Category Archives: Time Management

Designing Your Scarecrows to Success

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scarecrowsDesigning your own Scarecrow:  In the past, we’ve discussed doing at least 1 scary thing a week to grow and develop.   (Read full article of “How to do things that scare you” here)

Now that the fall is here – so is harvest time.  So — what types of tools have you been using to scare away those pesky voices, events, and even friends that tend to distract and sabotage your success?

While talking about the dilemma “is your glass have full or have empty”  I often reply “It’s irrelevant because there’s free refills”  Someone once asked a discussion group question – “What do you do is someone else smashes your half-full glass?”   Some folks said , “Just get a bigger glass”.  Some folks answered, “Get a bigger glass and stay away from those people in the future”.

One big mistake we all make is to assume that ‘someone else’ is smashing your glass.  No one can smash your glass, except you.  No one can affect you if you don’t allow them to.   It’s that old question “If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound.” People can say anything they want (negative or positive).    If you are not listening to them, then you are not affected.  Therefore, the only reason someone can upset you is because you (for some reason) are believing what they are saying.  So – it really does come back to – it’s not what they are saying that hurts you.  It’s what you think about what they are saying that is hurting you.  Therefore, if you change how you think about what they are saying – you can turn this event into a positive (regardless of their initial intentions).

So — this is where Your Scarecrow comes into being.

We sometimes allow others (voices, events, and even well-meaning ‘framily’ (friends and family) to derail us from our personal and professional goals.   What have you put in place to keep you are target?  What type of Scarecrows have you put in place to divert and attract others away from negative influences.  And what type of Scarecrows have you put in place to help you focus on the goal at hand?

What would you like to use to help switch your mindset on some things.

A Scarecrow can be several different things:

1) A vision board of where you want to be, do or have

2) Picture of your best friend for continued encouragement

3) A pact to text a friend each time you completed a work-out or tedious task

4) A rigid routine or schedule to help keep you on track and active

5) Motivational audios or videos

6) Journalling

7) Daily phone call to a trusted friend

8) Use of a timer to limit breaks, computer window browsing, or get us back on track

9) Blocking time on the calendar for our imperatives (like family, friend, healthy lifestyle, etc).

10) Lining up accountability partners and reasonable forcing functions to help us succeed – as in a Mastermind or Synergy group.

If can be anything.   If you haven’t lined up your Scarecrows, do it today.

More information on how to be a part of a mastermind or synergy group, <<click here>>

How to Launch a Successful Grand Opening for Your Department or Team

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Although these tips are specifically for Grand Opening for your businesses – they are relevant to any major changes that your teams or departments are making.  The advantage expanding the Grand Opening concept beyond just starting a business is that you receive the following:

  • Re-vitalize your connections with inactive clients or stakeholders
  • Provide an event that encourages current clients, members or stakeholders to make referrals
  • Expose and publicizes your teams accomplishments to a wider audience
  • Exposes your company, department and team as a thought-leader in this space

Below is an article by Mary Brown.  Mary is an event planner and freelance writer from North Carolina.  Review her tips and think of ways these concepts can be used for your team or department.

How to Launch a Successful Grand Opening for Your Business

About half of all new businesses survive five years or more and about one-third survive a decade or longer, according to the Small Business Association Office of Advocacy.

Depositphotos_10281388_xsA grand opening event can provide the opportunity to get your business off to a great head start and offer the chance to build client relationships that will eventually help you achieve success to become a company that survives and thrives, long-term.

Make an Impression

In order to stand out and make an impression, your grand opening should be more than just a staged ribbon-cutting. Throwing something together at the last minute not only wastes time and money, but you’ll also miss out on taking advantage of one of the best opportunities to gain lots of publicity and new clients. You don’t even have to spend a lot to make it work.

  • Charity event. Consider hosting a charity event as part of your grand opening by contacting a nonprofit organization within the community. For example, a restaurant might partner with a local food bank. An environmental consulting company might contact the local chapter of the Sierra Club or the Conservation International Foundation. Your office or store can host the event that raises funds for the charity. By focusing on charity work while ensuring that your business name and logo are highly visible, your company will virtually sell itself.
  • Opening your company to the community. Your grand opening might include opening up your business to the entire community. Consider providing special pricing and even giveaways that can only be taken advantage of during the festivities. Allow visitors to get a glimpse of the business behind the scenes with a special tour while meeting employees and sampling products.

