Category Archives: Organizational Tips

You can’t get your refund, if you don’t mail in your tax forms…..

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A friend of mine asked me to help a friend of his with their taxes.  I worked on this friend’s (first-removed) back taxes from 2010 with great results.  After filling out some simple forms, his was owed a very nice accumulated refund.  I had the forms done, appropriate W2 forms clipped to the right forms, the envelops addressed and even stamped.  All this gentleman needed to do was to review, sign, fold and mail.  The paperwork mentioned that he would get his refund in 2-4 weeks.

4 weeks later, I asked this friend-first-removed if he had received his refund yet.  He confessed that he has the forms signed, but he has not mailed them in yet.

“Well — you know you can’t get your money, until you mail in forms in….”

 

It’s the same in life and work.  It’s more difficult to get what you really want if you don’t explicitly ask for it and then follow-through with your plan.

  • You want a new position or a promotion; make your manager and mentors aware of your aspirations.
  • You want to speak at local conferences; submit abstracts to those conferences
  • You want a raise or bonus; ask your manager what are the specific requirements to receive a raise or bonus.
  • You want to make extra money; ask HR what other side projects you can do to make additional money. (Some companies pay you for technical articles, patent ideas,  sale referrals, some off-hour billable  tasks, etc)
  • You want to spend more time with family; investigate flex hours, working from home, or 4-day work week options

Is there anything you are procrastinating?

 

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.Whether we a member of the staff or the owner of our own business, thinking like an owner provides additional solutions that we otherwise would never consider.

 

For more worksheets (like the individual development plan,and the individual network strategy worksheet) check out my Worksheets for Success at https://www.lauraleerose.com/worksheets-for-success/

Links:      

Try it and let me know what you think.

 

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

 

Even if we are a team-member, we should “think like the owner” to get ahead.

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Changing from thinking like a “Worker Bee” to thinking like an Owner.

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.Whether we a member of the staff or the owner of our own business, thinking like an owner provides additional solutions that we otherwise would never consider.

For instance:  Thinking like a Worker Bee

  • I need to acquire certain course credits to keep my my certifications active and relevant, but I don’t have time to schedule the courses.
  • There is a upcoming technical conference that will easily complete my course credits, but I don’t have the funds or time to attend.
  • If I present at the conference, my tuition and registration fees will be waived AND my credits will be accomplished; but I don’t have time to develop any presentation materials or required whitepaper.

Thinking like the Owner:

  • Various certification delineate me from others.  This is a non-negotiable in my Career Management Strategy.  This certification isn’t separate from my profession.  The certification is my work.  As such, the certification becomes a part of my Personal Business Commitment, my Independent Develop Plans, and my yearly Performance Review/Evaluations.  Making the certification part of my performance evaluation and commitments makes my manager a co-conspirator in this goal.  Therefore, my manager is co-responsible for making this happen.
  • Outline “what are you going to do with this knowledge” to your manager.  Line up specific projects or prototype demos that forces you to use this knowledge immediately.
  • To increase possibility of getting the needed time and funds to attend the conference, I ‘think like the owner’ to visualize company advantages to your attendance such as:
    • bring back sales leads from the conference – and include marketing, sales and business analysts in your plans
    • speaking at the conference to illustrate your company being the thought leader in this space;
    • assisting at the company sales booth – and include your marketing and sales team in your plans
    • visiting customer in that area – and include Technical Support and Business Analysts in your plans
    • holding a client forum or user group meeting during your visit – and include Technical Support and Business Analysts team in your plans.
    • hold follow-up learning sessions with your department to share the information that you learned at the conference.  This way your entire department benefits from your trip.
  • Include your manager and co-workers in your presentation and whitepaper development.  By including your manager, he/she is in-tune with the required time to prepare.  Schedule practice sessions in front of your co-workers and other managers to help prepare for the conference AS WELL AS train others in your area of expertise.  Be open to others’ advice and acknowledgments in your presentation..
  • Review my Individual Networking Strategy plans to see if there is any one else I want to be aware of my plans.  The more people that can benefit from my trip, the more likely I will be given the time and resources to accomplish my goals.
  • Review my LinkedIn.com, Facebook and client contacts (from a professional viewpoint) to see who else will be attending the conference.  Make plans to create face-to-face networking opportunities with these people.

