Category Archives: Networking Tips

Detaching from results opens doors to new possibilities.

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Detaching from results opens doors to new possibilities.

This week I have been reviewing some of the events that lead me to some of my largest successes.  Almost all of them stemmed from unexpected and unforeseen resources.

Some examples:

  •   Last several years I had been invited to speak at the DevLink Technical Conferences in Tennessee.   Last year SSWUG.org was attracted to my DevLink seminars and invited me to Tuscon, AZ to tape 4 seminars for their SSWUG.org online webinar series.  This led me to a wonderful working relationship with Stephen WynKoop (founder of Bits on the Wire and SSWUG.org).  We now have a weekly interview program and online coaching series on professional development.
  •  A few years ago, I presented at a local company health fair.  There I met Theresa Corcoran (who was manning another booth at the fair.  Today we are business partners at 360 Degree Inspired Success  (www.360degreeInspiredSuccess.com)

 

In both cases, I had no reason to expect these results.

 

1)      Although DevLink is an exceptional conference, I had no reason to believe that another company would be interested in video and incorporating the 4 presentations into their main-stream learning cycle.

2)      After I connected with SSWUG, the DevLink invitation stopped coming.  This was very interesting to me because it led me to believe that my DevLink interaction has completed its mission.  The sole reason for DevLink to cross my path this way was to allow me to hook up with SSWUG and to better sales opportunities.

3)      The local company health fair only had 20 employees.  On the surface, one may have thought it wasn’t worth my time or energy.  But I met my future business partner — which is leading me to better recurring revenue stream in areas that are in my genius.

Bottom Line:

Don’t attach to a specific result.  Chances are that the results of our actions are not always predictable or immediate.

Take a deep breath and relax….everything is unfolding perfectly.

Secrets to Taking Command of Your Own Performance Review Part II

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Secrets to Taking Command of Your Own Performance Review Part II

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered some tips to taking more control of our own performance evaluation process (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.

Last interview and article, we quickly mentioned the Personal Business Commitment tool as a great way to communicate your goals and commitments to your manager.  But what makes up a Personal Business Commitment plan? Who creates it? Who approves it? How does it fit in the performance rating process?

Let’s take these questions individually.

What makes up a Personal Business Commitment plan?

The PBC contains a list of high-level business goals (typically handed down from the executive and management ladder).  The goals could be similar to:

1)     Increase sales by 50% by year end

2)     Retain 100% current clients and increase 10% of new client

3)     Release at least 3 new high-quality, in-demand products/service by year end

4)     Reduce incoming Customer Complaints by 50%

5)     Resolve 100% of critical and high-level complaints with 72 hours of issue.

6)     Resolve backlog of customer complaints by 75%

Once you have your manager’s business commitment goals, you can draft your personal business goals to support them.

Also create an IDP (Individual Development Plan) to accompany your PBC.   This plan will outline how you intend to stay up-to-date on the new technology and critical business skills.  Include any intentions for external professional coaching, internal mentoring programs, job-sharing opportunities, conference attendance, etc.  Make sure your IDP ties in with your PBC and your manager’s PBC goals.

The intent is to have a blueprint for the year.  If you know where you are heading, it’s much easier to get there.

My upcoming “Taking Command of Your Performance Review” Workshop will go into detail on this topic.  It’s a three-hour workshop (75 minutes of presentation content and 90 minutes of actual hand-on coaching of the provided worksheets). At the end of the workshop, you will have a customized PBC and IDP started.

For more information on this critical workshop, see https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

Who creates it?

In the idea world, the PBC is a two-way street.  Your manager would share his/her PBC goals with you (which he/she created from their manager’s PBC and so forth up the ladder).  Then you would create your PBC and commit to your SMART goals that will support your manager in his/her goals.  Your Business Commitments are just that; commitments to the business to make the business prosperous and successful.  (See my articles on always ‘thinking like the owner’ for more tips on this; or subscribe to the weekly newsletter here)

If your manager hasn’t created his/her PBC goals, initiate a one-on-one discussion.  Request a meeting in which the sole purpose is to walk out with a set of PBC goals in which tie your PBC.

Who approves it?

Both you and your manager collaborate and approve it.  It requires both signatures.  Often times, the manager would then have his/her manager sign-off on it as well.  It is critical that you have it documented and signed, because a change of manager often occurs.  If this documented and signed, you can have something to refer to with the new manager.

How does it fit in the performance rating process?