Date and Target Audience

Your grand opening shouldn’t coincide with the first day you’re open for business. Ideally, it should be three-to-four weeks, or even a few months afterwards, in order to work out any inevitable kinks. This will also allow you to determine high-traffic times and figure out the ideal hours to hold the event and attract the maximum publicity.

You should also identify your target customers to determine who you will invite. Well-known community members can help you increase the media coverage your event receives, so consider local politicians, prominent business officials, Chamber of Commerce staff, members of business associations and local press. Of course, you should also invite anyone who may have helped you to get your business started, in addition to friends and family members.

Spread the Word

Next, get the word out about the event to as many people as possible. A great way to get word-of-mouth advertising going is to join a community organization, which can help create a buzz through networking. Talk to your local Chamber of Commerce for recommendations. They may also be able to offer grand opening assistance benefits at a discount.

Advertising is also a key factor, and it doesn’t even have to cost a lot. Social media is free, so take advantage of every method possible, such as sharing via Facebook and Twitter. A press release is also a must. It can make or break the amount of media coverage your business will receive.

A good press release should:

  • Have a headline that stands out, encourage the viewer to read more.
  • Include a summarizing statement that will convey your main message quickly.
  • Include a good story. A business grand opening may not be enough. Think about what makes yours unique. Are you bringing new jobs to the area? Representing a new industry? Supporting environmental efforts? What would your audience find most interesting?
  • Always include the who, what, when, where and why of the event.

Offline Marketing

Direct mail marketing can also be essential for reaching the maximum number of people at a fairly low cost. A service such as Overnight Prints postcards allows your business to reach potential customers as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible. They can be mailed, handed out to anyone you meet and placed on car windshields, or any other place where people will see them, so they’re drawn to your grand opening event if that’s the audience you’re looking for. Offer an incentive on the postcard, such as a discount for bringing it to the opening, and use a bold, colorful design that encourages people to take a second look.

When it comes time to quit your job, do it without burning bridges.

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The IT Professional Development Toolkit DVD goes into further details on the who, what, where, when, and why of these topics.

When it comes time to quit your job, how can you do it without burning bridges.

Of course this depends upon how you have conducted yourself throughout your career; but if you have been professional and a valued contributor all along – here are a few tips:

1)  Highlight all the positive things that this company has allowed you to accomplish.  Show appreciation for your manager and all the opportunities provided on your behalf.

2) Share your individual career goals and plans.  You should have been sharing this all along with your manager in your regular one-on-one managers meetings (detailed in the Professional Development Toolkit).  Therefore, this will not be the first time your organization hears about your career goals.

3) If you have been sharing your career goals with your manager and mentors; and your current company can not provide your ‘next step’ – there will be no bridges burned.  You are simply continuing your career growth and following your IDP (Individual Development Plan detailed in the Professional Development Toolkit).

4) Stay in touch with your managers/mentors/co-workers.  After you leave, stay in contact with past managers, mentors and co-workers.  Everything changes.  It’s a 75% chance that those people will also move on (change their positions) within the next 5 years.  Continue to network with them to understand how their power of influence is growing.  Continue to share with them about your career plans (as well as understanding their goals).  Continue to help each other achieve those next steps.   Stay on their radar – such that when a great opportunity presents itself to them, you are on their minds.

5) You never know who other people know or what the future will bring.  Make sure you stay LinkedIn.com (or similar) connected so that you easily see who they are connected with.  This way you can more easily leverage your links or network.  Joe may not be in a direct position to help or mentor you; but you see that he knows Dr. Barklette that would be a great mentor for you.  If you had asked Joe if he had any recommendations for a mentor, he may not think of Dr. Barklette.  But because you can see Dr. Barklette in Joe’s circle, you can ask for the specific introduction.  You also know that Dr. Barklette might need a research assistant or project manager on his next program, etc.

Bottom line is that right way to quit your job doesn’t stop when you walk out of the door.  It’s really just the beginning.  Make it a point to continue the business network and build a working relationship with those past relationships.  The biggest mistake that people make is to close the door on those years of collaboration and professional network.

