did you know that Susan got a breast enlargement?  Did you hear that David has a file cabinet filled with Army C Rations and Ensure, in case the world ends and he is trapped in the office? Did you?

There are few habits more pernicious and hurtful in a workplace than gossip.  I know it is hard sometimes to turn your back on the newest issue of the Daily Whisper, because it helps to pass the time, it brings certain high-and-mighty coworkers to their knees for your amusement, and it makes your problems seem more distant.

Stop with the office gossip, beginning with yourself.  Check the “evil tongue” at the door, and allow people their privacy. No matter how juicy a tidbit of information about a coworker appears, sharing it will only tarnish your reputation as well.

Tell Mrs. Wormwood Slipperytongue to take her business elsewhere, because you are no longer buying.  And develop that long-term relationship with David, because 2012 is just around the corner, and C Rations have significantly improved over the  years, especially the canned shredded turkey in gravy…

Share the nudity

If your company doesn’t hold scheduled staff meetings, then suggest it to your boss.  Invite everyone, no matter on what level they work.  Call in the delivery people, mailroom guy, secretaries, mid-managers, and that cute barista in the lobby who always asks you if you want whipped cream on it with that devilish smile.   (Note to my very lovely fiancée — This is a purely fictional character, and in no way is an indication of my interactions with people in or near my office.  I haven’t had a latté since that incident with the boss at Victoria’s Secret!)

Major corporations, including Google, Inc., find weekly to be a good frequency for getting everyone together. For many offices, this is a monthly evolution. No matter how often you meet, make it a point to stick with that frequency, no matter what.  Believe it or not, there are people who look forward to the next meeting, and they aren’t all axe-grinders.

Staff meetings must be a place where anything can be asked by anyone.  Management is informed beforehand that they must answer to the best of their ability, but within reason and corporate policy. This open environment, where your very own pet projects might get discussed in front of everyone else, will seem a bit awkward at first. Having Sean, who spends hours daily outside the back door on his cell phone with that hooker from Phoenix, ask you to state why it’s taking you four months to create that dynamic list of business contacts based on zip code and shoe size might leave you red-faced afterward.

Eventually things will improve, as everyone in the office begins to make decisions with an eye toward how their actions will look to everyone else.  Maybe Sean will find a way to break it off before Mrs. Slippertongue calls and lets his wife know the 411.

Bare naked evaluations

Employee evaluations ought to be honest and up-front.  An employee’s areas for improvement must be discussed. Maybe you think if you simply gloss over his answering of the office phone with the catchy phrase “Yo,” your employee-friend Alex will keep playing squash with you on Sunday mornings at the Y.  Maybe your real problem is an inability to genuinely connect with anyone, so you can’t make friends anywhere except by cornering the people who have to spend 8 hours with you each day of the week.  The people who rely on you for their rent money.  Hmm.  I dunno.

Being nakedly honest during evaluations and covering those areas needing improvement may seem scary, especially if that person is a high performer, but it’s needed both for you and the employee. If you don’t tell the employee what’s wrong and how to improve, they will spend yet another year making the same mistake, and ultimately productivity (or office morale) can suffer.   Other employees may think you’re playing favorites.  You might simply avoid the issue by giving important jobs to other workers, creating even more tension between you and the problem employee. This could result in your employee quitting or complaining, causing greater disunity in the workplace.  And nobody to play squash with.

Those are my suggestions for being naked at work today and every day.  Print it out and slide it under your boss’ door during today’s lunch hour.  He’s probably at Victoria’s Secret again right now anyhow.  And if you like this story, go ahead and share it far and wide.  Then send me your shoe size, ’cause I gotta finish this stupid customer database before the next staff meeting…

Ahead is the cleanup, and how to help over 2 million Chileans affected for some time to come.  What will be needed, and how long will it take to get help to them after the widespread need is figured out?

