Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
When the Jobless Become the Unemployable - NYTimes.com
When the Jobless Become the Unemployable - NYTimes.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Involve Customers in Product Creation
NOVEMBER 24, 2010
The best way to get your customers excited by your product or service is to involve them in creating it. Instead of offering them what you think they need, ask them to help you design what they want. If you are a consultant, design the project with your clients, not for them. Leverage their deep knowledge about the company culture and personality. If you are in the business of selling products, hold an online contest to bring customer design ideas to the table. Customers who have a stake in the development process are far more likely to feel pride of ownership and be happy with the end product.
The best way to get your customers excited by your product or service is to involve them in creating it. Instead of offering them what you think they need, ask them to help you design what they want. If you are a consultant, design the project with your clients, not for them. Leverage their deep knowledge about the company culture and personality. If you are in the business of selling products, hold an online contest to bring customer design ideas to the table. Customers who have a stake in the development process are far more likely to feel pride of ownership and be happy with the end product.
Monday, November 22, 2010
2 Ways to Make the Most of a Crisis
Spectacular feats seem to happen in a crisis: people step up, productivity increases, and politics and red tape take a back seat. Unfortunately, this type of energy can't be sustained once the crisis dissipates. But, there are important lessons to take from this elevated mode of operation. Next time your organization has an emergency, do these two things:
1. Hold a post-crisis clinic. Ask everyone who was involved in the response what happened differently and why. Help people identify the new ways of working they adapted.
2. Focus the energy on a critical initiative. Ask people to apply the energy and dedication they mustered in the crisis to a stretch goal that you want to achieve in 100 days or less. This will help you determine which new ways of working are sustainable and can be integrated into a more routine way of doing business.
1. Hold a post-crisis clinic. Ask everyone who was involved in the response what happened differently and why. Help people identify the new ways of working they adapted.
2. Focus the energy on a critical initiative. Ask people to apply the energy and dedication they mustered in the crisis to a stretch goal that you want to achieve in 100 days or less. This will help you determine which new ways of working are sustainable and can be integrated into a more routine way of doing business.
Friday, November 19, 2010
New Guerrilla Job Search tip, called ... Stop Networking and Start Helping to Get Working
This tip involves the most-connected people in your network, who are called "hubs."
They can help you make connections that lead to a new job. But only if you help them first.
Here's how ...
It's simple: Ask a "hub" what their needs are and you can create a valuable bond with that person.
Deliver a connection or a bit of your expertise that helps a hub, and you've got a personal fan who can help you get hired faster!
Ask questions like these to the "hubs" in your network:
1. What 2 things do you need in the next 60 days?
2. What types of people do you want to meet?
3. What are two challenges are you facing? Who could help you resolve them?
In other words, "help a hub" to get more job leads faster.
This is a new take on the old adage, "give first to get later."
And it works!
Because far too many people think networking means sending an email to the first 10 names in Outlook and asking "Know anyone who's hiring?"
That's NOT networking.
That doesn't work.
Don't do that.
In fact, I hate the word networking.
It's got too many negative connotations, like "dieting" or "exercise."
So, for the rest of today, replace the word "networking" in your mind with something else.
Something more inviting ... like, "talking to 3 more people," or "meeting 2 new friends." Try that thought experiment and see where it leads you. It could lead to a new job! Especially now, during the holidays, when most job seekers scale back on their efforts.
Until next time ...
David Perry and Kevin Donlin
Co-Directors, Guerrilla Job Search International
They can help you make connections that lead to a new job. But only if you help them first.
Here's how ...
It's simple: Ask a "hub" what their needs are and you can create a valuable bond with that person.
Deliver a connection or a bit of your expertise that helps a hub, and you've got a personal fan who can help you get hired faster!
Ask questions like these to the "hubs" in your network:
1. What 2 things do you need in the next 60 days?
2. What types of people do you want to meet?
3. What are two challenges are you facing? Who could help you resolve them?
In other words, "help a hub" to get more job leads faster.
This is a new take on the old adage, "give first to get later."
And it works!
Because far too many people think networking means sending an email to the first 10 names in Outlook and asking "Know anyone who's hiring?"
That's NOT networking.
That doesn't work.
Don't do that.
In fact, I hate the word networking.
It's got too many negative connotations, like "dieting" or "exercise."
So, for the rest of today, replace the word "networking" in your mind with something else.
Something more inviting ... like, "talking to 3 more people," or "meeting 2 new friends." Try that thought experiment and see where it leads you. It could lead to a new job! Especially now, during the holidays, when most job seekers scale back on their efforts.
Until next time ...
David Perry and Kevin Donlin
Co-Directors, Guerrilla Job Search International
Thursday, November 18, 2010
3 Ways to Make the Most of Your Company's Social Platform
More and more companies are introducing social networking tools to help employees connect. However, these should not be considered "work versions" of Facebook or Twitter. These platforms are intended to support your work, not give you a place to post pictures of your poodle. Here are three ways to make good use of these tools to advance your work:
1. Narrate your work. Talk about your current projects: where you are, what you're struggling with, and what you're producing. This will help others who may be doing similar work find you.
2. Ask questions. There is often collective wisdom out there. If you're stuck, ask the crowd to help you out.
3. Talk about social stuff. If your company softball team won last night's game, put it out there. Socializing is an important part of work and these tools are perfect for supporting it. You may want to dedicate a specific part of the platform to socializing, however, so people can avoid it if they want to.
Harvard Business Review Blog Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Do's and Don'ts for Your Work's Social Platforms" by Andrew McAfee.
1. Narrate your work. Talk about your current projects: where you are, what you're struggling with, and what you're producing. This will help others who may be doing similar work find you.
2. Ask questions. There is often collective wisdom out there. If you're stuck, ask the crowd to help you out.
3. Talk about social stuff. If your company softball team won last night's game, put it out there. Socializing is an important part of work and these tools are perfect for supporting it. You may want to dedicate a specific part of the platform to socializing, however, so people can avoid it if they want to.
Harvard Business Review Blog Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Do's and Don'ts for Your Work's Social Platforms" by Andrew McAfee.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
St. Hubert's Job & Networking Ministry Digest Number 4363 - Inbox - Yahoo! Mail
St. Hubert's Job & Networking Ministry Digest Number 4363 - Inbox - Yahoo! Mail: "Golden Corridor Manufacturing Open House
Thursday, November 18, 2010
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Fanuc Robotics
1800 Lakewood Blvd.
Hoffman Estates, IL 60169
Discover career and job opportunities in the Hoffman Estates/Schaumburg
industrial sector by attending an Open House at the world's largest
producer of Industiral Robotics - Fanuc. Hear from the President of the
world's largest Precision Toolmaker - DMG/Mori Seiki. This is a great
opportunity to see live robot demostrations, get close up and program
the robots, meet with representatives from Harper, ECC, NIU and Illinois
workNet. You will also network and meet with community college and
university graduates employed in the manufacturing field.
Please register by email to mfrank@ci.schaumbur g.il.us
for a chance to win an IPOD Apple
TV.
- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Thursday, November 18, 2010
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Fanuc Robotics
1800 Lakewood Blvd.
Hoffman Estates, IL 60169
Discover career and job opportunities in the Hoffman Estates/Schaumburg
industrial sector by attending an Open House at the world's largest
producer of Industiral Robotics - Fanuc. Hear from the President of the
world's largest Precision Toolmaker - DMG/Mori Seiki. This is a great
opportunity to see live robot demostrations, get close up and program
the robots, meet with representatives from Harper, ECC, NIU and Illinois
workNet. You will also network and meet with community college and
university graduates employed in the manufacturing field.
Please register by email to mfrank@ci.schaumbur g.il.us
for a chance to win an IPOD Apple
TV.
- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Golden Corridor Manufacturing Open House
Golden Corridor Manufacturing Open House
Thursday, November 18, 2010
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Fanuc Robotics
1800 Lakewood Blvd.
Hoffman Estates, IL 60169
Discover career and job opportunities in the Hoffman Estates/Schaumburg
industrial sector by attending an Open House at the world's largest
producer of Industiral Robotics - Fanuc. Hear from the President of the
world's largest Precision Toolmaker - DMG/Mori Seiki. This is a great
opportunity to see live robot demostrations, get close up and program
the robots, meet with representatives from Harper, ECC, NIU and Illinois
workNet. You will also network and meet with community college and
university graduates employed in the manufacturing field.
Please register by email to mfrank@ci.schaumbur g.il.us
for a chance to win an IPOD Apple
TV.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Fanuc Robotics
1800 Lakewood Blvd.
Hoffman Estates, IL 60169
Discover career and job opportunities in the Hoffman Estates/Schaumburg
industrial sector by attending an Open House at the world's largest
producer of Industiral Robotics - Fanuc. Hear from the President of the
world's largest Precision Toolmaker - DMG/Mori Seiki. This is a great
opportunity to see live robot demostrations, get close up and program
the robots, meet with representatives from Harper, ECC, NIU and Illinois
workNet. You will also network and meet with community college and
university graduates employed in the manufacturing field.
Please register by email to mfrank@ci.schaumbur g.il.us
TV.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Steer Clear of One-Size-Fits-All Management
NOVEMBER 8, 2010
Steer Clear of One-Size-Fits-All Management
When the job market picks up, the first to leave are often a company's most valuable employees. Unfortunately, you may be inadvertently encouraging these future leaders to say their goodbyes by treating them as cogs in a wheel rather than the individuals that they are. Instead of managing everyone the same way, do these two things to manage your stars person-to-person:
1. Customize the position. Know what each employee's strengths, weaknesses, and preferences are. If your star performer doesn't want to manage people, don't make her do it. If she hates to travel, don't put her into a sales job with a large territory.
2. Customize the rewards. Employees want different perks. A parent may want flex time while an ambitious, recent college grad may be looking for outside training or a mentor. Give people what they want, not what upper management has decided is best for them to have.
Steer Clear of One-Size-Fits-All Management
When the job market picks up, the first to leave are often a company's most valuable employees. Unfortunately, you may be inadvertently encouraging these future leaders to say their goodbyes by treating them as cogs in a wheel rather than the individuals that they are. Instead of managing everyone the same way, do these two things to manage your stars person-to-person:
1. Customize the position. Know what each employee's strengths, weaknesses, and preferences are. If your star performer doesn't want to manage people, don't make her do it. If she hates to travel, don't put her into a sales job with a large territory.
2. Customize the rewards. Employees want different perks. A parent may want flex time while an ambitious, recent college grad may be looking for outside training or a mentor. Give people what they want, not what upper management has decided is best for them to have.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
The Changing World of On-Line Promotion
Topic: The Changing World of On-Line Promotion
Speaker: Larry Burns, President and CEO, StartSampling, Inc.
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Time: 5:45 - 6:30 Registration -- Networking and Cash Bar
6:30 - 8:00 Program
8:00 - Cash Bar Re-opens
Once again, we'll have a cash bar before and after the presentation in order to maximize your networking opportunity. If you need to leave at 8, we encourage you to come early and enjoy the pre-meeting networking.
Location: Gleacher Center - Room 100 (Directions: http://www.chicagobooth.edu/visit/gleacher/gleachermap.pdf)
To RSVP: Register Online
Questions? Please contact Daniel Drake at ProfDrake@comcast.net
Session Overview
On-line promotion and analysis of the resulting data has become an important element of marketing for traditional retailers and CPG manufacturers. As the nature of internet and media communications evolves and methods for analysis of market data improve, on-line promotions must also change in order to be successful.
In this session, we will look the state of on-line promotions, current practices and future directions. Actual case studies and campaigns will be discussed to shed light on various aspects of internet marketing and product sampling within the CPG and retail space.
Topics will include:
* On-line support for branded manufacturers,
* The role of product sampling in new product launches,
* Consumer education through product sampling programs,
* Social media and traditional CPG marketing techniques,
* Data analysis and methods for measure success of marketing campaigns.
About Our Speaker
Larry Burns has been President and CEO of StartSampling, Inc. since the company’s launch in 1999. Under Larry’s guidance, the enterprise has completed over 2,000 projects, and currently manages over 50 programs a month for CPG and retail clients that include Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Sam's, and CVS.
Speaker: Larry Burns, President and CEO, StartSampling, Inc.
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Time: 5:45 - 6:30 Registration -- Networking and Cash Bar
6:30 - 8:00 Program
8:00 - Cash Bar Re-opens
Once again, we'll have a cash bar before and after the presentation in order to maximize your networking opportunity. If you need to leave at 8, we encourage you to come early and enjoy the pre-meeting networking.
Location: Gleacher Center - Room 100 (Directions: http://www.chicagobooth.edu/visit/gleacher/gleachermap.pdf)
To RSVP: Register Online
Questions? Please contact Daniel Drake at ProfDrake@comcast.net
Session Overview
On-line promotion and analysis of the resulting data has become an important element of marketing for traditional retailers and CPG manufacturers. As the nature of internet and media communications evolves and methods for analysis of market data improve, on-line promotions must also change in order to be successful.
In this session, we will look the state of on-line promotions, current practices and future directions. Actual case studies and campaigns will be discussed to shed light on various aspects of internet marketing and product sampling within the CPG and retail space.
Topics will include:
* On-line support for branded manufacturers,
* The role of product sampling in new product launches,
* Consumer education through product sampling programs,
* Social media and traditional CPG marketing techniques,
* Data analysis and methods for measure success of marketing campaigns.
