tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16350894612205758172023-12-22T05:20:57.003-08:00Executive CoachingExecutive Coaching +
Leadership Development +
Teambuilding +
Sales Training +
CEO Course +
Influence CourseCoachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-45375094355594524322015-10-10T17:13:00.002-07:002015-10-11T16:43:52.599-07:00Business Writing: Write Your Ticket to Success<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
If you are like most
people, you probably write 50 or more emails per day. And maybe several
documents or sets of slides per week. While you probably did a bit of writing
in school, it’s rarely stressed in most disciplines. If you’re one of the many people in business
for whom writing has never been a major concern, you should know that <b>writing
skills are a key career differentiator more and more every year</b>. Your goal
should be to write better than the competition. Spending time to improve your
writing can result in an improvement in your marketability and promotional
prospects. There’s no substitute for practice, but here are a few pointers to
put you on the right track.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">1. Less is more.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In any kind of writing, concision
matters.<b> Ironically, as written information becomes more and more
important, people are less and less willing to read.</b> Most articles
(and certainly videos) are meant to capture attention in 30 seconds or less. So
use words sparingly. Avoid overly long sentences. Use bullet points to
mark the important topics or key points. Get in and get out!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">2. Use understandable terms, not jargon.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everyone in business
hates writing that describes “strategical synergies” when “opportunities to
work together” is more meaningful without sounding ridiculous. While sometimes
jargon is unavoidable – in a business requirement document or technical
specification, for example – <b><i>try using plainer language</i></b>. Try to
avoid the overuse of acronyms when possible. “Can you give me the ETA for the
TPS for the EMEA meeting?” will get eyerolls from most. Even for people in the
same field as you, jargon is often inefficient – the eye slides right past it
without really catching the meaning. <b>There’s a reason that jargon is so
often used when a writer wants to <i>avoid saying anything</i>.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">3. Write once, check twice.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proofread immediately
after you write, and then again hours or even days later. <b>Nothing is
more embarrassing than a stupid typo in an otherwise fine document.</b> And
nothing is worse than a hasty email, especially written in an emotional moment,
that you regret forever. Except in the direct emergency, always give yourself
time to set your writing aside and come back to it later. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">4. Create your own templates.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whenever you write an
especially good letter, email, memo, or other document, if there’s the
slightest chance you’ll be writing a similar document in the future, save it as
a template for future use. Since rushing through writing is one of the main
causes of typos and other errors, <b>saving time by using a pre-written
document can also save you errors</b>. Just make sure to remove any specific
information – names, companies, etc. – before re-using it! This is the one
downfall of templates. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b><b style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">5. Be professional, not necessarily formal.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Informal shouldn’t mean
unprofessional</span></b><span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> – keep any personal
comments, bad jokes, and gossip out of your business communications. Remember
that many businesses (possibly yours) are required by law to keep copies of all
correspondence – don’t email, mail, or circulate anything that you wouldn’t
feel comfortable having read into the record in a public trial. This is a hard
one for most people to remember because it happens so rarely. But that one time
it does happen, you won’t enjoy it at all if you haven’t followed this rule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">6. Remember to solve problems rather than create them. </span></b><b><span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you give someone a
problem in an email, especially if you do it often, they will stop reading your
email eventually. Most business communication is meant to achieve some purpose
or resolve some situation, so make sure you include a call to action and your
proposed solution. <b>Don’t leave it to your readers to decide what to do with
whatever information you’ve provided</b> – most won’t even bother, and
enough of the ones who do will get it wrong that you’ll have a mess on your
hands before too long. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">7. Don’t give too many choices.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ideally, don’t give any.
If you’re looking to set a time for a meeting, give a single time and ask them
to confirm or present a different time. At most, give two options and ask them
to pick one. <b>Too many choices often leads to decision paralysis, which
generally isn’t the desired effect.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">8. Benefits, not features. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A cornerstone of
effective writing is describing benefits, not features. Why should a reader
care? For example, few people care that the iPhone 6 Plus has an 8 MegaPixel
camera – what they care about is that it can take better pictures with more
clarity. 8MP is a feature; better pictures is the benefit. <b>Benefits
engage readers, since they’re naturally most concerned with finding out how
they can make their lives easier or better.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<b><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">9. Hire a ghost writer.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If your current writing
job is <b>important, hire someone for whom writing <i>is</i> their
strong suit.</b> A good freelance writer can produce training manuals,
internal letters, newsletters, slideshows, blog posts, wiki entries, and just
about any other kind of writing you can think of. Expect to pay at least $20 an
hour, and more likely $50, for good writing – anyone who charges less is either
not very good, or not very business savvy. Upwork (formerly Odesk) has made writing
freelancers cheaper than ever, so take advantage if there is an important
document that might mean something to your career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: top;">
<i><span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Effective</span></i><span style="color: #575756; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> writing is a learnable skill. If your business writing
isn’t up to snuff, follow the tips above and see if you can’t improve it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-24698990154069029992013-10-20T15:44:00.000-07:002013-10-20T15:44:22.353-07:00Deadly Gossip<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<b><span style="color: #216e8e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Deadly Gossip<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 5;">
<b><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ever wondered how an office or a business could become so
stressful? An insidious enemy, gossip can easily destroy a reputation or
business. In this article, learn how to spot hidden gossip and begin to
eradicate it.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recently,
a company nearly reached the brink of destruction in a flurry of scandal. The
legal team swooped in and started swinging, taking out the major offenders but
also cutting off 25% of the company's clients at the same time. Just before it
spiraled completely out of control, a savvy board member spotted the exact
problem and halted it. The culprit? A vicious round of gossip about the
executive team followed by a lawsuit based on that gossip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gossip
reaches as high as the C-suite and as low as the mail room in nearly every
company. It can seem harmless and inconsequential and even fun or interesting
at times, but its roots can be deep and insidious. Perhaps you have seen a
beneficial program cut because of gossip, or a contract lost or a person fired.
Perhaps that person was you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
can you do to proof yourself and your business against gossip? Education is the
key. Gossip is so ingrained in our culture that sometimes we can miss gossip
even when it is right in front of our faces. Gossip is defined as light
conversation about sensational or private matters. The danger is the viral
nature of this destructive and often untrue communication.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here
are a few pointers to recognize and control gossip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1. Look for a broad generality.</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"All
the women around here are lazy," or "The marketing people are cold
and calculating." This might seem to be obviously untrue upon inspection,
but it can easily wend its way into conversations and become a stuck idea about
the group. In the example above (a real one) about the marketing people, the
result was that many people in the company avoided the "marketing
people". This resulted in poor communications between sales and marketing,
and a problem when it came to messaging the product. Not a good result. Pay
attention whenever someone lays out a "truism" about an entire group.
It's almost guaranteed to be a falsehood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2. Check for negativity.</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Very
often, negative statements are largely or partially untrue, particularly if the
statement is about a person's character or skills. These "opinions"
which have no basis in fact can be very damaging. Call others on it when they
throw them around as truth. Ex. "Tim is like a porcupine. Don't give him
any new ideas. He just bristles." Not only is this likely false, but it
creates problems for Tim. If you pass it along, you are an accomplice to
wrecking Tim's relationships.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. Look for "frequent liars".</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Frequent
liars" are those who are routinely gossiping about others. Avoid them.
Politely excuse yourself from the conversation. Why? Because <b>if they are gossiping to YOU about others,
they will gossip to others about YOU as readily.</b> Don't get caught in the
trap. Keep the conversation light and positive if you simply can't get away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4. Inspect long-standing conflicts.</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In any
long-standing argument or conflict, there is certain to be a degree of gossip
behind it. Get the two arguing parties in a room and ask them this question:
"What negative things have you heard about the other person?" Get
them to list out everything. Ask them who said these things. Often, the same
person is giving negative information to both sides! As soon as they both see
what is happening, the conflict vanishes. Make sure you get a few names of
people who were stirring up the conflict and work with those people to reduce
their gossip level. This is fantastically useful in teambuilding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not all
those who gossip have bad intentions. It is easy to get caught in a web of
gossip in almost any workplace. Little by little, start educating others about
the dangers of gossip and you will make your business and your life a little
easier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wishing
you success...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-84730185743277905002013-07-12T09:57:00.002-07:002013-07-12T09:58:03.750-07:00The Seven Deadly Business Sins<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #216e8e; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px;">
The Seven Deadly Business Sins</h1>
<h5 style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Anyone running a business is responsible for seven major functions. Leaving any one of them out could spell disaster for your business. Learn about these seven areas so you can avoid the Seven Deadly Business Sins!</h5>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
I suppose no one told you that you had to be good at every aspect of business to run one successfully? No one told me either. As a result, over the last 13 years, I have taken vast numbers of classes and read innumerable books to learn about business. Most people think that if they are an expert in what their business delivers, they can run a successful business. As a result, many excellent hair stylists, artists, cooks and other professions end up out of business and broke because they didn't know enough about marketing or sales or some other business topic. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
I don't want you to fall into this trap. The good news is that there are only seven major areas in any business. Only seven. Not 1,000, not even 500. Only seven. If you can master these seven areas and what they are supposed to do in your business, you can be successful. And you can take your talent for cutting hair, making meatballs or arranging flowers to a successful level. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Without further ado, here are the seven areas and the seven sins to avoid:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
1. <strong>Strategic Planning</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<strong> </strong> You may have a business plan or a marketing plan, but are they all integrated? Do you know exactly what size you want your business to be in five years? Do you have the policies and procedures in place to get there? Have you planned out what positions to hire? If not, you might be weak on strategic planning. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
DEADLY SIN #1: No strategic planning. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
2. <strong>Human Resources</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<strong> </strong>Human Resources includes all the steps you have to take with employees, from recruiting them to onboarding them and training them, even including where and how they receive email and your company protocol for communication. Anything that involves people is in this area. People are so important that hiring them brings you more capacity and therefore more money. And your business won't expand without them. So you have to plan to be constantly growing where people are concerned. A wise business woman once told me, "If your business isn't growing, it's shrinking. There is no middle ground." True.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
DEADLY SIN #2: Not hiring continually. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
3. <strong>Marketing & Sales</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Many a business owner cries in their coffee over lack of sales, but they have no idea how marketing and sales work together to generate leads and provide opportunities to expand. Most people I have met don't know the definition of the word <em>marketing</em>. Just as an exercise, I challenge you to look it up to make sure you do know. Marketing is what pulls in the majority of your income by providing leads to business. Don't neglect this vital area. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
DEADLY SIN #3: Not understanding marketing and sales.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
4. <strong>Finance</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
You don't have to be a blazing financial wizard to succeed in small business. But there are two components that seem to matter most: 1. accurate accounting, 2. tax planning. If you have a good bookkeeper who can keep your files in order, you are more likely to be organized about your cash flow and not run into a crisis. And a good accountant can help you plan out how to save money in taxes, a welcome relief for small business owners. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
DEADLY SIN #4: Disorganized finances. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