Whether from terrorism or Mother Nature, disasters will continue to strike, and coordinated efforts will be required, in the news, on television and radio, and yes – here in social media.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA’S POWER TO PREPARE FOR A TRAGEDY

Although social media allows all of us to demonstrate some level of influence, the greater power has always been in the sharing of our ideas freely.  So what ideas are out there that would allow a person, group or organization to stick their proverbial toes in the social media waters, and make a big a ripple helping others in the event of another disaster?

Here are a few methods to prepare and act, broken down based on whether you are a regular person, business or organization, or the very government representing all of us.  I’ve used war-time examples (semi tongue-in-cheek) to demonstrate how we all can show our uniquely American social media style of helping others around the World, on all levels, when tragedy strikes.

ONE PERSON – GROWING A SOCIAL MEDIA VICTORY GARDEN

If you are just a “regular guy” you may be unsure as to what you can do to help, especially in light of seeing what all of the support larger companies, organizations, governments and non-profits are providing.  But there are little things you can do on your own turf, the equivalent of growing your own little “Victory Garden” during times of crisis…

1. Talk to the boss – Talk to your employer about putting together a social media campaign (see below, If You Are a Business.)  Offer your services to put together and direct the campaign when asked to do so.
2. Go local - Raise money at your local level. Hold bake sales at work, school, or place of worship.  Ask your neighborhood to hold one big yard sale.  Print out and hand out flyers encouraging neighbors to participate and donate.
3. Blog about it – Put together a blog and post your own unique viewpoint about the tragedy, and tell them what you are doing to help.  Read the blogs of others writing about the tragedy, and thank them for taking the time.
4. Letters to the editor - Write your local newspaper and encourage your entire city to do something.
5. Use your social media account - Tweet and retweet, write Facebook updates, share on MySpace.  Repeat.

CELEBRITIES! ELVIS DID IT – WHY CAN’T YOU?

It takes a war-level effort to overcome major tragedies in the World. One of the biggest periods of recruitment during any historic war we’ve been involved with, was after a major celebrity put their hat in the ring too.  Are you a celebrity or social media persona? Do you have tons of followers who actually listen to what you have to say?  During times of crisis, it is incumbent on you to use your much louder voice to reach out to others as an example.

1. Just talk about it - You have a ton of followers, and they love what you have to say.  Whether or not you have embraced the celebrity nomenclature and all that comes with it, you are in the public eye, even in social media.  Take the time to tweet and retweet messages of encouragement and support.  Share on all your social media network accounts often.
2. School your followers – Find great sources of information regarding the background of the region and its peoples, and share the links with your fans.  If you have first-hand knowledge of the location where the tragedy took place, use this knowledge to add support to your concerns.  An incredible example of this is @Alyssa_Milano who has travelled far and wide in support of others nations during tragedies.  She is friendly, knowledgeable and accessible.
3. Donate a portion of your proceeds – If you are an artist with an upcoming CD, or a movie maker with something out there in theaters, donate a portion of sales.  Fine examples of this are @JoshCharles, @BillZucker and @AriaaJaeger who are all donating a portion of the proceeds of their new CDs right now .  There are so many of you who could join in! Many of you (such as @kirstiealley) humbly keep the majority of your donating activities a secret, and I commend you for that.  But if advertising your philanthropic activities will boost sales (and therefore donations) you might want to reconsider in this case…
4. Create a storefront - Have you considered taking the lead from celebrities such as @MarielHemingway and creating an Etsy storefront?  It’s easy to do, and allows you to generate an income from selling simple items.  Etsy takes care of everything for you, including marketing and sales.  You simply collect a check! Make it known that all proceeds will go to charity, and see if people are interested in buying t-shirts or coffee mugs with your own mug on them. You have nothing to lose…
5. Sold to the highest bidder! – Find a major non-profit relief organization, and setup a partnership with them.  Ask the non-profit to establish a donation account code for the donations you personally bring to them.  Then when a tragedy occurs, take a photo of and offer up something one-of-a-kind to your followers, to the person who donates the most to your chosen non-profit using that special code.  Ask the non-profit to track and provide you the name, email address and Twitter username of the person who donated the most using that code, so you can contact the winner directly.  Tweet out the username and congratulate them!  What a thrill for your fans!

ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES: JOIN THE ALLIED FORCES!

During any major world-changing event, it has taken the combined ingenuity and support of American business (and their employees) to be victorious.  They have the shared, larger resources, ongoing consumer base, mailing distribution lists, telephone networks and web presences worldwide.  Why shouldn’t they continue to be a partner in the efforts to combat a tragedy somewhere in the World?

1. Turn off the block and turn on the love - You have employees, and many of them are on social media. Provide your employees an email or printed sheet with recommended messages of encouragement and support, or links to resources (including your own.)  Turn off the company block on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter for a week, and let your employees freely take time during their breaks or lunch hours to tweet and retweet these messages and others they find online.  Encourage them to take one post of their blogs and say something about what they are doing at work, and let them write the post during office hours…
2. Fundraising can begin at the office - Arrange for office fundraisers and support the staff in taking the time to put something grand together and develop interest.  Let the copiers or printers to be used (within reason.)  Letting your employees do something helps remove the sense of helplessness they may have as they read the news, which ultimately will help with productivity in the longrun…
3. Get the message out – Use some of those terrabytes of webspace you’ve got to highlight the tragedy, what your office is doing, how proud your company is of its efforts and employees, and what your customers can do to help.  Add a nice banner ad on the main page of your site to take people there so they can see what you are up to, and can suggest other methods to you…  Send links to the page everywhere using your newly-enabled employees!
4. Collect a Twitter Dollar - Does your business ever collect an extra buck from your customers, have them write a short message and put a little piece of colorful paper on the storefront in support of something?   If your business has a social media account (and it had better,) perform the social media equivalent.  In your stores collect that same dollar, and ask your customers to include their Twitter username on the paper.  Create a method for your store managers to send that info to corporate, so your social media people can tweet out a personalized thank you, including the donor’s Twitter username, so others on Twitter can also thank them for their donation. I will call this the Twitter Dollar concept.
5. Tweet, damnit! - Use your company’s social media account to provide hyperlinks to places to donate, to thanks others for their fine work, and what you are doing to help out.  Make sure your company has a plan for the social media maven (or mensch) to keep your followers alerted and engaged.
6. Make your customers into mini-philanthropists – Create a method for your customers to donate to help those suffering from the tragedy, simply by doing what they do anyway – purchasing from your store.  You pay people in Marketing to figure this sort of stuff out, and if they aren’t doing that good of a job, contact me and I’ll help you figure something out!  One fine example is to create a 10% off coupon offer and place it freely available online.  Tweet out a link to this coupon far and wide and ask others to retweet.  Customers who present this coupon at time of purchase are offered the chance to donate as much of that 10% savings as they’d like to your company’s efforts to help the victims of the tragedy.
7. Buddy up with the bigwigs – Discover who the social media heavy hitters are, and contact them.  They know their networks and how to communicate with their followers.  They’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. Ask their advice on what else you can do to get the word out and help alleviate the effects of the tragedy.  Ask if they would work with your company to get the word out.  In exchange for this service, you could offer to highlight them for their help on your webpage.  It’s win-win…
8. Integrate it all - This is where a social media position at your company helps.  Keep a running tally of donations from your coupon offer and Twitter dollars on that great new webpage you’ve created.  Tweet out milestones and encourage others to help with each status update.  Take photos of your employees working hard to help those in need and use a photo sharing service to highlight them.  Keep track of what works and use it over and over…

GOVERNMENTS: IT’S TIME FOR THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARSHALL PLAN

The Office of Social Media Relations – I ask federal, local and state governments to consider the creation of their own Office for Social Media Relations (OSMR).  Work together to create a Social Media Marshall Plan, to provide helpful information freely to help businesses, organizations and individuals create and maintain social media marketing campaigns with the sole purpose of helping others  in need.  Develop and maintain state and federal websites with best practices used, helpful documentation, and examples.  Invite people to follow your OSMR on Twitter, Facebook or MySpace in order to receive word when a tragedy strikes, and how they can help.