About Our Speaker
Larry Burns has been President and CEO of StartSampling, Inc. since the company’s launch in 1999. Under Larry’s guidance, the enterprise has completed over 2,000 projects, and currently manages over 50 programs a month for CPG and retail clients that include Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Sam's, and CVS.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Protect Your Good Idea
The best idea can still die when naysayers raise concerns, even if the concerns are meritless. Instead of trying to dodge unavoidable attacks, learn to expect the common types you'll face, and how to counter them simply and convincingly:
1. Death by delay. Adversaries may try to put off the discussion, ask for additional information, or otherwise delay a decision on your idea, thereby slowing momentum. Keep your audience focused on making a decision.
2. Confusion. Detractors often present distracting information or try to link your idea to several others in an attempt to confound people. Be clear about what your idea is and what it isn't.
3. Fear mongering. Nothing kills an idea faster than irrational anxieties. Know what fears your challengers might stir up and be prepared to allay them.
1. Death by delay. Adversaries may try to put off the discussion, ask for additional information, or otherwise delay a decision on your idea, thereby slowing momentum. Keep your audience focused on making a decision.
2. Confusion. Detractors often present distracting information or try to link your idea to several others in an attempt to confound people. Be clear about what your idea is and what it isn't.
3. Fear mongering. Nothing kills an idea faster than irrational anxieties. Know what fears your challengers might stir up and be prepared to allay them.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Guide to Persuasive Presentations - Harvard Business Review
Guide to Persuasive Presentations - Harvard Business Review: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
2010 Chicago Innovation Awards Finalist: EZlocal.com, Inc.
2010 Chicago Innovation Awards Finalist: EZlocal.com, Inc.: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Monday, October 11, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The No-Drama Rule of Management
I lay back in the chair, closed my eyes, and almost immediately felt my body relax. An instant later a stream of warm water rinsed through my hair while strong, competent hands massaged my scalp. For that moment my stress disappeared, washed away with the water.
I might as well have been at some exotic spa on vacation in the Caribbean but I was in New York City, in the middle of a workday, still in my suit.
I was getting my haircut at a salon, Lovella, run by a friend of mine, Avi Benichou. I expected a great haircut, and I got one. But I also got a lesson in management.
After the shampoo, in a slight daze of tranquility, I was guided to a chair and Avi began to cut my hair. We began to chat when, suddenly, behind us, came a commotion. I watched Avi in the mirror as he looked around to see what was happening.
One of the other hair stylists, we'll call him Jon, was talking to a colleague, gesturing dramatically, clearly upset. The other customers began to look around, a little uncomfortable, not sure what was happening.
Avi excused himself and went over to Jon. He spoke softly to him, listened, and in a few seconds Jon calmed down.
Avi returned to my haircut, apologized again, made a joke — but not at Jon's expense, and resumed his cutting.
"So Avi," I said, "You know I've gotta ask: What was that about?"
It turns out that Jon had gotten into a small dispute with a client on the phone. The client had asked Jon to spend the day doing her hair at her wedding but was upset by the fee he quoted which was much higher than a single haircut. He tried to explain to her that he'd have to give up a day's work at the Salon and needed to cover that lost work. Still, she was upset. Which made him upset. And a little dramatic.
Which, Avi said, must never happen in his salon.
"Drama?" I asked.
"Anything unprofessional. We're always on stage. We're all in a single open space. Anything anyone does is visible to everyone else. I don't want customers, other stylists, the receptionist — anyone — to feel uncomfortable."
That's when it hit me: We all work at Lovella.
I was recently on the trading floor of a large bank. Hundreds of people were sitting next to each other in rows, everyone visible to everyone else. The head of the department, one of the top ten people leading this multi-billion dollar company, worked in an office constructed entirely of glass. There was no place to hide.
And it's not just trading floors. Many of the newly built offices I've seen — like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's — are built as open spaces with everyone from the CEO to the receptionist visible to everyone. Even in older buildings almost everyone sits in cubicles or behind glass walls.
This architectural style reflects a management style — we're breaking down the walls between us, trying to soften the hierarchy, and offering transparency. It also reflects a social style facilitated by the Internet that exposes, well, just about everything.
In other words, there's no place to hide.
We need to be diligent and disciplined about how we act, because, as Avi observed, we're always on stage.
In the past, we could be calm and professional in front of everyone and then walk into our private offices and lose it. That harmless venting didn't impact anyone. But when our offices are glass — or worse, desks in the middle of everyone else — our losses of composure are losses of professionalism. People begin to lose confidence and trust in us.
So when Avi noticed Jon lose his composure he knew two things: 1) everyone was looking at Jon and 2) everyone was wondering what Avi would do about it.
Avi passed the test. He maintained his composure, spoke softly to Jon, and let Jon know that it would be better if he as the Salon owner — not Jon — negotiate the price. He promised that he would do just that after my haircut.
"When you're in charge," Avi told me, "You need to look good, relaxed, in control. Meanwhile your stomach is turning because you see that things aren't running like they're supposed to."
Avi demonstrated the new rules of professionalism in an open work place. Be calm. Be supportive of others. Show leadership by avoiding — and, when necessary, actively managing — drama that could distract, embarrass, or unsettle others. And never, ever be the cause of that drama yourself.
"You know," Avi said to me. "Hair stylists can be a little, well, fragile and moody. You need to handle them gently. Otherwise they'll just leave."
He's right. But it's not just hair stylists. It's people. We're all a little fragile and, at times, moody. We all need to be handled with care.
I emerged from the salon an hour after I had entered with a great haircut, more relaxed then I had been in a long time. And that led me to one final insight.
If you're in a situation in which your professionalism is hard to maintain — for some reason you've become upset, riled up, or anxious — and a deep breath or glass of water isn't enough, go for a walk. Leave the office — or whatever space you're in — entirely. Then, if you have the time, walk over to your neighborhood hair salon and ask for a shampoo and cut. You'll emerge composed, relaxed, and professional.
I might as well have been at some exotic spa on vacation in the Caribbean but I was in New York City, in the middle of a workday, still in my suit.
I was getting my haircut at a salon, Lovella, run by a friend of mine, Avi Benichou. I expected a great haircut, and I got one. But I also got a lesson in management.
After the shampoo, in a slight daze of tranquility, I was guided to a chair and Avi began to cut my hair. We began to chat when, suddenly, behind us, came a commotion. I watched Avi in the mirror as he looked around to see what was happening.
One of the other hair stylists, we'll call him Jon, was talking to a colleague, gesturing dramatically, clearly upset. The other customers began to look around, a little uncomfortable, not sure what was happening.
Avi excused himself and went over to Jon. He spoke softly to him, listened, and in a few seconds Jon calmed down.
Avi returned to my haircut, apologized again, made a joke — but not at Jon's expense, and resumed his cutting.
"So Avi," I said, "You know I've gotta ask: What was that about?"
It turns out that Jon had gotten into a small dispute with a client on the phone. The client had asked Jon to spend the day doing her hair at her wedding but was upset by the fee he quoted which was much higher than a single haircut. He tried to explain to her that he'd have to give up a day's work at the Salon and needed to cover that lost work. Still, she was upset. Which made him upset. And a little dramatic.
Which, Avi said, must never happen in his salon.
"Drama?" I asked.
"Anything unprofessional. We're always on stage. We're all in a single open space. Anything anyone does is visible to everyone else. I don't want customers, other stylists, the receptionist — anyone — to feel uncomfortable."
That's when it hit me: We all work at Lovella.
I was recently on the trading floor of a large bank. Hundreds of people were sitting next to each other in rows, everyone visible to everyone else. The head of the department, one of the top ten people leading this multi-billion dollar company, worked in an office constructed entirely of glass. There was no place to hide.
And it's not just trading floors. Many of the newly built offices I've seen — like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's — are built as open spaces with everyone from the CEO to the receptionist visible to everyone. Even in older buildings almost everyone sits in cubicles or behind glass walls.
This architectural style reflects a management style — we're breaking down the walls between us, trying to soften the hierarchy, and offering transparency. It also reflects a social style facilitated by the Internet that exposes, well, just about everything.
In other words, there's no place to hide.
We need to be diligent and disciplined about how we act, because, as Avi observed, we're always on stage.
In the past, we could be calm and professional in front of everyone and then walk into our private offices and lose it. That harmless venting didn't impact anyone. But when our offices are glass — or worse, desks in the middle of everyone else — our losses of composure are losses of professionalism. People begin to lose confidence and trust in us.
So when Avi noticed Jon lose his composure he knew two things: 1) everyone was looking at Jon and 2) everyone was wondering what Avi would do about it.
Avi passed the test. He maintained his composure, spoke softly to Jon, and let Jon know that it would be better if he as the Salon owner — not Jon — negotiate the price. He promised that he would do just that after my haircut.
"When you're in charge," Avi told me, "You need to look good, relaxed, in control. Meanwhile your stomach is turning because you see that things aren't running like they're supposed to."
Avi demonstrated the new rules of professionalism in an open work place. Be calm. Be supportive of others. Show leadership by avoiding — and, when necessary, actively managing — drama that could distract, embarrass, or unsettle others. And never, ever be the cause of that drama yourself.
"You know," Avi said to me. "Hair stylists can be a little, well, fragile and moody. You need to handle them gently. Otherwise they'll just leave."
He's right. But it's not just hair stylists. It's people. We're all a little fragile and, at times, moody. We all need to be handled with care.
I emerged from the salon an hour after I had entered with a great haircut, more relaxed then I had been in a long time. And that led me to one final insight.
If you're in a situation in which your professionalism is hard to maintain — for some reason you've become upset, riled up, or anxious — and a deep breath or glass of water isn't enough, go for a walk. Leave the office — or whatever space you're in — entirely. Then, if you have the time, walk over to your neighborhood hair salon and ask for a shampoo and cut. You'll emerge composed, relaxed, and professional.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Top 7 Ways To Leverage Your Target List
1. Linkedin: Connect to employees of your target company through Linkedin. The closer to your target department/area/decision maker the better. Don’t send the standard Linkedin request (“I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”), many won’t accept standard Linkedin requests from those they don’t know personally - others may get offended and mark that they don’t know you (Linkedin’s term for spam - too many of these, and you’ll be asked to go home). Instead, write a custom connection request letter, complementing on blogs, tweets, LI updates, or LI group posts they may have made. At the very least, mention that you’re researching company X to consider if you’d like to work there, and would like this person’s insight.
2. Networking events: To gain an understanding of which events are most likely to yield results with your target companies ask the following questions:
o What organizations does your target company sponsor?
o What charity events?
o What networking or industry organizations does this company (or department) participate in?
How do you find out? Ask people in your Linkedin network, study Linkedin profiles of company employees, study tweets and blogs of company employees. Look at the company’s press releases. All of these can give information about which organizations the company supports.
3. Ask your network: But ask the right question. Ideally, you’re seeking someone in a specific area of a company. And realistically, you’re not looking for a job ... you’re looking for people within the company to talk to - If you’re smart, you’re probably not going to ask these people for a job (unless you’ve gotten lucky and been referred to the hiring manager). Instead, ask to be introduced to people who can help you learn more about company X. See: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/08/bringing-your-resume-to-informational.html for more details.
4. Linkedin Company Follow: Linkedin Company follow is a great way to keep abreast of company news, company new hires, people leaving the company (good source of info), and job openings advertised on Linkedin. See http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/linkedin-company-follow-helps-job.html to learn how to use Linkedin Company Follow to gain contacts and information on your target companies.
5. Search job boards: But don’t apply through them. Search the job boards for information ... The types of people the companies advertise for gives signals to the problems they are facing. New Executives build their own teams, numerous customer service ads may mean the company needs accounting or marketing help. An ad for a Controller with significant process improvement experience signals that the company is looking for people to help cut costs ... in other departments as well. See some more ideas at: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/05/3-ways-to-leverage-job-boards-and.html.
6. Twitter: Now that many Linkedin profiles display Twitter links, follow everyone you can from your target companies on Twitter. Use some of the many search tools on twitter for company mentions, and for other employees. Follow as many employees as you can, especially those in or close to departments you’re targeting. Twitter can be a great listening device, but can also be a way to start a conversation, discussion and the beginnings of a business relationship by making positive comments on Tweets by employees of your target companies.
7. Don’t rely on employees to “refer” you: Most companies today (other than really small ones) employ employee referral bonus programs, as a way to address government labor law compliance. These employee referral bonus programs aren’t as beneficial to candidates as you may think.
2. Networking events: To gain an understanding of which events are most likely to yield results with your target companies ask the following questions:
o What organizations does your target company sponsor?
o What charity events?
o What networking or industry organizations does this company (or department) participate in?
How do you find out? Ask people in your Linkedin network, study Linkedin profiles of company employees, study tweets and blogs of company employees. Look at the company’s press releases. All of these can give information about which organizations the company supports.
3. Ask your network: But ask the right question. Ideally, you’re seeking someone in a specific area of a company. And realistically, you’re not looking for a job ... you’re looking for people within the company to talk to - If you’re smart, you’re probably not going to ask these people for a job (unless you’ve gotten lucky and been referred to the hiring manager). Instead, ask to be introduced to people who can help you learn more about company X. See: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/08/bringing-your-resume-to-informational.html for more details.
4. Linkedin Company Follow: Linkedin Company follow is a great way to keep abreast of company news, company new hires, people leaving the company (good source of info), and job openings advertised on Linkedin. See http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/linkedin-company-follow-helps-job.html to learn how to use Linkedin Company Follow to gain contacts and information on your target companies.