5. <strong>Operations</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
This is the part of your business that delivers your product or service. The biggest mistake business owners make is not having this aspect thoroughly planned out in advance. A project management function that plans out your business for the next 90 days or beyond will do worlds for your business volume. Although there are many other challenges in an operations division of a company, this challenge is the most common. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
DEADLY SIN #5: Poor future work planning.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
6. <strong>Quality Control</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Some businesses I work with didn't even have a quality control function when I walked in the first time. Without it, you will be missing information on how your customers like your product, what they like best about it and how you can improve. You will also be missing testimonials from clients or customers. If you don't have a quality control function, put it there now. Even if you have to do it yourself. Send out surveys to your past customers, or just talk to them directly. Anything is better than nothing in this area. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
DEADLY SIN #6: No quality control on your product or service.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
7. <strong>Business Development</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
If you are always thinking of new ways to get customers or new avenues for business partnership, your business development is strong. Most small business owners don't think creatively for new partnership avenues or referral sources. Example: A sign shop needed new business and found that a key city council member was in charge of updates and renovations to local buildings. The sign shop got the list of local buildings and soliticted customers from that list. Just like that, 10 new customers. Are you thinking creatively about new avenues to get customers? Seminars? Workshops? Local connections? If not, you might be missing out on huge possibilities. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
DEADLY SIN #7: No creativity on finding new business. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
If you are committing more than one of the seven deadly sins right now, get a plan in place to fix it as soon as possible. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Wishing you a sin-less business!</div>
Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-42929520938626632072013-07-12T09:55:00.001-07:002013-07-12T09:55:39.868-07:00The Seven Deadly Business Sins<a href="http://biznik.com/members/jill-chiappe/articles/the-seven-deadly-business-sins-0#.UeA1BDGYllw.blogger">The Seven Deadly Business Sins</a>Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-18617405076050429932012-07-14T14:32:00.000-07:002012-07-14T14:39:48.657-07:00Career Development<div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many career driven readers need to know what factors into choosing a good career, how to prepare for this career, and when it is appropriate to switch careers. If you are asking yourself what career you should choose, make sure to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">factor in the following five points into your decision making process.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
</div>
</div>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>Find your passion.</strong> Corny perhaps, but true. Finding a passion is the most crucial factor in finding a good career. Regardless of what the media portrays, successful people work long hours, sometimes fighting straight through 15 or 16 hours of hard labor. In such a stressful environment, you better like what you’re doing. Without a passion and purpose to drive you, you will inevitably leave your career goals by the wayside.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>People throw money at interesting things.</strong> Research and look into what areas you have worked in. Find out how much money it’s making. Money is the attention unit of society and if people find something interesting, they will throw money at it. Other than the innovative areas that have not yet been discovered, you can determine what careers are viable by what sectors are doing well now.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>It really isn’t ever too late.</strong> True, if you switch careers, you will be the low man on the totem pole for at least a short while. There is no getting around this. However, if you are truly passionate about another career, willing to work from the ground up, and ready to learn about the area, go for it. You need to realize the immense opportunity cost of sticking around in the wrong career.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>Start preparing early.</strong> A significant portion of America’s society has set up the false belief that high school and college are all about having fun and trying different things. That’s okay, but sometimes it’s nice to have a purpose and follow it. Your career is your life and there is no reason to delay starting your life. This doesn’t mean parents need to grind a career into their children; however, starting early gives kids a sense of purpose and direction. For example, my oldest daughter in middle school wants to be a paleontologist, she interns with designers and engineers to see what paleontologists do on a daily basis. This early exposure is optimal for finding the right career.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>Vocational schools are great when applicable.</strong> If you know you want to pursue a specific career, vocational schools are very advantageous, especially for hands-on careers. In vocational schools, talent is very focused and does not get dispersed. In college, I sat through my higher-level math courses only to never use the information again. Instead, I could have spent time on other things relevant to her career.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
As the destabilized economy struggles to make a comeback, many readers wonder what are the top careers for the future. The two most promising fields: technology and health care.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<strong>Technology</strong></div>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>The Future:</strong> Any technology, especially cloud computing, that makes it easier to have technological solutions without having the technology in the office is emerging at the forefront of business as one of the top careers for the future. The technology market will only continue to grow bigger and bigger</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>The Competition: </strong>Competition is low in America’s technology market now and Silicon Valley is always in need of more engineers. Competition will start to grow, but America’s education system is not strong enough to effectively compete in the global economy yet. Many companies are outsourcing for engineering resources because it is much more cost effective. However, Americans will be able to compete in the future.<br />
<br />
Regardless of whether engineers overseas cost less, work takes longer and is done incorrectly because of the language barrier. If America can produce well educated engineers, overseas competition will not matter so much in the future. Americans, the last free people in the world, have been historically intelligent and very scrappy.<br />
<br />
When the necessity level rises to a certain point, the United States will make a come back. Above all, Americans need to stop complaining and square away the education system. Furthermore, Silicon Valley needs support. As the heart innovation, Silicon Valley and its expanding technology market have the potential to turn America around.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>Competitive advantages: </strong>Fluency in other languages of emerging markets is key, including Asian languages, Spanish, Portuguese, and in time, maybe even Middle Eastern languages. Because so many companies are expanding their global offices, those who are fluent enough to communicate with a global team and figure out how to handle e-commerce in Asia will dominate in technology.<br />
<br />
Silicon Valley flourishes when its technology sector figures out how to target emerging markets overseas.In addition, a background in engineering is optimal. Engineers translate thoughts into the physical universe better than anyone else. This skill will always be needed in the technology field. As Bromund said, “if there isn’t an engineer to turn dreams into reality, we’re screwed.”</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<strong>Health Care</strong></div>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>The Future:</strong> Health care isn’t going anywhere. Although its growth depends on the government, Bromund predicts it will get overhauled in some other way. Regardless of the government’s actions, health care is going to be a large field in the future.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>The Competition:</strong> Although 2008 and 2009 were major exceptions, there will be a lot of competition to find nurses and doctors. Especially on the aging side of health care, there will be plenty of openings as well as a shortage of health care professionals. However, compared to the exciting forefront of technology, health care is a relatively lackluster field unless it especially interests you.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<li><strong>Competitive advantage:</strong> Quite simply, attend nursing schools to become a nurse or medical school to become a doctor. There will always be a demand for these professions.</li>
</ul>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-9861166815840942092012-07-13T22:34:00.000-07:002012-07-13T22:34:44.728-07:00Unbiased Performance AppraisalFair performance appraisal methods use metrics only to judge performance at regular, short intervals. In this way, he or she knows exactly what is expected and can become stable in his role. <br />
<br />
Give each employee a set of deliverables and measure those deliverables by graphing them on a daily or weekly basis to show changes. The employee’s performance can be easily judged. Of course, other qualities in an employee matter besides his or her ability to deliver, but this comes first and foremost where fairness is concerned.<br />
<br />
As a role becomes more complicated or you head toward the top of the org chart, certain complexities make the evaluation of performance more difficult. In this case, the best idea is to make a list of the deliverables as well as the “soft skills” or intangibles that the position needs. Do this without regard to the person currently in the role. Imagine what an ideal person would do and be in the role and write that into the job description as a standard to judge the person against.<br />
<br />
As soon as you enter “soft skills” into the equation, the ability to keep bias out of your performance appraisal methods becomes compromised to a degree. Therefore, the job description should include these skills at the outset, not added after a problem arises. Be thoughtful about the skills, tasks and deliverables of the role as early as possible so that the standard is fairly set.<br />
<br />
If you do not currently have a job description for each role in your organization that includes the main tasks, the deliverables and the soft skills for that role, then this is the first task you must take on to get your house in order. From there, develop regular performance reviews based only on metrics that occur weekly. <br />
<br />
Then, at longer intervals, such as every six months or one year, look at the whole list of tasks, deliverables and soft skills and write a short comparison of the person to this list. Remember as you go over the comparison of the person to this list that the person is receiving a picture of himself which may or may not be flattering. Think of how you feel when you view an unflattering picture of yourself, and take this into account as you share the information. Be firm but kind in your appraisal and after reviewing any negative information, quickly give the person a list of ways to improve his or her performance. Allow him to improve the picture.<br />
<br />
The performance management process is the process of looking at how someone is doing in their role and guiding that person’s performance to a higher level in the organization. The most apathetic employees are the ones who have a ceiling in their job. The performance management process is a process that gives workers hope of getting to that next level. Without this hope, an organization will have bored, irritated employees. If you are not going to do performance management and you are not going to give people feedback or reviews, you might as well stick them in the middle of a forest with no compass.<br />
<br />
To recap how to keep bias out of your performance appraisal methods, start off with a clear-cut set of tasks, deliverables and soft skills for each position. Review the deliverables on a weekly basis with the person to judge performance regularly. This allows for no surprises at the formal performance reviews which take place yearly and contain a comparison of the person to all the tasks, deliverables and soft skills. If any negative information surfaces, give the person a development plan to help him improve the picture.<br />
<br />Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-17758486014164834152012-07-11T09:02:00.004-07:002012-07-11T09:02:41.392-07:00Team Building TechniquesIn the business world, top team building activities for the workplace lie on a spectrum of gravitas (seriousness). They range from light hearted, easygoing activities to hard-core exercises that can expose an executive’s vulnerabilities.<br />
<br />
<b>On the least serious side of the spectrum</b>, top team building activities for the workplace can involve off site recreation where coworkers can get energized and learn more about each other on a more personal, unprofessional level. These out-of-office activities can range from wine tasting to rock climbing to tours and so on where teammates can learn about what their coworkers like to do in their spare time as well as discuss big picture goals and what the team is doing as well. This side of the spectrum suits companies with the expendable budget to take their team off site to fun environments very well.<br />
<br />
<b>In the middle of the spectrum</b>, take assessments as a team. Discuss the results with a facilitator who can talk the team through as to how well it handles different perspectives and how different styles impact the team’s ability to work together. These activities are typically less expensive and very workable in terms of team building perspective.<br />
<br />
Assessments can help teammates understand how their coworkers operate and how they are different. This eye-opening strategy is crucial to team building. A team’s biggest downfall is the perspective that everyone thinks exactly the same. With this mentality, team players will approach others in the same way they do things. This kills team building every time.<br />
<br />
As far as team building downwards, bosses can work with their employees at ground level for a day. For executives and bosses who have trouble connecting with the team they need to manage, this can be an eye-opening experience. For example, I once sent a COO to work with customer service for a day. The employees loved it and the COO finally understood the full reality of what his customer service team did every day. From this new perspective, he was able to put his finger on their daily goals and problems and, thereby, manage them better.<br />
<br />
<b>In the most serious side of the spectrum</b>, of top team building activities for the workplace, upper level executives can perform 360 reviews. They can gather performance info from their peers, employees, and through direct reports. Then, the executives must share with the group what they learned as well as their development plan — how they will be working on improving.<br />
<br />
Although 360 reviews were disparaged in the press 5 or 6 years ago, they are making a comeback. Executives work in a vacuum most of the time with nothing to compare themselves to. As a result, they do not realize what other executives are doing or if they are really accomplishing their job. Many executives make massive changes after engaging in 360 reviews.<br />
<br />
360 reviews are a very vulnerable thing for most people and, therefore, should be done anonymously. Although some cultures are so open that peers and employees can give feedback freely, it is easier to start with anonymity as a default so that people can be open and say what they need to say.<br />