Once this is created and approved, it becomes a living document.  Every time a directive or project is changed, review your PBC to see if the document is still accurate.  If your management chain is altered, review your PBC with your new manager to see if the document is still accurate.  If you title, roles and responsibilities change, review your PBC to see if the document is still accurate.

Take the initiative to schedule quarterly performance progress reviews with your manager.  Use your PBC as the agenda for those critical meetings and request frequent one-on-one meetings in the interim.   The more performance-based meetings you conduct with your manager, the less anxiety the yearly review will

Conclusions:

Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for your performance review. Consider everything that you do in the work environment as input into your performance evaluation process.  Keep an achievement folder to continually collect your accomplishments (until waiting until the last minute to remember them).  Read the follow-up articles in this series for more information.  Or better yet; attend the workshop at https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

Secrets to Taking Command of Your Own Performance Review

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Professional development series

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered some tips to taking more control of our own performance evaluation process (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.

It’s natural to shy away from evaluations, judgment, risk of rejection and confrontations.  A performance evaluation or performance review meeting with your manager certainly falls into this category. Most of us postpone or even avoid such conversations until it is too late.  When we feel we are doing well, we don’t think we need to discuss it.  When we feel we are not doing well, we avoid it.  In both cases, we’re postponing the cure.  The cure, of course, is to take command of your own performance and the management of your own career.

How do we take more ownership of our performance evaluation process?  It’s my manager’s responsibility to review me, isn’t it?

This is an easy out.  Although it is true that your manager evaluates you, your career and performance isn’t really your manager’s responsibility.  Your manager has 10-12 people to manager (as well as his/herself).  You are not his/her only concern.  You, however, can devote the majority of your time on your professional career and development.  You are the only one that can effectively influence your own performance.

Step 1:  Take ownership of your own career.

Clearly articulate what you want in your career; what you would like to work on; the type of people you would like to team with; even the atmosphere and working environment.  Once you can clearly and concisely articulate it, you can effectively convey it to others in your business network (See my articles on business networking in the professional environment for more tips on this; or subscribe to the weekly newsletter here)

Step 2) Understand how performance ratings are created.

There are at least two parts to the performance ratings.  Part one is your individual contributions to the business goals.  Most companies are in business to make money.  Even when business mission statements announce client satisfaction and quality products as their primary goals; the underlining reason for retaining clients with quality products is so that customers will purchase more products (and/or refer others to purchase more products and services); which will create more sales and prosperity for the company.

Part two is how you compare to other employees in your same rank or band.  Most organizations compare their employees (of the same rank or band) across departments.  This is because most companies have a policy regarding how many people can get an Exceptional Rating, an Above Average Rating, an Average Rating, a Below Average and even a Needs Improvement Rating.  For instance, they may have a percentage policy like 5%, 10%, 45%, 35%, 5% (respectively).  This would require all the employees of a certain band or ranking to be compared, ordered and sorted.  Once everyone is in sorted order, most companies will draw the line at the appropriate percentage.  To do this, managers of the same level meet to discuss their employees and rank them in order.  Therefore, the more managers in that room that knows you (in a positive light) the better.  This is where your business networking strategies come into play. (See my articles on business networking in the professional environment for more tips on this; or subscribe to the weekly newsletter here)

Step 3: Declare your Personal Business Commitments upfront.

If you and your manager agree (up front) what is expected for an Average Rating, an Above Average, and Exceptional Rating, it’s much easier to achieve.  This agreement is often called the PBC or Personal Business Commitment.  It is what the metric in which the performance evaluation is cultivated.  My upcoming “Taking Command of Your Performance Review” Workshop will go into detail on this topic.  It’s a three-hour workshop (75 minutes of presentation content and 90 minutes of actual hand-on coaching of the provided worksheets). At the end of the workshop, you will have a customized PBC and IDP started.

For more information on this critical workshop, see

https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

 

Who writes the PBC?  Does my manager or do I?

In the idea world, the PBC is a two-way street.  Your manager would share his/her PBC goals with you.  Then you would create your PBC and commit to your SMART goals that will support your manager in his/her goals.  Your Business Commitments are just that; commitments to the business to make the business prosperous and successful.  (See my articles on always ‘thinking like the owner’ for more tips on this; or subscribe to the weekly newsletter here)

 

Conclusions:

Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for your performance review. Consider everything that you do in the work environment as input into your performance evaluation process.  Keep an achievement folder to continually collect your accomplishments (until waiting until the last minute to remember them).  Read the follow-up articles in this series for more information.  Or better yet; attend the workshop at https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

 

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

 

 

 

Give Reasonable Directions

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Follow up instructions with reason.

