Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books TimePeace: Making peace with time – The Book of Answers:  105 Career Critical Situations – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.   

This question came from a business professional.

My boss asked me to cover my coworker’s shift because he is about to fire her. She and I are good friends outside of work. Should I warn her?

I can see that this is a very difficult decision for you.  You can probably see it both ways: Being loyal to the company and Being loyal to a friend.

In my opinion, since the boss is actually asking you to cover the coworker’s shift, his decision to fire her is a done deal.  In that case, there is nothing you or your friend can do about this.  The best thing you can do for your friend is to help her with her next position.

Therefore, if I would you – I would keep it to myself.  You can’t help her keep her job at this company, so there is no reason to jeopardize your job.

What you can do

When your friend does come to you with the news that she is fired and that you are covering her shift, confirm that he did ask you to change shifts, but that he didn’t give you any additional details.  Then go immediately into “help mode” for her.  

Preparation

Realize that she will find out fairly soon – so prepare.

• Look up any business contacts, friends, family members that might have a position suitable for her
• Update your own resume and highlight some things from your resume with the intention of showing her how she can use these same things on her resume when the time comes
• Update your LinkedIn profile with your current duties, responsibility, and endorsement – with the intention of showing her how she can do that on hers when the time comes
• Prepare a LinkedIn recommendation and endorsements for your friend and offer to be a reference for her – with the intention of submitting them when the time comes
• Investigate local professional organizations, business networking events, job fairs, and business mixers with the intention of accompanying her when the time comes
• Refresh your LinkedIn network connections and start engaging with the more prominent groups and influencers
• Search your LinkedIn network to see if there is anyone there that would be suitable for you to introduce her to when the time comes
• Think of other ways to best position her to find a better job

Move into positive action

When she does come to you with her news (and possibly her accusations), move as quickly as possible into positive action.  The quicker you can get her to look toward the future (instead of wallowing in the past), the better.  Afterall – you want the best for your friend.

Review the above things with her and ask her what other ideas she can think of that will get her to her next career move.

Career Focus

This might be a great time for both she and you to focus on your career roadmap.  Start an open and honest dialog on what both of you see for your careers in the next 5 to 10 years.  Create a Career Roadmap that gets you both to where you want to be.  This might mean getting additional certifications, degrees, new skills, developing additional softs skills like presentation skills, management skills, problem-solving skills organizational skills, or additional hard skills like coding, tools training, vocational training.

The bottom line is to use this opportunity to help both your friend and yourself on your career development path. If she doesn’t want your help, I would still encourage you to do these things for yourself.  Your boss has already demonstrated that he needs to reduce his workforce.  You might be next.  Best be prepared.

If you need want to discuss in more detail, please setup a one-on-one consult session.

To participate in a confidential One-on-One Laser Coaching Session with Coach Laura, just click the link below, pick the session time that works for you, and sign up. Each session will include 20 minutes of Laser Coaching with time afterward for a few questions. Take advantage of this opportunity to experience coaching. Sign up now and come ready to chat. One-on-One Laser Coaching Signup

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books TimePeace: Making peace with time – The Book of Answers:  105 Career Critical Situations – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.   

This question came from a business professional.

My boss threatened to fire me because I usually leave work at 6pm and don’t stay until 8/9 like other employees. How should I handle this?

My one recommendation is to not allow it to get this far.  Once at this point you have a couple of options.

Start One-on-One weekly manager’s meeting

Take the initiative to setup frequent one-on-one meetings with your manager. Use these meetings to be proactive and provide:

• Status on your current projects
• Review your current work estimates, schedules and delivery progress
• Solutions to upcoming challenges and issues
• Provide assistance to sibling departments
• Ask for feedback on current performance
• Share your career development plans
• Ask for additional responsibilities such as team leads or management
• Continually to illustrate that your job is to make your manager successful and you can do that within the normal work hours
• Become your supervisor’s right-hand person, and offer to assist with his executive status reports, etc.

In these weekly meetings, continually illustrate your expert time management skills such that you can accomplish more in your normal work hours than others can accomplish working additional hours.  It will uncover the real reason for your bosses’ displeasure.  Once you better understand the real reason for your boss’s dissatisfaction, the sooner you can correct it.

Make sure you understand your responsibilities and work

Make sure that the “threat of firing you” is actually work-hours related.  Make sure you are performance above expectations on your specific responsibilities. Make sure you are completing your work on-time and are managing your time extremely well.