To decide which of these team building activities for the workplace to use, take a look at the team and decide what level of team building it has accomplished so far. If the team cannot communicate at all, build commonality and get teammates talking with the least serious activities. If the team is not at ground zero but is dysfunctional in some way, start with the more serious side assessments or even 360 reviews to help teammates understand how they can work together best.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-74350530524899839342012-07-09T18:36:00.000-07:002012-07-09T19:46:37.967-07:00Master Strategic ManagementFirst, the strategic management process looks at the actual model of your business and determines whether it is a revenue generation model. You must clarify how your business is going to make money and why people would find your product or service interesting. <br />
<br />
In addition, you must find out how much demand there is for your product or service and what qualities are demanded. For example, if you are selling TVs, find out what people want in TVs, if you can make a profit making TVs, and in what volume you can make TVs. All of these are strategic discussions that you must undertake when you draw out your plan so that you can actually have a profitable business. Without this clarity, you get stuck in the day to day.<br />
<br />
Part two of the strategic management process is identifying your target market — the customers you are selling to. Survey consistently to find out what your customers think. Know where your customers go, what they buy, where they sleep, and everything else. This knowledge is essential to really grasp what your customers need. You must understand what your customers’ lifestyles are like and understand how your product fits into them.<br />
<br />
You must have some way to contact your target market. You can use your current customers to survey if you have them. Find out your target market’s addresses, e-mails, and phone numbers. Draw up a survey about your product and find out what they want.<br />
<br />
The best surveys must be short to entice your target market to take them. Furthermore, it is best to conduct surveys in person. Have someone call and actually talk to them. Ask them, “If you were running my business, what would you produce or what problem would you try to solve?” People love to talk about this and their answers can give you tremendous insight as to what your target market really wants.<br />
<br />
There are rare exceptions of an innovator who is so visionary that the target market would never be able to come up with what he or she decides to produce. For example, Apple’s iPhone is a brainchild of design. Even for products like this, however, surveys are still conducted so that people can give their opinion about what makes sense to them.<br />
<br />
Other than surveys, focus groups have some potential. However, they can be extremely inefficient and there is a lot of setup and preparation involved in conducting a successful focus group. If five people turn up, you are really only getting five opinions. To get a real sense of how the market works, you need a volume of opinions. One person’s off-the-wall opinion is not going to help you as much as a thousand people. With mass data, you can formulate a bell curve and analyze your market much more accurately.<br />
<br />
The third step of the strategic management process is listening to the data. A remarkable number of companies fail because they do not take heed of the information they collected. For example, if the target market says they want 12 inch TV screens that fit on top of their microwaves in their kitchens and you produce big screens TVs, it should not surprise you if your product does not sell.<br />
<br />
Skype is a great example of a company who listened to their collected data. The company figured out that their target market wanted simple functionality more than anything else. They didn’t want it to be fancy or impressive at all. It just had to work. Thus, Skype did not spend any money on sales. Instead, they put all of their resources into making their product work on the technical side and as reliable as possible.<br />
<br />
Sometimes companies have to revisit their strategy because the market changes. However, if you are doing well, do not mess with your strategy. If you do notice that your product is becoming outdated in your market or that you are losing a large market share to your competitors, you need to change your strategy up.<br />
<br />
However, once you find out an effective strategic management process that works for you, do not try to change it up just because of other companies. For example, when Michael Dell started building computers for people, they were always desktops. The minute that laptops hit the market, however, Dell started fleshing out into laptops and buying different parts.<br />
<br />
This departure from their old strategic management process led to hard times. Until they really got their strategy back together again after a couple years, the company suffered. If you decide to change your strategic management process, make sure you do so for the right reasons.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-45915361659203005572012-06-08T11:38:00.001-07:002012-07-10T08:31:15.742-07:00The Boss“The Boss” is probably the easiest target for snide comments, pre-meditated gossip and murder fantasies in most offices. The term has become so maligned that most companies no longer even use the word. Now we call him “Your Manager”. Whatever term you use, you might find it helpful to know a little bit about him (or her). <br />
<br />
First off, don’t forget that there are FEW, if any, schools that teach a person HOW to be a boss or manager. Management is a four-letter word in the business world and it remains one of the great mysteries of our time. Management is not actually that mysterious, but because it involves a few skills that are not specified clearly and that most people are lacking, you might find yourself in the precarious position of having a boss who doesn’t know HOW to be one. <br />
<br />
Second, no one, and I mean NO ONE, is ever going to admit that he doesn’t know HOW to be the boss. This is equivalent to shooting off his own arm. Why admit such a thing? A person is successful or starts his own business and becomes "The Boss"! No training required. Or so many people think. Is there anything you can do about this? YES! <br />
<br />
First off, realize that management is primarily about control. Control is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. If you don’t believe me, try making a phone call without controlling the phone. How did that work out for you? Control itself is neither inherently bad nor good, but is constructive or destructive based only on the motive of the person using it. You can be constructive with your control of your phone, i.e., dial a florist and order flowers for the wife, OR you can be destructive, i.e, prank call your boss. It’s your choice how you use the control. The same is true for your boss. He or she has a choice at any moment whether to be constructive or destructive. Decide for yourself RIGHT NOW if your boss (or anyone else who “manages” you) is constructive or destructive. The easiest way is to tell by results. Does the person get positive results with you and others? <br />
<br />
Assuming the person is controlling you in a constructive way, realize that most human beings inherently do not like control. But we have to live with it in order to engage in group activities. So let’s assume your boss, like so many of them, is controlling you very poorly. Here is an example: “The Boss” tells you to start on the new social media marketing campaign. You do so. Two days later, “The Boss” comes after you wondering why you are tweeting on behalf of the company! You look bewildered and mutter, “But. . .I thought. . . you wanted me to . . . start the social media campaign. . .” He storms out of the room, telling you to remove all the tweets. Uh oh. Poor control on his part. He didn’t CONTROL you very well. To control is to create positive, predictable change. <br />
<br />
So what can you do if your boss doesn’t control you, or anyone else, correctly? Well, you can take charge of the control. It would look something like this. Boss: “Start the new social media marketing campaign.” You: “Sounds good. I’ll have a plan on your desk for approval in two hours.” You type up the plan including all ideas for tweeting, etc., and put it on his desk with only boxes at the bottom where he can check “Agree” or “Disagree” to let you know if he likes the plan. True, it’s a little more work for you. But this is what being responsible looks like. As Ayn Rand said, "The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap." <br />
<br />
Of course, you can always let the boss continually shift your priorities and complain about it to your co-workers. That’s what most people do. But if you really want to get ahead, try nailing down this control thing by taking your share of the responsibility for it. That way, more than your boss managing you, you are managing HIM! <br />
<br />
And if you really want to handle the situation for good, send your boss to management training. You may have to call it something else, like “Jamaica” to get him to go, but if you can pull it off, I promise your life will be much easier. And maybe you can stop fantasizing about the steamroller and super glue . . .Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-87007420363851321222012-05-20T22:11:00.004-07:002012-07-10T09:57:24.579-07:00How YOU Doin?Feedback is not always easy to give. Or receive. Take the story of the CEO who went in to give his head of sales his annual performance review and found the office cleaned out. Turns out the head of sales left a "note" in his drawer saying that he coudn't face the performance evalution he was expecting he would get. This is a bit extreme. Hopefully, your experiences have not been this dramatic. <br />
<br />
But let's assume you have never given performance feedback, like about 60% of all bosses. If you need to create a performance evaluation from scratch, take the person’s job description and break it down into categories. Try not to list more than 12 or 15 areas at the outside. If you have no job description available, search the job title on the internet with the words “job description” included, e.g., “VP of Marketing job description”. Pull out the parts that apply to the role and break it down into categories. Be sure to include soft skills such as influence or conflict management if they apply. If you are reviewing a person in customer service, for example, friendliness and communication skills would be top priorities on the soft side. <br />
<br />
Next, either have the person do a self-assessment or include as many people as realistic in evaluating the person in the time allotted. The people to include can be the manager, peers, direct reports or any other stakeholders who know the person well. A simple evaluation can include a rating scale and a box for comments. A more complicated one can include a rating scale and associated questions. A simple 360° process can be purchased at a reasonable price through a coach. (The cost can be as low as $100/person.) A 360° is so named because it takes evaluation information from 360° around the person. It is simply a specialized type of performance review most commonly used by executives and a favorite tool of many coaches. <br />
<br />
If you are giving feedback to a high level executive, the most common areas of improvement for executives are listed in the following table by frequency. These percentages were gathered from the hundreds of executive 360°s we have performed over the last decade in our company and in partnership with other companies. <br />
<br />
If a person had more negative comments than positive comments in an area, it is considered a “development area”. These development areas show common themes and they are listed in the table by frequency of appearance. <br />
<br />
<b>Most Common Development Areas</b> <br />
<br />
Onboarding 12% / 88%* <br />
<br />
Results Focus 62% <br />
<br />
Problem-Solving 58% <br />
<br />
Interpersonal Skills 58% <br />
<br />
Delegation 44% <br />
<br />
Influence 32% <br />
<br />
Communication 31% <br />
<br />
Executive Presence 22% <br />
<br />
*While Onboarding was only a development area in 12% total of the reports we performed, of those who had recently begun a new role, 88% needed onboarding help in their development plans. <br />
<br />
If you need further ideas for competency areas, check out the FYI book by Korn/Ferry. Next, get ready to actually deliver the feedback, or at least talk about it after you have slipped the report surreptitiously onto your employee's desk. <br />
<br />
<b>Remember a few key points as you deliver the feedback: </b> <br />
<br />
1. Be specific. Include examples as you point out development areas. <br />
<br />
2. Balance praise and criticism. When giving the criticism, include suggestions for improvement. <br />
<br />
3. Expect some reactions. Allow the person receiving feedback to digest and then have a follow-on conversation after tempers or tears have cooled. <br />
<br />
4. Don't forget a development plan. Pick one or two areas that are most important and give the person a little adivce or some tasks to handle those areas. You'd be surprised how far a little advice can go. <br />
<br />
It's time to get going on giving some feedback and helping the 94% of your employees, so let's get started!Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-57311060499544233762012-05-20T22:07:00.000-07:002012-05-20T22:07:03.345-07:00Coach Me! Coach Me!Whether you are an HR professional, a peer, a mentor or a coach, you need the basic tools to begin to assist another person. If you are an executive and just want to coach your direct reports or employees to improve their performance, the same rules apply. Use these tools to get any coaching or mentoring relationship off the starting block.
IMPROVEMENT
As irrational as it may sound, not every person who seeks coaching wants to improve his situation. Some are trying to get out of a role or company and just want to be coached as to how to do this. Others have a solemn belief that no improvement is possible, that “people are the way they are”. If you do not quickly understand this about your coachee, you may end up at odds because you intend improvement while he intends to leave or go through a fruitless exercise. Nothing is more important than setting up the relationship with aligned purposes.
To begin, ask your coachee his goals for coaching by finding out what end state he desires. Then, pull off any false veneer of “playing along” with coaching by asking the questions below:
Is there anything about your current role that you do not like? If so, what?
What area of your job causes you the most stress?
If you could leave to go do anything else, what would you do?
Is there anything about your role which makes you feel old or tired?
Are there any reasons why you would want to give up?
Do you believe people can change for the better? Have you ever seen someone improve in any area? What was it?
Get several answers for each of the above questions. These questions are food for a discussion, not just short ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. If the person mentions any fact or situation which is fascinating, confusing or worth discussing, ask further about it until it is perfectly clear. Take the role of detective in understanding the situation and goals of your coachee. When you are certain he would like improvement, not to leave or follow some other purpose, continue with the Help section below.
HELP
Clearly, a main role of the coach is to help the recipient, to be a sounding board, a stable source of guidance and a font of wisdom. But not everyone is open to accepting help from a coach. This is easy to understand for those who have been to a dentist or a doctor and had a painful experience. We go in to the doctor, relieved to get help for our illness or our toothache, and end up with a needle in our backside or our jaw, followed by a painful procedure or two, and some follow-up medication. As helpful the intervention is in solving the condition, it never sets us up to love the idea of help. Years later, we see people avoiding the doctor even when a condition has become serious. We often get the idea that help involves a little bit, or a great deal, of pain. This is the view on help that you might find your coachee (or even yourself) sitting in.