Homework:  Review the items that you are currently doing.  What would change if you actually ‘thought like the owner’.

For more worksheets (like the individual development plan,and the individual network strategy worksheet) check out my Worksheets for Success at https://www.lauraleerose.com/worksheets-for-success/

Links:

Try it and let me know what you think.

 

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

Thinking like an owner

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Just because you own a business doesn’t mean you are actually thinking like an owner…..

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 was talking to a solo-entreprenuer the other day.  He was staying very busy, but not making much progress on his business growth and recurring revenue goals.  The mistake that most starting entrepreneurs make is the speed of their transition from “worker bee” to “thinking like an owner”.  They stay busy doing the tasks to keep the business ‘afloat’ that they are not doing the things that allow their vision and business to grow.

Some of the mistakes my friend was making was:
1) Doing everything himself.
Take EGO our of the picture.  Just because something needs to be done, doesn’t mean you have to do it.   Hiring part-time assistants, or collaborating with affiliates and partners are some solutions.
2) Not thinking ROI on the things he was doing.
Even though he was spending time publishing articles and speaking at various engagements, he was not collecting any sales leads.  He ‘felt’ he was reaching a potential of 1000 readers — but he had no way of consistently reaching them or understanding what topics or services they could be interested in.
3) Not thinking about up-sales.
He had no product or service (outside of his manual time) that could be sold 24-7.  He wasn’t taking the time to product-ize the things he was doing over and over again, manually.  He was not using his current articles and speaking engagements to up-sale and promote his on-line products and services.  He wasn’t taking any marketing strategies to building, sustain, and retain his current clients.  He didn’t have any follow-up products and services that lead this current clients from introductory to more advanced services — to retain and sustain his current client base while also growing his referral base.

Typical entrepreneur excuses:

  • I stay busy, but am not reaching anyone new.
  • I have a great speaking opportunity to expose myself to people I haven’t connected with before, but I am too busy with the daily running of my business to create the  materials and products to access this group.

 

Being busy is a positive affect of your great work. On the other hand, it can often limit your success because the busy-ness constrains what you can really do with your potential empire. If you would like business coaching assistance on how to expand beyond the activities you are handling today, please keep my business coaching expertise in mind.
Thinking like an owner:Every action should be positioned to give you positive revenue results.  Giving speaking engagement without prepaving for up-sales, product sales, or additional sales leads (in the form of new customer contact information and database growth); is not ‘thinking like an owner’.  Staying busy with “worker bee” activities without tying it to marketing and sales goals is not ‘thinking like an owner’.
As for creating up-sale products –an up-sale product can be as simple as:
  • a free introductory consulting session or evaluation (by phone, skype or visit)
  • a free in-house customized presentation for their department or company
  • a free subscription to your “already produced” newsletter, blogs and/or articles.
As you see, these sample product ideas don’t need any up-front preparation or time-energy — but can lead you to future sales and client contacts. Sometimes we feel we are too busy and that ‘busy-ness” limits our imagination on how we can actually do more with ease.  Just because we are an ‘owner of our own business’  doesn’t necessarily mean that we are ‘thinking like an owner’.

Homework:  Review the items that you are currently doing.  What would change if you actually ‘thought like the owner’.

Try it and let me know what you think.

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

15 Etiquette Tips to Get Ahead

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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 methods 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.

Yvette Maurice (http://blog.opencolleges.edu.au/perfect-office-manners-check-list-30-rate/) wrote an interesting article regarding Do You Have Perfect Office Manners? Check This List of 30 To See How You Rate!

I liked it very much.  There are great tips for getting comfortable in your current position.  I then took some of hersame tips (just 15) and modified them for the 15 Etiquette Tips to Get Ahead.

They are strictly based on Yvette’s tips with a twist.

Here are some of the things Yvette listed – but with a small twist to get ahead.  For her unmodified advise, read http://blog.opencolleges.edu.au/perfect-office-manners-check-list-30-rate/

1. Don’t “Blame-storm”  – Get the team to immediately focus on the solutions.

When you see the Blame-storm start, initiation the focus on the solution by saying, “Great, we know what we need to fix.  How do you want this to work from this point forward?”  Focusing on how and why something occurred only keeps you in the same ‘thinking state’ as when the problem was created.  Visualizing how you really want the “entity” to work is really where you want your ‘thinking power’ to be focused.