Professional development series

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

I experienced two very different situations that highlighted the need for explaining the reason for your instructions.

1)     A friend received instructions from her doctor to take the next few days off and away from work.  My friend agreed to take several days off – then proceeded to continue to read work emails and call into conference calls.

2)     A family member wanted to increase their protein intake and purchased some Whey powder to mix in with their coffee.  Since the canister’s instructions mentioned that 9 scoops will cover their daily protein requirements, she returned the product because she would not be using 9 scoops in her coffee.

As you can see from the above (very different) examples, different people interpret instructions differently.

But what if the instructions came with the following explanation or reasons?

What if the doctor said: “The reason I recommend taking several days off and away from work is to allow both your mind and body a break from work-related issues”?.  I want you to unplug completely for several days to recharge and get well.  This means no emails, no meetings, no nothing.  Hand off any immediate tasks to your manager and then completely unplug.”

What if my family member understood that the protein supplement is just that, a tool or supplement to add more protein to your current dietary program?  You wouldn’t necessarily need to use 9 scoops, if your current meal plan already included protein.  It is only meant as a tool to assist you in absorbing the right amount of daily required protein in a balanced plan.

If my friend and family member had understood the purpose behind the instructions, their response would have been more in lined with the intent of the instructions.  But by providing just the instructions, we have allowed room for error.

So – how can we, as team leaders and employers, avoid these pitfalls?  The first step is to avoid one-way instructions or directions.  Although email may be a convenient “instruction” media, it does not assure that the directions were interpreted correctly (or the way you had intended).

Here are some steps to assure that you will get what you want.

Understand the intent or goal of your instructions:

If you cannot articulate the reason for your request, it’s impossible for your employee or teammate to ‘hit it out of the park’ for you.

Verify that every step of your instructions support and are aligned with your goal.

Everything changes.  What worked last month may not be relevant today.  Verify that your current process is still aligned with your intentions.

For example: Requiring your salaried employees to submit time cards to verify that they are working the proper number of hours.

 This procedure may not be accomplishing your true goal.  Your goal is probably to make sure your salaried employees are performing and accomplishing the work they are committed to accomplish.  You may want to consider weekly one-on-one meetings to verify status on projects and tasks (versus keeping track of the hours they are logging).

Convey both the directions/instructions and reason to your staff/team.

To properly convey the instructions and reason, you need to also include active and empathic LISTENING skills.  Merely stating the instructions and reasons, only, do not assure that the message was received properly.  You need to also ask Open-ended questions to verify the message was received correctly.  This means sending an email-instruction is not sufficient.  You need an interactive face-to-face or phone meeting.  Some things to validate on that interactive meeting:

  1. Convey your instructions and reason
  2. Ask audience members to paraphrase your instructions and reason
  3. Ask audience members to share what these instructions mean to their current roles and responsibilities
  4. Ask audience members how these instructions will change the way they do their jobs (both positive and negatively)
  5. If any negative changes results, discuss/brainstorm on alternatives to accomplish your goal without negative impact to the team.

Conclusions:

Although these above steps take a little more time upfront (versus merely providing an email directive), it will avoid misinterpretations and some email-churn of Q&A after the project has started.     Being impatient or too concise with your direction may cost you in the long run (because your instructions can be misinterpreted and your project derailed). Allowing your team to play a co-creative role in this solution will lead to a more collaborative working relationship.

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Design your next performance review workshop

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Greetings from Laura

I just completed a great lesson plan on “Designing your next performance review.” for my online coaching series.  I’m really excited about the materials, techniques and alternative references that I have been including in this subscription based lessons-learned series.
But this particular episode holds a particular soft-spot in my heart.   Most of my professional friends are disappointed at one time or another about a recent performance appraisals.   This particular lesson outlines several easy steps to assure an exceptional review.

If you would like this on-line class material (at no cost and one-time limited offer), please fill in this order form.  No credit or payment information is required.

My hope is that you will find the material very valuable and decide to subscribe to this continuous on-line coaching series.

Even if you decide not to enroll in the series, please use this particular lesson to your best advantage.