Thus, the job of a coach is to get the coachee ready and willing to receive the help of a coach. Poke around about his reactions to help. Ask the following questions to start discussion:
What types of help has he or she received before?
Was any of the help bad help? Any good help? What happened?
What does help consist of in his mind?
Has he ever been coached before? How did it go? Was the coach helpful?
Who has helped him most in life? Least?
Describe the ideal type of help.
This is a good time to check for experiences similar to coaching but not called “coaching”, such as having a mentor. Ask the following questions and get complete answers:
Has the person had a mentor? Used a consultant? Anything similar to a coach? If yes to any, find out whether this helped or not.
What types of experiences does he or she associate with coaching? Were those good experiences or bad experiences?
Does he believe coaching could work? Is it possible that it could help?
Give an example of how coaching might help someone. Give an example of when you have seen someone receive help.
Please note, this set of questions could take as long as several hours, but minimally will take about 30-45 minutes. After digging in deeply to find the answers to these questions, and if the person is ready and willing to receive some help, move into a discussion on control.
The next step in developing a coaching relationship is to come to an agreement about who is in control in the coaching relationship. Control is another dirty word in the workplace, second only to help. Sit any person down and tell him you are going to control him and he will likely leap from the chair and run from the room, possibly screaming. And yet, to have a successful coaching relationship, someone has to control the flow of the development plan, and the most likely candidate is the coach, not the coachee. So to have a successful relationship, a coach must help his coachee come to terms with the fact that the coach will control him and the process.
To get the subject of control under control, the coach can ask the coachee the following questions:
When you hear “control” what do you think of?
Have you had any bad experiences with control? What happened?
Have you had a good experience with control?
How do you like to be controlled?
How do you dislike being controlled?
Is control ever a good thing? Give an example.
Next, spend a few minutes asking the coachee to do various tasks, such as hand over his pen, get up from his chair, or bring you a glass of water. They should be simple tasks, but he should be willing to do them with no questions asked. This is a minimum threshold for control to start a coaching relationship.
The control exercises are similar to the ones on help. They should take a minimum of 30 - 45 minutes and could go as long as several hours. Dig deeply to find areas where the person was controlled badly or the control was harmful. These experiences are likely to get in the way of coaching unless you uncover them and bring them to light.
If you manage to dig in deep enough, you will get to a point where the coachee trusts you to control him, knowing that control can be a positive influence. After all, if you were operating your phone and didn’t control it, you wouldn’t make many calls, would you? You would likely end up with a broken phone. You can mention this to him to make a point about control.
If you have completed these three major steps, you now have a person ready to be coached. The next step is to write down goals and create a development plan. This will be covered in another article.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-43727125418279420502012-02-28T10:26:00.001-08:002012-02-28T10:28:18.040-08:00It's Peeeeeeeople!My Sunday School teacher was fond of mentioning that there were only two types of people in the world: good guys and bad guys. While this may have been true, it left me with no tools to sort out which was which. For instance, were my business competitors all “bad guys” or might some of them be good guys? I needed a practical and workable system for determining whether someone was on my side or not, whether I could trust them or not. I finally found that one method worked best to answer these questions about people.<br /><br />First of all, I stopped listening to what people were saying. Some of the most underhanded people I ever worked with said wonderful, flattering words to my face and then proceeded to undermine me relentlessly. So words were not the test of whether a person could be trusted. I needed a better system. What I discovered was that I could look for business results and get a good estimation of the worth of the person. I started dividing people into two camps. Rather than “good” or “bad”, which had too many extraneous connotations, I started using “constructive” and “destructive”. Either a person was helping me and the business or he wasn’t. Either he was pushing for results for himself and others or he wasn’t. This made the picture much clearer. I also found that the minute I focused on results and those who were constructive in achieving them or destructive of them, I could easily sort out a few other “types” in each camp.<br /><br />Below are the “types” I found most commonly, with genders chosen randomly for each type. <br /><br />THE CONSTRUCTIVE TEAM: Gets results for self. Helps others get results.<br /><br />Mr. Busy: Rather than being a busy-body, he is just plain busy. Phone calls, emails, meetings—he goes all day long. He is just busy, busy, busy getting things done! This is the top person to have on a team that wants to achieve results.<br />Superhero: He is the ultra-constructive hero of the office. He likes to pitch in, works hard and goes a tad nutty when others try to stop him. If he complains, it is about injustices or the barriers to success. On a normal day, he is busy and optimistic. He likes to talk and may even run late from getting too involved in some conversations. He loves having an exciting goal to pursue and likes other people.<br />Ms. Thoughtful: She is concerned about the results, thoroughly thinking through strategies and timelines. She ponders about data and furrows her brow at complex problems. Likes to review charts and spreadsheets. New ideas are a bit too risky because they might jeopardize the cause. She’s helpful and a good person to go to for a thorough analysis.<br />Mr. Blah: He’s bored at meetings and tends to doodle on his napkin. He occasionally gets interested in a project, but it takes some effort and has to involve him personally. He’s nice and wouldn’t hurt a flea. Don’t expect him to lead the team, but he will do what you ask him to do. Put him on a team with a strong leader.<br />The Fighter: Picks a fight with anyone for any reason. Loves debate and a good boxing round with others. You might wonder at times whether he’s on your side or not, and he certainly can be exhausting, but his heart is in the right place. The fights can be unnecessary at times, but they aren’t ill-intentioned. A good team player if you can keep him fighting against the competition instead of his teammates. Also needs a strong leader to channel his energies.<br />THE DESTRUCTIVE TEAM: Will slow or stop any constructive goal. Wastes time and energy.<br /><br />Blow-Hard: He’s always irritated about something, but won’t always mention it. When things blow up, he’s in the middle of it, yelling and screaming, throwing staplers and verbally abusing others. The accusations are untrue and full of destructive talk. The difference between the Blow-Hard and the Fighter is that the Fighter is fighting for something important: results. The Blow-Hard is just interested in beating others up. He’s not trying to “motivate” them or prove his strategy is the best. He’s just angry and obnoxious.<br />The Snake: Also known as the gossip of the office, this ‘type’ is the mark of death for your office. Wanders from office to office, making seemingly harmless comments about others but secretly stirring up conflicts and problems. Casually “mentions” to the boss that Sheila was at lunch for 1.5 hours and smelled “a bit like alcohol” when she returned. Will profess to be doing every action for the good of others while casually inserting a knife into every back he or she can find. Will undermine every possible constructive goal. Will support and help destructive goals like layoffs or downsizing only. It’s nearly guaranteed that you have met one of this type, but you might have missed it. The best skill you can learn is to recognize it when you see it. The snake is intensely dangerous while appearing completely harmless or even “nice” at times, and can be quite good at hiding his treachery by apparently “sensible” arguments. Look for a person who can’t do an honest day’s work and would rather sit around “talking” about problems and excuses rather than just driving the results. Will cause confusion to all constructive types in a short period of time.<br />Fraidy-Cat: She’s worried. She can’t sleep. She needs another cup of coffee. The competition just sold the contract to the client! The sky is falling! The fraidy-cat is the constantly worried officemate who has you wondering if you will ever get ahead or how so much can go so wrong so quickly. She is the bearer of bad tidings, and no good for you either. The world is much more dangerous place after you finish a breakfast meeting with fraidy-cat.<br />Victim: He just got in an accident. Again. He lost the sales contracts just before the big meeting because someone stole his briefcase at Starbucks. People are always stopping him, beating him up, picking on him. He can’t win. Ever. You wonder how one person could have so much trouble and bad luck, and how he could miss so much work and still have a job. A popular type to start frivolous lawsuits. Stay away or you will be part of one of the lawsuits shortly. Don’t hire him or you will have more and more problems on your hands daily.<br />The Weeper: She cries at the drop of a hat. She’s a bit slow. She looks sad or blank most of the time. May be still stuck in a recent tragedy or just generally sad and depressed. Seems a little “out of it” at times. Hard to get moving toward goals. Points out what is wrong or bad about nearly everything. Not a good team player or even an individual contributor. Too slow and too many excuses to be useful.<br />Mr. Whatever: This guy usually barely speaks. When he does, it is about how much he doesn’t care, how it all is fruitless and a waste of time because failure is clearly right around the corner. Can’t ever be convinced that something will go the right way. Has few friends. Doesn’t move much or control much. His response to anything, either good or bad, could be summed up as “whatever”.<br />So perhaps you found your teammates in the types, and perhaps you even discovered that one person was not as constructive as you might have hoped. It’s time to get down to the most difficult question of the day: Are the few people you work with most often going to take YOU up with them? When they become successful, will you be successful too? Looking at these types should help you determine the answer to that question. The constructive types will, to a greater or lesser degree, help you, support you and be constructive toward the group goals. The destructive types won’t. It’s that simple. So take a good, long look at those around you and see what your group looks like.<br /><br />Wondering what to do if you found too many destructive types on your team? Time to restructure your team. If you can’t do that, talk to a coach about handling the destructive types and finding more support for your constructive goals. And good luck!Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-50733814285829715822012-01-04T18:01:00.000-08:002012-01-04T18:02:46.968-08:00Attention!It was December 20 and the VP of Marketing of an e-commerce business was staring blankly at a recent post on Yelp. The post condemned the e-commerce company, claiming their customer service was “abysmal” and their products “far below par”. After several nearly sleepless nights and a tired phone call to the PR person to see what they could do about it, they resolved to carry on without doing anything about it. But the post still haunted her.<br /><br />Was their decision correct? How hard should they have tried to have the post removed, or please the displeased customer?<br /><br />Negative press is never easy to take. For any business owner, it can feel like a personal jab rather than a dispassionate discussion of your business. One CEO was so distraught over some negative press about her company that she spent six nights manning the phones in customer service personally. That’s heroic.<br /><br />Let’s look at the other side of this coin, shall we? To do business, we must garner attention. Yes, that’s right, we have to get others to see us, to look at us, to talk to us, to exchange money and services or goods with us. Communication is the bottom line. And that takes getting the public’s attention. Without attention, our businesses wither and die.<br /><br />So, if we get negative attention, is that so bad? It certainly FEELS bad. It dampens our spirits. It kills our restful nights. That is actually what it is supposed to do. Remember Robert Kennedy’s quote: "One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time." That’s right. One-fifth. Twenty percent. One out of five. Ok, you get it. It’s a large percentage. If you have five people in your office, at least one of them will never like what you are doing at any given time. It’s time to face the facts and grow up a bit. Not everyone will like us all the time!