5. Search job boards: But don’t apply through them. Search the job boards for information ... The types of people the companies advertise for gives signals to the problems they are facing. New Executives build their own teams, numerous customer service ads may mean the company needs accounting or marketing help. An ad for a Controller with significant process improvement experience signals that the company is looking for people to help cut costs ... in other departments as well. See some more ideas at: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/05/3-ways-to-leverage-job-boards-and.html.
6. Twitter: Now that many Linkedin profiles display Twitter links, follow everyone you can from your target companies on Twitter. Use some of the many search tools on twitter for company mentions, and for other employees. Follow as many employees as you can, especially those in or close to departments you’re targeting. Twitter can be a great listening device, but can also be a way to start a conversation, discussion and the beginnings of a business relationship by making positive comments on Tweets by employees of your target companies.
7. Don’t rely on employees to “refer” you: Most companies today (other than really small ones) employ employee referral bonus programs, as a way to address government labor law compliance. These employee referral bonus programs aren’t as beneficial to candidates as you may think.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
You're Getting a Bonus! So Why Aren't You Motivated?
If you're like most professionals working in large corporations, you're eligible for an annual bonus as part of your pay. If you're one of the luckier ones, you've been hearing rumors lately that with the economy recovering, that bonus may become a reality again.
Good for you. But maybe not so good for your company. Chances are, its bonus program is costing it plenty but it isn't seeing much of a motivation boost in return, from you or anyone else.
The idea that some part of an employee's pay should be contingent on good performance is a very old one. Harvard's Derek Bok writes that it dates back to at least the time of Julius Caesar, who instituted an "elaborate system to supply bonuses to loyal soldiers participating in successful campaigns — 50 dinari for every legionnaire and 500 for each centurion." In America, Bok says, bonuses started to become a significant part of corporate leaders' compensation around the time of the first World War. Now, bonuses have become so commonplace in the business world that their value is rarely questioned.
The problem is that, even if it's true that contingent compensation spurs higher performance (and not everyone thinks it does - see, for example, this pdf), when the reward comes as one big check cut by the finance department at the end of the fiscal year, that motivating effect is mainly lost. That's because the bonus fails to make two critical connections:
1. The connection between values and behavior. Typically, bonuses are tied to financial achievement —they're paid out when a certain benchmark is hit such as yearly company revenue, earnings per share, or department revenue targets. But the connection between the outcomes you truly value and the behaviors you want to see from employees can be far from obvious.
2. The connection between a worker and his/her direct supervisor. Plenty of research has shown that the most important influencer of workers' performance, for better or worse, is the dynamic between them and their bosses. For example, research into workplace deviance by Lance Ferris of Singapore Management University shows a higher level of outright deviance among employees who feel they've been treated rudely or unfairly by their immediate supervisors. By the same token, there is nothing more motivating than recognition that comes directly from the higher-up who knows your work best: your manager. At that close range, a reward is a relationship-builder. Administered more remotely, as bonuses are, it's only a transaction.
What works better than an annual bonus, then? The answer is a more strategic, thoughtful approach to conditional rewards, involving smaller payouts given year round and, critically, targeting the vast majority of the workforce — not just a privileged few.
Of course, this raises the complexity level of performance management. At software maker Symantec, for example, it had always been a simple matter to give top performers non-strategic cash rewards. Now, through its Applause recognition program, the company spends the same basic amount of money on thousands of small acts of recognition, tied to important goals and values and dispensed through direct supervisors, each of them valued anywhere from $25 to $1,000.
The perceived difficulty of that task helps to explain why so many other companies continue to give out bonuses that lead to no real uptick in employee engagement or company performance. They're easy to administer. Management has decided it should institute pay for performance, and an annual bonus program is the simplest way to check off that box. But shouldn't more companies try to do better?
I'm interested in your thoughts. How does your company recognize and reward good work? And does that approach have any effect on people's everyday habits? What version of contingent compensation would engage and motivate you?
Eric Mosley is co-founder and CEO of Globoforce, which provides employee recognition solutions. For more information, also see his company's blog at http://globoforce.blogspot.com/
Good for you. But maybe not so good for your company. Chances are, its bonus program is costing it plenty but it isn't seeing much of a motivation boost in return, from you or anyone else.
The idea that some part of an employee's pay should be contingent on good performance is a very old one. Harvard's Derek Bok writes that it dates back to at least the time of Julius Caesar, who instituted an "elaborate system to supply bonuses to loyal soldiers participating in successful campaigns — 50 dinari for every legionnaire and 500 for each centurion." In America, Bok says, bonuses started to become a significant part of corporate leaders' compensation around the time of the first World War. Now, bonuses have become so commonplace in the business world that their value is rarely questioned.
The problem is that, even if it's true that contingent compensation spurs higher performance (and not everyone thinks it does - see, for example, this pdf), when the reward comes as one big check cut by the finance department at the end of the fiscal year, that motivating effect is mainly lost. That's because the bonus fails to make two critical connections:
1. The connection between values and behavior. Typically, bonuses are tied to financial achievement —they're paid out when a certain benchmark is hit such as yearly company revenue, earnings per share, or department revenue targets. But the connection between the outcomes you truly value and the behaviors you want to see from employees can be far from obvious.
2. The connection between a worker and his/her direct supervisor. Plenty of research has shown that the most important influencer of workers' performance, for better or worse, is the dynamic between them and their bosses. For example, research into workplace deviance by Lance Ferris of Singapore Management University shows a higher level of outright deviance among employees who feel they've been treated rudely or unfairly by their immediate supervisors. By the same token, there is nothing more motivating than recognition that comes directly from the higher-up who knows your work best: your manager. At that close range, a reward is a relationship-builder. Administered more remotely, as bonuses are, it's only a transaction.
What works better than an annual bonus, then? The answer is a more strategic, thoughtful approach to conditional rewards, involving smaller payouts given year round and, critically, targeting the vast majority of the workforce — not just a privileged few.
Of course, this raises the complexity level of performance management. At software maker Symantec, for example, it had always been a simple matter to give top performers non-strategic cash rewards. Now, through its Applause recognition program, the company spends the same basic amount of money on thousands of small acts of recognition, tied to important goals and values and dispensed through direct supervisors, each of them valued anywhere from $25 to $1,000.
The perceived difficulty of that task helps to explain why so many other companies continue to give out bonuses that lead to no real uptick in employee engagement or company performance. They're easy to administer. Management has decided it should institute pay for performance, and an annual bonus program is the simplest way to check off that box. But shouldn't more companies try to do better?
I'm interested in your thoughts. How does your company recognize and reward good work? And does that approach have any effect on people's everyday habits? What version of contingent compensation would engage and motivate you?
Eric Mosley is co-founder and CEO of Globoforce, which provides employee recognition solutions. For more information, also see his company's blog at http://globoforce.blogspot.com/
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Create a Simple Strategic Principle
Helping employees understand a strategy while simultaneously motivating them to achieve it is a dire challenge for many leaders. Creating and sticking to a pithy, memorable, action-oriented phrase can help. When designed and executed well, a strategic principle gives employees clear direction while inspiring them to be flexible and take risks. A powerful strategic principle forces trade-offs between competing resources and provides a litmus test for decisions. When faced with a choice, an employee should be able to test her options against the strategic principle to make a decision that aligns with the company's objectives.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Develop the 4 Qualities of an Inspirational Leader
Leaders need vision, energy, authority, and a natural strategic ability. But those things don't necessarily help you inspire your employees to be their best and commit to you as a leader. Here are the four qualities you need to capture the hearts, minds, and spirits of your people:
1. Humanness. Nobody wants to work with a perfect leader. Build collaboration and solidarity by revealing your weaknesses.
2. Intuition. To be most effective, you need to know what's going on without others spelling it out for you. Collect unspoken data from body language and looks given across rooms to help you intuit the underlying messages.
3. Tough empathy. Care deeply about your employees, but accept nothing less than their very best.
4. Uniqueness. Demonstrate that you are a singular leader by showing your unique qualities to those around you.
1. Humanness. Nobody wants to work with a perfect leader. Build collaboration and solidarity by revealing your weaknesses.
2. Intuition. To be most effective, you need to know what's going on without others spelling it out for you. Collect unspoken data from body language and looks given across rooms to help you intuit the underlying messages.
3. Tough empathy. Care deeply about your employees, but accept nothing less than their very best.
4. Uniqueness. Demonstrate that you are a singular leader by showing your unique qualities to those around you.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Economic Conditions Snapshot, September 2010: McKinsey Global Survey results
Two years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, 51 percent of executives who responded to our most recent survey say the world economy is in recovery; 58 percent say so about their own countries.1 Most expect corporate profits to rise this year from their level in 2009, and 38 percent expect to hire by the end of the year—the greatest share expecting to hire in the near term since before the crisis.
Even if companies are coping with the new economy, the results also indicate that executives’ confidence is tenuous. For example, more expect economic conditions to improve than not, but fewer say so now than did earlier this year. Notably, the share of respondents expecting better conditions in six months is lower than it was a year ago: 55 percent now, compared with 61 percent in September 2009. Furthermore, optimism on the current state of the economy compared with six months earlier started to fall in June and has taken a sharp dive in the past month. Compared with August, 10 percentage points fewer say the economy is better now. The slide is particularly notable in North America, where the share of respondents who say conditions are better has fallen 16 percentage points.
Even if companies are coping with the new economy, the results also indicate that executives’ confidence is tenuous. For example, more expect economic conditions to improve than not, but fewer say so now than did earlier this year. Notably, the share of respondents expecting better conditions in six months is lower than it was a year ago: 55 percent now, compared with 61 percent in September 2009. Furthermore, optimism on the current state of the economy compared with six months earlier started to fall in June and has taken a sharp dive in the past month. Compared with August, 10 percentage points fewer say the economy is better now. The slide is particularly notable in North America, where the share of respondents who say conditions are better has fallen 16 percentage points.
The Miracle of Making Mistakes
Make no mistake: The fear of making mistakes is deeply ingrained in our psyche.
All through school, a mistake indicates the prospect of lower grades. Good students don't make mistakes. At home, mistakes lead to admonishments. Good children follow the rules. At work, mistakes have serious repercussions. Good workers get it right the first time.
But, in those very schools and organizations where we are marked down for making mistakes, we also learn that people often stumble upon great inventions. There's growing evidence to suggest that innovation flourishes when people are given the space to make mistakes. Even Mahatma Gandhi attached value to experimentation; he believed that "freedom isn't worth having if it doesn't include the freedom to make mistakes."
Why then don't we allow, much less encourage, making mistakes? Most of us, particularly in business, fight shy of them. We believe that people will see a faux pas as incompetence. We also feel that success is driven by our image as experts rather than as learners. And the measures of our performance are numbers such as sales, profits, total returns to shareholders, and so on.
Are these really the best measures of success? Consider an alternative. What if we were to ask employees what mistakes they committed because they did something differently? What did they learn?
Does that sound a little crazy? It may, but we have to bring the human element back in business; we can't function as extensions of computer programs. Some mission-critical and life-threatening tasks may have zero tolerance for failure, but not the rest of our work and lives. I'm not suggesting breaking every rule; I feel we should institutionalize the art of making mistakes; introduce a method for the madness; and innovate the innovation process.
Imagine encouraging an employee to keep trying to solve a problem until he or she makes, say, five mistakes. Imagine asking team members whether they have made their five mistakes yet! Trust me, if you aren't making mistakes, you're not learning — or, at least, you're not learning enough.
Do you remember the first time you rode a bicycle? Can you relive the exhilaration of riding free, the sense of triumph as you broke free of the crutches of support? Now step back. How many times did you fall off the bike before that first ride?
I remember my first class in engineering school during which our professor asked us to dismantle an engine. We did that. Then he asked us to put it together and walked away. We messed that up big time and had to work at it for days. I learned more about engineering in that short time than I did in the next four years. Why don't you ask your employees to dismantle something and then, give them the time but not the help to put it together?
Do you have the nerve to encourage the mistakes that people will inevitably make on the path of discovery?
All through school, a mistake indicates the prospect of lower grades. Good students don't make mistakes. At home, mistakes lead to admonishments. Good children follow the rules. At work, mistakes have serious repercussions. Good workers get it right the first time.
But, in those very schools and organizations where we are marked down for making mistakes, we also learn that people often stumble upon great inventions. There's growing evidence to suggest that innovation flourishes when people are given the space to make mistakes. Even Mahatma Gandhi attached value to experimentation; he believed that "freedom isn't worth having if it doesn't include the freedom to make mistakes."
Why then don't we allow, much less encourage, making mistakes? Most of us, particularly in business, fight shy of them. We believe that people will see a faux pas as incompetence. We also feel that success is driven by our image as experts rather than as learners. And the measures of our performance are numbers such as sales, profits, total returns to shareholders, and so on.
Are these really the best measures of success? Consider an alternative. What if we were to ask employees what mistakes they committed because they did something differently? What did they learn?
Does that sound a little crazy? It may, but we have to bring the human element back in business; we can't function as extensions of computer programs. Some mission-critical and life-threatening tasks may have zero tolerance for failure, but not the rest of our work and lives. I'm not suggesting breaking every rule; I feel we should institutionalize the art of making mistakes; introduce a method for the madness; and innovate the innovation process.
Imagine encouraging an employee to keep trying to solve a problem until he or she makes, say, five mistakes. Imagine asking team members whether they have made their five mistakes yet! Trust me, if you aren't making mistakes, you're not learning — or, at least, you're not learning enough.
Do you remember the first time you rode a bicycle? Can you relive the exhilaration of riding free, the sense of triumph as you broke free of the crutches of support? Now step back. How many times did you fall off the bike before that first ride?