His issues could be legitimately performance related.  If you are not completing your work on-time, he may be suggesting that you work late to complete your assignments.  If that is the case, he isn’t exactly firing you because you are leaving work at 6pm.  He is firing you because you are not completing your assignments on time.

Become an expert in estimating, scheduling and project managing

If you are not completing your assignments on time, then become an expert in work-estimating, scheduling and project managing.  Become a better time-management employee and assist others in doing the same.  If everyone else is having trouble with their time-management skills (requiring them to work extra hours to complete their assignments), share your training with them.

Find another job

If (after several one-on-one meetings with your manager) you have determined that your job is still at risk, use this time to update your resume and research other job opportunities.  Take your new time management skills as well as your one-on-one management meeting strategies with you.

If you need want to discuss in more detail, please setup a one-on-one consult session.

To participate in a confidential One-on-One Laser Coaching Session with Coach Laura, just click the link below, pick the session time that works for you, and sign up. Each session will include 20 minutes of Laser Coaching with time afterward for a few questions. Take advantage of this opportunity to experience coaching. Sign up now and come ready to chat. One-on-One Laser Coaching Signup

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books TimePeace: Making peace with time – The Book of Answers:  105 Career Critical Situations – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.   

This question came from a business professional.

What 3 things should you never do on a job interview?

Top 3 things you should never do

Although there are lots of things to keep in mind, some things to consider are:

1. Don’t be late.Plan to be at least 1 hour early to avoid any traffic or travel issues. Once there, sit in a nearby coffee shop (not in their office).  Arriving too early is almost as bad as late.  Use that time to study and research the company.

Stuck in traffic is not a valid reason.

There are unavoidable reasons like flight got delayed, if you are flying. In which case just make sure you email them or drop them a message about it.

• Don’t under dress. Now a days most of the jobs are okay with you being casual and they usually end up adding the dress code to the email specifying interview details. But putting on a buttoned shirt or a proper jacket is still a good idea, even if people at the place wear shorts at work regularly. You can do that once you have the job. No one is going to tell you that you were dressed too formally for the job, but dressed too casually can end up being a reason for negative points on the interview(not that anyone cares, but why take the risk).
• Don’t lie. Don’t lie on your resume or interview.  Lies have a way of coming out.  Exaggerating or taking credit for other’s accomplish is also a “no-no”. People do business with people they know, like and trust.  Starting your business relationship on a lie is no way to do business.

Other things to consider

• Be Clueless About the Company.
  • Knowing the basics about a company is as simple as pointing and clicking.
• Talk Too Soon About Money.
  • Although you should know what your salary requirements, don’t be the first person to bring up salary.
• Forget Copies of Your Resume.
  • Don’t assume an interviewer has a copy of your resume handy, no matter how many times you’ve sent it or to whom.
• Trash a Previous Employer.
  • The fastest way to talk yourself out of a new job is to say negative things
• Lack Enthusiasm.
  • The most common error is candidates not being excited about the company’s mission and vision
• Forget to Ask Questions.
  • Asking questions illustrates your enthusiasm and interest in the position and simply shows you’ve been paying attention.
  • You can also use your questions to illustrate your knowledge and problem-solving skills.
• Talk Too Much.
  • Pay attention to social cues; if the interviewer frequently has to cut you off in order to move on, you’re probably talking too much.

• Leave Your Cell Phone On
  • Being interrupted by a cell phone completely undermines your message that you are serious about this interview, company and job position

If you need want to discuss in more detail, please setup a one-on-one consult session.

To participate in a confidential One-on-One Laser Coaching Session with Coach Laura, just click the link below, pick the session time that works for you, and sign up. Each session will include 20 minutes of Laser Coaching with time afterward for a few questions. Take advantage of this opportunity to experience coaching. Sign up now and come ready to chat. One-on-One Laser Coaching Signup

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books TimePeace: Making peace with time – The Book of Answers:  105 Career Critical Situations – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.   

This question comes from a busy professional.

 Looking for HR experts to speak to how to promote yourself in a job interview.
One crucial element in a job interview comes with the opening question, “So tell me about yourself.”

I’m looking for HR and career coaching experts to give tips on how to speak to your accomplishments without coming off like a jerk. If you have advice around how to master this surprisingly tricky interview question, I’d love to hear from you! 

Well, one way to avoid coming off like a jerk is to focus on how you can help their organization.

One method that I recommend is to turn the question around to find out more about them and what they are dealing with.  What are their pain points?  Then you can use that information to illustrate how you accomplished or solved a similar problem.