<br /><br />Now let’s truly reverse this look and decide that criticism is a GOOD thing. Yes. A GOOD THING. Why? Because it means you are getting enough attention that someone is spending their valuable time to criticize you. It means you are impinging on your market. Truthfully, most of our businesses are never known at all, right? We spend our days WISHING for our articles to go viral, for our products to create massive demand. If you truly want that, start facing up to the hard truth that you will have to be ready to receive some criticism. As Grant Cardone (The Turnaround King) says, “When you start taking the right amount of action and therefore creating success, criticism is often not far behind. Receiving criticism is a surefire sign that you are well on your way.” Ask any major celebrity when he started receiving criticism in full force. It is quite likely right around the time he hit it big. <br /><br />Back to our VP of Marketing. What if, instead of worrying about the criticism, she marketed so hard that she got 10 positive comments for every one negative one? What if she got so many customers that the one naysayer was drowned in a sea of excitement? What if you did the same?<br /><br />To overcome criticism, don’t get stuck on it. Just expand above and beyond it. Go big. Speak more. Speak louder. Sell more! And when you get a public criticism, forward it to me so I can congratulate you for getting enough attention. Here's to criticism!Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-74108160090962697212011-10-12T22:10:00.000-07:002012-05-28T13:42:43.904-07:00360° Executive Reviews; faqs1. What benefits do executive 360° reviews provide? <br /><br />The biggest benefit to the CEO is more productive executives who work more collaboratively. When an executive exhibits difficult behavior, that behavior is often unknown to him or her because it is a problem in self-awareness. The main point of a 360° is to increase self-awareness.<br />Beyond that, creation and initiation of ongoing executive performance review is shown to have the most marked effect on company morale and productivity. It outranks any other kind of leadership or organizational development as it shows an atmosphere of employee accountability at the highest level and targets the leadership areas which most need improvement in the executives. <br />In the book Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan, a study of executives showed that those who created an atmosphere of accountability with regular performance review and leadership development programs were found to be more successful than their colleagues who sought business results to the exclusion of development. Conaty and Charan reason that these executives found it easier to attract and retain the most talented people by giving them opportunities to grow rather than just to work toward a number. Talented executives want to be challenged and stretched while they deliver excellent business results. <br />In fact, in a recent study performed by Korn Ferry International, it was discovered that an amazing 94% of executives want more feedback than they currently receive. Combine this with the Lominger study which proves that leaders who have low self-awareness are most likely to be fired, and you can see why executive 360s are now considered a large part of total benefits packages at some of the most cutting edge companies in the world, such as Cisco, Zappos and NetApp. These companies routinely top the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For, in part due to their commitment to leadership development through executive review. The vast majority of executives want continuous learning opportunities that many companies simply do not provide. Without these learning opportunities, their careers can grow stagnant and they look elsewhere. Given the high cost of executive recruitment and retention, this is not a mistake businesses today can afford to make. <br /> <br />
2. How does the 360° feedback process work? <br /><br />When we perform your 360° reviews, the time expenditure for you is quite minimal. Our job is to make the process easy on you so you can continue to produce amazing business results while we develop the reports. <br />The following steps are the usual process:<br />a. Question development: First, we do a short research program to determine the correct competencies to address for each executive. We have an enormous database of information on roles, responsibilities, job descriptions and competencies for each unique role. We customize this to your culture and finalize the list of questions to be asked with the CEO and the HR executive.<br />b. Interviews: When we have your list of 360° contributors, we interview each person individually, including the executive himself, to obtain the most detailed and rich content on the competency, examples for each competency and suggestions for change, if applicable. We ensure confidentiality by cleaning each comment thoroughly for identifiable remarks. In the interviews we are looking for areas of strength as well as areas of development. <br />c. Customized reports: We then create a customized report for each executive. This report can be up to 40 pages long depending on the number of contributors. An average length is 15-20 pages. The report contains five major parts—the standard assessment results (if applicable), the summary, the graph, the verbatim comments and development materials. Samples of the summary, the graph and the verbatim comments are attached to this document. The executive receives the report in a three- or four-hour session where each part of the report is discussed thoroughly with the coach. <br />d. Development plans and coaching: After the report delivery phase, we immediately craft a development and coaching plan. If the executive is receiving coaching with the 360° review, we create a coaching plan with deliverables and timelines that match the development plan. At times, it is appropriate for the HR executive to take over the development plan at this point. This is customized for each person. <br />e. Ongoing review: The first 360° review is intended to be a baseline for the executive and should be updated every 12 to 18 months with a new 360° review. <br /> <br />
3. Can our Human Resources department perform the reviews? <br /><br />As the executives set the tone for the entire company, developing a continuous learning and feedback environment at the leadership team level is of the utmost importance. Having an external company perform this work gives an objective view of performance and allows for a larger measure of confidentiality for those contributing information via interview. It also allows for an unbiased review of the human resources executives in the same process as the rest of the team. Another benefit is that when tempers flare or emotions run high, as they inevitably do with reviews, the internal Human Resources function is shielded from these difficulties which are handled by our team. Our team is intimately familiar with executive problems and challenges and we easily and smoothly handle these issues for you.<br />Executive performance review must be distinct from other performance reviews in the company. Executive level expectations are higher and contain a long list of competencies, as many as 114 separate competencies. Executive responsibility is extremely high and must be treated as such. It is quite difficult for an HR professional who sits as a peer to another executive to deliver these types of performance reviews. <br />
4. What do 360° reviews cost? <br /><br />The cost for 360°reviews varies widely but the normal range is from $7,000 to $15,000 per executive. Most companies currently pay approximately $10,000 per executive, however, top executives like Bill Gates and Michael Dell pay upwards of $100,000 per report for their reviews which can run as long as 100 or more pages. Costs are determined by the size of the executive team, the list of competencies and numbers of reviewers. Coaching packages are an additional cost which can be cut down substantially by the quality of the 360° review itself. As an example, one CMO who recently received a review from our company was able to make the necessary changes within two months rather than the original six-month estimate on his development plan. He credited this to the ability to pin-point the correct issues. Our reports focus with laser-like precision on development areas and this precision can often make development steps obvious and rapid, saving the company money in coaching and education costs. A benefit of using our company is that we are so experienced with 360° reviews that we can save you time on the development plan as well as on the process itself. <br /> <br />
5. Do executives enjoy receiving the reviews? <br /><br />The overwhelming majority of participants enjoy receiving reviews. 94% of our clients have found the process challenging and intellectually stimulating. Less than 3% found it unsatisfying or too difficult. The level of satisfaction with the process correlates with the positivity of the report, however, we have universally discovered that executives do indeed desire more feedback. As mentioned above, 94% of executives want more feedback. <br /><br />
6. What do executives say about receiving the 360s and coaching? <br /><br />Below are a few excerpts from the success stories of executives who have received their reviews from us:<br /><br />“I took my relationship with my CTO to an entirely new level in two weeks after my review. I literally would never have believed this could happen so quickly.”<br /><br /> --C-level executive<br /><br />“I was surprised how focused this review was. There was nothing in the report that was extraneous and we didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken. That was a relief.”<br /><br /> --SVP executive<br /><br />“I had a prior 360° with another company and I could not decipher the results. This 360° was easy to understand and made creating the development plan a breeze. My development plan was completed in three months and I was ready for a new set of challenges. Our business went up 18% during my development plan.”<br /> <br /> --C-level executive<br /><br />“Applying the techniques I learned made me more organized and crisp. Most importantly, I learned how to quantify my unique value and stop making excuses. During the coaching, I was able to drive bottom-line results in less than 60 days.”<br /><br /> --SVP executive<br /> <br />
7. What do 360° reports look like? <br /><br />Below are sample excerpts of the 360° documents to show how the information is presented in the report. <br />a. The Executive Summary: The summary is intended to bring out the main strengths and development areas for the executive. The summary is also presented to the executive’s manager in a separate meeting and is used to create the slide show where the executive presents his 360° (if applicable). Below are partial sample excerpts. The summaries are usually one page for strengths and one for development areas. <br /><br />b. The Chart: <br />The chart shows a visual summary of the verbatim feedback by color coding the comments into strengths and development areas. A person with very mixed review comments would have a chart similar to the one shown below. In the example below, the Openness to Learning and Technical Acumen categories are largely positive while the Managing Upward category is more negative. <br /><br />c. The Verbatim Comments: This example shows a few comments from the Openness to Learning category. Each category contains a set of verbatim comments matching the chart and aligning with the summary. <br /><br />
8. Are there any best practices for 360° reviews?<br /><br />Absolutely. The following are the summary guidelines for implementing a 360° review process.<br /><br />a. Give 360° reviews to the whole team rather than a few team members. The process works best when the entire team gets used to giving and receiving feedback. This creates a cultural change which allows for more rapid adjustment of non-optimum performance and behavior. It also creates a sense of fairness and camaraderie on the team. If one executive is performing poorly, the other executives are usually contributing in some way to the behavior, even if only by tacit consent.<br />b. Respect the confidentiality of the process. The CEO and HR Executive should assist the team members to uphold the confidentiality of the reports. The CEO is a role model for receiving the report and summarizing the feedback to the group. Her attitude will be closely watched and imitated by other executives. <br />c. Grant the executives the importance of having separate and distinct reviews. Do not use the same type of feedback process at the executive level that is used at the lower levels of the organization. Executive responsibility and standards are much higher and should be treated as such. If you have a poor performer on the executive team, this situation must be remedied rapidly as the consequences hold much more importance to the company. <br /><br />In short, the 360° process is a unique and time-tested approach for delivering a high quality learning and development experience for the executive team.