I invite a newly formed Federal OSMR to provide a website where individuals, businesses and organizations can register their contact information for the purpose of partnering to help in the event of a tragedy such as Haiti using their own social media accounts.  Everyone will be offered downloadable help in creating their own Social Media Marshall Plans.  Allow the registrants to state whether they are willing to help with tragedies affecting others on a local, state, or national level (or all of the above.)

When something terrible happens, the Federal, State or Local OSMR will send a groupmail to its registrants, depending on the level of the tragedy.  Organizations will be asked to implement their own newly-created Social Media Marshall Plan to get the word out and to help.  OSMR will continue to contact and coordinate efforts in the most desirable and efficient manner, whether it be asking for money to be donated, clothing and blankets, or even transportation.

Like a ripple, the word would them move outward quickly, and in an organized manner….  From there, social media users would push the word out further in an organic manner.  Blog posts would be written, employees will see blocks to social media lifted, businesses will begin fundraising campaigns, and we can all work together as proud Americans, battling to help others once again.

Because of organized efforts of businesses and non-profits, millions of dollars have been raised quickly since the Haiti tragedy not so long ago.  People on Facebook and Twitter have made their friends and followers aware of simple $5 or $10 text message donation campaigns.  And what’s easier than sending a text message?

I give a thousand shoutouts to the many nonprofits and celebrities tweeting to others and encouraging them to donate whatever they could.  I bow before those that continue this effort to this day, realizing the enormity of the plight of those in Haiti (and now Chile,) and that it will take more than the millions of dollars already donated.

Haiti and Chile need much, much more than what has given thus far.  It is up to our government, businesses, and people like you on social media to continue the interest, and to find novel new (yet simple) ways for people to donate and get involved in helping as Winter continues for those people affected by the quakes.  It is also incumbent on those of us with the ability to do so, to create a Social Media Marshall Plan, in order to be ready for whatever tragedy the future holds.  We’re waiting to be organized.  You showed the path to using social media to get into office, @barackobama.  Now show us you remain committed to directing our new “Virtual Nation” to help others!

I encourage you to share this article with all of your local, state and federal government officials, corporations and organizations you find in social media, and your friends. Tweet our leaders and demand they read this post!

- Steve Woods

Oh! Somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; the band is playing somewhere and somewhere hearts are light, and somewhere men are laughing and somewhere children shout; but there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.  ~Ernest Lawrence Thayer, 1906

Today is the 37th anniversary of the creation of rule 6.10 of Major League Baseball, forever changing the game.  The rule is more widely known by its popular name, the Designated Hitter Rule.  Prior to this rule, every team knew that the god-like pitching arm that devastated their batting order would eventually have to take his turn at home plate.  Indeed, it was a rarity in baseball to find a man whose sinewy arm not only launched lightning-filled strikes but could also hit anything worthy from the plate.  It was considered an easy out for both teams…

Although it does not sound like Casey was a pitcher by trade, it sounds rather un-American for a player in any sport to be allowed to step aside, to shirk what appears to be his turn at a team effort, simply because of an inability to accomplish greatness while taking his turn, right?  After all, if I were to pull forth one of Major League Baseball’s greatest (and most well-known) historical home-run hitters, it would be a pitcher.  Before taking the mantle of home-run guru, Babe Ruth began his career as a pitcher for the Red Sox.

While the actual Designated Hitter rule is not all that old, calls for the rule are almost as old as the professional form of America’s game.  Blame it on the groans from the stands whenever a gangly mustachioed pitcher walked up, clumsily winding his bat in little circles, or the worried, held breaths from those same fans while watching an incredible arm sliding home.

“The best case for the Designated Hitter is this: It represents that rarest of things, the triumph of evidence over ideology. The anti-DH ideology is that there should be no specialization in baseball, no division of labor: Everyone should play “the whole game.” That theory is obliterated by this fact: Specialization is a fact with or without the Designated Hitter. Most pitchers only go through the motions at bat.” – George F. Will

Those standing against the rule reason that many sports have specializations within them, in order to obtain and allow for the best skills of the players to be utilized.  Training can be targeted to best suit those skill-sets, and older, injury-prone players such as Edgar Martinez were (and are) allowed to continue their careers as designated hitters.  After all, not everyone has to take a turn on the pitcher’s mound too, right?