Some Examples

Share any past experiences that line up with their current issues

When asked, “Tell me about yourself” – you may want to describe yourself as “a problem solver or someone that likes to connect the dots. Tell me some of the issues you are facing today?”

Once they have described an issue they are having, correlate it to something in your background or experience. 

Even if you didn’t successfully solve the past problem, you can say “even though my solution wasn’t initially acceptable, we used my framework to devise an even better solution.  I then lead the team to incorporate our team solution.  Team collaboration is what I like best and that is what I would work toward in your organization.”   

What if you don’t have anything that aligns with their issue

If you don’t have something that directly aligns with their current issue, then show them how quick you think on your feet.  Pick something from your past that is close and show them how your past solution could be modified to solve their issue. 

If you don’t have anything close, pick an experience and outline your thought process for solving the issue.  Outline how you will use similar problem-solving steps to solve their issues. 

You can also focus on customer service or response times results on some of your accomplishments.  Illustrate how your turnaround for the client was swift and they actually sent a marvelous testimonial based on the support received.  Mention that you will work hard to do the same for their department.

Bottom line – Tying your accomplishments to their current issues or problems, and how you can use your past experience to propel them forward — is a great platform to work from.

Regards,

Laura Lee Rose – Career Coach.  www.lauraleerose.com   Rose Coaching, LLC

Hopefully you’ll find the suggestions above beneficial.

If you need some help with any of these steps, please setup a one-on-one consult session.

To participate in a confidential One-on-One Laser Coaching Session with Coach Laura, just click the link below, pick the session time that works for you, and sign up. Each session will include 20 minutes of Laser Coaching with time afterward for a few questions. Take advantage of this opportunity to experience coaching. Sign up now and come ready to chat. One-on-One Laser Coaching Signup

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books TimePeace: Making peace with time – The Book of Answers:  105 Career Critical Situations – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.   

This question comes from a busy professional.

I accepted a job offer, but then received a much better one two weeks later. What is the right thing to do? 2nd company offered me 20% better pay with OT, closer to home, and better benefits.

Congratulations on your great job offers!  You did an amazing job attracting both companies.   Please take time to be proud and celebrate!

Now for the hard part.  Please remember that these companies are making business decisions; decisions that are the best for their company.  YOU need to do the same.  Professionals will always understand and respect logical, business decisions. 

Having said the above, you are perfectly free to rescind your acceptance, and take up the second offer.

Even if you have actually begun the first job, you can resign and go to the other.  The important thing is “how you do it”.

What not to do

I personally experienced a “what not to do”.  One person, after accepting our offer, just did not showing up for her first day of work.  Her new department went to the trouble of decorating her desk and bringing in a welcome breakfast.   She was supposed to arrive at 8:30am.  Her department manager finally called her at 11:30am to find out where she was.  It was at that moment that she told him that she had actually accepted another position.   I do not recommend handling it that way.

What to do

Be professional at all times.  This means being transparent and considerate. 

• While you are interviewing, be open about the other outstanding offers or interviews that are ongoing. 
  • This allows you to better negotiate when the time comes
  • This allows you to get additional time to consider their offer against others
  • This allows you to pressure them for their decision as well
• Let them know you are considering another position early
  • This allows them to counter offer – which may be even better for you
  • If they don’t want to counter offer, then it will be their decision to let you go to the other firm
• Promise to stay in touch (and they stay in touch)
  • Stay in contact with some of the employees that you met during the interview process
  • Stay in touch through their website, LinkedIn and Business Facebook pages.  If some projects are interesting to you, offer to do some side projects for them in the interim

Stay in Contact

It’s important to continue your business relationship and networking with all the groups you have interviewed.  This is because it is very hard to determine if the 2^nd position is actually better until you are actually working there.

For example, the second company may have to pay 20% more, because it is such a more difficult place to work. Or it may be desperately trying to strengthen itself, against a competitor who is driving it out of business. Or all the other employees have fled to work for the competitor.

In the end, you can only make a decision based on the information you have available at the time.  With additional time, you can better tell if you made the right decision.  Staying in touch and continuing building your business network will provide you continuous options and opportunities.

Don’t feel obligated

Lastly, don’t feel obligated to stay where you don’t want to be.  Realize that both companies had a list of other people they were interviewing and considering.  While they may be temporarily disappointed, neither company will be devastated with your change in decision.  And there will be very few people that will not recognize your better situation in the other job.

Hopefully you’ll find the suggestions above beneficial.