<br />Years after receiving a review and three months of coaching, one executive left this message on our voice mail:<br /><br />“ . . . I wanted to call and update you on my progress since our 360 process three years ago. I not only completely changed my approach to work, but I have been promoted twice and am now the Board’s choice for the new CEO of our company! I credit this entirely to the 360 process. I cannot thank you enough for the deep and lasting impact this process had on my career. I called my HR person to thank her as well for bringing this into the company. Of course, as the CEO, I will continue the process.”Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-41128123774561530832011-09-30T16:24:00.000-07:002011-10-02T17:39:44.222-07:00Shoot the MessengerRecently, I got a puzzling call from one of my favorite HR directors asking me what he should do with this group of engineers who just could not get along. The company’s product was behind because the engineers were arguing so much that they could not get any work done. One of the engineers worked from home because he refused to come in to the office. He was considering a “hostile workplace” claim. I dug into the situation and asked a lot of questions, but a particular question was incredibly revealing: “Who tells you about all the problems between the engineers?” <br /><br />We all have to pass on bad news now and then. Most of us do not enjoy it. But a few people thrive on it. Call them drama queens or gossip-mongers, but no matter the name, they tend to follow the same pattern. The pattern, from your perspective, will look like this:<br /><br />A person enters your office or cubicle and mentions some bad news. Possibly even asks you to check it out.<br />You go to investigate the scene or take it up with the other party. <br />You find the other party just as upset as you are and it certainly looks like something went wrong. You note that this is a dysfunctional person or group. You may even develop a slight headache.<br />What happened behind the scenes was your so-called “messenger” went to the other party first and told him something equally horrifying. Now you are all trying to figure out a situation sown with lies and exaggerations. Confusion, conflict and upset are the goals of the messenger.<br /><br />It is possible you do not want to believe such "messengers of doom” exist. But they do. Here are a few ways to detect those who quietly stir the pot:<br /><br />The “messengers of doom” show no remorse in telling you how bad people or situations are. The vast majority of people do not like to mention that something or someone is bad, but these messengers do not hesitate to pass on the bad news. The usual lines are that someone is (or you are) in trouble or in danger.<br /><br />Such people also love gossip, critical remarks and any statement which reduces the reputation of others. “Mary said you were the worst bookkeeper she’s ever worked with. Can you believe she said that?” The criticisms often come in streams and can be about multiple people. The favorite tactic is to spread what others supposedly said about you. Note that it is very likely untrue.<br /><br />These messengers often stir up conflict between two people intentionally. If you see two people fighting relentlessly, ask each person who else has told them bad things about the other. You might find both people have heard from the messenger.<br />Usually, the "messengers of doom" go about their business quietly. They do not shout from the rooftops; they slink casually into offices, close the door and gossip. Or they slide up to you while you type and say, “Did you hear that . . .”<br /><br />"Messengers of doom" can be intelligent or dull, in high or low places. When in executive roles, they will often gravitate toward the most productive or creative areas and try to create conflict there.<br /><br />Why do the "messengers of doom" behave this way? Basically, there are two impulses in any person. One impulse is to do well and succeed. The other impulse is to give up or give in or destroy things. The “messengers of doom” have stronger negative impulses than they do positive ones. While this is a subject of great curiosity, the more important point is to recognize it when you see it. The easiest way to start your investigation for "messengers of doom" in your office is to ask yourself who brings you the most bad news and criticism. Then, before you do anything else, watch for a time and look for other patterns of gossip and criticism from that person. Just pay attention, ask questions and observe. The next step is to go to HR or someone who can help with the situation.<br /><br />Back to our engineers. As it happens, the "messenger of doom" was one of the engineers who was planting gossip about the other engineers all over the group. He was so busy at it that his own work was suffering. Once he was detected and watched, it became quite obvious that he was creating conflicts between the other engineers. He was fired a week later and now the group harmoniously codes away. The engineer who worked from home comes in four days a week.<br /><br />If your office has too much conflict or you get stressed or tired from dealing with others in your group, start to look for an "MD". Maybe you need to shoot the messenger*.<br /><br />*Warning: “shoot” is a figurative term!Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-32824891496777913302011-09-30T16:17:00.000-07:002011-09-30T16:20:42.212-07:00ToughnessIt all began in a blustery autumn about 8 years ago. I was coaching attorneys, doctors and other executives, and I was interested in understanding the traits of leadership. I had some natural leaders in the bunch and I was watching them and their behavior to see how they ran their offices and lives. I watched them give feedback, make project plans, and push for results. I did not use the scientific method, admittedly, but I started to shape some ideas about what made certain leaders stand out.<br /><br />I formulated a hypothesis that good leaders were tough, meaning they were tenacious, hard-edged, persistent, and definitely on the unsympathetic side. Natural leaders who could get work done were hard on their people.<br /><br />There was a leadership study released about the same time which showed that a “drive for results” was the most important determining factor in executive success. Drive is the operative word, right? I was getting somewhere. These are the “doers” in life, and if they have to take a few people out along the way, so be it. These natural leaders knew how to rant, stomp their feet, jump up and down, and GET RESULTS! Some of them were underhanded, sly, even a bit vicious, but I could never argue with those results. <br /><br />I kept this viewpoint for a long time, coaching many people to be tough, to give difficult feedback with pitiless precision, to attack weak points in the organization with ardor. It worked to a great degree. Tough executives made names for themselves and sent their companies’ results into the stratosphere.<br /><br />In the spring of 2009, after the economy was in full collapse, I noticed something that shook my stable data about executive competencies. These drivers, these “tough” executives were uniformly looking for work. Nearly all of them had been let go in the downturn. Interestingly, some others who had not taken the “toughness” route and had worked on other competencies were still around. I realized it might be time to reinvent my coaching style.<br /><br />I started to take a different look at executives at that time. I dug into an objective look at the executives who survived the downturn, and I want to announce a new hypothesis. Executives who are tough with results but kind with people succeed longer and more often. Yes, I said it. Kindness matters.<br /><br />A recent example gives us window into this. A CEO of a mid-sized company was down-sizing through all of 2009 and 2010, and he started to lose his hair rather rapidly. I asked him one day what was stressing him out so badly and he commented that firing people took an enormous toll. He never did stop thinking about how it affected the families and lives of those who had left. He was having trouble sleeping, and had seen his doctor for several stress tests. There was nothing physically wrong with him, but he looked and felt old and tired.<br /><br />I decided to do an experiment with him and asked him to take several kind actions per week as his work allowed. I had him make a list of small kindnesses he could do that would have an impact on his workplace morale. One of his items was to institute a bagel breakfast for the administrative staff every other Friday. He paid for the bagels personally to keep the company budget stable. Then he made a point of complimenting the good work of his assistant on a more frequent basis. He listed 15 separate kind actions he could take over the coming months. Curiously, his hair stopped falling out. Even more curiously, his company started doing better too. A statistician could argue that the correlation is meaningless. That is fine by me. This is not a mathematical argument so much as a statement from the heart. Our experiment in kindness made a difference for everyone involved. Even me.<br /><br />Perhaps you know an executive who is suffering personally for his own lack of kindness. He is not only hurting himself, but he is hurting his company. Being too “tough”, not having enough kindness, is no sign of strength. It is just a contributor to stress. The times we suffer most are the times we could have been just a bit nicer and we forever wonder why were weren’t.<br /><br />After all, the last few years were not easy on anyone. We all had it rough. Consider this the next time you have a choice to make: what is the kind thing to do? The kind choice might just bring a smile to your face as well as the face of the person on the other end. After all, what are we doing here in this world anyway? Are we here to make it a miserable experience for others? Must we be hectic, texting-and-driving maniacs who only care about the next dollar? Are 10 more pallets delivered more important than the life and dignity of our fellow colleagues? It is about time we got our priorities straight in this country. Get results, certainly. Push hard for them. Hold high standards for your people. But hold them with kindness too. You might find it gets you further than you think.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-40949605954437982512011-08-03T17:53:00.000-07:002011-08-03T17:58:01.469-07:00ExecuteRecently, I attended a seminar on leadership development and a burly COO asserted to the group that “executives are born, not made”. I realized, as I sat there shocked at his assertion, that without the idea that people can learn, grow and change, then it is true that not much can be done to “make” an executive. But people can learn, grow and change. <br /><br />In this article are some of the key areas a person has to perfect to become a GREAT executive (one who executes). Anyone who learns these simple areas well can become a great executive, beloved by her team and company. <br /><br />If you ask the average person whether they would rather be an executive or an individual contributor, most will say “executive” because the pay is better. But what really makes an executive earn his or her pay? Why does he deserve the big bucks?<br /><br />Below is a list of our non-negotiable attributes you have to have to take on an executive nameplate:<br /><br />1. Risk-taking<br />2. Delegation<br />3. Strategic Thinking<br />4. Certainty<br />5. Organization<br />6. Inspiration and Motivation<br /><br />Risk-taking. Where risk-taking is concerned, most executives will tell you it has been a bumpy road whether they own their own business or run a division of a company. Being responsible means being responsible, period. There isn’t anyone else to blame and it means your reputation, money and resources are on the line, every minute of every day. In case you haven’t seen the news in the past decade, some CEOs have even gone to jail for decisions their employees made. That’s no small risk.<br /><br />Delegation. Probably the one attribute I see most new executives fail in is delegation. There are two things that stand in the way of good delegation. The first is the idea that it is “mean” to control someone else or ask them to do something and to follow up with them. This is just false information. Most people expect an executive to get things done and they respect the ones who make them work hard and get things done. The second barrier is not knowing what to delegate and therefore doing it all yourself. The solution to this is to write down all the things you do in an average week, group them into categories by similarity and then figure out how to delegate 50% of them and to whom. You might be surprised at the number of things you do in a week and how much more you could get done by delegating. If you think you can’t afford someone to delegate to, consider how long one of the small tasks takes you. Multiply it by your hourly rate. Now imagine someone else at a lower hourly rate was doing that task. That’s how much money you can save the company per hour. Find what you can most easily delegate and try it. You will never grow and expand if you don’t!<br /><br />Strategic Thinking. You probably would never guess that strategic thinking is related to delegation, but it IS! Strategy comes from the Greek word for “general” and meant the person who decided which battles to fight. You have to do this in your business or division. Decide which battles to fight with the main purpose of overcoming your competitor! This means you have to have a big picture view. You will never have this if you aren’t delegating some of the detail work to someone else. So the delegation and strategic thinking are like peas in a pod. If you need help thinking strategically, read 60-minute Strategic Plan by John Johnson.<br /><br />Certainty. No one likes a wishy-washy executive. Really. Decide what you are going to do and either do it or educate yourself more on how to and THEN do it! Be certain. Maybes are the stuff of which hell is made!<br /><br />Organization. Remember, organization is knowing how tasks fit together to make a whole product and arranging them to increase flows and eliminate slows. Organized executives get more DONE. Period. Executives = those who execute. Read R U ORGNZED? on Biznik for more information.<br /><br />Inspiration and Motivation. This is another area of downfall for new executives. Most people want to be inspired, to have purpose and interest in what they are doing. You, as the leader, have to provide a vision of where you are going and then use stories to make it interesting and fun. Throw in a sense of humor too. Not inspired yourself? Then start with you. As they say in sales, “The first close is you.” So sell yourself on how exciting your company is, and then communicate that to your team. Get them excited. <br /><br />Inspire your team with certainty, a grand, strategic vision, then organize them and delegate to accomplish work and you have it! This is the winning formula for an executive who GETS THINGS DONE! Now go forth and execute.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-27530706878812181342011-07-22T08:34:00.000-07:002011-07-22T08:49:42.055-07:00R U Organized?I walked into a start-up company the other day and no one even looked up when I came in the door. I went to the nearest desk and asked where James was. James was the person I was supposed to meet about a consulting project. The employee just shrugged and said he didn’t know. I asked the next person I could find who pointed to a table across the large, open room. I went over to the table where three people sat in a row with headphones on, not looking up at me at all. I got the attention of one of them and asked which person was James. He pointed to the guy on his left who looked up, finally, at that moment and stood up to shake my hand.<br /><br />Later, I asked the CEO of this same company if he thought his company was organized. The question took him by surprise, and he stared at me for more than a few seconds. Finally, he spluttered out an answer something along the lines of “I guess so, but the thought had never honestly occurred to me.” He later added, “ I know we are pretty fast, and we have good people. I didn’t ever ask myself the question about whether we were organized. I guess I never really had that as a priority.”