Category Archives: Professional Career Development

Resumes that Lie and How Small Business Owners Can Detect Truth, Fluff, and Con Artistry

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It is difficult to filter out the lies and exaggerations in some resumes.

One way is to arm your screening staff with adequate questions AND acceptable answers.

1) Some companies provide qualification tests on the basic skills for the job.

2) Provide Scenario-Based interview questions, in which you provide a problem or issue that they need to resolve.  Then ask them how they would solve it.

3) Select a solution off their resume, and ask them how they specifically achieved that goal.  Ask specifically for references regarding that specific resume action item – and call that person up (versus just calling the people on their reference list).

There are several ways to detect inconsistencies in a resume.  These are just a few.

Strategies and Tips on Being More Productive Each Day

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I have written books and articles on this topic. “TimePeace: Making peace with time” has several strategies.

But some of the top 3 tips would be:

1) Be clear on the TOP 3 Things you want to accomplish today. Everything else on your to-do lists are “nice to haves”. Focus on your MUST DO Top 3. Although it might be nice to accomplish more, you will abandon the other items to assure that your Top 3 items get done.
2) Take control over your calendar. Block out time to work, Block out time to interact, Block out time to network. If you actually schedule the time in your calendar to do these things, then you don’t have to worry about having the time to do these things. Have a place for everything and everything in it’s place.
3) Get into the habit of allocating and announcing time limits on everything. For instance, make better use of 5 minutes. For example, when you want to get someone’s opinion, or someone stops you in the hallway or you want to make an appointment with someone — tell them upfront “Hey there. I would love to talk about this – and I only have 5 minutes”. This trains people to start with the bottom line (eliminating chit-chat). Act as if you are talking to a lawyer how is charging you by the minute. When you are talking to a lawyer, you get straight down to business.

One last tip. Be transparent in your goals. If you state your goals upfront, people will immediately align and you will be more productive in accomplishing the common goals.

 

You may be a micro-manager, if you ….

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Often times, people think a micro-manager is someone that stands over the employee’s shoulders every hour. But that’s not totally true.   There are other traits to a micro-manager that you may be falling into without knowing it.

 

  • If you haven’t taken vacation, you may be a micro-manager
  • If you haven’t delegated the lead of some of your staff meetings, you may be a micro-manager
  • If you haven’t allowed your team to run the show, you may be a micro-manager.
  • If you are afraid of taking a day off, you may be a micro-manager.
  • If you are afraid of what will happens when you are not there, you may be a micro-manager
  • If you haven’t allowed your team to fail, you may be a micro-manager

 

Instead of being afraid of what happens when you are not there — allow things to happen by not being there. You may be pleasantly surprised.

If you don’t allow people to try these things on their own, you miss the opportunities for growth and excellence in both them and YOU. If you are too busy taking on other people’s responsibilities, you don’t have the time for your growth and promotions.

How to track remote employee’s activities

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

 

What is a good CRM for remote employees that tracks what they are doing every minute

I have a remote employee on a significant base who works from home and road with android phone. I want to track their day.

I want an CRM web app that runs on desktop and android phone:
– Sends me a daily email report that
1) chronologically lists how previous day was spent including


A) work day start time,
B) calls outgoing and incoming
– start, end time, contact, result
C) emails reading & writing
– start, send time, contact, result
D) meetings
– start, end and result.
E) Other activities eg driving
– start, end, contact, result


2) Sales pipeline status changes and value in graph format.

This should be done as automatically as possible. Ideally with no typing by salesperson. Ie buttons only. Or only one word typing if req.

I apologize if this answer seems too blunt….but I think it will be easier to find a salesperson that you trust. Requesting an app that automatically shows you exactly what they do every minute illustrates a lack of trust in their capability and competence. It’s better to find the type of people that you will value and trust; people with the right work ethics, experience and talent — then to try to micromanage those traits into the wrong people. The right people will be turned off and quite. And the wrong people will find a way around your app.