If you need some help with any of these steps, please setup a one-on-one consult session.

To participate in a confidential One-on-One Laser Coaching Session with Coach Laura, just click the link below, pick the session time that works for you, and sign up. Each session will include 20 minutes of Laser Coaching with time afterward for a few questions. Take advantage of this opportunity to experience coaching. Sign up now and come ready to chat. One-on-One Laser Coaching Signup

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books TimePeace: Making peace with time – The Book of Answers:  105 Career Critical Situations – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.   

This question came from a small business owner.

How do you develop an effective content marketing strategy? What are your rules?

While there are no defined “rules” for building a content marketing strategy, it’s important to include these key components:

• Market Research and Analysis
• Valuable and Effective Content
• Develop Your Brand’s Voice
• Stay Consistent
• Analyze Your Results

Market Research and Analysis

Every piece of content your brand develops should be created with someone in mind. Consumers are more likely to make a purchase with a brand they can identify with, and that begins and ends with that brand showing an understanding of their audience.  Market research and analysis, allows you to better understand your target client or consumer.

Understanding your audience includes very basic factors such as their age, gender, education level, and even income.  It includes their interests, hobbies, lifestyle and dreams.  For example:

• What does your audience want?
• What problems are they facing?
• How can your product or service solve those problems?
• What steps do they normally follow before making a decision (the buyer’s journey)?

Also – content marketing isn’t limited to digital marketing.  Make sure your content strategy to includes print, TV, and radio for the most effective strategy.

Don’t just assume. Research your current audience and see who’s already engaged with your brand. You can even set up simple online surveys to send to your current audience, and build audience profiles based on the results. Your audience won’t fit a single category, but research can help you develop a primary “buyer persona” and the “buyer’s journey” that fits the profiles of much of your audience, as well as several secondary personas.

Valuable and Effective Content

Now that you understand your main audience, place yourself in their shoes. You need to ask yourself, what sort of content will they respond to? What are they looking for? Is that demographic more likely to read online articles or blogs?  Or do they prefer videos or printed materials in magazines? 

If your audience is more likely to read a blog post, would you waste time creating a video? If they like more tangible content like books or magazines, will they be surfing the web for their information?  If they want how-to guides, will they spend hours looking at case studies that only tell them ‘why’? Probably not.

Identifying the most effective content starts with identifying, researching and listening to your audience.  Doing your market research up-front will reduce the inevitable trial and error as you experiment with different types of content to see what works for you and your content strategy.

Another reason to develop an understanding of your audience is to determine where they’re looking for content. Are they searching YouTube for the latest videos on your niche or do they spend most of their free time browsing Instagram?

Some ways to distribute your content are:

• Blog posts and articles
• Infographics
• Videos
• Ebooks and whitepapers
• Email newsletters
• Social media posts
• Podcasts
• E-courses and webinars
• TV infomercials
• Radio ads

Aim for providing valuable content with the focus on getting the audience to DO SOMETHING.  This means to include a “Call To Action” by your audience.  This can be as simple as asking them for their contact information for a download, or to give you a call for additional information.  The goal is to request some type of contact information for the exchange of your valuable intellectual property.

Develop Your Brand’s Voice

The most successful brands develop a “personality” that its audience can recognize and identify with. This is often overlooked in content strategy, but it’s also one of the most important aspects of a brand.

As with every stage of your content marketing strategy, start with your buyer personas. What sort of personality will they most identify with? Is that voice friendly, formal, or silly? What sort of language and terms will they understand? What do they not want to hear about?

Remember to stay consistent with your voice.  People do business with people they know, like and trust.  Developing a consistent Brand Voice, goes along way in building that trust.

Stay Consistent

The key to knowing whether your content strategy is effective is to stay consistent. If you make one post per month on Facebook, it shouldn’t be surprising that your Facebook page isn’t growing very quickly. Develop a content schedule and stick to it. 

If you need help setting up your content schedule, feel free to setup a one-on-one consultation.

Analyze Your Results

Whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly, never leave your content without tracking the results. This can include monitoring view and click rates, reading customer comments and responses, or even tracking ecommerce stats in relation to your content releases. Data tracking will allow you to analyze the results of your content marketing efforts and learn what’s effective and what isn’t.

If you need some help with any of these steps, please setup a one-on-one consult session.

To participate in a confidential One-on-One Laser Coaching Session with Coach Laura, just click the link below, pick the session time that works for you, and sign up. Each session will include 20 minutes of Laser Coaching with time afterward for a few questions. Take advantage of this opportunity to experience coaching. Sign up now and come ready to chat. One-on-One Laser Coaching Signup

This question came from a busy professional.