2. Chewing Gum and other ticks

Everyone has a nervous tick or activity.  Some it’s chewing gum, others it’s twirling their hair or tapping their fingers.  When you see yourself doing your “nervous tick”, use it as a trigger to let you know something is not exactly right.  Then ask yourself these questions:

  • Am I bored? If so, start another project on my todo list.
  • Am I nervous?  If so, do something positive and productive to reduce that nervousness
  • Am I angry or frustrated? If so, think about what you can do right now to reduce those negative feelings.

3. Dressing with Respect BUT FOR SUCCESS

Dress like the person you want to be.  Dress more like the next level up then your peers.  If the managers are dressing in more business attire and your co-workers dress very casual – I recommend dressing more like the managers (or the group that you want to be).  Surround yourself with the type of people you want to emulate.

4. Don’t take Personal Hygiene to extremes

Don’t over-do cologne or perfume.  Many people are allergic to scents in deodorants, soaps and perfumes.  Also be careful with scented candles, if you are in a shared working space.  It’s more of a health and safety issue at this point.

5. Cover Your Mouth and Say Excuse Me

In Yvette’s article, she was commenting on how to handle coughing and sneezing.  My recommendation is to stay home when you are ill.  Often people feel that they are being tough when they come into the office – but actually you are costing the company money.  And no co-worker around you appreciates it either.  Think of it this way.  You come in and work with (infect) 5 people.  Now instead of losing 1 day of work from you, the company is losing 5 people the next few days.  You are also only 40% productive while you are there; and others are also distracted with the thought that they will become sick as well.  With today’s ability to work from home – the best solution is to stay home and help out from home.  You’re get better faster and will be able to produce at 100% then you do arrive in the office.

6. Keep Interruptions to a Minimum

In Yvette’s article, she recommends keeping personal calls to a minimum as to not interrupt your co-workers.  If you work in a cube environment, reserve a conference or team room for those important personal calls.  With the advent of text and on-line instant messaging, many can carry on a quick communiqué from their desk.  And then take the longer (necessary)  conversations to a small conference room (or schedule those at lunch or during outside breaks).

7. If Someone Does Something Nice, be Appreciative AND RECIPROCATE

In Yvette’s articles, she mentions saying thank you for these nice things.  If you want to get ahead, actually reciprocate beyond what they did for you.  If they helped you with a project, send a thank you note to them and copy their managers.  If they mentioned you in their presentation, mention them in yours and ask them to stand up when you give your presentation.  Reciprocate one step beyond what most people would be expecting.  And make sure their manager (and your manager) knows they are helping you.

8. Be Helpful and Cooperate with Your Colleagues to a point

In Yvette’s article, she correctly recommends helping others.  If someone needs help with a copy machine or directions to someplace, please be courteous.  But don’t take too much time helping others.  Don’t take on others people’s problems as your own.  You lose time and momentum on your items.  If your colleague’s problem is aligned with your goals, take the time to assist.  If their issues distract and derail you from your tasks, schedule and goals give them your consult and move on.  Call-in and delegate their problem to the appropriate person.  Remember, your colleague is currently stuck and is just asking for assistance to get to the next step (to get unstuck).  They aren’t necessarily asking you to do their work.  Advising them or calling in the right person for the job is helping.  It doesn’t have to be you doing the actual work; just advise them to their next step so that they are no longer stuck.

Also – be careful you are not training people to continually come to you with their issues.  Teach them to fish.

10. Look After New Employees to a point

The only thing I would add is that – if you are taking much time with a new employee; make your manager aware.   The new employee should already have a ‘helper’ assigned to them.  Get the “helper” involved in orientating the new employee.  If you company doesn’t have an orientation program for the new folks, then make your manager aware that you are helping a new person.  As long as your manager understands where your time is going, your manager can assist with the issue.  Don’t be afraid to talk to your manager about your project progress, your interruptions, and your challenges.  It’s your manager’s job to manage the normal ebb and flows of a project.  Keep them in the loop at all times.