If you would like to know more details, please email LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

A Vacation from Email

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management book TimePeace: Making peace with time  and The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations– and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  Steve Wynkoop and I talk a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG TV.

The IT Professional Development Toolkit DVD goes into further details on the who, what, where, when, and why of these topics.

Some of us receive hundreds of emails a day. Others receive thousands. Just managing your inbox is one thing, but what about making time for everything  else you need to do while still remaining timely with email responses?

Email is one of those places where you can easily and quickly reduce your time.  Here are some steps:

1) Incorporate auto-responders to handle the Frequently Asked Questions and Concerns.  Document Q&A once and post the FAQ in an easily accessible location online.  Use the auto-responders to point people to the information or website.

2) Delegate 1st line emails to an assistant.  Just because you can answer your email doesn’t mean you should be answering your email.  Even if you don’t feel like you can keep an assistant busy, you can take advantage of a virtual assistant.  You can arrange to have a part-time virtual assistant during your busiest sales or development time or have them work just 1-2 days a week.

3) Consider a Subject Headline convention.  Ask your team to use a specific convention <Type: Informational/Status Report/Action Required/Critical Issue> and <Deadline>.  If the headline is formatted in such a way that you can determine the topic, priority and action needed from you – then you (or your assistant) don’t have to open the email to properly prioritize it.

4) Make use of Message Rules.  Use your message-rules email features to automatically sort your incoming mail to it’s proper folders without your intervention.  For instance: newsletters, junk mail, promotions, social media updates and external marketing campaigns can automatically be sorted, filtered or deleted without taking your time.  Once you have your Subject Headline Convention in place, you can easily filter and sort based on the information type and due-date in the headline (versus when the email was sent)….which is a more effective way to sort.  Then you schedule blocks of time to review the different folders.

5) Announce your intentions.  Everyone is familiar with the “On Vacation” feature of many emailers.  The reason this works is that it simply announces your communication/email schedule.  It tells people when you are away from email and for them not to expect an immediate response.   It also includes backup contacts and hand-off information.  Don’t limit this strategy to vacation.  Publish your “email response intentions”.  Some examples (but limited to):
a) When they can expect a quality response….within 1 business day, 48 hours, 1 week; etc.  If you have your Subject Headline Convention in place, you can have different SLA (service level agreements) in place for different topics, categories, priorities, folders and even  based on senders.  This can all be automated and filtered into the various folders. They will get receiving an immediate response (via your auto-responder), confirming that you did receive their email and needs xx time to provide a complete and quality response.  This automatically puts your sending at ease without adding pressure to your plate.
b) Move from interrupt mode to blocked out quality time.  Announce in your auto-responders that you normally review your email at 2-4:00pm daily (just an example).  Blocking out a specific time review your email not only releases you from the distraction of having to review each mail as it comes along; but allows you the time to give a focused and accurate response.  Responses created ‘on the fly’ are often vague, rushed and sometimes inaccurate.  They are often crafted to dismiss the issue as quickly as possible; and often create more confusion than it has answered.
People know now that you have schedules some quality time read this in detail and give it focused thought later in the day.  Most people just need to get if off their desk (not necessarily an immediate response from you).   And they will feel validated that you feel this is important enough for you to take your time in responding.   If that time period is not satisfactory to them, they can schedule a phone meeting or drop by your office.
c) Eliminate the Quadrant 3 emails.  Include a delegate, back-up, FAQ document or automation to handle some of the seemingly urgent but unimportant items.  Most of our time is spent on seemingly urgent but unimportant items (Quadrant 3 from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People).  Just because someone is asking “now” doesn’t mean that it’s urgent.  It just means they are contacting you ‘now’.
d) Have a communication plan.  Set the proper expectations in regards to your email.  Have a communication plan with each of your significant stakeholders.  If you educate your significant stakeholders on how you plan to manage your email, people will know how reset their expectations.  It’s when you don’t tell people when you will get back to them, that they continue to pester you until you get back to them.  Setting up a communication plan in regards to phone, email, instant messages, text, meetings, etc is a great way to avoid both distractions and frustrations.