<br /><br />Take the flip side of the coin, a VP of Operations I knew whose entire office space was pristine. I walked into his office, was greeted swiftly by his receptionist, routed to wait for him with coffee in my hand, and escorted in to see him within minutes of my on-time arrival. This guy knew how to control an environment. He also ran one of the most profitable operations in his field and had recently been featured in an article on efficient management.<br /><br />Which example sounds more like your business? The disorganized mess? Or the pristine, orderly environment?<br /><br />Why is organization so important for a business? Truthfully, it is because you will lose more revenue in what you SHOULD have produced than in problems with what you DID produce. Re-read that last line. The biggest source of lost revenue for a business is CAPACITY not used! And organization is the tool that makes it possible to utilize all of your resources effectively. The examples of above show two ends of the spectrum of organization in just one simple area, the greeting of incoming visitors.<br /><br />Imagine if you could more effectively organize your entire business. Imagine the production you might be able to increase in the meantime. How much more could you achieve?<br /><br />Let’s take an assessment of your business in a few key areas and see how organized you really are. To begin, let’s look at the definition of organization as it relates to a business. An organization is defined as an ORDERED whole. To BE organized is to arrange things into groups, sequences or types to increase flows and eliminate slows. So an organized business is one which is orderly and through which all types of people, communications and materials flow smoothly and rapidly.<br /><br />ASSESS YOUR BUSINESS<br /><br />Rank the following areas of your business on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being completely, perfectly organized:<br /><br />Reception<br />Website<br />Hiring<br />Training<br />Marketing<br />Finance<br />Production/Operations<br />Quality Control<br />Sales<br />Legal<br />Office Space<br />Administration<br />Meetings<br />Time<br /><br />Add any additional areas as you see fit. How did you do? Which is your lowest area? Your highest?<br /><br />This week, as you plan out your to-do list, add an hour or two to get more organized. Spend some time in your weakest area and get it a little more arranged. Get help if you need it. If you are in a small business and cannot afford much help, the very least thing you can do is get an organizing expert to help you. These professionals are not usually very expensive and can make a huge difference in your outlook on your business and your desk!<br /><br />If you can't do anything else, organize your time better. Commit to being on time for every meeting for a week. End on time as well. See how your productivity compares to the week prior. <br /><br />Make a commitment to organize as you grow. Organization is an investment that pays off in greater productivity. If you don’t believe me, read this from a famous organizing expert:<br /><br />"When it comes to organizing a workspace, relaxation and comfort aren't the primary goals. Work is about efficiency and productivity. The more neat and logically organized your workspace is, the better you will be at your job." — Peter Walsh <br /><br />So GET ORGANIZED!Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-23809428761685775032011-05-19T19:29:00.000-07:002011-05-19T19:31:13.299-07:00The Sword of InfluencePerhaps you would like to wield some influence in your organization. You want someone to believe you, follow your plan, take your suggestion, promote you. You want someone else TO DO something! You have to convince that person that you are right, that he should listen to you. The first thing you need to know is how he is going to react to you.<br /><br />There is one fundamental human reaction to all attempts to persuade, influence or sell. It is FEAR.<br /><br />Why does the person experience fear in reaction to your persuasion? He is afraid of failing or making a mistake or buying the wrong product, getting ripped off, or getting blamed for messing up. He has been burned before and vowed not to do it again. The more experienced the person, the more likely you are to encounter these fear reactions. You are dealing with an intelligent person who intends to make good decisions, and he has promised himself not to make poor decisions. So, as you start to persuade, he develops anxiety, agitation and apprehension about the pitch. He wraps himself in a “brick coat” to defend himself. The coat is made up of all the arguments you must overcome to persuade him.<br /><br />The Stages of Fear<br /><br />1. When you first approach the person, the truth is he has no idea what you are approaching about. The first brick in his coat, therefore, is fear of the unknown. What do you want? What are you asking? What might you make him do? You will notice the person, especially if you approach enthusiastically, will instinctively back off until he knows what you are talking about. Even after that, he might not move toward you or join your enthusiasm for quite some time.<br /><br />2. As soon as you have described your purpose in talking to him, the next set of reactions are called prevention or inhibition reactions. These reactions add time, prevent or prohibit your actions from happening. He is trying to hold you off, stop you, prevent you. “Let’s talk next week.” “I need to check with my wife.” “I’m not sure I have enough information; I’ll have my associate start some due diligence for us.” These are all prevention reactions. The most common of these is the “delay” reaction. As the persuader, you need to know that the biggest enemy you have is time. The more time he adds, the more likely he is to say no. Just know that these delay tactics are simply irrational fears and proceed with the conversation. Do not allow the person to “think about it” (thinking doesn’t take any time) or to take time off from the conversation. Just keep pushing ahead. While he wants time to work against you, you need to make it work for you by staying interested.<br /><br />3. The next fear reaction is a bit tougher to take: enforcement. If you push through the delay tactic, he might even get a bit angry or frustrated that you called his bluff. He might (in extreme cases) yell or call you names. Don’t worry; you have simply arrived at the third (and final) fear stage. Congratulate yourself (silently) and proceed. Despite all the reasons, objections and arguments and doubts he expresses, just know they are all based in fear.<br /><br />Confidently and calmly, continue to reassure him of you and your idea or plan. Stay upbeat and positive and INTEREST him in it by being interested in him and his ideas. If you can push through these fear reactions, he will eventually move through the fear and doubts and upsets. Your confidence and positive energy and INTEREST will win the day and he will agree with you. The best part is that you have both won. You used your impeccable influence skills and he made the right choice. It’s a win-win situation.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-65277072522154912342011-04-21T09:17:00.000-07:002011-04-21T09:19:20.927-07:00No Close, No MoneySo you want your business to generate revenue? Money? Be cash positive? Join the club. Your business won't get very far without an excellent sales strategy. Below are some basic tips on setting up and closing deals.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Three Functions of a Sales Department </span><br /><br />Every sales department (or even a lone salesperson) has at least three main functions. The first is to contact new leads (create the funnel), the second is to move the prospects through their objections, and the third is to close prospects. The deliverable of the sales department is, of course, closed sales.<br /><br />Although closing is 10% of the sales cycle, it delivers 100% of your revenue, and therefore its importance cannot be overstated. <br /><br />Most sophisticated sales departments use a blue sheet to analyze the sales cycle for each customer. You can search the internet for "blue sheet sales strategy" for a template. These are an excellent tool for setting up and examining the sales funnel and keeping the funnel flowing towards the close.<br /><br />A good blue sheet should include an analysis of the main objections each prospect has and the handlings for each, as well as a strategy for closing. The key to the funnel is MOVEMENT. The funnel must be active and constantly worked to achieve qualified prospects and convert them to customers by closing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Importance of the Close</span><br /><br />Closing strategies are a separate and voluminous subject. The main point of agreement about closing strategies is that planning and coordination on handling the objections is key. Every objection must be qualified for accuracy. This qualification step basically involves checking with the prospect whether, if the objection were handled, would he proceed with the process. If he says yes, the objection is real, but if he states some other objection, this objection must now be checked.<br /><br />When the full list of objections is coordinated amongst the sales team, the objections must be systematically handled by a sales “battle plan”, a strategy for overcoming all of the relevant objections to the degree possible. If some objections cannot be overcome, a different strategy can be formulated depending on the importance of the objection. Only about 10% of objections are insurmountable. Remember that the prospect would not have continued communication with you if he did not have some level of interest.<br /><br />A closer must be a courageous soul indeed, for he must confront and handle all objections, despite any emotion and reaction on the part of the prospect. He must also tolerate the possible “no” which, with further communication, will turn into a yes. This is not for the faint of heart. The key to closing is continual motion, continual communication, and continual interest. The closer is never discouraged. He is persistent, upbeat, truthful and highly communicative, but not unreal, disingenuous (not genuine) or rude. The best closers are skillful communicators, not overbearing brutes.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Planning for Success</span><br /><br />Planning out the sales cycle from lead through close is the key tool for making the revenue your company needs. The sales division may just be the most valuable division in your company, so do not shortchange them with weak or non-existent planning. <br /><br />When they win, you all win!Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-78501197802787026732011-03-09T11:31:00.000-08:002011-03-09T11:39:30.497-08:00Up and to the RightTake a moment and tally up how many people work in and for your business. What if every one of those people were suddenly 25% better at their jobs? What if they were each 50% better? How would this impact your business? Leadership studies have shown that a “feedback culture” improves team member performance faster than any other organizational change. Don’t miss out on what could be your chance to have a high-performing team.<br /><br />It’s long been a part of business culture to have regular performance reviews and the purpose has, supposedly, been the improvement of the employees and, therefore, the improvement of the business. The idea is that if you give someone a review of his performance, he can improve it. Sounds simple. Unfortunately, few times of the year are less productive and more stressful for managers than “performance review” time. Perhaps you too have dreaded the performance review of your employees, knowing it might be contentious or upsetting, or, at the worst, a nightmare of legal vulnerability. Sometimes the reviews are a surprise. Other times they are a boring, repetitive exercise in paperwork.<br /><br />A new trend has been sweeping American companies over the last few years that is intended to end this once-a-year feedback-fest which is usually littered with half-baked opinions and squishy goals. Many companies are now working to create “feedback cultures”, cultures where open communication about job performance occur on a daily or weekly basis, sometimes even minute-to-minute, to increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses and to take the pressure off of the yearly performance review.<br /><br />If you have decided that you want to up-level your team in a hurry, nothing is better than creating an instant feedback loop for your team. Follow these simple steps to get started.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Creating a Feedback Culture:</span><br /><br />1. Set expectations for the entire team. Have a meeting to let your team know that you intend to improve performance by trying new feedback methods. Tell them not to roll their eyes yet. Explain the feedback method will include metrics as well as individual feedback to each person. The idea is to get everyone used to feedback so when it comes along, it isn’t so bothersome.<br /><br />2. Get agreement. Get the team’s agreement that feedback is not only a good idea, but that it will be accepted routinely. Next, have each person work out one major metric that measures his job performance and graph it on a line graph. For example, if the person is a receptionist, have him track the number of incoming calls, packages or visitors that are correctly routed. Make it a game to get this number higher and higher. The game is UP and TO THE RIGHT on his graph. Next, work on "soft skills" such as tighter communications, better grammar, a more pleasant tone of voice. Make it a game to improve these things, rather than focusing on them being "poor" right now. <br /><br />3. Educate about feedback. Help the team distinguish between performance feedback and useless or harmful opinions. Example: “You need to be more organized. I suggest a schedule including each client, time of appointment and outcome” [performance feedback] VERSUS “You are so disorganized!” [useless/harmful opinion]. Good feedback is specific and actionable. Make sure all your feedback meets these criteria. Realize you may need to give a piece of feedback in several ways, over several conversations. Also educate the team about metrics, how to track them and how often you will be reviewing them. Start with weekly metrics and review them at a short, end-of-week meeting. Push everyone for an "up and to the right" graph. <br /><br />4. Practice. Start right in the first meeting to give on-the-spot feedback. Get the team members used to it. The only way to do that is to practice. Remember to balance positive feedback and “improvement” feedback.<br /> <br />5. Prepare for reactions. The most important thing to do is to be committed to your feedback process. Don’t change simply because you hear some grumbling. Those who are good performers will like the new feedback because their graphs and their feedback will set them apart. The winners will be very obvious. You can call them the “up and to the right” crew.<br /><br />If you are already skeptical about whether this can work for your organization, consider the story of a small team at a major technology company that decided to jump headfirst into trying this new method of feedback. The first thing that happened was a bunch of noise. “I don’t like it. It’s cruel.” “Is this what they call ‘thickening our skins’?” “Seems like an excuse to be mean.” Yes, the adjustment was rough at first. After a week or two, the whole crew was used to sporting graphs for every team meeting, looking for “up and to the right” curves. They started making feedback, the specific and actionable kind, a part of the daily routine. The team became a study in high performance with some of their best-performing members being promoted within the year. This same team was responsible for creating the laptop on which you might be typing your email.<br /><br />And of course, you can always remember the words that came from the same person who threw away his performance review: “All that matters is graphs that go up and to the right.”<br /><br />And, in the end, it’s true isn’t it?Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-65372062065211527112011-01-31T10:08:00.000-08:002011-01-31T10:20:51.041-08:00No Excuses EVERWhat IS the most important characteristic of a leader? Read any leadership book and you will find tens of possible answers: character, strength, a genius IQ. Our research led us to this answer: no excuses. The technical term for this might be “accountability” or “responsibility” but we like “no excuses” because it conveys the real, raw truth of the matter. <br /><br />The real, raw truth is that a fantastic executive is able to make things happen and she never makes excuses when she can’t do it.