Warmly,
Laura Lee Rose

5 Phrases to Avoid Saying to Your Employees

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What you say — and don’t say — to employees can have a significant impact on your relationship with them. This is important for small-business owners to keep in mind, because keeping employees happy can boost their productivity.

Laura Lee Rose, a time-management and efficiency coach, says that fostering a positive, healthy relationship with your workers is similar to maintaining other personal or business relationships. “It takes compassion without compromising your individual or business goals, mission, or vision,” she notes.

 

Check out the rest of Rachel Hartman’s article and interview at:

5 Phrases to Avoid Saying to Your Employees

by Rachel Hartman on August 30, 2012

Design your own performance review

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In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skills Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, we cover real-life professional dilemmas such as the below.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please signup for the continuing online coaching series.

Do these feelings sound familiar?
  • Made it through my yearly eval with only one ‘below expectations’ – the overall eval was ‘average’.
  • I was prepared for the absolute worst.
  • Someone who had their eval earlier that day handed in their resignation immediately after getting their eval
Is this the way you really want to approach your performance review?  Take the time NOW to visualize what you really want your performance review to report.  Then set upon a plan of action to achieve those SMART goals.  You will be much more successful if you use the work-year to actually create your perfect performance review, versus just letting it happen without your design input.
Other things to incorporate:
  • YOU initiate quarterly reviews of your performance (if going well — more frequent if you are not on target)
  • YOU articulate your performance goals to your manager
  • YOU keep track of your achievements throughout the year that illustrate your accomplishments of these goals
  • YOU ask your manager on what projects and opportunities he/she  commends for you to accomplish your performance review goals.
Most people act as if  their career goals and accomplishments are their manager’s responsibility.  This is actually a false premise.  If you are interested in more tips on how to take more control of your professional development and career, please check out my on-line coaching academy series.We talk more about how to incorporate this philosophy into the real-world professional environment in my on-line coaching academy series.  <check out our GoTo Academy: Soft Skills Tools for the GoTo Professional>

Is keeping the status quo keeping you back?

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Is keeping the status quo keeping you back?
Is there such a thing as being too content?

Take these three scenarios:

  1. low income, high school degree, 2years of college, working at hardware store, getting married in spring, looking forward in starting a family right away
  2. medium-high income, college and master, software industry, interested in expensive side hobby or second business
  3. multimillionaire on the level of Donald trump and Oprah Winfrey

Of these three, who do you feel should be working to keep everything exactly as it is?

Who should keep their income, their job level, the size of their home, their circle of friends, their opinions and beliefs–exactly the same? Of these three, who should consider a lateral change over a promotion with addition training, growth and income opportunities?

Would it be the multimillionaire that already has everything anyone could ever imagine?  Or would it be the medium or low income group, because they don’t have any spare funds to explore and experiment with (you have to have money to make money…)?

It’s difficult to answer because it is not the individual situation that dictates our response but our emotional and belief system.  People that believe they can do, have and be anything they can imagine are often both very appreciative of what they currently have —- and are excitedly anticipating more and greater things.  They are always exploring and expanding.

It’s rarely the size of their pocket but the wealth of their confidence-in-self that dictates the life they have designed for themselves.

Let me know what you think about these ideas.

And if you would like some individual help on designing your perfect life, contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.com

Stop working 7 Days a Week to get your job done.

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This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please signup for the continuing online coaching series.

In the previous newsletter article on Professional Development, we covered some office conflicts (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). A follow-up client question (regarding the previous newsletter article) was “If your workplace is getting too hard, but you like the job – do you leave the job or stay there? What’s your recommendation, please.”

I am not a fan of the idea of working 7 days a week. As a time and project manager, I am more in-lined with realistically scheduling for 5 quality work days (or equivalent). The company is paying you for 5 days of quality (i.e. the very best of you). You can’t give the best of you,  if you are not the best of you (which mean the well-rounded healthy, happy, stress-free you). I recommend realistically planning and working 5 quality work days. This way you have the energy and stamina to handle anything that comes your way. You will have the adrenalin required for the infrequent emergency.

“But the works continues to come and my boss expects me to do it.  If I don’t do it, I get a poor performance review or worst: fired!”

Imagine the company as a restaurant with a glutton of menu items.  But you don’t have the funds (time and energy) to purchase everything on the menu.  Therefore, you deliberately pick and choose the items that best fit your budget and preferences.  Now, imagine your manager as a blind waiter.  The blind waiter will continue to pour your coffee until you say “when”.  In both situations (the menu and the coffee), it is your responsibility to speak up.  The company and waiter will continue to bring you food and drinks until you say “stop”.  Their job is to push their product.   And even if you take the meals home to complete later, they end up spoiled and stacked at the back of your refrigerator.

