Tag Archives: 360 degree

When your peer is now your boss (or visa-versa)…

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As a business and success coach, I help people manage their career development. There will be times when someone is promoted from within their team or department.  At these times, there may be some initial strain when a fellow peer is now your boss (or visa-versa).  I find that appreciation in the workplace goes a long way in eliminating the awkwardness of these dynamics.

Teams work because of the diversity and skill set of each individual in the group. Whichever received the promotion, they received it because of the previous team dynamics. Therefore, every member of that team was somewhat responsible for that person’s promotion. The team will continue to succeed as long as they see themselves as a team.

With that in mind, consider these tips:

 When your peer becomes your boss:

1) Show appreciation for the individual talent and skill that got them promoted. AND acknowledge your strengths and your part in this promotion.

2) Congratulate them on their promotion and assure them that you will continue to support them and the team.

3) Share with them your understanding that they are now in a position to network and influence a higher level of management and oversee an expanded level of projects. With this in mind, outline your strengths and your career goals to your new boss. Your new boss has seen you in action (which is a positive), but possibly does not know your individual career and development plans. Share these with your new manager, so that they can continue to forward opportunities that match your desires as well as your abilities..

When you become the boss to your peers.

1) Show appreciation for their individual talent and skills. AND acknowledge that they were a large part of your promotion.

2) Ask for their help and support to continue to have the strongest team in their division.

3) Clarify your vision and mission for the team and ask for their ideas on how to accomplish these goals. Be clear in your direction, but continue to work as a team to accomplish the goals.

4) Share that this new opportunity for you also means new opportunities for them. Because of this promotion, you have access to departments and contacts that you didn’t have before. Convey that your goal is to appropriately share these contacts and opportunities with them. Invite them to share their career aspirations and goals — so that you can introduce and connect them with projects and teams that will get them to their goals..

As a success coach, I find this type of mindset deflects any awkwardness that people may anticipate.

If you need some one-on-one consult, please consider taking advantage of your free introductory coaching session.

 

What would you do with 10 minutes?

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If you were given an extra 10 minutes each day, what would you do with it?

Would you….

  • Fly a kite with the kids?
  • Help the needy?
  • Read an article?
  • Write a letter?
  • Ride a bike?
  • Kid a kidder?
  • Take a walk or swim?
  • Take a break?
  • Hug a friend?
  • Stretch?
  • Challenge yourself?
  • Laugh?
  • Organize your desk?
  • Sing?

 

Here’s your ten minutes. Do it NOW. Set your timer and indulge for 10 minutes in something that will propel you forward faster. 10 minutes a day can move mountains.

Integrity Booster: It’s all in the follow-through….

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By Laura Lee Rose, author of TimePeace: Making peace with time

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – Corporate Exit Strategist for the Blooming Entrepreneur – and I am a business and life coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  As a business coach, I sometimes receive late requests to change an appointment. Because of my busy schedule, it’s not easy to accommodate these types of last-moment requests.  In my professional life, I easily handle this with my cancelation and refund policies.  But how do we handle similar things in our personal and social lives?  Well, I recommend that we respond in similar tones.

Many people define integrity as: Saying what you mean, and doing what you say.
Most of us will say we have integrity.  If so, then why are we still:

  • late for appointments
  • avoiding certain phone calls and meetings
  • not following-through on commitments to ourselves and others
  • telling people what we think they want to hear
  • asking just short of what we really want, because we don’t think others will give us exactly what we want
  • say something we don’t really mean

All the above are examples of ‘a slip of integrity’.

Everyone has been disappointed by a seemingly sincere person.  And everyone has disappointed someone in the very same way.  Therefore, everyone has hiccups in their integrity.  It’s natural.  It’s human.  To me, integrity is a muscle that we can make stronger with practice and time.

A key integrity-muscle toning exercise is how we respond when we do fall off center.  Do we not only apologize, but go out of our way to make amends? Or do we make a string of excuses for the mistake? Do we blame others? Do we allow the shame of making a mistake compound the situation?

Generally, it is not the initial hiccup that causes people to question our sincerity and reliability.   It is actually how we handle our mistakes that define our true integrity.  People don’t normally lose respect for us when we make a mistake.  It’s how we take responsibility for that said mistake.

Toning exercises:
1) Acknowledge and be at ease with the fact that we will falter from time to time.
Think of a tight-rope walker.  They are literally walking the straight and narrow.  But if you look closely, the entertainer is constantly falling off balance.  They are constantly regaining their balance with the continuous adjustment of their body from the tip of their heads to the top of their ankles.  Their adjustments are so quick and subtle that, in the big picture of things, they are perfectly in balance and on course.

2) Define a personal refund or amend policy.

In any business and social endeavor, we are ultimately in the service of others. If we take on the ultimate service position, then we need a personal refund policy. You cannot be all things to all people.  Nor can you be all things to one person.  Because of this, some people will be disappointed at one time or another. Create a personal refund policy and protocol that you can immediately initiate and execute when you miss the mark. If you are prepared to make amends, your respond will be appropriate and immediate.