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the game of baseball in all its beauty and entirety is the National League game. I would kick the Designated Hitter out so quick it would make your head spin.”  ~ Tony La Russa

In reply to this split in philosophy, Rule 6.10 has only been utilized by the American League, while the National League leaves their pitchers in the batting lineup, same as always.  And in response to this, the batting averages of teams in the American League have risen higher over time.  There are a variety of rules pertaining to using Rule 6.10, including that the designated hitter must be formally stated before a game begins in order to use him, the DH cannot play a field position, and cannot be replaced with anyone else in the formal lineup.

However you feel about the use of designated hitters in baseball, we all come to a point in our professional (and even personal) lives when we are overwhelmed with responsibilities.  The better we are at doing something, the more likely we will have additional duties placed on our shoulders. As the quote goes, “The reward for hard work is hard work.”  And just as a pitcher in the National League dreads the weight of another likely unsuccessful at-bat, if we do not learn to delegate some of our work, we may begin to dread facing our responsibilities at all.

So in commemoration of the anniversary of Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, as well as in honor of the Mudville 9 honored in Thayer’s beautiful poem, I offer 9 tips to keep you from striking out when attempting to delegate your workload to others….

How to delegate your work

1. Personally visit and talk things over with some of the coworkers you think might actually be willing to take on the additional work you give them.  Don’t email – do this in person, so you can actually determine from their body language their desire.  Write down the names of all interested parties.
2. Determine the skill-set of each person you spoke with.  Mull over in your mind what it is they do, as well as skills they might have but currently don’t use.  What are their interests?  Be sure to work to your new team-mates’ strengths.  Do your best to ensure that the task(s) you give over will help others grow new skills and confidence, which you can then turn around and build on further with additional tasks.
3. Make sure that you are not putting together people who have difficulty working together.  Personality issues in (or even out) of the workplace will carry over to your projects if you create a bad environment for your team.  The price for ignoring this is a failed project, which gets reassigned back to you, of course…
4. Ensure you create mile-markers, and take the time to ensure your team is correctly handling the assignments.  Find out if they have any questions and provide answers.
5. Don’t micro-manage the work, or demand it be done in the way you would’ve done it (unless it has to be based on specifications.)  Allow your new team to create their own processes in which to complete the job, and don’t be afraid to make these processes your own as well.
6. Be sure that you have taken the time to discuss the scope of authority for the tasks to be done.  You always want your helpers to know that although authority can be delegated to do jobs, responsibility cannot, and that you are ultimately held to the quality of their work.  It is imperative that they not overstep the boundaries of the work, to ensure its success and compliance with dictates handed to you in the first place from the higher-ups.
7. When choosing your team, avoid the appearance of favoritism.  Don’t hire all of your friends to help you, as this will not only tick of your other co-workers, but also could lead to disastrous results.  If your friends fail in helping you or overstep their boundaries, it will likely strain your personal relationship with them.
8. When the work is complete, you had better not forget to provide ample congratulations and thank yous to the team, or expect them to politely say no the next time you ask for more help…
9. This is an important one.  Many a delegator has become so good at what they do, that they find themselves out of a job.  Sure, it would be nice to come into work each and every day and simply tell your co-workers how to do your work.  But your are not the boss.  And you don’t want your boss to recognize that you are no longer the one doing your work.  After all, what a financial savings to let you go and allow your co-workers to continue performing your duties!

Good luck in trying these out yourself!  I am certain that if you take these 9 steps to heart and properly follow them, your workplace will not find itself divided as baseball finds itself, and you will be able to take that workplace mantle of the Mighty Casey (sans strike-out, of course…)  Perhaps if Casey had been a pitcher he could’ve gotten a designated hitter….