Your manager wants the work ‘done with quality’ — not laying at the bottom of your in-basket (i.e. back of your refrigerator).  He doesn’t much care if you get it done or someone else gets it done.  Allowing him enough lead time to manage and hand-off to someone else is the responsible thing to do.

“I’m worried about my performance review.”

At the end of the day, your manager expects good work from you.  They contracted for 5 days of quality work, allowing you to create a balanced life that sustains your energy, passions, and expertise.  The weekends and vacations are designed to energize, feed your creativity and hone your skills.  Taking this needed time away from work allows you to be more productive and effective during the paid 5 days at the office.  Being fully transparent on the items that you can realistically accomplish with quality and those that need to be re-assigned or postponed, allow your team to properly manage the business.  Taking full advantage of the team attitude propels you to a different level.  Quality and honest service begets larger rewards.

On the other hand, working long hours 6 or 7 days a week will product mediocre product and services. Not taking the vacations, weekends, breaks and training drains your batteries.  Although effective for short periods in ‘high-crunch’ emergencies, the execution as a long-term strategy will be exhausting. You will be producing 7 days of mediocre work.  Not producing your best 5 days a week is stealing from your company.  The company will not be impressed with the mediocre work (even though you feel you are working hard and putting in extra hours) and you will get a poor performance review. Now you are resenting the extra hours and the lack of appreciation.

Conclusion:

As in the restaurant, the company will always have things for you to do.  The projects and ideas will continue to flow and evolve.  Every accomplishment will yield new ideas for the next project or service.  It is a never-ending spiral of growth and expansion.  Therefore, the list will never be completed.  If the list will never be completed, then working 7 days a week won’t be enough, either.  In the restaurant, you have no problem picking and choosing from the menu.  You have no problem saying “when”.  We need to feel that comfortable in the professional office as well.

On the other hand, I believe you can have it all.   To learn how to have it all, please subscribe to the GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional.

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

 

How to build a healthy employee relationship

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Whether you are a small business owner or head of a corporate department, building healthy employee relationships is much like building any relationship.  Read on for some quick building blocks for a strong employer/employee foundation.
Some significant tools are:
1) Good and open communications
2) Avoiding blame or defensiveness (don’t take anything personally)
3) Don’t make assumptions (avoid judging others)
4) Incorporate aspects of coaching and mentoring (lead by outstanding example)
Key phrases to incorporate:
Someone’s performance level is dropping and they are constantly late and/or missing important meetings:
Review the previous agreement or understanding:
“John, I need help on something. Because this is a small company and we’re working hard to make it a success, I need all my staff to be working effectively and efficiently. When I first hired you, we agreed that the work-day would start promptly at 8:30am – 5:00pm (with 1 hour for lunch at 12:00). Does that match your memory?”
“yes”
Review the reason behind the rule or agreement:
“Great. The reason I need those time blocks is so that I can schedule the proper staff meetings, conference calls, project planning and schedules within those allotted blocks. With those agreements in place, I can depend upon my full staff available during those blocks. This allows the department to function seamlessly without the overhead of micromanaging and time-cards. Have I held up to my commitment to only schedule work-related activities during those hours?”
“yes”
State your observations in a non-judgmental tone:
“Great. In regards to this specific area, I have noticed that you have not be attending our staff meetings and have been arriving late and leaving earlier. This has been a recent occurrence, maybe 2 weeks. Is there something outside of the office that is affecting your ability be fully available during the regular work hours? Something that just recently happened?”
Listen with an open mind:
At this point you might discover that your employee is going through something temporary (either in or out of the office). For example: he/she may be going through a divorce and is struggling with child custody issues. It might simply be a matter figuring out the new child-drop-off patterns or resolving some additional child-care arrangements.
Come up with a plan that accomplishes both your and their needs:
In this example, it could simply be a matter of allowing the employee to work from home on the days they are responsible for their children. Or shifting the meetings that they are critical/responsible for — later in the day/morning. Or recording the staff meetings for people to review later.
Bottom line: A healthy employee relationship is not much different from any personal or business relationship. It takes compassion without compromising your individual or business goals, mission or vision. Majority of the time, there is a solution that uplifts both sides.