3) Immediately execute your refund/amend policy.
If you commit to a refund or amend policy ahead of time, you are more likely to take your word more seriously.

If you are interested in some real-world, real-life scenarios and examples, continue to the appendix section at www.lauraleerose.com/Integrity Booster.pdf

If you are interested in similar articles, they can be found at Laura Lee Rose’s Professional Career Development Library  (or subscribe to this link http://eepurl.com/dUi81)

If you are interested in more detail professional coaching or a professional coach to help you stay on target with those goals, please consider one-on-one coaching sessions to propel you forward faster.

7 Tips to reduce paper BEFORE it becomes clutter

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Office Organization Tips

By Laura Lee Rose, author of TimePeace: Making peace with time

 

Did you know that the 3rd week of April is “Organize Your Files” week?

Here’s 7 quick tips to prepare for this upcoming holiday…..

 

Office organization is an important step toward both releasing clutter and creating more time in one’s hectic schedule.  In this information age, many of us receive thousands of emails a day as well as dozens of snail mail packages and papers. Before drowning in this information, experiment with these 7 simple tips for both paper and electronic posts.

 

 

7 tips for paper and electronic clutter:

 

1) Don’t bring it in the house or office in the first place.

I do a quick elimination at the mail box. If it’s junk mail, advertisements, etc I note the ones I am interested in and toss the rest. The ones I am interested in, I look at on-line.

2) Once in the office, sort into three boxes/containers: TODAY, This week, later.

Once sorted in my time-sensitive boxes, I can prioritize my time appropriately.

3) Release the need for paper.

Acknowledge that everything is currently available remotely through the internet. There’s always ways to replace or get another copy.

  • There same ads are normally on the store’s website.
  • The magazine/newspaper/newsletter often have on-line version.
  • You can easily get replacement receipts and bank statements.

 Revisit your real need for the paper trail. If it is an imaginary dependency, then toss it and discontinue the paper subscription. Continually ask yourself “What’s the worst that can happen if I threw this away? Isn’t there a way to retrieve this if and when I really needed it?”

 4) Take on an On-Demand and Abundance mentality.

Instead of cursing the abundance of email and post mail, appreciate and use that knowledge. Realize that even better information will continually come to you.  Therefore, you never need to save something “just in case you need it in the future”.  There will always be an abundance of information exactly when you need it.  If you haven’t read or used it within a month, it is now obsolete.  Toss it. Release the old to make room for the better.

 5) Create email Message-Rules

Setting up Message-Rules allows you to presort your email, even before you see it. Investigate your mailer for the feature “Create Message Rules”.  Create different email folders and message rules for different subscriptions, subject lines, sender or from names, and topic headers.

6) Time-sensitize your in-box with “TODAY”, “This week”, “Later” action intentions.

Flag the items you need to “take action today” using your email message flag feature. Items that you can deal with later move to your email LATER folder. The only thing in your inbox should be things you need to deal with today or this week. Everything else is placed in its proper folder.  If stays in your LATER box over a month, delete it.

7) Block time to review your email.

Don’t interrupt your day every time an email, a phone call, or an instant message comes in. Allow your mail-rules, voice mail, and do-not-disturb features to do their job. Create automatic responders to initially respond to incoming email (i.e. announcing that you have received their email, that you need some time to review, and that you will have a quality response within 2 business days.  If it is an emergency, ask them to call you.)

Scheduling a block of time to handle the accumulated requested (instead of being interrupt driven) is a more effective use of time.

 

I am Laura Lee Rose, author of TimePeace: Making peace with time. I am a business and life coach with over 20 years of corporate experience, specifically in the software industry. I now use my time and project management skills in my own Rose Coaching business, to help people transform the life they have into the life they really want.

If you are interested in more organizational and time saving tips, check out my book: TimePeace: Making peace with time (at amazon.com) or subscribe to my newsletters and articles at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

 

Thinking Like the Owner: Using Speaking Engagements

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This is part 3 in a 3-part series.

Laura Lee Rose, who is a business coach and corporate exit strategist, shares how testers, developers and project managers can think like an entrepreneur in their current corporate position. She explains how “thinking like the owner” paves the way for advancement within the company and beyond.

 

In my recent interview with SSWUG.ORG’s Stephen Wynkoop regarding ‘thinking like an entrepreneur, in any position’, I had several viewers ask me for additional examples to illustrate points that were made.

Let’s play with these three typical development scenarios.
1) There is an unhappy client that you are working with in regards to a reported defect in your code area.
2) There is a happy client after you have delivered a fix in a quick and professional manner.
3) You have been using speaking engagements to gather sales leads.

Previously we explored scenario #1: Unhappy Client and scenario #2:  Happy Client.   Today we will explore scenario #3: Using Speaking Engagements. Continue reading →

Thinking Like the Owner Sets You Apart: Part 2

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This is part 2 in a 3-part series.

Laura Lee Rose, who is a business coach and corporate exit strategist, shares how testers, developers and project managers can think like an entrepreneur in their current corporate position.  She explains how “thinking like the owner” paves the way for advancement within the company and beyond.