I remember my first class in engineering school during which our professor asked us to dismantle an engine. We did that. Then he asked us to put it together and walked away. We messed that up big time and had to work at it for days. I learned more about engineering in that short time than I did in the next four years. Why don't you ask your employees to dismantle something and then, give them the time but not the help to put it together?
Do you have the nerve to encourage the mistakes that people will inevitably make on the path of discovery?
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Is Your Elevator Pitch a Monologue or a Dialogue?
Jay Hamilton-Roth
Published June 01, 2009 by: Jay Hamilton-Roth
When most people think "elevator pitch", they think of a paragraph that they can utter in about 15 seconds that tells people what they do. I've written previous articles on how to craft a pitch and how to judge your pitch's effectiveness. But what most people forget is the goal of the elevator pitch - to start a dialogue.
Let's say I'm at a mixer, and I ask the person standing next to me what they do for a living. They respond with their elevator pitch. And unless it's a great pitch, it's likely that I've tuned them out. Why? Because they didn't tailor their pitch to me.
In all your marketing communication, you need to ensure the message matches your target's needs. If you don't know their needs, all you can do is talk at them, and hope that the message somehow "sticks".
How can you create an elevator pitch that's memorable? Start slowly. Describe who you target clearly and a single benefit you provide. For example, I'd say: "I help small businesses around the world make more money." In this simple sentence, I've identified my target audience (small businesses), where they are located (around the world), and a single benefit (make more money). Notice I also put in clear clues to help the listener to see if their problems fit my business offerings (this helps the listener frame the dialogue better). Instead of adding any more to the pitch, I now wait for the inevitable question, "How do you make more money?" (I could loan money, steal money, print money, or provide services).
My next sentence is a bit more specific: "I plan and implement creative marketing strategies." Perhaps they'll hear the word marketing or creative or strategies. It doesn't matter much, because I immediately follow up my answer with a question, "What's your #1 business problem?"
I've just created a dialogue around a prospect's business. The more I find out, the better I can now talk about how my offerings can help their business (or not). The result is a memorable message that's tailored to my prospect's needs.
Published June 01, 2009 by: Jay Hamilton-Roth
When most people think "elevator pitch", they think of a paragraph that they can utter in about 15 seconds that tells people what they do. I've written previous articles on how to craft a pitch and how to judge your pitch's effectiveness. But what most people forget is the goal of the elevator pitch - to start a dialogue.
Let's say I'm at a mixer, and I ask the person standing next to me what they do for a living. They respond with their elevator pitch. And unless it's a great pitch, it's likely that I've tuned them out. Why? Because they didn't tailor their pitch to me.
In all your marketing communication, you need to ensure the message matches your target's needs. If you don't know their needs, all you can do is talk at them, and hope that the message somehow "sticks".
How can you create an elevator pitch that's memorable? Start slowly. Describe who you target clearly and a single benefit you provide. For example, I'd say: "I help small businesses around the world make more money." In this simple sentence, I've identified my target audience (small businesses), where they are located (around the world), and a single benefit (make more money). Notice I also put in clear clues to help the listener to see if their problems fit my business offerings (this helps the listener frame the dialogue better). Instead of adding any more to the pitch, I now wait for the inevitable question, "How do you make more money?" (I could loan money, steal money, print money, or provide services).
My next sentence is a bit more specific: "I plan and implement creative marketing strategies." Perhaps they'll hear the word marketing or creative or strategies. It doesn't matter much, because I immediately follow up my answer with a question, "What's your #1 business problem?"
I've just created a dialogue around a prospect's business. The more I find out, the better I can now talk about how my offerings can help their business (or not). The result is a memorable message that's tailored to my prospect's needs.
How to Prevent Hiring Disasters
Hiring someone can be a time-consuming and nerve-wracking task. In an ideal situation, you find the perfect person for the position — someone who hits the ground running, increases your unit's performance, and eases your workload. In the worst-case scenario, your seemingly perfect hire turns out to be far from it and you spend months dealing with the aftermath, including finding a replacement. Either way, it can feel like a referendum on your judgment. So how can you be sure your experience is more like the former than the latter? If you outline and adhere to a disciplined process, you can greatly improve your chances.
What the Experts Say
Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior adviser at Egon Zehnder International and the author of Great People Decisions and "The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad," argues that hiring decisions are pressure-filled for a reason. "It is crucial to get hiring right not only for the hiring entity, but also, and very importantly, for the person being hired," he says. A new hire isn't to blame for a bad hiring decision, but will shoulder much of the burden when a role doesn't fit.
A carefully crafted hiring process can help avoid most mishaps. Adele Lynn, founder and owner of The Adele Lynn Leadership Group and author of The EQ Interview, urges that companies regard hiring as more of a science than an art, or worse a leap of faith.
Prevention is the best medicine
You can greatly reduce your chances of getting hiring decisions wrong by following a clear and consistent approach that includes knowing the traits valued across the organization (such as humility or an entrepreneurial spirit); conducting fair, structured interviews that include multiple people from the organization; and agreeing on a standard ranking system to evaluate candidates.
Getting the right person for the job requires time and discipline. Be careful of the time trap, warns Lynn. "Often, companies are desperate to fill a position, so the interview process includes some generic questions and some information about the position," she says. Needing to fill the role yesterday is not an excuse for shortchanging the process.
Know the specific competencies you're looking for
Fernández-Aráoz says we are hardwired to hire people who are like us or make us comfortable — but that does not always yield the best candidate. In fact, you need to be aware of what he calls the "typical unconscious psychological traps" that lead one to make inferior people decisions (e.g. overrating capability or making snap judgments). Outline the specific competencies — above and beyond the traits you look for in all new hires — that the ideal candidate needs. What skills are required? How much does experience matter? What behaviors does he need to exhibit in the role? For example, this is a role requiring 7 years of computer programming experience but also an ability to work collaboratively with team members on high-pressure projects.
Screening for the right soft skills is critical. Seasoned hiring managers will tell you that it's much harder to coach behavioral issues than it is to teach someone the technical aspects of the job. "And people who fail in a new job mostly do so because of their inability to develop proper relationships not only with their boss but also with their peers and subordinates," says Fernández-Aráoz. To assess relational skills and emotional intelligence, "the interview should include behavior-based questions and motive and reflection questions," says Lynn. For example, "Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker and explain how you resolved it." The aim is to uncover the candidate's true colors. Does he blame others for his mistakes? Does he rationalize his behavior? Or does he accept responsibility? "You get a much more thorough understanding of how a person will behave in the future," says Lynn.
On-board with care
When a new hire seems to be struggling, on-boarding can also be to blame. "Most companies let their new hires sink or swim, and as a result many sink. Some form of integration support reduces the chances of failure, accelerates learning, and increases the contribution of any new hire," says Fernández-Aráoz. The right onboarding approach can help you get immediate value from your new hire and position her for success. But perhaps the most important element is expectation-setting. "Especially with knowledge workers and younger workers, there is a strong need to communicate both expectations of performance and behavior," explains Lynn.
When it happens anyway...
Sometimes even when you follow all the rules, you may still end up with the wrong person in the job. When you suspect a poor fit, proceed carefully. Start by asking others to corroborate your opinion. Don't start a witch hunt, but discreetly ask if they see the situation in the same way. Then, once you've identified where the mismatch is, ask yourself if the problem is coachable "People are ineffective for many reasons and some of those reasons are definitely correctable," says Lynn.
"Unless it's an egregious breach of values, generally coaching and reiterating behaviors and performance expectations should be the first step." Provide feedback to the new hire early on and lay out a plan for getting her up to speed in the problem areas. If the issues persist, consider finding a more appropriate role for her in your organization.
In the worst cases, termination may be your only option, particularly if you find that the problem is not coachable, if you are unwilling to further invest in coaching, or if the error or behavior is intolerable. It should be your last resort, however. "Most likely as the hiring manager you have a large share of responsibility for the mistake, and thus should never fire a person without thoughtful consideration," says Fernández-Aráoz. If you have to let someone go, take a hard look at the hiring process you used and figure out how to change it next time around.
Principles to Remember
Do:
* Identify the competencies an ideal candidate needs
* Ask interview questions that uncover the drivers behind the candidate's past and future behavior
* Give the new hire early feedback about her performance
Don't:
* Prioritize technical skills over relational ones
* Assume you've made a bad hire without checking your perception with others
* Immediately move to termination, without first considering coaching or transferring
Case Study #1: The value of sleeping on it
Roxanne Bond, the Executive Director of HR at USAA Real Estate Company, works closely with her hiring managers each time there is an open position. Roxanne's group developed and refined a sophisticated and efficient hiring process that starts with building a list of the competencies needed for each position. The company has a great track record with little turnover and a strong, inclusive company culture. However, USAA Real Estate Company is like all fast-paced and busy companies and hiring managers often feel urgency when they have to fill a position. Last year, a hiring manager needed to fill a heavy financial role and wanted someone with the technical skills and experience to begin right away. The job came down to two candidates: Sarah and Amanda*. Both had accounting backgrounds but Sarah had more experience doing the tasks that the role required. The hiring manager was leaning toward her even though a few red flags came up in her interview. In response to questions about past mistakes, Sarah indicated that she was overly sensitive to criticism. In response to the same questions, Amanda showed she took responsibility for her actions and had a positive attitude.
Roxanne strongly urged the hiring manager to consider Sarah's responses and whether her leg up in experience was worth the risk. She gave her the night to think about it and when they met the next day, they decided to go with Amanda after all. The hiring manager thought that she could coach Sarah's behavioral issues but realized that doing so would take an enormous amount of time — time that would be better spent helping Amanda get up to speed on job tasks. Roxanne is proud of the careful process that USAA Real Estate Company takes when it comes to hiring: "We haven't had a bad decision in years and it goes back to the preventative approach we take."
Case Study #2: A rookie mistake turns into a valuable lesson
A few years back, Jennifer DeLury Ciplet was appointed as the Executive Director of NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala). The organization, which advocates for human rights in Guatemala through speakers' tours, legislative work, and publications, was on the cusp of a transformation. NISGUA's supporters had traditionally been older and white and had gotten involved in the organization's work through other faith-based groups. The board wanted Jenn to help build new alliances with new constituencies — younger, immigrant populations. It was a classic customer-diversification issue. Jenn took the task seriously and, when she needed to fill a new programs position, intentionally looked for someone from the new population they were trying to reach. While she didn't formally define the required capabilities, she had a strong sense of the type of person they needed. She was thrilled when she found someone who seemed to embody the organization's new direction, and had what Jenn thought were all of the right technical skills.
Once he started however, Jenn realized that, while the new hire represented the future of the organization, NISGUA was not there yet. She needed someone who could bridge the gap; to still spend time on the phone with traditional supporters while also attending events to connect with a younger audience. This required deep cross-cultural skills that the new hire did not have. A month into his tenure, Jenn realized she'd made a mistake — the new hire was more of an activist than a relationship-manager. Fortunately, NISGUA has a 90-day probationary period. Jenn did a 360 review to get input from everyone he was working with found she wasn't the only one concerned about fit. She shared the feedback with him, explained the mistake she had made, and said that he wouldn't be asked to stay.
When looking for his replacement, Jenn had a far better understanding of the job and formally defined the required capabilities. "I was more clued in to what the job really required," she said. She advertised explicitly for cross-cultural competencies and asked scenario questions in the interview that demonstrated those skills. The next person she hired was ideal — she stayed with the organization for two years (only leaving when her husband's job was relocated) and helped guide the organization through its transformation.
What the Experts Say
Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior adviser at Egon Zehnder International and the author of Great People Decisions and "The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad," argues that hiring decisions are pressure-filled for a reason. "It is crucial to get hiring right not only for the hiring entity, but also, and very importantly, for the person being hired," he says. A new hire isn't to blame for a bad hiring decision, but will shoulder much of the burden when a role doesn't fit.
A carefully crafted hiring process can help avoid most mishaps. Adele Lynn, founder and owner of The Adele Lynn Leadership Group and author of The EQ Interview, urges that companies regard hiring as more of a science than an art, or worse a leap of faith.
Prevention is the best medicine
You can greatly reduce your chances of getting hiring decisions wrong by following a clear and consistent approach that includes knowing the traits valued across the organization (such as humility or an entrepreneurial spirit); conducting fair, structured interviews that include multiple people from the organization; and agreeing on a standard ranking system to evaluate candidates.
Getting the right person for the job requires time and discipline. Be careful of the time trap, warns Lynn. "Often, companies are desperate to fill a position, so the interview process includes some generic questions and some information about the position," she says. Needing to fill the role yesterday is not an excuse for shortchanging the process.
Know the specific competencies you're looking for
Fernández-Aráoz says we are hardwired to hire people who are like us or make us comfortable — but that does not always yield the best candidate. In fact, you need to be aware of what he calls the "typical unconscious psychological traps" that lead one to make inferior people decisions (e.g. overrating capability or making snap judgments). Outline the specific competencies — above and beyond the traits you look for in all new hires — that the ideal candidate needs. What skills are required? How much does experience matter? What behaviors does he need to exhibit in the role? For example, this is a role requiring 7 years of computer programming experience but also an ability to work collaboratively with team members on high-pressure projects.