12. Instead of Wait Your Turn to Speak in a Meeting – Create Your Turn

My only recommendation is to get your topics on the meeting agenda.  Meet with the meeting facilitator to add your issues to the agenda.  Tell the facilitator that you will need to leave the meeting at a certain time and ask him/her to put your agenda toward the front end of the meeting.  This way, you can relax and really listen to what’s going on in the meeting, without being worried that you won’t get a turn to speak.  If you want to get ahead, you will want to participate in meetings.  But, as Yvette mentioned, you don’t want to unnecessarily interrupt.  Showing initiative to place your topic on the agenda will allow you to calmly have your turn.

13. Respect not only Your Elders

The only thing I would add is to RESPECT EVERYONE.  You never know who these people will be next year or even next month.  Your co-worker may become the next manager of a sibling department or your department.  You may find that – in order to be on your dream project – you will have to work alongside someone that you don’t normally associate.  You may find out that in order to complete your task; you will need to ask a favor of a sister-department.

14. Manners at All Times but with balance

Although I agree with the general thought of “mind your manners”; don’t be a doormat either.  Take respectful initiative in everything you do.  Be considerate but selective where you put your time.  Keep your own business commitment in mind at all times.  Don’t risk not completing your tasks to assist others with their jobs.  If someone is having a lot of computer problems, call IT for them.   If someone needs a lot of help, advise them to seek their manager.  It’s their manager’s job to make sure his/her employees are running smoothly (not yours).  Make sure your manager is aware of what’s going on with your project – so that he/she may help manager some external distractions that you are encountering.  Keep external interruptions to a minimum, to allow yourself to stay on track.

Keep the airplane rule in mind:  “Put on your oxygen mask before helping others.”

30. And Don’t Nit – Pick!

I’m just skipping to tip 30.  My general rule is to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.  Everyone is actually doing the best that they can with the information and expertise that they currently have.  Everyone wants to do a good job.  Everyone wants to do the right thing.  If you have that attitude, things will look differently to you.

 

Try it and let me know what you think.

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

Leveraging Links

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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 sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.
Most professionals have a LinkedIn.com account and profile.    They accept requests from friends, coworkers and family members that they already know. Then they stop there.

  • Is your social media connections assisting you in your professional and career goals?
  • Are you using your social media contacts smartly?
  • Are you connecting only with people you already know instead of the people that can help
  • you in your development?

We typically associate with folks of the same socioeconomic circles.  Studies show that your salary and income are typically within 20% of the group of people you regularly hang around with.  So, if you want to jump to a different salary or professional level, we may need to change who we hang around with.  If you want to leap to the next professional rung, we may want to find ways to network with people that are of that next desired level.  In other words, surround ourselves with the success we want to achieve.

We can use our social networking profiles to do this.

For a quick review of the steps, watch the video  and  purchase the Leveraging Links Zipinar Ebook.

To create your individual networking strategy, sign up for our free workbook at: http://eepurl.com/njCWz

Make a quarterly goal of increasing your networking circle by 10% in the right direction.

Other things to consider:

1) Invite the authors of your favorite technical journal articles to your LinkedIn.com network
2) Socialize at the cafeteria and create intellectual discussion groups.  Add them to your LinkedIn.com network
3) Conduct Brown Bag Lunch series on important topics to your industry.  Offer to send the presentation and whitepaper to those that connect with your on LinkedIn.com
4) Work on white-papers with your manager on items that can be shared and published.  Invite your readers to link with you on LinkedIn.com
5) Select a side-hobby and invite those folks to your linkedin.com network.

Try it and let me know what you think.

Even when everyone does everything right….

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Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables story shows that even when everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, there will be conflicts and oppositions.  Set in the backdrop of the French Revolution, the characters both implodes and explodes because of these diverse principles.

The story is more rich than this quick summary depicts; but these are just quick examples of how even when people are doing what they feel they must do – there are conflicts and opposition.

 

  • Jean Valjean steals bread to feed his sister’s family, and is sentenced to jail.  He was trying to do what he was supposed to do, in providing for his family.  Jean Valjean completes his sentence, but is on parole forever.  Because he has a criminal record and is on parole, society ostracizes him.  He cannot find  ‘honest’ work.   He soon realizes that he cannot provide for anyone under the title of convict/parole.  So he breaks parole to start a new life.

 

  • M. Myriel, the kindly bishop of Digne, provides Jean Valjean with the means to start a new life.  Even though the bishop was ‘breaking the law’ by harboring a criminal – he was doing what he was supposed to do by saving a soul.  At that point Jean Valjean committed to use the riches to enrich other people.  With his new life, Jean Valjean becomes a benevolent business owner and major.  He supports and watches over his entire town.