Keep it simple. Simply focus on your required results.
If you have sales quotas and success metrics in place – and they are meeting the success criteria; why do you need to know what they ate for breakfast?

My recommendation is to do your best to hire talented and trustworthy people to begin with. Setup goals and objectives around those important metrics (like hitting at least 20 sales calls a week, making at least 5 sales per week, or whatever you deem necessary). Then allow them to fully express their talent and skills they way that best works for them – in regards to meeting those success criteria.

If they are not meeting their quotas, offer them additional training or fire them.
If they are meeting your quotas, don’t fix what ain’t broke.

If you still need this day-to-day checking; I recommend setting up a daily 5 minute call with this person or team. In the agile development (this is called a SCRUM meeting), where you meet daily for a very short time to answer the critical status questions. For you – you may want to have a daily status meeting to report their sales made, sales in the pipeline, expected sales closed dates for those items in pipeline, any roadblocks to closing on time and if they need any help in closing the deals.
Bottom line – It’s a waste of time to “big brother” everything your sales person does. Setup clear expectations in regards to number of sales, leads, and lead-to-sales ratios. Then track only the metrics that bring in the money. Don’t worry about how they get it done. Just focus on the results and treat your team like experienced and valued professionals.

For you would like more information on how to better manage your team or increase their performance, why don’t we schedule a short call. That way I will be able to learn more about your unique situation and be able to recommend your next best step moving forward.

We also have a Professional Development Toolkit ecourse available for self-study.

 Once again, I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

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

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Difference between running a business and a clubhouse

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s comment came from a busy professional when discussing prioritizing a performance review process for his company.


We’re working through our plan at the moment – it encompasses several projects.  I’m pretty hesitant to put another layer (referring to a performance review process) on at the moment.  I don’t know that we have the bandwidth to do so.

Granted, this is one of my pet peeves. This is much like saying, “I’m using my car too much to take the time to change the oil, check the tires, and do regular maintenance on my car. When I’m not traveling so much, I will think about taking the time for car maintenance.”

I have a longer series on CAReer Maintenance 101 which goes into the Top 10 Tips to Ensure Career Longevity. But today’s focus will be on implementing some type of performance review process.  Why it’s important and how to start one with minimum steps.

Setting performance criteria and reviews is to your company as your car maintenance list is to your car.  Some people go along without maintaining their car – but they pay for it eventually.  Executives that feel their team doesn’t have the bandwidth or time to review business goals, individual development goals and their performance related to those goals are running their business more like a clubhouse than a profit-based business. You may be doing a great job scheduling those projects – but you may not be maintaining the professional skills and health of those people doing the work. I say “may not be” – because without periodic reviews, you don’t really know where you stand.  Your car could give out at any time without any warning.

And asking your employees if they want to implement a performance review process is a waste of time. It’s like asking your children if they want vegetables. A diet of projects without the necessary proteins, vegetables, and exercise to keep your body of employees professionally healthy is like only feeding fast foods to your children.

The clubhouse, informal feel is great for small businesses.  You may feel that you are running faster and leaner.  And that formal performance reviews will only slow you down.  That small, family atmosphere is what got you where you are today. And it has served its purpose amazingly. But – if you now want to grow to that next level; expand beyond what you are doing today; make a bigger impact to the industry – you may have outgrown the clubhouse. If you are struggling to grow and make more money – then you should consider that the clubhouse, informal mentality is probably what is limiting your growth.

If you have the time and money to purchase next generation, bigger, faster and better equipment – then you have time to spend some money and time on your employee’s career development.

Okay – so now you are convinced that you need something in place in order to conduct a performance evaluation. What are the minimum steps?