Screening for the right soft skills is critical. Seasoned hiring managers will tell you that it's much harder to coach behavioral issues than it is to teach someone the technical aspects of the job. "And people who fail in a new job mostly do so because of their inability to develop proper relationships not only with their boss but also with their peers and subordinates," says Fernández-Aráoz. To assess relational skills and emotional intelligence, "the interview should include behavior-based questions and motive and reflection questions," says Lynn. For example, "Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker and explain how you resolved it." The aim is to uncover the candidate's true colors. Does he blame others for his mistakes? Does he rationalize his behavior? Or does he accept responsibility? "You get a much more thorough understanding of how a person will behave in the future," says Lynn.
On-board with care
When a new hire seems to be struggling, on-boarding can also be to blame. "Most companies let their new hires sink or swim, and as a result many sink. Some form of integration support reduces the chances of failure, accelerates learning, and increases the contribution of any new hire," says Fernández-Aráoz. The right onboarding approach can help you get immediate value from your new hire and position her for success. But perhaps the most important element is expectation-setting. "Especially with knowledge workers and younger workers, there is a strong need to communicate both expectations of performance and behavior," explains Lynn.
When it happens anyway...
Sometimes even when you follow all the rules, you may still end up with the wrong person in the job. When you suspect a poor fit, proceed carefully. Start by asking others to corroborate your opinion. Don't start a witch hunt, but discreetly ask if they see the situation in the same way. Then, once you've identified where the mismatch is, ask yourself if the problem is coachable "People are ineffective for many reasons and some of those reasons are definitely correctable," says Lynn.
"Unless it's an egregious breach of values, generally coaching and reiterating behaviors and performance expectations should be the first step." Provide feedback to the new hire early on and lay out a plan for getting her up to speed in the problem areas. If the issues persist, consider finding a more appropriate role for her in your organization.
In the worst cases, termination may be your only option, particularly if you find that the problem is not coachable, if you are unwilling to further invest in coaching, or if the error or behavior is intolerable. It should be your last resort, however. "Most likely as the hiring manager you have a large share of responsibility for the mistake, and thus should never fire a person without thoughtful consideration," says Fernández-Aráoz. If you have to let someone go, take a hard look at the hiring process you used and figure out how to change it next time around.
Principles to Remember
Do:
* Identify the competencies an ideal candidate needs
* Ask interview questions that uncover the drivers behind the candidate's past and future behavior
* Give the new hire early feedback about her performance
Don't:
* Prioritize technical skills over relational ones
* Assume you've made a bad hire without checking your perception with others
* Immediately move to termination, without first considering coaching or transferring
Case Study #1: The value of sleeping on it
Roxanne Bond, the Executive Director of HR at USAA Real Estate Company, works closely with her hiring managers each time there is an open position. Roxanne's group developed and refined a sophisticated and efficient hiring process that starts with building a list of the competencies needed for each position. The company has a great track record with little turnover and a strong, inclusive company culture. However, USAA Real Estate Company is like all fast-paced and busy companies and hiring managers often feel urgency when they have to fill a position. Last year, a hiring manager needed to fill a heavy financial role and wanted someone with the technical skills and experience to begin right away. The job came down to two candidates: Sarah and Amanda*. Both had accounting backgrounds but Sarah had more experience doing the tasks that the role required. The hiring manager was leaning toward her even though a few red flags came up in her interview. In response to questions about past mistakes, Sarah indicated that she was overly sensitive to criticism. In response to the same questions, Amanda showed she took responsibility for her actions and had a positive attitude.
Roxanne strongly urged the hiring manager to consider Sarah's responses and whether her leg up in experience was worth the risk. She gave her the night to think about it and when they met the next day, they decided to go with Amanda after all. The hiring manager thought that she could coach Sarah's behavioral issues but realized that doing so would take an enormous amount of time — time that would be better spent helping Amanda get up to speed on job tasks. Roxanne is proud of the careful process that USAA Real Estate Company takes when it comes to hiring: "We haven't had a bad decision in years and it goes back to the preventative approach we take."
Case Study #2: A rookie mistake turns into a valuable lesson
A few years back, Jennifer DeLury Ciplet was appointed as the Executive Director of NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala). The organization, which advocates for human rights in Guatemala through speakers' tours, legislative work, and publications, was on the cusp of a transformation. NISGUA's supporters had traditionally been older and white and had gotten involved in the organization's work through other faith-based groups. The board wanted Jenn to help build new alliances with new constituencies — younger, immigrant populations. It was a classic customer-diversification issue. Jenn took the task seriously and, when she needed to fill a new programs position, intentionally looked for someone from the new population they were trying to reach. While she didn't formally define the required capabilities, she had a strong sense of the type of person they needed. She was thrilled when she found someone who seemed to embody the organization's new direction, and had what Jenn thought were all of the right technical skills.
Once he started however, Jenn realized that, while the new hire represented the future of the organization, NISGUA was not there yet. She needed someone who could bridge the gap; to still spend time on the phone with traditional supporters while also attending events to connect with a younger audience. This required deep cross-cultural skills that the new hire did not have. A month into his tenure, Jenn realized she'd made a mistake — the new hire was more of an activist than a relationship-manager. Fortunately, NISGUA has a 90-day probationary period. Jenn did a 360 review to get input from everyone he was working with found she wasn't the only one concerned about fit. She shared the feedback with him, explained the mistake she had made, and said that he wouldn't be asked to stay.
When looking for his replacement, Jenn had a far better understanding of the job and formally defined the required capabilities. "I was more clued in to what the job really required," she said. She advertised explicitly for cross-cultural competencies and asked scenario questions in the interview that demonstrated those skills. The next person she hired was ideal — she stayed with the organization for two years (only leaving when her husband's job was relocated) and helped guide the organization through its transformation.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Marketers working toward social, search integration
Story posted: August 16, 2010 - 6:01 am EDT |  | | |
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SOCIAL MARKETING BUDGETS UP The survey found that 29% of marketers plan to boost their budgets for social media this year, and 56% plan to provide additional resources for social media. When asked how much of their online marketing budget will go toward social media this year, 35% said 1% to 5%; 21% said 6% to 10%; 8% said 11% to 15%; 4% said 16% to 20%; and 7% said more than 20%. Thirteen percent said they didn't know how much of their budget would be spent on social media, and 12% said they would not spend anything on social media this year. Paul Dunay, global managing director-services and social marketing at Avaya Inc., said 15% of his company's online marketing budget will be devoted to social media this year. “We have moved from an experimenting mode to a maintaining mode,” Dunay said. “I believe that many companies use social media incorrectly. They are constantly asking about ROI, which is an indication to me that they are taking a one-way, let's-communicate-it-out-and-build-a-fan-base type of approach. Our approach is to use social media to support existing customers.” Dunay said his marketing group uses Facebook, Twitter, blogs, online forums and other social media channels to address customer concerns, provide support, answer questions and build long-term relationships. He said improving search performance is among Avaya's top five goals, but it is not the primary goal. According to the BtoB/Business.com survey, the top goals for social media marketing are: building brand awareness (cited by 81% of respondents); increasing traffic to a website (77%); generating leads (67%); providing deeper engagement with customers (66%); and improving search results (57%). The survey asked marketers how they are using social media to improve their search results. Nearly half (48%) said they are driving inbound links through various social media channels; 45% said they are expanding profiles and social media accounts to increase rankings on major search engines; 40% said they are monitoring social media conversations to influence organic SEO; and 26% said they are monitoring social media conversations to influence keyword purchases. Also, when asked what the overall impact of social media has been on the search performance of their company's website, 44% said it had been positive, 28% said neutral, 27% said they didn't know, and 1% said negative. “Social media continues to make huge gains among the myriad of online marketing tools available for integrated campaigns,” said Patricia Neuray, VP-sales and marketing at Business.com, a b2b search engine and online marketing company. “As 44% of the respondents have seen an increase in traffic from search engines since launching their social media efforts, marketers are allocating more budgets to social media tactics and setting specific goals to measure the impact of their social media efforts.” While marketers are developing new metrics to gauge the results of their social media efforts, 41% of respondents said they are not currently measuring the impact of social media on their company's search performance. Of those that are, the most common metrics they're using include organic search rankings (37%); number of inbound links (30%); search volume for brand or keyword phrases (23%); and search marketing conversion rates (22%). In terms of actual results they are seeing from the impact of social media campaigns on search performance, 35% of marketers said they have seen an improvement in organic search rankings; 24% reported an increased in search referrals; and 15% have seen increased click-through rates in paid search campaigns. “To date, search engine optimization has really been dictated by the volume and quality of inbound links—links have been regarded as the currency of the Web,” said Ryan DeShazer, global practice leader for search at GyroHSR, Cincinnati. “That paradigm has shifted in the last 12-plus months due to the explosion of social media. You always want to write content so compelling that people link to that content. Now, people are sharing those links on social channels.” |
SOCIAL KEYWORDS
One strategy the agency is using with its b2b clients to improve search results is to shift the conversation in social media channels by inserting keywords that specifically relate to a company or brand. For example, for a client that specializes in virtualization software, GyroHSR started using the phrase “server virtualization” in conversations about database virtualization on social channels such as Twitter and Facebook. (DeShazer declined to name the client.) “As the conversation shifts to "server virtualization,' people will search on Google and will use the term being spoken about in social channels. We have an opportunity to influence what queries users are searching for,” DeShazer said.
The BtoB/Business.com survey also looked at how companies are using search to enhance their social media efforts.
It found that 54% of marketers search for conversations about their company's brand or products on social media channels; 42% perform search engine optimization on their social media content; 37% search for conversations about their competitors on social media channels; and 13% place social media links in paid search ads.
Nearly one-third (30%) of marketers said they are not currently using search to enhance their social media efforts.
The top metrics used to measure social media marketing efforts are: visits to websites (55%); number of fans, followers and “likes” on social media networks (48%); number of mentions about a company or product (35%); and number of retweets (28%). One-quarter of marketers are not currently measuring their social media campaigns.
The most popular social media monitoring tools include Hootsuite (15%), SocialMention (7%), Radian6 (6%) and TweetBurner (6%). More than half (53%) of marketers surveyed said they are not using any social media monitoring tools.
“The challenge with measuring how much activity there is in social is that you don't know if those comments are good, or bad or what they mean,” said Adam Kleinberg, CEO of Traction Corp., an online marketing agency in San Francisco.
“A lot of these tools have a sentiment analysis piece, but in reality, the sentiment analysis isn't as accurate as we would need for it to be to be meaningful. Semantics are so difficult to measure.”
In other survey findings, 39% of marketers described their company's level of sophistication with search engine optimization as needing improvement; 27% said it was somewhat advanced; 26% said it was adequate. Only 9% said it was very advanced.
Some marketers said they are just beginning to explore the integration of social media and search.
Nicole Lipson, senior marketing manager at Georgia-Pacific Gypsum, which makes products for commercial construction, said, “We are continuing to evaluate and improve our search program, mostly to ensure that important keywords for our business will bring us up to the top of the list. Integrating search with social media is something that we're just beginning to look at, and we are using experts to help us look at that.”
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum uses social media networks such as Flickr and YouTube to post product photos and instructional videos for its target audience of architects, general contractors and distributors, Lipson said.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Could being funny help your career?
- Could being funny help your career?
One of the best ways to cope with stress -- and improve the mood of those around you -- is to use humor, writes Joyce E.A. Russell, a University of Maryland business professor. Just keep the humor appropriate for the office, she writes. The Washington Post (8/23)
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Stop Bringing Down Your Team
Chances are you've worked with someone who drains all the intelligence and capability out of a team. Sometimes, despite your intentions, that person may be you. Here are three things you can do to get out of your team's way and let it shine:
Don't be a hero. You don't always need to have an answer. Give your people the opportunity to think things through themselves.
Don't make abrupt decisions. Quick decisions can short-circuit a team. Let your people in on your decision-making process and whenever possible, cultivate debate about an issue before coming to a conclusion.
Don't talk too much. You may think your excitement is infectious when in reality it is stifling. Try keeping your mouth shut and leave room for your employees to share their ideas.
Don't be a hero. You don't always need to have an answer. Give your people the opportunity to think things through themselves.
Don't make abrupt decisions. Quick decisions can short-circuit a team. Let your people in on your decision-making process and whenever possible, cultivate debate about an issue before coming to a conclusion.
Don't talk too much. You may think your excitement is infectious when in reality it is stifling. Try keeping your mouth shut and leave room for your employees to share their ideas.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
When Your Team Reverts to the Old Strategy
by Amy Gallo
Repositioning your company can be an invigorating move — it's exciting to take a fresh approach and go after new opportunities. But change is also risky and over time, the momentum behind it can wane. When that happens, it's not uncommon for individuals, units, or entire organizations to default to the old strategy. If your team relapses, how can you get things back on track and people re-focused on the new direction?
What the Experts Say
The reality is that very few strategic changes are successful. In fact, only 5% of large-scale changes actually work, according to John P. Kotter, Chief Innovation Officer at Kotter International, a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, and author of numerous books, including A Sense of Urgency. Therefore, the issue of regression is a common one.
The first thing you can do when your team begins to revert is understand the cause of the slippage. Both Kotter and Roger Martin, the Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada and author of The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage and "The Execution Trap," say that most changes fail because we are working under flawed models. These models artificially separate strategy and implementation and assume that different people are responsible for each. Taking a different approach — one that doesn't disconnect execution from strategy creation — helps prevent stalls before they happen, keeps your team focused, and could put your organization into that elite 5%.