In my recent interview with SSWUG.ORG’s Stephen Wynkoop regarding ‘thinking like an entrepreneur, in any position’, I had several viewers ask me for additional examples to illustrate points that were made.

Let’s play with these three typical development scenarios.
1)    There is an unhappy client that you are working with in regards to a reported defect in your code area.
2)    There is a happy client after you have delivered a fix in a quick and professional manner.
3)    You have been using speaking engagements to gather sales leads.

 

Last week we explored scenario #1:  Unhappy Client.  Today we will explore scenario #2:  Happy Client.

Happy client

Every one encounters enthusiastic and happy clients from time to time.  We could meet them at a beta release, trade show, technical expo and speaking engagements.  We could meet them simply on the phone while we are downloading a “just in time” customized enhancement for them.  Whenever we meet them, take that extra step to think like the owner.

Taking that extra step and thinking like an entrepreneur: At this point, share information that your marketing team is looking for client stories on how our product was able to solve their issues.  Ask your happy client if they would be interested in sharing their story, advice or comments.  Most happy clients are open to sharing their success stories with others.  It’s just that it never occurs to them to offer.“What if they say ‘NO’?”  So what?  You are no worse off than if you didn’t ask.  And allowing them to give an anonymous testimonial or success story often resolves any official objections.

Next time we’ll explore scenario #3.

Defragmentation Isn’t Just for Computers

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The video below is part of the Professional Development Series by Laura Lee Rose.

 

 

If you are interested in more detailed professional coaching or a professional coach to help you stay on target with those goals, please consider one-on-one coaching sessions to propel you forward faster.   Simply send an email indicating your interest to: LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

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Corporate Exiting Strategies for blooming entrepreneurs.
Helping others to easily transition into their next chapter whether it’s the next ladder of success within their corporate environment or into the entrepreneurial playground.

Thinking Like the Owner Sets You Apart

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By Laura Rose

Laura Lee Rose, who is a business coach and corporate exit strategist, shares how testers, developers and project managers can think like an entrepreneur in their current corporate position.  She explains how “thinking like the owner” paves the way for advancement within the company and beyond.

 

In my recent interview with SSWUG.ORG’s Stephen Wynkoop regarding ‘thinking like an entrepreneur, in any position’, I had several viewers ask me for additional examples to illustrate points that were made.

Over the course of the next week, we’re going to explore three typical development scenarios:

1)    There is an unhappy client that you are working with in regards to a reported defect in your code area.
2)    There is a happy client after you have delivered a fix in a quick and professional manner.
3)    You have been using speaking engagements to gather sales leads.

 

In today’s post we’ll play with scenario #1:  Unhappy Client

The primary goal of our clients is to “get their job done” accurately, efficiently and effectively.  Toward that goal, the customer isn’t necessarily to use our product the way it was designed to be used; but to use it as they see fit to accomplish their task.  So, sometimes the way our product was designed and the way the client chooses to use it do not match.  When this happens, defects are logged and unhappy customers are created.  This is the nature of our industry.  It’s not a big deal.

Normally when we meet with an unhappy client, we thank them for pointing out the hole in our design.  We acknowledge upfront that we didn’t foresee that the product could be used in this fashion.  And we compliment them on their ability to see beyond the conventional use.

Taking that extra step and thinking like an entrepreneur:  At this point, share with your client the opportunity for them to be a part of an elite group of design partners.  This is a group of hand-picked, insightful individuals that has access to early prototypes and requirement reviews.  This group is considered part of your design group.  As such, they have access to early releases of your alpha and beta releases.  They are part of regular focus groups, usability studies and have regular meetings with your business analysts and marketing teams.

 

Ask this client if they would like more information about this elite group.  Your “unhappy client” will be thrilled to be considered an expert in this field and a candidate for this program.

“But we don’t have a Design Partner Program!”   So what?  When you pitch the idea to your manager and executives, you will have several clients already to participate.

Next time we’ll take a look at scenario #2.

Put the Spark Back Into Your Career

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Corporate Exiting Strategies for blooming entrepreneurs.
Helping others to easily transition into their next chapter whether it’s the next ladder of success within their corporate environment or into the entrepreneurial playground.

To sign-up for these tools, subscribe at  http://eepurl.com/gGZtP

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Invitation to Join the 2012 Wish List Club

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – Corporate Exit Strategist for the blooming entrepreneur – and I am a business and life coach that specializes in Time Management, Project management training and work-life balance strategies.  Today I am spending time setting up for a magnificent 2012.  I am doing this by creating my 2012 Wish or Bucket list.

How would you like to create your own 2012 Wish or Bucket List?   Step one is to sign up for the 2012 Wish or Bucket List Club at http://eepurl.com/hQN3g   The intention is for those that want to succeed at even a faster pace to join this club to encourage and hold each other accountable.  Once you sign up, you will then receive additional instructions from there on where and how to write your 2012 Wish list.

Try to select 12 (and share only the ones that you feel comfortable with).  Once approved for the club,  we will each encourage and support each other in achieving those goals.   There will be no cost for joining this interchange. Continue reading →