How to stress less throughout the day 
What are some tips for a busy woman regarding how to stress less throughout the day? What are some
ways in the morning, afternoon, and night that you can relax a little more — physically, mentally, emotionally? Easy ways and easy to remember!

There are a few things we all can do to reduce stress throughout the day.

Stress and strain is often generated by working or worrying about something for an extended period of time.   Therefore, breaking up your day and changing focus several times a day will reduce stress throughout the day.

Some things to try:

• Take regular breaks
• Listen to some music while working
• Schedule stretch and breathing breaks
• Put on the Do Not Disturb sign
• Incorporate Agendas into everything
• Schedule Professional Development time during your week
• Mind your own business

Take a Regular Breaks

A break is merely a change from what you were previously doing.   It doesn’t necessarily mean to stop working (although you could).  It could mean to change focus to a new project or merely pausing on your current project to report the status of that project.

Some examples are:

1. Take a walk around the office or parking lot
2. Check in with a client or co-worker on a different project
3. Take stock on the progress that you have already made on the current project

Listen to music while working

Music sooths the savage beast.  Therefore, listen to some music while you work.  It is virtually impossible to be stressed out while humming.

Schedule stretch and breathing breaks

Set your Fitbit or timer to take regular stretching and breathing exercises.  Oxygen is a great stress reducer.   Stretching and breathing exercises sends oxygen to your important muscles (including your brain).  These stretches and breathing exercises can be done at your desk or during your walking breaks.

Put on the Do Not Disturb sign

Just because an event is happening “now” doesn’t mean that it is urgent.  It merely means that the event is happening now.  Endless interruptions cause stress.   Therefore, eliminate or reduce interruptions by blocking out time to actually work.

Some things to consider:

• Block time to turn off the phone and ignore the email.
• Make sure others are aware of your “Do Not Disturb”
• Respect your DND time. If you can’t respect it, no one else will

Incorporate Agendas into everything

Stress is often generated when you feel out of control.  One trick is to incorporate an Agenda into everything you do.  We are used to meeting agenda but this strategy works well for most everything.

Simple meeting agenda includes:

• Purpose or goal of the meeting: What you want to accomplish by end of a meeting
• Attendees of the meeting: People that are required for the meeting to have a successful conclusion
  • If they are not in attendance, the meeting does not happen
• Time length of the meeting: How long you are spending on this meeting
  • After the time has expired, schedule a different meeting to continue
• Agenda topics: List only the topics that are required to accomplish the meeting goal.
  • Other topics are scheduled for another meeting
• Summary: Review of what was accomplished, what is outstanding, action items with owners and timeline

These items work well for most anything.

Take a work task.  Before you start on the task, create the following agenda.

• Purpose: Outline the goal or purpose of the task. What will be the results?
  • Identify the success criteria upfront – before you start
  • If you hit the success criteria early, STOP
  • If you don’t know the success criteria, you don’t know when to STOP
• Attendees: Who will it benefit and what do you need to complete the task?
  • If you don’t have all the information, reschedule to project
  • If you don’t have all the information, your new task is to get all the information
• Time Length: How long with the task take and how much will it cost?
  • Take the time upfront to estimate the time and cost of the task
• Agenda Topic: What are the minimum actions you need to take to accomplish the task?
  • Scrutinize all your steps
  • If a step doesn’t support the overall goal, it is an unnecessary step
  • Omit all unnecessary steps
• Summary: After the estimated time passes, what items our outstanding, what do you need to complete it and who do you need it from.
  • Report progress against the original goal
  • If you didn’t take the time to outline the goal upfront, you can’t effectively report your progress

Schedule Professional Development time during your week

Another way to take control is to be the owner of your own destiny or professional development.  Create your individual professional development plan.  Schedule training and development time during the week to work on your advancement goals.

Mind your own business

Stress can also be caused by imaginary problems and issues.  Lots of stressful things that come up during the workday are actually none of your business.  Stay focused on your individual roles and responsibility.  Respect other people’s competency and allow them to complete their tasks.  Abandon the idea that “if you want something done right, you have to do it.”

If the item is actually a “MUST DO” – it will get done by someone.  You don’t have to do it.

I know your situation is different.  If you would like additional information on this topic, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

I am a business coach and this is what I do professionally.  It’s easy to sign up for a complimentary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.