Start out right
The best way to prevent your team from reverting is to avoid the tendency to get your most senior people in a room to dictate what the rest of the company will do. Instead, include as many people as possible in deciding on the strategy, especially those who will be affected by the change. Martin advises asking the question upfront: who will we need to behave differently? Then, make sure that those people have a say in the direction you'll pursue. "If you don't consult, widely and early, anyone in the organization that has to do something dramatically differently because of the change, you're taking a big risk," he says . Kotter has a structured eight-step approach he describes in detail in Leading Change for getting it right the first time. Unfortunately, many organizations don't take this approach, and launch the new strategy to the organization when it's a done deal. Managers in these situations are often straddled with the responsibility of keeping a team focused on and motivated to implement a strategy that they know — or care — little about. To stop your team from rejecting the new strategy in favor of the old, try the following approaches.
Build the urgency
A frequent reason that teams revert back to an old strategy is they don't feel the urgency to change. Everyone in the organization needs to see the opportunity, not be told that there is one. If your team is stalled, engage them. "Ask the employees what they would do to improve/modify/enhance the strategic direction so as to make it something in which they would have confidence — confidence enough to do something different than they have always done," says Martin. "Tradition is an unbelievably powerful force," says Kotter. They need to not only see the urgency of the need for a new strategy but also feel accountable for it. "It all starts with enough people believing that there is a new opportunity and that they have a responsibility to pursue it," says Kotter.
Make everyone a choice-maker
Under the old models where "strategy" and "implementation" are separate, organizations are divided into two categories. Martin calls them "choosers" — those that make the decisions — and "choiceless doers" — those that are left to implement. When you treat people as "doers," instead of as the actors that they are, they feel their work is devalued and aren't motivated to do anything differently. When your team members relapse to the old strategy, ask yourself whether they understand their active role in the new approach. Don't try to get buy-in — that implies you have an idea and you want them to agree. Instead, involve them in generating ideas for how to get unstuck. As much as possible, push decision-making down. Martin calls it a "cascade of choices" whereby you let your people know that the new strategy implies that everyone has decisions to make. "If you treat everyone as choice-makers who make choices under uncertainty and competition, you have a better chance of bringing about better strategy," says Martin. Remember that this is a two-way street. "If you only have arrows going down, then the people at the bottom, the people closest to your customer, will never tell anyone what's wrong," says Martin.
Create a "guiding coalition"
Kotter suggests that all change efforts include a "guiding coalition" — a diverse, cross-functional, multi-level group with different skills and strengths. He warns that this is "not some dorky task force" but people who are excited about the change and ready and able to roll up their sleeves to drive it. If your team defaults back to the old strategy, consider bringing together a group of individuals who can take responsibility for pushing the change through. Choose the people who are most enthusiastic about the new direction and give them real work to do, focused on pushing the team forward.
Remove barriers and share successes
Many regressions happen because people perceive a conflict between what they've been asked to do and the best interests of the company. Take a look at the barriers that may be standing in your people's way. For significant changes, you will likely need to alter IT systems, compensation models, and performance management metrics. An ineffective team or a non-collaborative culture can often be the biggest obstacle. Ask yourself if team dynamics or even your behavior could be seen as barriers. Regularly ask employees what's stopping them from doing work in the new way and ask how they think they should be removed.
Change also stalls when people believe the new strategy is ineffective. "Even good company people don't want to do what's not working," says Kotter. It's critical to share success as it happens. Find unambiguous and visible accomplishments that serve as evidence that you're making real strides.
Stick with it
Old habits are certainly hard to break. But to be successful with a new strategy, altering your routines is critical. "Take this new way of acting, hold it in place until it becomes habit," urges Kotter. When urgent business issues come up, it is all too easy to take your eye off the prize. Teams and individuals find comfort in an old strategy when crises come up. The best way to avoid this is to commit to staying focused. "If you see the urgency beginning to slide, you need to go back and work on it relentlessly," says Kotter. Taking your attention away to tend to issues that feel more pressing can be a fatal mistake. If your new strategy can't serve you in all business situations, then it may be the wrong strategy.
Principles to Remember
You should:
Push decision-making down so that everyone in the organization is making choices about how to act differently
Ask your employees how to remove barriers to change
Share successes as evidence that the new strategy works
You shouldn't:
Think of creating and executing strategy as distinct tasks to be done by separate groups of people
Assume that current systems and processes will support the new strategy
Allow urgent business issues to distract you from your new pursuit
Case Study #1: Removing obstacles to change
Eighteen months ago, Rob Salmon, the Executive Vice President of Field Operations at NetApp, a $4 billion data storage company, performed an assessment of how his unit was doing against its big goals. The results were mixed and many in the organization were tempted to blame the economy. Rob agreed that the economic climate had put them in a tough spot but he didn't think macroeconomics was "a good excuse not to win." He brought together 600 people from his 3,000-person organization to discuss the challenge they were facing and how they could better execute their strategy. "People don't want to be told what to do, they want to be part of the solution," Rob said. Many were surprised by this inclusive move, yet excited about the opportunity to participate. This meeting set in motion a focused effort on product growth.
Six months later, a group of people in Rob's unit — primarily the chiefs of staff who were responsible for execution — were frustrated. The new strategy had created a whole set of new initiatives. When combined with what the group was already doing, it was simply too much work. They formed a group called the Strategy and Execution Team and, as their first task, did an inventory of all the projects the group was working on. The team then presented this list to Rob, who was quite surprised. "I had no idea we had that much going on," he said.
Rob worked with the team to figure out which projects they could stop or put on hold. He understood that this was critical to giving the group the bandwidth to focus on the new strategy. Removing the barriers that the Strategy and Execution Team found paid off. NetApp moved 3 positions in market share to #2 and had record earnings last quarter.
Case Study #2: Preventing setbacks before they happen
Monica Hubbard took over as the Territory GM for the Northeast region at Best Buy two years ago. The region was a solid performer and also growing. Monica felt it was important that the team have a strong sense of identity as it added more stores and brought on more people, so she hired a consulting firm to develop a team vision and focus on creating a collaborative high-performing group.
This was a wise thing to do as it prepared Monica and her team for the strategic changes that the new CEO, Brian Dunn, launched for 2010. The new framework focused on three areas: profitability, customer, and employee. Monica's territory was doing well on the first one but knew they had work to do in the other two. "When we set our team vision, we knew we really had to close the gaps within our own business units," she said. Her group developed a team vision based on the company's priorities and where they wanted to be: it included creating an ultimate customer experience and engaging employees. Monica credits the work they did as a team to become more aligned and committed with their ability to stay focused on this new strategy. "Unexpected business issues arise that are not part of your core strategy and if you're not aligned as a team, they could certainly overshadow the strategy," she said.
"Business surprises," as she called them, have inevitably come up and Monica's team has worked to stay focused on the strategy while also addressing them. She says she has learned how to respond to these situations without letting the strategy take a back seat. Monica credits her group's ability to resist distractions to the work they did to align themselves as a team. "No matter what urgent things come up, we need to stay committed to team maintenance," she said. And success has followed. Internal benchmarks used to track progress are showing momentum. In 2010, they have already improved their performance, as measured by customer and employee satisfaction metrics.
Repositioning your company can be an invigorating move — it's exciting to take a fresh approach and go after new opportunities. But change is also risky and over time, the momentum behind it can wane. When that happens, it's not uncommon for individuals, units, or entire organizations to default to the old strategy. If your team relapses, how can you get things back on track and people re-focused on the new direction?
What the Experts Say
The reality is that very few strategic changes are successful. In fact, only 5% of large-scale changes actually work, according to John P. Kotter, Chief Innovation Officer at Kotter International, a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, and author of numerous books, including A Sense of Urgency. Therefore, the issue of regression is a common one.
The first thing you can do when your team begins to revert is understand the cause of the slippage. Both Kotter and Roger Martin, the Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada and author of The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage and "The Execution Trap," say that most changes fail because we are working under flawed models. These models artificially separate strategy and implementation and assume that different people are responsible for each. Taking a different approach — one that doesn't disconnect execution from strategy creation — helps prevent stalls before they happen, keeps your team focused, and could put your organization into that elite 5%.
Start out right
The best way to prevent your team from reverting is to avoid the tendency to get your most senior people in a room to dictate what the rest of the company will do. Instead, include as many people as possible in deciding on the strategy, especially those who will be affected by the change. Martin advises asking the question upfront: who will we need to behave differently? Then, make sure that those people have a say in the direction you'll pursue. "If you don't consult, widely and early, anyone in the organization that has to do something dramatically differently because of the change, you're taking a big risk," he says . Kotter has a structured eight-step approach he describes in detail in Leading Change for getting it right the first time. Unfortunately, many organizations don't take this approach, and launch the new strategy to the organization when it's a done deal. Managers in these situations are often straddled with the responsibility of keeping a team focused on and motivated to implement a strategy that they know — or care — little about. To stop your team from rejecting the new strategy in favor of the old, try the following approaches.
Build the urgency
A frequent reason that teams revert back to an old strategy is they don't feel the urgency to change. Everyone in the organization needs to see the opportunity, not be told that there is one. If your team is stalled, engage them. "Ask the employees what they would do to improve/modify/enhance the strategic direction so as to make it something in which they would have confidence — confidence enough to do something different than they have always done," says Martin. "Tradition is an unbelievably powerful force," says Kotter. They need to not only see the urgency of the need for a new strategy but also feel accountable for it. "It all starts with enough people believing that there is a new opportunity and that they have a responsibility to pursue it," says Kotter.
Make everyone a choice-maker
Under the old models where "strategy" and "implementation" are separate, organizations are divided into two categories. Martin calls them "choosers" — those that make the decisions — and "choiceless doers" — those that are left to implement. When you treat people as "doers," instead of as the actors that they are, they feel their work is devalued and aren't motivated to do anything differently. When your team members relapse to the old strategy, ask yourself whether they understand their active role in the new approach. Don't try to get buy-in — that implies you have an idea and you want them to agree. Instead, involve them in generating ideas for how to get unstuck. As much as possible, push decision-making down. Martin calls it a "cascade of choices" whereby you let your people know that the new strategy implies that everyone has decisions to make. "If you treat everyone as choice-makers who make choices under uncertainty and competition, you have a better chance of bringing about better strategy," says Martin. Remember that this is a two-way street. "If you only have arrows going down, then the people at the bottom, the people closest to your customer, will never tell anyone what's wrong," says Martin.
Create a "guiding coalition"
Kotter suggests that all change efforts include a "guiding coalition" — a diverse, cross-functional, multi-level group with different skills and strengths. He warns that this is "not some dorky task force" but people who are excited about the change and ready and able to roll up their sleeves to drive it. If your team defaults back to the old strategy, consider bringing together a group of individuals who can take responsibility for pushing the change through. Choose the people who are most enthusiastic about the new direction and give them real work to do, focused on pushing the team forward.
Remove barriers and share successes
Many regressions happen because people perceive a conflict between what they've been asked to do and the best interests of the company. Take a look at the barriers that may be standing in your people's way. For significant changes, you will likely need to alter IT systems, compensation models, and performance management metrics. An ineffective team or a non-collaborative culture can often be the biggest obstacle. Ask yourself if team dynamics or even your behavior could be seen as barriers. Regularly ask employees what's stopping them from doing work in the new way and ask how they think they should be removed.
Change also stalls when people believe the new strategy is ineffective. "Even good company people don't want to do what's not working," says Kotter. It's critical to share success as it happens. Find unambiguous and visible accomplishments that serve as evidence that you're making real strides.
Stick with it
Old habits are certainly hard to break. But to be successful with a new strategy, altering your routines is critical. "Take this new way of acting, hold it in place until it becomes habit," urges Kotter. When urgent business issues come up, it is all too easy to take your eye off the prize. Teams and individuals find comfort in an old strategy when crises come up. The best way to avoid this is to commit to staying focused. "If you see the urgency beginning to slide, you need to go back and work on it relentlessly," says Kotter. Taking your attention away to tend to issues that feel more pressing can be a fatal mistake. If your new strategy can't serve you in all business situations, then it may be the wrong strategy.
Principles to Remember
You should:
Push decision-making down so that everyone in the organization is making choices about how to act differently
Ask your employees how to remove barriers to change
Share successes as evidence that the new strategy works
You shouldn't:
Think of creating and executing strategy as distinct tasks to be done by separate groups of people
Assume that current systems and processes will support the new strategy
Allow urgent business issues to distract you from your new pursuit
Case Study #1: Removing obstacles to change
Eighteen months ago, Rob Salmon, the Executive Vice President of Field Operations at NetApp, a $4 billion data storage company, performed an assessment of how his unit was doing against its big goals. The results were mixed and many in the organization were tempted to blame the economy. Rob agreed that the economic climate had put them in a tough spot but he didn't think macroeconomics was "a good excuse not to win." He brought together 600 people from his 3,000-person organization to discuss the challenge they were facing and how they could better execute their strategy. "People don't want to be told what to do, they want to be part of the solution," Rob said. Many were surprised by this inclusive move, yet excited about the opportunity to participate. This meeting set in motion a focused effort on product growth.
Six months later, a group of people in Rob's unit — primarily the chiefs of staff who were responsible for execution — were frustrated. The new strategy had created a whole set of new initiatives. When combined with what the group was already doing, it was simply too much work. They formed a group called the Strategy and Execution Team and, as their first task, did an inventory of all the projects the group was working on. The team then presented this list to Rob, who was quite surprised. "I had no idea we had that much going on," he said.
Rob worked with the team to figure out which projects they could stop or put on hold. He understood that this was critical to giving the group the bandwidth to focus on the new strategy. Removing the barriers that the Strategy and Execution Team found paid off. NetApp moved 3 positions in market share to #2 and had record earnings last quarter.