If you would like to know more about communication plans, please email LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

5 Ways to Get That Raise

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management book TimePeace: Making peace with time – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  Steve Wynkoop and I talk a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG TV. This episode was about how to find a mentor.   This article goes into more detail.  And the IT Professional Development Toolkit DVD goes into further details on the who, what, where, when, and why of these topics.

Audio of this episode:

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Have this ever happened to you?  You get a great performance review; they are very pleased with your work; they say they would like to give you a raise — BUT, due to budget problems, it is not possible at this time.  What do you do to succeed?

The old adage of “hitting while the iron is hot” is significant here. First, congratulate yourself for recognizing and acknowledging that you have the power to make this situation better.

  1. Get the performance evaluation and desire to give you a raise in writing.
  2. If they cannot give you a raise at this time, it is reasonable to ask “when do they foresee that they will be able to give you the raise” .   How you conduct yourself at this point plays an important role into getting the raise.  From this point, act as if the raise is imminent; is going to happen (just not today).     Take them at their word that you deserve a raise.  Get that answer in writing.
  3. Request another salary review every 3 months or every quarter.  This is a way to keep this discussion on the table. If they don’t know when they will be able to give you a raise, follow-up and schedule those quarterly salary discussions. (Squeaky wheels get the grease). You should already be having frequent one-on-one manager meetings (outlined in the Professional Development Toolkit) – so you merely have to periodically bring this topic up in the already scheduled meetings.
  4. Discuss alternative compensations that your manager has discretion over (outlined in the Professional Development Toolkit). This allows him to give you what you want without having to go above his head :
    • 4 day work week schedule; flex time; working from home
    • Additional vacation days
    • Extra time off
    • Allowed to do some community service or volunteering a few hours a month to your favorite charity during work hours.
    • Reimbursement for professional association membership, industry related journals, subscriptions, magazines.
    • Reimbursement for higher certifications, licenses, additional degrees in the company’s industry.
    • Travel on the company’s dime via customer visits, speaking engagements at out-of-town trade-shows, user conferences, and technical seminars.
    • Reimburse for home internet fees because you sometimes work from home
    • If your company does donations or charity work – see if your charity is listed and/or ask it to be listed.
  5. Do your homework.
    • Continue to excel in your performance and career (outlined in the Professional Development Toolkit).  Continue to log, track and measure your own performance in regards to your individual development goals and business commitments.
    • Conduct industry salary investigation.  If you can show that you are currently underpaid in comparison to the industry standard in your region, you have additional ammunition on you side.  http://www.payscale.com is just one website that can help you with your investigation.

There are certainly things you can do now, to re-start the salary discussion. If you would like more information on that, please consider purchasing the IT Professional Development Toolkit or invest in a one-on-one Coaching package.

The Book of Answers: 150 Career Critical Situations also covers the above in more detail as well.

Once again – I go into the who, what, where, when and why in more detail in the Professional Development Toolkit now available at <HERE>.

 

7 Tips to Finding a Mentor

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management book TimePeace: Making peace with time  and The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations– and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  Steve Wynkoop and I talk a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG TV.

The IT Professional Development Toolkit DVD goes into further details on the who, what, where, when, and why of these topics.

Most successful people believe having a mentor greatly helps them stay on target and even excel quicker.

But how do you find a mentor, particularly with someone who you might not have a relationship
with yet or resides in another location.

7 Tips to finding a Mentor

1)      Outline the items/areas that you are interested being mentored or coached.  There may be several areas that you are interested in.  So – don’t feel that one mentor has to fulfill all areas.  You can have one mentor for “how to better market yourself in your organization”.  You can have one for “how to increase my technical expertise and influence in the organization”.  You can have one for “how to step more into the spotlight in trade-shows, user conferences, speaking engagements”  You can have one on advice for starting your own business.

2)      Once you have your areas outlined – talk to your manager about wanting to improve these specific areas.   Ask your manager’s advice on who in the organization would be good mentors in those areas.  Ask your manager if he/she would provide a warm-introduction (simply touch base with that  person to see if they are open to something like that).

3)      Do the same with your HR representative.  Share your desire to get a mentor with your HR representative.