  • Outline everyone’s roles, responsibilities and expectations. Your employees can do this for you, and then you can review/modify as you see fit
  • Outline your criteria for Average Performance, Above Average Performance and Exceptional Performance. If you want your employees to do their best for you – you need to actually outline what their best means to you. Otherwise, people will be disappointed come performance evaluation time. It is recommended to include metrics that actually increase your business revenue, reduce costs or increase client loyalty, satisfaction and referrals.
  • Setup a SMART goals that achieves those goals and criteria.

If you do the above and define a regular review period, you will have better insight into your employees’ performance, and how to help them improve your company profits. You want your employees to be doing the work that lie in their talents, that makes your company profitable. When employees are working in their genius capacity – your company will expand.

Also – you need to be able to strategically assign tasks that will directly affect company profits. If you find that people are being paid for things that do not align with the company vision and mission, you need to adjust. This is the reason for the performance reviews – to find out where you need to readjust.

NOTE: If you have enough staff to actually have a hierarchy, avoid the lazy man’s method of adding additional responsibilities on top of all the other responsibilities. If you want to add more responsibilities without removing anything then you need to include and adjust the % of time and expectations on all the roles. This actually takes more of your time and thought.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

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

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Handling Facebook “friend” requests from your boss

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

How do you handle friend-ing requests from your boss? How about
your employees?

This is a tricky situation, especially if it is your boss making the friend request. You don’t want to say “no” to your boss, for fear they think you are hiding something.   In the “good old days” before social media, it was easy to keep your work life and private life separate. You have more control over what you shared in the office and what you took home at night. It was easier to keep private things private.

One wise friend recommends not placing anything on Facebook that you would be embarrassed if your boss saw it. I 100% agree. But that leaves all your other friends posts. While you can control what you post, it’s impossible to control what other people post.

Mixing your work colleagues and private friends on Facebook and social media is a slippery slope. Even if you are careful about the types of language and messages you put on your wall – there still are risks. Once you have shared friends and colleagues on Facebook, you have lost control over what other people post regarding your shared activities. Other friends can innocently tag you on photographs that they post.

It doesn’t have to be questionable photographs of you drinking (or being drunk) at a party to cause trouble at work. One real-life example is when a friend posted/tagged another friend in a photograph of their day excursion to New York. The managers saw the photograph on Facebook and realize that the employee had called in sick that day to take advantage of this play-date. The employee was fired. And he turned around and sued his friend for posting that photograph. The plaintiff accused his friend of causing his dismissal. Of course the judge corrected the plaintiff – because it was actually the plaintiff’s playing hooky from work that caused the dismissal. At the end of the day, the employee lost his job and a friend.

The intent of that story was to illustrate that you cannot predict the result of mixing your professional and private lives.

This is why I normally recommend keeping your work folks on a separate “professional page”. Keep them separate from your party-friend group. If possible, don’t allow the groups to mix. One recommendation is to keep your business contacts on Linkedin and your party friends on Facebook.

To learn more about how to effectively leverage LinkedIn to advance your career, check out the ecourse “Leveraging Links to Get That Skip-Level Promotion”.

For a list of the 10 Tool to Advance Your Career, request using this link <HERE>.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

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

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Best ways to show clients that they are appreciated

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

What’s the best way to show customers they are appreciated?

The first step is to fully understand your company policies in regards to customer gifts, rewards, recognitions, and tokens of appreciations. Most companies have clear procedures and limits on customer appreciation gives to avoid the perceptions of kickbacks and payback.

Once you understand the company policies, you have various options to explore.

The key to client appreciation is understanding what the client values.  In Dr. Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages, people respond to 5 different categories of appreciation: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time and Physical Touch. I have a presentation on how to translate these “love languages” into the workplace and customer appreciation venue. If you are interested in a group presentation on this topic, I would be happy to guest speak at your organization.