Case Study #2: Preventing setbacks before they happen
Monica Hubbard took over as the Territory GM for the Northeast region at Best Buy two years ago. The region was a solid performer and also growing. Monica felt it was important that the team have a strong sense of identity as it added more stores and brought on more people, so she hired a consulting firm to develop a team vision and focus on creating a collaborative high-performing group.
This was a wise thing to do as it prepared Monica and her team for the strategic changes that the new CEO, Brian Dunn, launched for 2010. The new framework focused on three areas: profitability, customer, and employee. Monica's territory was doing well on the first one but knew they had work to do in the other two. "When we set our team vision, we knew we really had to close the gaps within our own business units," she said. Her group developed a team vision based on the company's priorities and where they wanted to be: it included creating an ultimate customer experience and engaging employees. Monica credits the work they did as a team to become more aligned and committed with their ability to stay focused on this new strategy. "Unexpected business issues arise that are not part of your core strategy and if you're not aligned as a team, they could certainly overshadow the strategy," she said.
"Business surprises," as she called them, have inevitably come up and Monica's team has worked to stay focused on the strategy while also addressing them. She says she has learned how to respond to these situations without letting the strategy take a back seat. Monica credits her group's ability to resist distractions to the work they did to align themselves as a team. "No matter what urgent things come up, we need to stay committed to team maintenance," she said. And success has followed. Internal benchmarks used to track progress are showing momentum. In 2010, they have already improved their performance, as measured by customer and employee satisfaction metrics.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Cell Phone Only Use Hits New High Of 24.5% In U.S.
By Mark Perry on May 12, 2010
“Preliminary results from the July–December 2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicate that the number of American homes with only wireless telephones continues to grow. One of every four American homes (24.5%) had only wireless telephones (also known as cellular telephones, cell phones, or mobile phones) during the last half of 2009—an increase of 1.8 percentage points since the first half of 2009.
The percentage of adults living in wireless-only households has also been increasing steadily (see chart above). During the last 6 months of 2009, more than two of every nine adults lived in wireless-only households. One year before that (during the last 6 months of 2008), 2 of every 11 adults lived in wireless-only households. And 2 years before that (iduring the last 6 months of 2006), only 2 of every 17 adults lived in wireless-only households.
The percentage of children living in wireless-only households is also growing. In fact, for this population, the 4.6-percentage-point increase from the first 6 months of 2009 is the largest 6-month increase observed since 2003, when NHIS began collecting data on children living in wireless-only households.”
“Preliminary results from the July–December 2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicate that the number of American homes with only wireless telephones continues to grow. One of every four American homes (24.5%) had only wireless telephones (also known as cellular telephones, cell phones, or mobile phones) during the last half of 2009—an increase of 1.8 percentage points since the first half of 2009.
The percentage of adults living in wireless-only households has also been increasing steadily (see chart above). During the last 6 months of 2009, more than two of every nine adults lived in wireless-only households. One year before that (during the last 6 months of 2008), 2 of every 11 adults lived in wireless-only households. And 2 years before that (iduring the last 6 months of 2006), only 2 of every 17 adults lived in wireless-only households.
The percentage of children living in wireless-only households is also growing. In fact, for this population, the 4.6-percentage-point increase from the first 6 months of 2009 is the largest 6-month increase observed since 2003, when NHIS began collecting data on children living in wireless-only households.”
Do You Have the Postrecession Blues?
There's an old story about two shoe salesmen whose company sends them to a remote village in Africa. Upon arrival, one sends home a message saying, "No one here wears shoes; will return shortly." The other salesman sends this message: "No one here wears shoes; send inventory!" The point of the story, of course, is that your perspective influences your behavior. If you don't feel that you can change a situation, you act one way. But if you see the world as a series of opportunities, you act differently.
Over the past couple of months, I've been struck by this simple principle in regard to the behavior of managers and entire companies. As we come out of the recession, some managers seem preoccupied with all the negatives of the economy and business climate — the high unemployment rate, tight credit, weakness in consumer spending, a slow housing market, increasing regulatory interference, high government debt levels, and more. Faced with these "realities," such managers focus primarily on reducing costs and maintaining the current business model, putting off decisions that might require new investments or risks. It's a "batten down the hatches" mentality where you don't worry about the future because the present is so tenuous.
On the other hand, some managers and firms look at the same business environment and see enormous opportunities for growth and competitive advantage. For example, ConAgra Foods realized that in tough economic times, consumers would want "value meals" that made it possible to feed their families for minimal cost. So ConAgra revived its Banquet frozen food brand by reformulating the meals to make them more nutritious while also taking out costs to keep the price affordable. Simultaneously, ConAgra created a campaign called "Start Making Choices" that features healthy recipes for people on a budget (using ConAgra products). These steps and others helped ConAgra realize significant year-over-year increases in sales volume — some of which they were able to reinvest in newer and more premium brands, such as Healthy Choice, with an eye toward capturing higher-spending consumers as the recession eases.
Cisco is another example of a company that has focused on opportunities in the midst of a recession. When business turned down from 2008 to 2009, Cisco cut back on discretionary spending and the utilization of contractors to maintain its margins while preserving its own workforce. But at the same time, CEO John Chambers challenged his managers to create growth by targeting over two dozen adjacencies, such as "connected real estate" and "connected health care," and backed it up with a number of acquisitions. The focus on growth in the midst of a recession has allowed Cisco to hit the ground running in 2010, producing results that exceed that of most technology firms.
Now that the "official" recession, as measured by government statistics, is ending, it may be a good time to ask whether your "psychological" recession has ended as well. With that in mind, here are a few questions to consider:
Have you identified new opportunities that may be created by the current business environment — and do you have plans to aggressively go after them?
How has the recession weakened your competitors — and what can you do to capture share from them?
What are you doing to find and invest in new technologies and innovative approaches beyond the walls of your own R&D efforts?
How are you taking advantage of the new focus on sustainability and social responsibility?
How are you encouraging your people to think about growth and to take risks?
What networks of partners and potential collaborators are you building that can move you quickly into new markets?
Obviously there are many more questions you could address as well. The key, however, is to shift your mind-set from all of the problems in the current economic environment to all of the opportunities that these problems might be generating. It's a simple mental shift — but one that could help you to sell a lot of shoes.
What's your experience with the postrecession mind-set?
Over the past couple of months, I've been struck by this simple principle in regard to the behavior of managers and entire companies. As we come out of the recession, some managers seem preoccupied with all the negatives of the economy and business climate — the high unemployment rate, tight credit, weakness in consumer spending, a slow housing market, increasing regulatory interference, high government debt levels, and more. Faced with these "realities," such managers focus primarily on reducing costs and maintaining the current business model, putting off decisions that might require new investments or risks. It's a "batten down the hatches" mentality where you don't worry about the future because the present is so tenuous.
On the other hand, some managers and firms look at the same business environment and see enormous opportunities for growth and competitive advantage. For example, ConAgra Foods realized that in tough economic times, consumers would want "value meals" that made it possible to feed their families for minimal cost. So ConAgra revived its Banquet frozen food brand by reformulating the meals to make them more nutritious while also taking out costs to keep the price affordable. Simultaneously, ConAgra created a campaign called "Start Making Choices" that features healthy recipes for people on a budget (using ConAgra products). These steps and others helped ConAgra realize significant year-over-year increases in sales volume — some of which they were able to reinvest in newer and more premium brands, such as Healthy Choice, with an eye toward capturing higher-spending consumers as the recession eases.
Cisco is another example of a company that has focused on opportunities in the midst of a recession. When business turned down from 2008 to 2009, Cisco cut back on discretionary spending and the utilization of contractors to maintain its margins while preserving its own workforce. But at the same time, CEO John Chambers challenged his managers to create growth by targeting over two dozen adjacencies, such as "connected real estate" and "connected health care," and backed it up with a number of acquisitions. The focus on growth in the midst of a recession has allowed Cisco to hit the ground running in 2010, producing results that exceed that of most technology firms.
Now that the "official" recession, as measured by government statistics, is ending, it may be a good time to ask whether your "psychological" recession has ended as well. With that in mind, here are a few questions to consider:
Have you identified new opportunities that may be created by the current business environment — and do you have plans to aggressively go after them?
How has the recession weakened your competitors — and what can you do to capture share from them?
What are you doing to find and invest in new technologies and innovative approaches beyond the walls of your own R&D efforts?
How are you taking advantage of the new focus on sustainability and social responsibility?
How are you encouraging your people to think about growth and to take risks?
What networks of partners and potential collaborators are you building that can move you quickly into new markets?
Obviously there are many more questions you could address as well. The key, however, is to shift your mind-set from all of the problems in the current economic environment to all of the opportunities that these problems might be generating. It's a simple mental shift — but one that could help you to sell a lot of shoes.
What's your experience with the postrecession mind-set?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
What General Petraeus Can Teach Job Seekers
In 2005, General David Petraeus was an executive in transition. Having fallen out of favor with the civilian leadership in the Department of Defense, he was reassigned to lead the Army's mid-level leadership school in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. For a combat commander, that wasn't a lateral move, it was a steep step backwards. What the General did next, however, provides a rich case study of how to recover from a career setback.
Given his current high regard in both the media and the government, it's easy to forget that General Petraeus was an outsider looking in just five years ago. How did he accomplish this extraordinary transformation? He followed a game plan that every single person who is out of work and feeling out of luck can and should emulate. It involves just three steps:
Reinvigorate Your Talent
General Petraeus had spent his entire career as an infantryman. He was a proud, old-fashioned, rifle-carrying soldier whose job was to defeat the enemy in close combat. That's what he had been trained to do and that's certainly what he knew how to do best. It was not, however, what the Army needed for the war in Iraq. It had won the war with the Iraqi Army, but was losing the insurgency that followed it.
So, what did General Petraeus do? First, he carefully assessed the situation on the ground in Iraq to determine what the problem was. Then, he thought through the alternative strategies and determined that the traditional tactics of ground combat had to be replaced with a new kind of counterinsurgency warfare. Finally, he acquired the knowledge necessary to develop that new strategy and literally wrote the "book"--the Army's Field Manual--which detailed it.
That's exactly what those of us in transition need to be doing, as well. Employers increasingly believe they need new strategies and tactics to win the competition in the global marketplace. They are no longer looking for people who can accomplish the job the way it used to be done--no matter how well they were able to do it. What they want, what they need, is someone who can devise new approaches to accomplishing work and is willing to extend their talent so they can deliver those approaches effectively on-the-job. You don't have to write a book, but you do have to be credibly able to deliver innovative excellence on-the-job.
Redefine Your Brand
General Petraeus didn't just develop a new way of war-fighting, he redefined himself as its author and champion. In other words, he was no longer an old fashioned infantryman; he was the "father of counterinsurgency" and rebuilt his reputation on that theme. He was tireless in his efforts to explain it to his superiors in the Defense Department, to convert his peers to his point of view and to convince all of them of its potential to turn the tide in Iraq.
A similar campaign is also critical to success for those of us in transition. Hard as it is to reshape your talent for the new, and often, confusing needs of the post recession world of work, that's only half the battle. Once you've accomplished your reinvigoration, you have to convince others that you're different. You have to break out of your legacy brand--the old way you described yourself in the workforce--and develop a clear and compelling description of your new persona.
This redefined brand must be accurate, of course, but beyond that, it must set you apart. It must differentiate you from those who are still offering the traditional strategies and tactics in your field and for the kind of job you seek. And, it has to portray you as the singular person who both knows how to be a key contributor to the success of an employer and will not flinch from playing that role.
Stay True to Your New You
The journey of General Petraeus from a backwater command in Kansas to the front lines of this nation's Armed Forces didn't occur without some difficult twists in the road and a setback or two. He had the courage of his convictions, however, and a fierce determination to succeed. He fought through the hard times because he believed in himself and what he could do. While his reinvigorated talent and redefined brand were both essential to his advancement, it was that factor--his character--which ensured his success.
The same is true for those of us in the civilian workplace. Whether you've been shoved out the door and into the job market or into a box with no security or opportunity, it is who you are on the inside that will determine what happens to you on the outside. That doesn't mean the course will be easy or without its frustrations, but it does mean there is hope ... if you believe enough in yourself to grab hold of it.
Not everyone can lead an army into combat but everyone, every single person, can be a victor even in today's rough-and-tumble world of work. It will require that you teach your talent some new and more powerful ways of contributing and that you reset your brand so that your new capability is recognized by prospective employers. Those tasks take courage and commitment, to be sure, but their accomplishment is a gift, an affirmation of the indomitable spirit resident in each and all of us. If you stay true to that limitless personal possibility, you will always end up a winner.
Given his current high regard in both the media and the government, it's easy to forget that General Petraeus was an outsider looking in just five years ago. How did he accomplish this extraordinary transformation? He followed a game plan that every single person who is out of work and feeling out of luck can and should emulate. It involves just three steps:
- Reinvigorate your talent
- Redefine your brand
- Stay true to your new you
Reinvigorate Your Talent
General Petraeus had spent his entire career as an infantryman. He was a proud, old-fashioned, rifle-carrying soldier whose job was to defeat the enemy in close combat. That's what he had been trained to do and that's certainly what he knew how to do best. It was not, however, what the Army needed for the war in Iraq. It had won the war with the Iraqi Army, but was losing the insurgency that followed it.
So, what did General Petraeus do? First, he carefully assessed the situation on the ground in Iraq to determine what the problem was. Then, he thought through the alternative strategies and determined that the traditional tactics of ground combat had to be replaced with a new kind of counterinsurgency warfare. Finally, he acquired the knowledge necessary to develop that new strategy and literally wrote the "book"--the Army's Field Manual--which detailed it.
That's exactly what those of us in transition need to be doing, as well. Employers increasingly believe they need new strategies and tactics to win the competition in the global marketplace. They are no longer looking for people who can accomplish the job the way it used to be done--no matter how well they were able to do it. What they want, what they need, is someone who can devise new approaches to accomplishing work and is willing to extend their talent so they can deliver those approaches effectively on-the-job. You don't have to write a book, but you do have to be credibly able to deliver innovative excellence on-the-job.
Redefine Your Brand
General Petraeus didn't just develop a new way of war-fighting, he redefined himself as its author and champion. In other words, he was no longer an old fashioned infantryman; he was the "father of counterinsurgency" and rebuilt his reputation on that theme. He was tireless in his efforts to explain it to his superiors in the Defense Department, to convert his peers to his point of view and to convince all of them of its potential to turn the tide in Iraq.
A similar campaign is also critical to success for those of us in transition. Hard as it is to reshape your talent for the new, and often, confusing needs of the post recession world of work, that's only half the battle. Once you've accomplished your reinvigoration, you have to convince others that you're different. You have to break out of your legacy brand--the old way you described yourself in the workforce--and develop a clear and compelling description of your new persona.
This redefined brand must be accurate, of course, but beyond that, it must set you apart. It must differentiate you from those who are still offering the traditional strategies and tactics in your field and for the kind of job you seek. And, it has to portray you as the singular person who both knows how to be a key contributor to the success of an employer and will not flinch from playing that role.
Stay True to Your New You
The journey of General Petraeus from a backwater command in Kansas to the front lines of this nation's Armed Forces didn't occur without some difficult twists in the road and a setback or two. He had the courage of his convictions, however, and a fierce determination to succeed. He fought through the hard times because he believed in himself and what he could do. While his reinvigorated talent and redefined brand were both essential to his advancement, it was that factor--his character--which ensured his success.
The same is true for those of us in the civilian workplace. Whether you've been shoved out the door and into the job market or into a box with no security or opportunity, it is who you are on the inside that will determine what happens to you on the outside. That doesn't mean the course will be easy or without its frustrations, but it does mean there is hope ... if you believe enough in yourself to grab hold of it.
Not everyone can lead an army into combat but everyone, every single person, can be a victor even in today's rough-and-tumble world of work. It will require that you teach your talent some new and more powerful ways of contributing and that you reset your brand so that your new capability is recognized by prospective employers. Those tasks take courage and commitment, to be sure, but their accomplishment is a gift, an affirmation of the indomitable spirit resident in each and all of us. If you stay true to that limitless personal possibility, you will always end up a winner.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Are you ready to move forward with your job search?
Are you ready to move forward with your job search? Let’s check because you do not want to update your resume or begin the search until you have successfully completed the first three steps.
Step 1 is Attitude. Attitude is the most important step. Conduct an honest attitude check.
If you have given yourself time to process the loss of the job and are looking forward to the next opportunity, if you have chosen to have a good attitude (and it is a choice), then you are ready for the next important step to landing that job.
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-stay-positive-in-job-search.html
Step 2 is Aptitude: In this tough job market, you must know and be able to articulate what you offer a future employer and what makes you better than your competition.
Take the time to inventory (discover and document) your abilities, accomplishments, strengths, values, interests, education, personality, and technical skills. This information will be used to strengthen your resume and to add power to your interview answers. A side benefit is that it reminds YOU how valuable you are.
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/take-next-important-step-to-landing.html
Step 3 is Altitude: Altitude is another term for determining who is hiring and where you want to work, i.e. your target companies.
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/take-next-important-step-to-landing_18.html
If and only if you have completed Steps 1, 2, and 3 are you ready to create or update your marketing materials. Updating your marketing materials and launching your search without completing the first three steps will sabotage your job search efforts. If you have been in a job search and not getting results, revisit the first three steps and revise your marketing materials.
Complete List of Marketing Materials
The resume is not the only piece of a job seeker’s marketing material. In fact there are other pieces of marketing collateral that are just as important as the resume. It is important to have these and use them as they are intended. Let’s look at the entire list and then we will cover each one in detail.
• Brand Statement
• Elevator Pitch
• Marketing Plan
• Business Cards
• Resume / CV
• Cover Letter
• References
• Salary History
• Accomplishment List
• Social Network Sites especially Linked In
To read up on creating a brand statement and developing an elevator pitch, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/take-next-important-step-to-landing_25.html
To read up on creating a marketing plan and how to use it, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-document-is-as-valuable-to-job.html
To read up on creating and using business cards, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/05/take-next-important-step-to-landing.html
To read up on creating a powerful resume, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/05/take-next-important-step-to-landing_18.html
To read the previously published article: The Most Powerful Cover Letter, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/03/most-powerful-cover-letter.html
This week we are covering References, Salary History, Accomplishment List, and Social Networking.
REFERENCES
Companies may like what you said in the interview but companies also like talking with your references and asking questions about you to verify what you said about yourself is true.
Let’s start with a couple of don’t statements.
• Do not write “References available upon request” on your resume. In all except the rarest occasions, you will be asked for references so this is unnecessary.
• Do not give your references to an employer until asked.
• Do not use people as references unless you are confident they will say positive things about you.
• Do not assume your references and college degrees won’t be checked, even if they have never been checked before.
Now let’s discuss the do’s.
• Contact people who you want to use as a business or personal reference and ask them if they are willing to serve as your reference (do not assume). Some companies do not allow their employees to serve as a business reference for ex-employees. Ask your references to confirm their contact information (people change e-mail addresses more often than one would think) and preferred method of contact.
• When creating your printed reference list, use the same header as on your resume (your letterhead), list the references, and indicate if they are a business or personal reference.
• After an employer asks you for your list of references, contact each person on your reference sheet letting them know the name of the company, the title of the position you are applying for there, the traits they are looking for in a successful candidate, and then remind your contacts what you have done in the past that demonstrates these traits. On Law and Order this would be considered “leading the witness”; in the job search it is helping your references help you.
SALARY HISTORY
Although you will not give out salary information until you are in the negotiation phase, you should have a documented history of your salary, bonuses, etc. You have time; use some of it to compile that information. Watch in a couple of weeks for the article about Step 5, which will include ways to defer the salary discussion.
ACCOMPLISHMENT LIST
In Step 2, Aptitude, you documented your accomplishments in STAR format. These accomplishments will be used in three ways: to add power to your resume, to help answer interview questions, and to remind you how valuable you are when you start to feel down. Continually add to this list.
It is essential that you use all three parts of the STAR format. Remember to emphasize the R (results) while interviewing. On your resume, begin with the R. The hiring manager is especially interested in the R.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social networking (such as Linked In, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter) is the new forum for communication and many companies have a presence on a number of these sites. Since Recruiters and Human Resource representatives search the various social media to check out a candidate, job seekers need to have a presence on social media sites to show they are up to date on the newer technologies. This is especially true with more experienced (older) workers.
Linked In
• At a minimum, all job seekers must have a good profile on Linked In (www.LinkedIn.com). A good profile will have information from the resume, a professional picture, recommendations from former co-workers, and connections.
Join work related Linked In groups. Update your status periodically with work related books you have read and skills you have developed in order to keep your name out in front of the members of your Linked In network.
Send Linked In invitations to former co-workers, members of your network, and friends. When sending an invitation, customize the invitation so the person remembers how they know you. Beware that, if your invitations are rejected by multiple people instead of accepted or achieved, you will be locked out of Linked In. When you are on Linked In though, send an invitation to Judi Adams Sanek (author of this article) and mention that you read this article; your invitation will be accepted.
There will be more information on the use of Linked In for your job search in the next article.
Facebook, My Space, YouTube
The most important point about these sites is that IFyou have a presence on them, do not have anything on them that you do not want your prospective boss to see or read. If you need to, clean them up now.
Check to see if your target companies have a site and if so, “friend” them and follow what they say.
Twitter
Many companies are Tweeting (the verb used when leaving a message on Twitter). At a minimum, job seekers should “follow” their target companies.
These are the minimum recommendations. Read up on Linked In and Twitter and leverage the power of this new media.
Step 1 is Attitude. Attitude is the most important step. Conduct an honest attitude check.
If you have given yourself time to process the loss of the job and are looking forward to the next opportunity, if you have chosen to have a good attitude (and it is a choice), then you are ready for the next important step to landing that job.
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-stay-positive-in-job-search.html
Step 2 is Aptitude: In this tough job market, you must know and be able to articulate what you offer a future employer and what makes you better than your competition.
Take the time to inventory (discover and document) your abilities, accomplishments, strengths, values, interests, education, personality, and technical skills. This information will be used to strengthen your resume and to add power to your interview answers. A side benefit is that it reminds YOU how valuable you are.
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/take-next-important-step-to-landing.html
Step 3 is Altitude: Altitude is another term for determining who is hiring and where you want to work, i.e. your target companies.
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/take-next-important-step-to-landing_18.html
If and only if you have completed Steps 1, 2, and 3 are you ready to create or update your marketing materials. Updating your marketing materials and launching your search without completing the first three steps will sabotage your job search efforts. If you have been in a job search and not getting results, revisit the first three steps and revise your marketing materials.
Complete List of Marketing Materials
The resume is not the only piece of a job seeker’s marketing material. In fact there are other pieces of marketing collateral that are just as important as the resume. It is important to have these and use them as they are intended. Let’s look at the entire list and then we will cover each one in detail.
• Brand Statement
• Elevator Pitch
• Marketing Plan
• Business Cards
• Resume / CV
• Cover Letter
• References
• Salary History
• Accomplishment List
• Social Network Sites especially Linked In
To read up on creating a brand statement and developing an elevator pitch, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/take-next-important-step-to-landing_25.html
To read up on creating a marketing plan and how to use it, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-document-is-as-valuable-to-job.html
To read up on creating and using business cards, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/05/take-next-important-step-to-landing.html
To read up on creating a powerful resume, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/05/take-next-important-step-to-landing_18.html
To read the previously published article: The Most Powerful Cover Letter, go to:
http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/03/most-powerful-cover-letter.html
This week we are covering References, Salary History, Accomplishment List, and Social Networking.
REFERENCES
Companies may like what you said in the interview but companies also like talking with your references and asking questions about you to verify what you said about yourself is true.
Let’s start with a couple of don’t statements.
• Do not write “References available upon request” on your resume. In all except the rarest occasions, you will be asked for references so this is unnecessary.
• Do not give your references to an employer until asked.
• Do not use people as references unless you are confident they will say positive things about you.
• Do not assume your references and college degrees won’t be checked, even if they have never been checked before.
Now let’s discuss the do’s.
• Contact people who you want to use as a business or personal reference and ask them if they are willing to serve as your reference (do not assume). Some companies do not allow their employees to serve as a business reference for ex-employees. Ask your references to confirm their contact information (people change e-mail addresses more often than one would think) and preferred method of contact.
• When creating your printed reference list, use the same header as on your resume (your letterhead), list the references, and indicate if they are a business or personal reference.
• After an employer asks you for your list of references, contact each person on your reference sheet letting them know the name of the company, the title of the position you are applying for there, the traits they are looking for in a successful candidate, and then remind your contacts what you have done in the past that demonstrates these traits. On Law and Order this would be considered “leading the witness”; in the job search it is helping your references help you.
SALARY HISTORY
Although you will not give out salary information until you are in the negotiation phase, you should have a documented history of your salary, bonuses, etc. You have time; use some of it to compile that information. Watch in a couple of weeks for the article about Step 5, which will include ways to defer the salary discussion.
ACCOMPLISHMENT LIST
In Step 2, Aptitude, you documented your accomplishments in STAR format. These accomplishments will be used in three ways: to add power to your resume, to help answer interview questions, and to remind you how valuable you are when you start to feel down. Continually add to this list.
It is essential that you use all three parts of the STAR format. Remember to emphasize the R (results) while interviewing. On your resume, begin with the R. The hiring manager is especially interested in the R.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social networking (such as Linked In, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter) is the new forum for communication and many companies have a presence on a number of these sites. Since Recruiters and Human Resource representatives search the various social media to check out a candidate, job seekers need to have a presence on social media sites to show they are up to date on the newer technologies. This is especially true with more experienced (older) workers.
Linked In
• At a minimum, all job seekers must have a good profile on Linked In (www.LinkedIn.com). A good profile will have information from the resume, a professional picture, recommendations from former co-workers, and connections.
Join work related Linked In groups. Update your status periodically with work related books you have read and skills you have developed in order to keep your name out in front of the members of your Linked In network.
Send Linked In invitations to former co-workers, members of your network, and friends. When sending an invitation, customize the invitation so the person remembers how they know you. Beware that, if your invitations are rejected by multiple people instead of accepted or achieved, you will be locked out of Linked In. When you are on Linked In though, send an invitation to Judi Adams Sanek (author of this article) and mention that you read this article; your invitation will be accepted.
There will be more information on the use of Linked In for your job search in the next article.
Facebook, My Space, YouTube
The most important point about these sites is that IFyou have a presence on them, do not have anything on them that you do not want your prospective boss to see or read. If you need to, clean them up now.
Check to see if your target companies have a site and if so, “friend” them and follow what they say.
Many companies are Tweeting (the verb used when leaving a message on Twitter). At a minimum, job seekers should “follow” their target companies.
These are the minimum recommendations. Read up on Linked In and Twitter and leverage the power of this new media.
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