 

  • Fantine (single mother) tries everything to provide for her daughter, Cosette.  Because she is a single mother, society ostracizes her and it’s difficult for her to get ‘honest’ work.   As a last resort, she sells her hair, teeth and finally herself to send money to her daughter.  She was trying to do what she was supposed to do – in providing for her daughter.
  •  Javert, Montreuil’s police chief, is duty-bound to hunt criminals and people that break parole.  His job is to capture Jean Valjean if/when their paths cross.

 

The character list continues as the above.  Most characters have very good reasons for doing what they do.  As you look at each character separately, they are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing.  Set during the pre-ample of the French Revolution (an even larger conflict), each of these characters are met with situations that challenges their core principles.  The colliding of these diverse (yet reasonable) principles both implodes (by Javert’s suicide) and explodes (revolution).

 

This concept is great for any personal or professional interaction.  Give others the benefit of the doubt in the office boardroom, meetings, and project schedule conflicts.  Most people are actually trying to do the right thing.  If you can pause and view the situation from their perspective, you may be able to recognize other alternatives in which everyone can win.

 

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.

Turning competition into collaboration.

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A friend of a friend was visiting from Berlin, Germany.  Although I regularly teach a private group lessons at my friend’s home, she wanted to postpone (cancel) our January group classes — so that her group can take lessons from their visiting friend.  Although I could have seen this as a negative, I didn’t.  It would not make much sense to do so.

  • My friends have been taking from me forever; and they will continue when their friend returns home.
  • Their friend will only be here through January.  I’ll be here long after their friend leaves.
  • My friends enjoy all different types of dances; and it’s fun for them to learn from different instructors.
  • Although I have connections into the Argentine Tango community, I don’t  teach Tango (which is my friend’s friend’s expertise).
  • When their friend leaves, I can still help them stay in practice with Tango during our regular dance lessons.

So I immediately went into collaborative mode.  When my friend mentioned why she was canceling our January classes,  I forwarded my friend all the Argentine Tango community information that I could find.  I also introduced some local Argentine Tango instructors to my friend’s friend.   Local instructors could then offer guest workshops and private lessons with an international Argentine Tango instructor without much overhead or hassle.  I also connected her with a local Argentine Tango instructor that has her finger on the pulse of everything Tango.  This allowed all sides to benefit from the connection.

Even though making these connections between the guest instructor and others may not directly or immediately benefit me — both sides realize that I was thinking of their best interest.  And like any good dance partner, we look out for each other (both on and off the dance floor).

On the dance floor or work environment, we don’t want to show-off, out-do, or struggle with our partners.  We don’t want to make our partner feel uncomfortable or ungraceful.  If the moves aren’t coming out exactly as we had initially envisioned, just relax and co-create a new movement from the blending of your styles.  If your follower isn’t exactly paying attention to you OR if your leader isn’t giving you any play time — just ease into the space and make the best out of this current situation.  You may be surprised  what will develop.  This specific song/task will only last a very limited time.  But the steps and care that you in invest in this time will give you lasting results.

If you are interested in knowing how to take these  concepts into the professional environment, please sign up for my professional and career management (free) newsletter at : http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

URGO method to reduce overwhelment and stress

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URGO
Urgent Rating Graphing for Overwhelment

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.
Every day we are inundated with new tasks, special requests, and high-profile client requests.   But we rarely truly take the time to relationally and realistically prioritize to our best career advantage.  A co-worker is in the middle of some family issues and you end up picking up his/her slack.  The company undergoes some re-organization, and your project lists has increased.  Often times we don’t feel we have a choice, but you really do.
Below are some quick steps that gives you a visual chart that clearly outlines which project or task to spend your time on.
I call this my URGO (Urgent Rating Graph for Overwhelment) method.

  1. Identify your imperatives or career goals
  2.  List your significant time sinks or tasks
  3.  Score each task 0-5 (5 being the most in aligned with your goals) for each listed goal
  4. Chart the results
  5. Create a career plan to accomplish those priority action items.

Example:
Step 1:  My professional goals and mission statements

  •   Get recognized as a thought-leader in my field
  •   Become the GoTo MPV that the executives go to on new innovation and technical strategies
  •   Acquire a new-level promotion within the next 6 months

Step 2: List your current tasks and desired tasks

  • Have a great, innovative approach to solving a new market problem that might open the company to a whole new market
  • Team mate is growing through some tough times and I am stuck picking up his/her slack on maintenance issues
  •  Assigned to an end-of-life product that has been scheduled to be dropped.  But a few clients won’t upgrade to the new product; therefore, the ‘drop’ schedule continues to be postponed.
  • Although I am not behind, I would like some time to get ahead of my current project.
  •  Next Generation Project X is the next high-profile product.  My business proposal would fit perfectly in that scenario.

Step 2: Take each task and objectively rate or score it for each of your career and professional goals

Make a proposal for a new solution to the executives

  • Get recognized as a thought-leader in my field
    • Score 5 – I feel that this is innovative and can be used in our company’s next generation product
  • Become the GoTo/ MPV that the executives go to on new innovation and technical strategies
    •  Score 4 – If this goes as I expect, I could be implementing this in Project X.  I could become one of the technical leads on Project X
  • Acquire a new-level promotion within the next 6 months
    •  Score 4 – This would get me off some of the ‘end-of-life’ product and out of maintenance duty

————————————–Total Score  13
Continue to pick up slack for a co-worker

  •  Get recognized as a thought-leader in my field
    •  Score 0 – It could be considered being a team-player, but neither my manager nor executives actually recognize or acknowledge that I’m doing this.  Right now, I’m doing it.  I’m not even sure my co-worker realizes the extra work he is putting on me.  Besides, this really isn’t even my responsibility.  It’s my manager’s role to manage everyone’s changing work schedule.  Not allowing my manager to know what’s going on is not to my benefit.
  •  Become the GoTo MPV that the executives go to on new innovation and technical strategies
    • Score 0 – Once again, no one is aware of what I am doing for my co-worker.
  • Acquire a new-level promotion within the next 6 months
    • Score 0 – This just keeps me stuck on this maintenance project.

————————————–Total Score  0

Working on ‘end-of-life” and maintenance products

  • Get recognized as a thought-leader in my field
    •  Score 2 – One of the few people around here that still understands this old technology.  Everyone else has either quite or has moved onto the new platforms.  But this technology is currently obsolete.  My company is just behind the curve on ending it.
  • Become the GoTo/MPV that the executives go to on new innovation and technical strategies
    • Score 0 – I don’t have a chance to even learn a new technology because of my current maintenance tasks.
  • Acquire a new-level promotion within the next 6 months
    • Score 0 – Without my intervention, I’ll be stuck on this ‘end-of-life’ and maintenance gig.  I’ll become the only one with this old technology knowledge and they won’t be able to remove me from this spot.

————————————–Total Score  2
Although I am not behind, I would like some time to get ahead of my current project. 

  •  Get recognized as a thought-leader in my field
    •  Score 2 – The current projects are on the technology that is being phased out.  I can not be regarded as a thought-leader with this project.  As long as I don’t fall behind, my remaining time should be spent on other things.
  •  Become the GoTo MPV that the executives go to on new innovation and technical strategies
    •  Score 0 – This is not new technology.  Therefore, spending more time that I need on this is fruitless.
  • Acquire a new-level promotion within the next 6 months
    • Score 2 – If my project is actually phased-out, I will be available for a new project or position.  But there’s no telling when that will be.  It’s been in this same state for 2 years already.

————————————--Total Score  4

Next Generation Project X is the next high-profile product.  My business proposal would fit perfectly in that scenario.

  • Get recognized as a thought-leader in my field
    • Score 4 – This project is getting lots of visibility.   I already have ideas on the next directions on this platform.
  • Become the GoTo MPV that the executives go to on new innovation and technical strategies
    • Score 5 – My  proposals will tie my ideas to the Project X evolution schedule.  We will be no only able propel the development cycle forward but be able to patent and license how we are doing it.
  • Acquire a new-level promotion within the next 6 months
    •  Score 5 – My blending my business process ideas directly into the Product X infrastructure, I will be building a foundation for a promotion and leadership role.

————————————–Total Score 14

Step 4) Chart the results
From the chart, you can visually see that Getting the Next Gen Project X  and Presenting your proposal to the executives are your top career and professional goals.

Step 5) Create your career plan with those to priorities in focus.
Some suggestions would be:

  • Stop picking up the slack for your co-worker.  Talk to him/her honestly about the issues and encourage them to talk to your manager about it.
  • Start diverting your time to creating that proposal and interviewing executives on what they are really looking forward to in the next fiscal year.
  • Start volunteering your time on Project X and networking with the Project X managers.
  • Prototyping your process as it would look and feel in Project X
  • Continue to work on your proposal and demo/practice on Project X team and managers.
  • Start patent disclosure meetings with your company legal departments.

The above is just an example.  Your goals and tasks will be different and more complex than the above.  But this method works on a variety of situations from task priority, career management, risk analysis, and much more.  It takes the emotional out of the decision process and allows you to focus on the ROI for your professional career development.

Try it and let me know what you think.

What else do you need to continue to move forward?  Tell LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info — and she will try to make it happen.  It can’t be given if no one knows you want it…. Ask for what you want.

If you are having trouble keeping up with the assignment,  let’s talk….

3 Steps to Managing Stress at Work

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Once you start working you will undoubtedly have stressful moments. Some jobs are more stressful than others. Most of us learn how to deal with it others lose their minds
One of the biggest mistake people make is confusing: “This MUST get done” with “I MUST DO IT”.
The company/manager isn’t concerned with ‘how’ a MUST DO gets accomplished; only that it gets accomplished. By working with your manager and team to figure out the most effective way to accomplish something reduces stress. But most employees, when given a task, assume that the boss is telling them that they need to do it. But the manager is really saying, “our department needs to accomplish this” and he is trying to figure out how his staff/team can do it.

 

Some successful techniques to reduce stress at work:
1) Be transparent with your manager and team on your progress and challenges.
Most new employees feel it’s a sign of weakness to show they are having trouble with something or are not making progress on something. Remember that the team goal is to have it accomplished — not that you have to do it on your own.
2) Live, eat and sleep the Change Management Process.
The only thing that is constant is change — therefore create procedures that effectively handles changes. Anytime a new task or assignment comes in, work with your manager to compare it’s priority against everything else on your plate. Discuss which item gets delayed, diminished, deleted or delegated to someone else (the 4 D’s). Managers typically don’t remember everything that you have been assigned.
3) Take YOU out of the equation.
Take your ego out of the equation. How would you get this task accomplished without YOU. This often opens your thinking to alternative resources and solutions. For instance, someone else may have done something similar; someone else may be equally qualified to do this; it may not really be a MUST DO; maybe the task can be split or descoped, etc.
If something is really a MUST DO — it will get done. If you are transparent with you manager and tell them that you can not handle this MUST DO task while still completing your other tasks (on time and with quality); you manager can and will handle the situation. If you keep your situation to yourself (for fear of looking bad), you are tying your manager’s hands and creating stress for everyone (which will absolutely make you look bad).

 

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.

Using other’s failures to set your pace?

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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 sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

 

Over the holidays, I visited my family (as many people do).  During on conversation with my mother, I was offering to pick up a movie for mom to watch.

Mom: “Don’t bother.  All the movies are in discs these days.  I like videos and they don’t make them anymore.”

“Well, you have a DVD player in your reading room.  We could…”

Mom:”No,No.  It’s connected to the small TV.  I don’t like that TV.”

“No, problem.  We’ll just connect it to your big TV in here.  You are right … it’s much better watching this set.  We’ll just…”

Mom:  “Don’t bother.  Your sister tried it and she couldn’t do it.  Your cousin tried it and he couldn’t do it.  They both say that the TV is too old to be connected.”

“Well, it won’t hurt to…”

Mom: “Don’t bother.”  And I decided to drop it for now.

The next morning, while mom was still asleep, I took a closer look.  I took the DVD from the small set and successfully moved it to the larger set in the family room.  Since I knew mom already worked the VCR machine, I wrote out the instructions for the DVD as close to the VCR players instructions as possible.  When mom woke up, I played a DVD for her and she was very excited.

I realize that many people believe that “history repeats itself” as rationalizing for not trying things others have failed.  But you are not the same person that tried before.  They don’t know what you know.  They don’t have the same experience, background or resources that you do.  Even if you are the one that tried and failed before … you are currently a different person than you were last year, last month and even yesterday.

What past limitations are you using to hold you up?