In the meantime, a relationship (whether a personal, professional or business relationship) is composed of one or more people.  Therefore, a show of the right kind of appreciation (the one that the client would value most) in any of those venues would work.  Dr. Chapman mentions that everyone has 2 dominant categories.  For example – if you know that your client feels appreciated (loved) with words of affirmation and Acts of Service – you would best be served by giving them a plaque/award with some fanfare or a special “Done For You” complimentary service.   On the other hand, if your client doesn’t like to be put on stage and value their leisure time with their family above all else – then making them spend their leisure time to accept an award in front of people would have the opposite effect. He/she would resent being there.

Understanding the proper acts that make them feel appreciated (or loved) is the key to a successful client appreciation program.  Then selecting items that fit one of their dominate profiles would win the day.

The appreciation doesn’t have to be expensive, just valuable. For example, if your client owns a restaurant, then periodically taking your department to lunch at their establishment is of great value. Purchasing gift certificates from their shops to give as client appreciation gifts to other customers is of great value. Creating testimonials about their service and establishments would be of great value.

The key is to be in-tuned with what your client values.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

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

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Navigating Office Politics

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  .  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

How women can navigate office politics while staying professional,

Looking for career experts to offer advice on how women can navigate office politics while staying professional, staying focused on their career goals, etc.

Regardless of whether you are male or female, the most effective way to get ahead in an office environment is to do the following:

1)    Avoid gossip, rumors and negative judgments. Stay professional at all times.

2)    Stay in control of your emotions. Stay calm and don’t take anything personally. If you feel yourself becoming emotional, excuse yourself and regain your composure and confidence. (I have some great tips on how to regain your composure without leaving the room as well).

3)    Consistently quantify your results and performance toward the company goals, mission and visions.

4)    Publicize your results in metrics of $$:  increased revenue or decreased costs; increased customer satisfaction or reduce time to market.

5)    Think like the owner and treat the company like your company, regardless of your job title.  Take the initiative beyond your defined title, role and responsibilities.  Be responsible for creating leads, sales, promotions and illustrating that your company is the thought leader in their field.  Companies are in the business to make money.

6)    Compliment, acknowledge and publically recognize other team member’s contributions to your successes.

7)    Become an effective business networker, team lead and team builder toward the company’s bottom line.  Recognize that you can accomplish more with a complementary team or entourage around you.  If your manager is the only one that knows your value, you are doing a disservice to yourself.

In general, when you continue to focus on the larger corporate picture, you will be able to stay unattached to temporary situations and avoid many of the in-fighting and politics.   Start solving the higher-level, Big Picture, COMMON GOALS instead of the silos and individual project concerns.  Focus on the company WIN versus individual wins.

 If you are interested in a more detail program on these things, we have offer several intensive workshops from the 6 Critical Training Areas. (Technical Mastery, Exceptional Performance, Business Networking That Makes the Difference, True Leadership – the transformation from Worker Bee to Queen Bee, Communication that Matters, The Difference between playing with time and controlling it).

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

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

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Overcoming Your First Mistake At A New Job

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.

Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

 

Overcoming Your First Mistake At A New Job

What advice do you have for new hires having to own up to their first big mistake on the job? Is there a professional way to apologize? What is the best way to bounce back after making a mistake?

 

First recommendation is to relax. Everyone that starts a new job is focused on making a good impression. We all want to prove that they were right to hire you. Everyone would be a little nervous about making a mistake. The good news is that everyone makes mistakes. It’s just that we feel more vulnerable at a new job, versus when we’ve been at a position for awhile. So my first recommendation is to relax.

Next is to avoid the term “mistake” and replace it with the idea that you were trying something new. Professionals makes “mistakes” when they are trying something new, experimenting, and stretching beyond their comfort zone. This is a good thing. People that never make mistakes are not growing, exploring or evolving. Every action or decision that you take merely generates more data and results. The results are either moving you closer to your goals OR giving you more data that will get you toward your goal.

The last concept is that your mistake doesn’t ruin your reputation.  It’s how you respond to your mistake that makes or breaks you in the eyes of your coworkers and employer.  By taking the initiative to correct, improve and eliminate the repetition of that same mistake is always a good step.  By creating an automated procedure, utility, better documenting the steps, or sharing the knowledge with others not only stops you from repeating the error but stops everyone that follows you.
Think like the owner of the company.  What would the business owner like to see come from this situation?