<br /><br />Take the stories of these two real-life executives. One, the CEO of a technology start-up, ran into trouble with her company. The idea of her company was a unique and ingenious one, but she just couldn’t get any traction in the market. A fantastic executive herself, she ordered an immediate review of herself, with interviews from all of her investors and a harsh but truthful look at her executive skills. She found several deficiencies in herself such as a weak financial background and some difficulties in PR and marketing. She instantly hired a consultant to help her with her PR and marketing, and she found a part-time CFO to fill in her financial gap. She started really kicking the market in the teeth and got on the cover of a major magazine.<br /><br />Another CEO, head of a $35 million technology company that was in the transition phase from startup to mid-size found himself losing the buy-in of his executive team. He lost his VP of Sales and his Chief Engineer before he called us. Then, when we arrived, he went on and on for hours about how the problem was the founder of the business. The only problem with his excuse was that the founder had been around long before the exodus had begun. It just didn’t add up. This CEO was completely unable to look at his own contribution to the recent problems. <br /><br />The difference between these two types of leaders is a simple one. The first CEO was a no excuses CEO! She was able to face up to her weaknesses and charge ahead with solutions, unfazed by any critical or difficult feedback she might have gotten. The success of the company was more important to her than her personal pride. The other CEO, unfortunately, was so involved in finding who to blame that he couldn’t even see beyond his own nose. <br /><br />A “no excuses” executive does not judge his company or his team by whether everything is perfect. That would be the wrong standard. The question is whether he can look at his company or team and, despite everything that is wrong, still make things turn out right. In the process, such an executive might even find that he or she has much to learn or many changes to make before all is well. Despite these difficulties, a no excuses executive charges ahead.<br /><br />If you aren’t sure if you are a “no excuses” leader, take this short quiz:<br /><br />1. When something goes wrong, do you usually search for who is to blame?<br /><br />2. First thing in the morning, do you look at the day ahead and see only problems?<br /><br />3. Do positive people annoy you?<br /><br />4. Do you wonder why everyone around you is so much dumber or lazier than you?<br /><br />5. Do you blame any recent career or job failures on the “bad economy”?<br /><br />If you answered “yes” to more than three of these questions, you are having a tough time being a “no excuses” leader. You may need to take a longer leadership assessment test to determine why you have a tough time taking responsibility. <br /><br />We are the first to admit that being a “no excuses” leader is not easy. On rough days or around tax time, we all might wish for a good scapegoat. The hard, unfriendly truth of the matter is that those who have the most success are the ones who can look at any situation and determine how they caused it. <br /><br />So if you are looking at a financial disaster in your company, or a human resources nightmare, or any of the myriad problems that can occur, pull yourself up by the bootstraps and consider this:<br /><br />1. Just because you are “no excuses” does not mean you should engage in self-pity or blame. Just acknowledge the situation and get moving on a solution.<br /><br />2. A good analysis of how the problem occurred goes a long way toward solving it. If you can’t figure it out, get a professional in the area to help you.<br /><br />3. Don’t get distracted. Just because something is unpleasant does not mean you should avoid it. Put on your riot gear and attack!<br /><br />4. There’s nothing better than getting it DONE! So take that big, hairy problem, tackle it, get it done and move ahead!<br /><br />Finally, remember this brilliant quote from Thomas Edison: “We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.”<br /><br />So go find some opportunities! No excuses!Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-3588687229938142232011-01-18T15:10:00.000-08:002011-01-18T15:11:40.081-08:00Is He Coachable?We have all worked with the guy we avoid at company Christmas parties and functions, the one who gossips about everyone, or steals others’ ideas and passes them off as his own and pretends he doesn’t. As he exits his yearly performance review, we watch carefully, hoping he has somehow come out a changed man. Over and over, we are disappointed. Why is that?<br /><br />Let’s start with some basic data about leadership development. A person develops certain habits or patterns that he or she thinks help him to survive in the workplace. Those patterns are engrained early on because at some point, they worked.<br /><br />Example: Joe steals some presentation data from a co-worker and gives the best presentation of his life. He gets promoted as a result. Now, he has found a reason to keep stealing data, hasn’t he? Four or five jobs later, he is still stealing others’ ideas even though it no longer works and others shun him. This is an ethical problem for him.<br /><br />What can we do for this workplace problem child? How can we help him?<br /><br />Remember this: In the absence of ethical behavior, no leadership development can be done. Ethical problems shut off the ability to learn. So if you have your eye on someone who “just doesn’t get it” or never changes, you have your eye on someone who needs an ethics tune-up. He just is not coachable yet.<br /><br />If we drew a pyramid of important items necessary to career development, it would have a base labeled "ethics" and the upper part of the pyramid would contain all the various parts of leadership development. <br /><br />A strong ethical foundation is necessary to truly develop a leader. A person who has to lead others cannot do so unless he has others’ best interests in mind. A person who has ethical trouble thinks only about himself and pits himself against everyone else. The easiest way to spot a person with ethics problems is that he chooses himself over everyone else. It’s what you are really complaining about when you complain he “doesn’t get it”.<br /><br />The good news is that ethical troubles can be fixed! Please do not waste your time trying to develop a leader when his ethics are all a mess, though. Handle the ethical problems first. <br /><br />Tips for handling ethical problems:<br /><br />1. Don't go it alone. If you approach someone complaining about his self-centered attitude, you will end up on the wrong end of the battle and you could be the one in trouble. Instead, start documenting the problem behavior with very specific examples. Write the examples down and submit them to your HR person. If you do not have an HR person, see the article entitled "The Real Purpose of HR" (in my section on Biznik) and give a copy to the person in charge of hiring. <br /><br />2. Keep help in mind. Remember that a person with ethical problems is going to be very defensive, so tread lightly and keep your intentions good. Expect to be seen as a troublemaker, at least at first.<br /><br />If you have trouble or your first encounter is like taming a dragon, call on a professional coach or HR person who can dig in deep and get to the root of the matter in a helpful and thoughtful way. Then, when the person is really ready, give him a development plan that will allow him to soar.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-2042287422260346672011-01-03T15:58:00.000-08:002011-01-03T16:41:31.303-08:00You Want It, You Got ItInfluence is the power to affect people or events, the capacity to be compelling. With influence, you can achieve your goals and win in your business. Without it, you will be frustrated and upset, tired and apathetic about how the world affects you. In short, influence is the bridge between where you are now and the life of your dreams.<br /><br />Think for a moment about something you got that you had wanted for a long time. Think of another example of something you achieved that you had wanted for a long time. What do these two things have in common? You had to communicate and influence to get them. None of us can achieve anything in life without communication and influence.<br /><br />Think now of something that you would like to have. Why haven’t you gotten it yet? What if you knew the right person or event to influence? What if you knew the key to influencing any person to achieve any outcome you wanted? How valuable would this information be to you? Read on to discover the factors of influence.<br /><br />First, let’s start with some basics of communication. As much as you might not like to hear it, other people are different from you. Their perceptions are not the same as yours. As a result, you have to make a concerted effort to understand them and their points of view. Without this basic knowledge, you will get nowhere in influencing others. Others know if you are spending the time and effort to understand them. Take the time. Make the effort. This is the most basic first step of influence.<br /><br />If you are uncertain about how to do this, try first by asking some basic questions of the person in the area you are discussing. For example, if you are attempting to influence your boss to give you a promotion, ask some questions about the budget and the future outlook of the company. Find out what he thinks about the company and the outlook for the next year. With this step, simply try to achieve understanding. Do not ask for anything yet.<br /><br />After you have taken some time to understand the person you are trying to influence, try next to develop some admiration for the person. Find something you can like about him or her. Expand on that as much as possible. If your boss loves the same type of music you do, get the idea that you really agree on this topic and expand on it as much as possible. A quick warning: you will occasionally run across someone who does not respond well to admiration. Although this is more difficult, it can be overcome with some customized help. If you have encountered this situation, get some help from HR or a coach.<br /><br />Keep in mind that the development of admiration starts first with you. It has to be genuine and you have to develop it yourself. If you find that you have a hard time creating admiration for others, you may also have a hard time influencing others. If this is the case for you, seek out some help for your critical nature. This cynicism could be your downfall. If on the other hand, you find it easy to create admiration for others, you are well on your way to getting whatever you want.<br /><br />Your next step is to achieve certainty about what you want. Again, this is an internal step. Set your mind about what you want. Any doubt you have will show up in your communication to others. Root it out. Once your mind is set, start getting agreement from others about what you want. Say it is true. Explain how it can be true. Remind yourself and others daily that it is true. Spread the word about it. If you are going for a promotion, start acting as though you already have that position. Yes, you should use some caution on this that you don’t step on any toes. The most important part is the mental step of internal certainty. If you can follow this with a skillful use of communication to get others to subtly see you as already in possession of what you want, you are home free.<br /><br />To sum it up, influence starts with you and your mental state. How much do you like others? Can you listen to them? Can you understand other viewpoints? Can you make up your own mind that you will achieve something? If so, you are well on your way to influencing others. Start close to home and you will find it easier and easier to expand your sphere of influence.<br /><br />http://www.becoachable.comCoachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1635089461220575817.post-90239991095102457342010-06-10T18:40:00.000-07:002010-06-10T18:41:30.352-07:00Performance Feedback: How to Stick the LandingGiving feedback is like giving a person a snapshot of himself.<br /><br />The first thing you do when you look at a picture of yourself is to pick it apart. You want the picture to be a good one, accurate and flattering. You want a "good hair day". You want to improve the picture in any way you can. Sometimes you want the photographer to re-take the picture. <br /><br />When you give feedback to others, think about the picture you are giving them of themselves. Help them to improve the picture and understand their resistance to seeing an ugly one. Help them form a more accurate and actionable picture of themselves by following the tips below:<br /><br />1. Devote time to feedback.<br /><br />Structured, planned feedback should be balanced with ad hoc feedback. Without a plan for feedback, the comments seem random, capricious, even mean-spirited, and will be ignored.<br /><br />2. Be specific.<br /><br />What action do you like/not like?<br />When did it occur?<br />What effects were created?<br />Avoid generalities like “Everyone thinks you are stubborn.” This is not actionable feedback.<br /><br />3. Balance positive and negative feedback.<br /><br />Consistently negative feedback turns people off and will close off communication.<br /><br />4. Give good reasons.<br /><br />If you want some behavior or attribute to change, explain to the person WHY it is vital to change this attribute.<br /><br />5. Create a plan.<br /><br />Many people would like to change but do not know HOW. Help the person see how subtle shifts can create different effects. Give short step-by-step ideas for changing the behavior.<br /><br />Don’t bite off more than you can chew. The biggest mistake made in giving feedback is trying to tackle every problem or the whole picture in one meeting. This overwhelms and upsets the person. Better to make progress on one small part than no progress at all.<br /><br />The following anecdote shows the cycle of accurate and actionable feedback.<br /><br />Joe arrives for his weekly one-on-one with his manager. He is aware that the last 10 minutes of the meeting are devoted to development feedback.<br /><br />His manager (Rita) reviews a recent team meeting where Joe withheld information from a peer, causing the peer to flounder on his presentation to the group. <br /><br />Rita discusses what happened in the meeting, how the withholding of vital information caused the peer to be upset and look unprepared in front of the group. Rita explains that if the group works together they look better as a group and they have more influence across the company. Rita explains how this withholding behavior has generated a poor image of the group from the outside. <br /><br />At this point, Joe defends himself and points out why his behavior was correct. Rita takes no issue with his defense and simply acknowledges it. Joe’s defensiveness is expected and his justifications are listened to and acknowledged with no special importance given. Defensiveness is a trait common to all human beings. After acknowledging only (NOT arguing) with his reasoning, she simply proceeds to work out with Joe a set of steps to avoid this problem in the future.<br /><br />Rita suggests a few steps for Joe and lets Joe volunteer steps as well. Joe suggests he meet with his peers regularly and find out what information might be needed from him for presentations. Joe also suggests he proactively share information when he receives it. Rita agrees to any ideas she likes and suggests ideas of her own. The two of them agree to a short plan (three to five steps) and both sign off on it. At the next one-on-one, they both check in on progress. Any changes to the plan can be made at that time. <br /><br />Good feedback should be a well-planned cycle that starts with noticing an issue, continues with scheduled and impromptu feedback, and finishes with improved performance reviews. With a thoughtful approach and patience, you can move the needle on changing behavior and developing better leaders.Coachabilityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12385050886168546198noreply@blogger.com0