4)      Ask co-workers and friends if they have been a mentor, have a mentor or have a recommendation on one.

5)   Attend your professional association meetings, networking groups and subscribe/read your industry magazines.  Be on the lookout for people giving relevant presentations/talks at your professional networking groups OR authoring articles in your industry journals.   Introduce yourself by telling them how much you enjoyed their presentation or articles.  Discuss various points that you really connected with.  These are great ice-breakers.  Tell them that you would like to interview them for your article, blog or newsletter. During your interview, share your professional goals – and ask their advice on how to find a mentor in their specific area.

6)   Repeat the above for other experts in your areas of interests. Start adding these contacts to your LinkedIn or Facebook space.  Reciprocate and ‘Like” and provide positive comments on their businesses.  Go out of your way to give them testimonials and endorsements on their pages.  This helps keep you on their radar.

7)      Make use of your facebook and  LinkedIn.com connections.  Do a search/review of your network to see if they have the qualifications necessary to be a guide.  You mentor doesn’t need to be in your current organization or company.  It is actually beneficial to expand your reach beyond your current company.  When you find someone that you want to reach out to – simply state your goal, and that you admire their accomplishment.  Be specific on what you really like about their background and achievements, highlighting any commonalities between you and them.  Admit that they seem to be in the perfect position to suggest a possible mentor.  This gives the person an “out” without alienation.  If they want to mentor you, they will often suggest themselves and a meeting time.  Otherwise, they may offer to connect/introduce you to someone else.  Either way you win.

This last point is MOST important.  Reciprocate either by paying them for their time and expertise; gift their family dinner/theater/entertainment tickets; offer your services in the areas of your expertise, etc.  Avoid taking without giving back.  Otherwise, you run the risk of over-extending your welcome.  And you really want to develop a long-term working relationship with these masters.

In my IT Professional Development Toolkit, I go into the: who, what, where, when and how to accomplish all of the above.   For more information about the toolkit, please contact

 

vConferenceOnline.com/Bits on the Wire, Inc.
6420 E. Broadway, Suite A300
Tucson, AZ 85710
520-760-2400 or (877) 853-9158
info@vconferenceonline.com

 

 

Or sign up for my weekly Time and Career Management Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

 

How to Hire Friends or Family Members

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of TimePeace: Making peace with time – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  I recently received the questions “What is your #1 tip on hiring friends or family members?”

Small business owners may look to family and friends for staffing assistance.  Even if you are not a business owner, you may feel obligated to recommend a friend or family member.   Though you may know and trust these people more than a stranger, there are several things to consider up-front.

There’s always a high risk of losing the friendship or creating bad feelings with the family member or friend. It’s just a risky business proposition. If you are still going to do it, here are 5 tips to implement to make is a smoother experience.

1)     Have the right reason for hiring your family or friend.

Example of the wrong reason:  Simply to help them get on their feet and you feel obligated because they are ‘family’.  This isn’t the best reason to invite a friend or family member into your business.  If you want to help them out, help them with their resume, forward job leads their way, pay for their skills training or certification course, coach them in other attributes that you feel is keeping them from success, etc.   There are many other ways to help them get on their feet, other than having them affect your business and your quality of life.

Example of the right reason:  They have the right skills, personality, work ethics, business reputation, professionalism, exceptional work experience in relevant industry, you have successfully worked with them in the past, and you would love to work with them in the future.  They are also mature and feel that your relationship will not be affected if the business relationship does not last.

2)     Documented detail expectations and work contracts.

In the interview and hiring phases, get everything in writing.  It’s especially critical to have formal contracts when working with friends and family.  This assures everyone is on the same page and that you have a ‘meeting of the minds’ before you start. Have the contracts and documented approved and signed by all the appropriate stakeholders.  Any modification of these agreements must also be documented, approved and signed.

These documented expectation and work contracts should be instituted for all employees; but critical for family and friends that you hire.  Follow-through on any consequences or rewards documented in those signed contracts.

3)     Avoid being their direct report on the job.

To eliminate daily conflicts, it might be good to assign your family or friend to an experiences and high-performing manager or mentor.  Share the particulars with your manager to assure him/her that your family member should not be treated any differently than any other employee.  Share the PBC and IDP documents with the manager (Sign up for the Professional Development Toolkit to learn more about PDB and IDP documents).  Also, tell your family or friend that they need to go through the manager or mentor – and not directly to you regarding work issues.

4)     Proactively eliminate venting to other family members.

Because this is your friend or family member, you will have mutual family and friends in common.  And they might have a particularly hard day and vent to mutual friends and family members.  Realize that it is very possible that you might hear “through the grapevine” some grievances and complaints; and friend in common might feel obligated to take a side in the conflict. This will not only cause strain on your relationship with your employee but with the family and friends you have in common.

Before you hire your friend or family member, outline your grievance policy and procedures.  Make it very clear that you expect him/her to take any grievances directly to his/her manager.  If the issue is associated with the manager, they should follow-up with their 2nd line manager.  Make I clear that you will not tolerate any side-routes through family members.  There will be consequences to not following this grievance policy that could include probation or lose of position.

This grievance policy should be abide by all employees – but especially critical for employees that share family and friends.

5)     Be over-diligent in equal treatment to all employees.

If you feel you need to institute a new policy, procedure change, rewards, bonus, advance pay or improvement plan, you need to institute, document and announce the change for the entire company.  You need to avoid the perception that your family member is receiving special treatment (either positive or negative treatment).  You can do this by being over-diligent in your documented company policies.  You also need to document all your employee interactions regarding performance reviews, rewards, performance improvement needs, reasons for pay increases or decreases, etc.  Error on the side of too-much proof regarding all employee interactions and performance issues.

Bottom line:  I am not recommending anything that should not already be done for regular employment and company policies.  The key is not to deviate these procedures based upon a personal relationship with the potential employee.  If you friend and family member feels uncomfortable with the level of professionalism of your business, then your company is simply not a good match for them.  It’s best to find out at the interview stage.

 

In my IT Professional Development Toolkit, I go into the: who, what, where, when and how to accomplish all of the above. I also have a transferrable skill worksheet.  For more information about the toolkit, please contact

 

vConferenceOnline.com/Bits on the Wire, Inc.
6420 E. Broadway, Suite A300
Tucson, AZ 85710
520-760-2400 or (877) 853-9158
info@vconferenceonline.com

 

 

Or sign up for my weekly Time and Career Management Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

What’s the Bravest Thing You’ve Ever Done At Work?

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The Bravest Thing You’ve Ever Done At Work
Although I’ve done many brave things at work, this  was the most unforgettable because it not only hits an uncomfortable  topic – but shows how a truly, integrity-based company responds when  something is pointed out to them.
I was a manager of 12 developers and testers  at the company; and had just received a glowing performance review  rating.  Since I was a manager, I understood how the raises were  calculated based upon my review rating and current income.
My manager looked very pleased as he asked: “Well,  how do you like your raise?”
“I like the raise very much.  It’s the base  salary that I’m not too happy with.”
His face fell. “What do you mean?”
“I think my base salary is lower than most people  doing my level of work and at my performance level.”
My manager took a looked at my base salary and  nodded to acknowledge that he heard what I was saying.  “Okay.  Let me  look into this”.
“Thank you.  I really appreciate  it.”
The next time I met with my manager he said that I  was right about my salary and described a plan to adjust it.  He said that  because of my query, the company did a department review of all the  salaries and discovered that I wasn’t the only one not being compensated  appropriately.  Because the correction wasn’t just one person, the  company did not have the available funds to correct those  affected, all at once.  But they were going to continually increase  the salary of the affected employees with periodic raises every 4 months until  they were compatible with the average pay scale for our industry and  location.
I very much appreciated their response because it  illustrated two things:
1) The fact that they didn’t want to loose a  valuable employee because of a salary dispute.
2) Their integrity to not only correct my salary,  but anyone else’s salary that was below the national range.
I was very impressed with the way my manager (who  was 1 of  the 4 founders and co-owner of the company) handled the  conversation.  But I suspect that if he wasn’t one of the co-owners, the  story might have had a different ending.
Tell me your story.

Where does ‘hackling’ fit in today’s digital world?

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Where does ‘hackling’ fit in today’s digital world?

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and efficiency coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my Professional Development Toolkit package , I go into professional development and real-world IT topics in detail. If you are interested in more training in these areas, get signed up

In business – a successful business person acknowledges the consumer trends/human behavior and adjusts.

A business and finance expert Kevin Price of Price of Business recently asked me the following question:
It seems that in recent years people have become less communicative in spite of all the tools available to interact with others. Or do those tools — smart phones, tablets, etc., make people become weaker in communications? In particular, it seems people have a hard time communicating about deals; they no longer have the skill to negotiate prices (hackle).  Haven they fallen off the face of the earth?

I have a theory about the statement: “people now have a hard time communicating about deals”.  It’s an auxiliary to the “supply and demand” rule.  People are more inclined to hackle or negotiate when there is a “one-of-a-kind” item of their desire.  For instance, if you find your dream home and you are convinced that there isn’t another house in the right neighborhood, near the proper schools, with the right lawn-size, etc. you are more apt to take the time to go back-n-forth on the price.

But, if there is an over-abundance of supply, people will just go elsewhere for an item of similar content.

In today’s digital and internet world, there are a wealth of ebays, craiglists, amazon.com, and various other e-commerce sellers on the internet.  There are also free apps that does the price and feature comparisons for you.  Therefore, instead of taking the time to negotiate and hackle, people tend to walk off and search the internet for a better offer. Most buyers now have an overabundance of suppliers at their finger tips. They no longer feel the need or pressure to negotiate for a better price, because they understand the abundance of world-wide sellers. Buyers are no longer restricted to local retail shops because they have the global market at their command.  Even the conventional ‘brick and mortar” shops understand the need for website and online ordering.

This switches the responsibility for the sale back onto the seller. Because of the abundance of the global competition he faces, it is the seller that needs to make the greater effort for the sale. It is the seller that needs to make the offer more attractive by offering additional training, onsite installation, local support, no shipping costs or delivery charges, personal support etc.  It is the seller that needs to improve their interpersonal communication skills.

Today is it the business owner that needs to better convey their differentials to the buyer. It is the business owner that needs to set themselves apart from the pack. It is the business owner that needs to take better advantage of the digital and internet bargaining propositions.

Once again, it is not the tool’s fault. The tools are simply impacting the way people do business. And successful businesses recognize the impact of tools on human nature and adjusts to the new consumer MO.

In my Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.    In my Book of Answers: Companion piece to the Professional Toolkit, I have 100 work-life scenarios like the above.  The scenarios show how to accomplish your goals in similar situation.
For more information on how to get this toolkit or the “Book of Answers”, please contact:

vConferenceOnline.com/Bits on the Wire, Inc.
6420 E. Broadway, Suite A300
Tucson, AZ 85710
520-760-2400 or (877) 853-9158
info@vconferenceonline.com

Guiding employees on when to use the phone

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Guiding employees on when to use the phone

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and efficiency coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my Professional Development Toolkit package , I go into professional development and real-world IT topics in detail. If you are interested in more training in these areas, get signed up
Many workers prefer to communicate by email, IM or text over using the phone, because it’s more efficient. But there are times when it is better to pick up the phone, because it is a sensitive situation. What are the professional situations when it imperative to talk by phone or in person, rather than by email? And how can managers and company owners train teams that are often more comfortable with digital conversations to judge when they need to talk–so they can get better results for the business? Does it ever make sense to have a formal or informal policy guiding employees on this?

Come up with a “proper communication escalation chart” for your department similar to the below
Convey a proper communication escalation chart: (make your own specific to your technology)
1) Post card or snail mail
2) newsletter or bulk email
3) terse, brief text, chat or instance message
4) personal or individual email
5) phone call
6) in-person visit or face-to-face meeting (can be video meeting as well)
Outline the goal of the communiqué
For instance. The goal isn’t to send them a message and cross it off your list. The goal is to make sure they understand the information or message. It’s not sufficient to send something. You also need to validate that they received it, read it, and understood it. If your message had action items, you also need to verify that they have accepted the assignment. Telling someone they need to do something is only a small percentage of the challenge. You also need to make sure they received the message, understood it, and accepts the responsibility. Communication isn’t just a two-way street. It’s a high-traffic two-way street.
Guide them to use your communication scale appropriately. Some examples:
1) Match or escalate the communication style of your client.
For instance, if your client calls you – you call them back (do not respond with a communication style of a lesser urgency). That is disrespectful.
2) Limit text and instance messages for confirmation of meetings or facts. Do not use terse, brief communication for general information, directives or conversation.
3) If you don’t understand their text or email, escalate — call them or visit them for an interactive conversation. Anything below the phone-call communication style is not an effective communication style for clarifying details. It needs to be quick and interactive. The longer you delay in getting the proper understanding, the more risk that the other person is moving forward on mis-information.
4) Apologize in person-to-person communication style (anything higher than a phone call); then follow-up with either a letter, gift or email. But the apology needs to be in person and sincere. It illustrates the proper urgency and respect you feel in correcting the problem.
5) When there is a miscommunication – escalate the communication style. If your text was mis-interpreted, send an individual email. If your email was unclear, pick up the phone. If your phone message was unclear – visit in person.
6) If you didn’t get all the information that you needed or are not getting a response – escalate the communication style. If their email didn’t give you all the details that you needed to complete the job for them – pick up the phone. If a phone call didn’t capture everything – schedule a face-to-face meeting to bang-out the details and get consensus before starting the job. Have the client sign-off on the specifications as well.
If they are not responding to your email, don’t keep sending them email. Go up the escalation scale. Their email may not be working. Same with phone messages, etc. Remember, the goal isn’t to send them the message. Your goal is to validate that they received and accepted the information.
7) Document everything and give your client a copy or link to the minutes, agreements, specifications, etc. Follow-up with a phone call or message, that you sent them an important email with the details. Ask them to contact you back if they did not get it OR if they have any questions. Do everything that you can think of to validate they received your message, understand it, and agree with the actions prescribed.
8) Include deadlines for a response in your correspondences and communiqués. When leaving a message, include all the mandatory information to get to the next step. For instance, if you are on a deadline and need a certain piece of information from this person – avoid leaving vague and ambiguous messages like: “Call me”. This type of vague message might get you a return call on the weekend.
Instead, leave more detail message like: “Joe, this is Jane. I’m working on the X project and I need the input/output parameters regarding your featureY to complete the proposal. I need this information by Wednesday morning. I will be at the office number (xxx-xxxx) until 5:00pm and at home (xxx-xxxx) after 7:00pm. You call me as late as you want. “
You can also text him that he has an urgent voice message; “Joe -please listen to the voice mail that I left as soon as reasonably possible”.
If you are in the same location — just visit his office, leave a message with his assistant, etc. Illustrate and match the appropriate urgency through the method of contact your choose.
9) Get into the habit of using your Vacation or Office-Hours auto-responders and notifications.
Publicize when you are available and when you are not available in advance. Explain, in advance, why you are not answering the phone or responding to email during specific blocks of time. Make use of auto-responders to publicize when you will be able to answer their questions. In your auto-responders, announce your preferred method of communication (by phone, by text, by email, etc).
10) Recommend employees create a communication plan for each of their clients.
Everyone will have a different and preferred way to communication. The better you understand the best way to reach your clients and co-workers, the more successful you will be. Encourage your employees to create a simple communication plans for all their clients and significant co-workers, executives and managers. Include their numbers, emails, and preferred communication method. Include different categories such as:
a) how would they like general information (i.e. status reports in newsletters, on website, some lower communication method)
b) how would they like to be notified of action items (i.e. personal email with deadline in subject line)
c) how would they like to find out about problems or stop-production issues (i.e. by phone call with your solutions)

 

I talk more about this in my Professional Development Toolkit at https://www.lauraleerose.com/it-professional-development-toolkit/

 

In my Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.    In my Book of Answers: Companion piece to the Professional Toolkit, I have 100 work-life scenarios like the above.  The scenarios show how to accomplish your goals in similar situation.
For more information on how to get this toolkit or the “Book of Answers”, please contact:

vConferenceOnline.com/Bits on the Wire, Inc.
6420 E. Broadway, Suite A300
Tucson, AZ 85710
520-760-2400 or (877) 853-9158
info@vconferenceonline.com

Try it and let me know what you think.