Under no circumstances would you try to cover up or blame someone else for the error. Taking responsibility for a situation isn’t taking the blame. Taking responsibility is actually being able to respond to the situation (response – able). Being able to respond to any difficult situation is a sign of a leader.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

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

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Mono-tasking Versus Multi-tasking

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.

Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

Multitasking is out, mono-tasking is in. But how do we learn to focus on just one task at a time? Looking for practical workplace tips on mono-tasking and efficiency.

One recommendation is to realize that “multi-tasking” and “mono-tasking” is really the same thing.   You can only fully focus on one thing at a time. You can only be effective on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking just means that you are churning from one task to the other – but still you are only focused on one item at a time. It’s just that you are only focused on that one item a very short amount of time. You are only fully engaged in that one task for only a few moments. In my opinion, the false encouragement of multitasking supports attention disorder. We proudly announce that we are an expert in multi-tasking – when you are trying to express that you are very organized and able to project manage various tasks. The skill is not in the switching and churning from task to task. It’s not the ability to do multiple tasks at the same time. The organizational skill is in the efficiency, accuracy and quality in which you complete your tasks on time and within budget.

Mono-tasking is merely extending the length of time that you elect to focus on a task or item. Mono-tasking, like any skill, takes practice.   The key to stay focused on a task until its appropriate conclusion is to break the task into manageable mini-tasks.

This is described in more detail in the Sprint and Buffer strategy in the Professional Development Toolkit online course. For more information on this ecourse, follow this link <Professional Development Toolkit>

Once you have your tasks split into mini, self-contained tasks (as described in the Sprint and Buffer method), the next step is to take control of your time and calendar.

Here are some additional suggestions:
1) Make proper use of your “do not disturb” signs on your office door, your instant messages and your phone.  Educate people on when they can and can not disturb them.

2) Schedule regular meetings.  Take the time to setup quick (regularly scheduled) meetings with your entourage and staff.  If people know they will be meeting with you every Tuesday for 10 minutes, they tend to hold all their issues until that date/time – eliminating interruptions.

3) Use Sprint and Buffers:  If you are having problem focusing all day on one task, split the task into mini-tasks with breaks or buffers between the mini-tasks.  Then you can switch to a different task or area in between those mini-tasks for some variety.

4) Set the timer.  If you can’t focus for a long time on something without getting distracted, set your timer for 20 or 30 minutes.  Stay focused on that task until the timer goes off. Often times when you know, in advance, how much time you have to work on something – you become more productive and focused. Often times when you set yourself a time limit to get something done, you challenge yourself to get it done before the timer. Make it a game.

5) Use the timer to distract yourself back to work.  If you take longer breaks then you intend, use the timer to bring you back to work.  For example, if you take a break with social media or internet searching – you can often allow time to get away from you.  By setting the timer for 10 or 15 minutes – the alarm will distract you back to reality.  This allows you to take those spontaneous side-tracks without getting lost in time.

6) Implement the “parking lot” method (discussed in more detail in the Professional Development Toolkit) to jot down any extraneous and spontaneous ideas that come to you while you are focused on this particular task. This allows you to keep track of your great ideas AND still stay focused on what you need to accomplish “at this moment”. After you have completed your scheduled task, then review your parking lot items to prioritize and schedule quality time for those items.

7) If you feel that you cannot us the “do not disturb” solution because your manager is a micromanage, then you need to proactively ease his/her anxiety over the status of things. If you regularly and frequently provide status reports that anticipate issues and questions – you reduce his/her need to micromanagement, reduce interruptions; and increase the trust between you and your manager.

For more tips to realistic scheduling, check out the article “12 Tips to Realistic Schedule”. Download your copy <HERE>.


 I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

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

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes