Tag Archives: Blooming entrepreneurs

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

How to capitalize on your GENIUS

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. My background is 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.

I have lots of knowledge to share. What are some ways to share my knowledge and get additional exposure as an expert in my field? 

 

Can do it any number of ways – Speak it, Write it, Perform it.

JUST GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD!

 

Speak it: audio, webcam video

Write it: Articles, blogs, Tips, Interview

Perform it: brown bag lunches, professional organizations, Youtube it

  • Once you have it out of your head – you can productize it any number of ways.
  • Slap a graphic or slide deck to an audio, and you have a video
  • Put your speaker notes into your slide desk presentation and you have an ebook
  • Take your article and split it into digestible tips and you have your social media postings

Full list of the things you can do can be found in my Capitalizing On Your Genius Cheat Sheet at

http://eepurl.com/Vy0-n

Why should I do this? – If you’re the only one that knows how smart you are, what good are you – really?

 

Everyone already knows this stuff. It’s common sense – You’ll be surprised how uncommon, common sense is. Regardless – some people will know it, and some will not. Some people will be interested and some will not. So what? You’ll never know who will be interested in what you have to share if you never share it.

 

Others can say it better: So what? You can’t get better without practice.
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

How to get a good reference.

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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.

Is there any specific way to ask for a reference (i.e., is it more appropriate to do over email, or over the phone, or in person?) – Who should you ask for a reference? (i.e., can you only ask your boss or is it appropriate to ask a colleague or someone you worked with on a different team?) – What are some ways to gently coach your reference? – If you are let go from a job, what’s the best way to get a decent reference? – If you didn’t get along with your boss, are there any good ways to get a decent reference? – What if your past company’s policy is that HR will only verify employment? Should you ask your boss or colleagues for a reference anyway?

 Whether you are going after references or testimonials, it’s good to have at least 3-5 references that show your breathe and depth of responsibility and aptitude.

Consider having at least one reference in each of the following:

 

1) Manager or 2nd Line Manager:  doesn’t have to be your boss, any manager that knows your value and contribution to the company’s bottom line.

 

2) Co-worker – to illustrate team work, cooperation and collaboration.

 

3) Client – to illustrate quality and attentiveness to service; as well as creativity and problem solving skills.

 

If you are a business owner, consider the following categories

1)    Current client

2)    Current sponsor or investor

3)    Current vendor

 

Depending on your desired next position (or business opportunity) – select references that will highlight the traits that you want to promote. For example, if you are currently an assistant teacher and you are going after a graphics designer of training materials; highlight your presentation skills and training portfolio. Highlight the graphics you created for the training materials versus the overseeing of children during lunch.

If you are a developer and you are going after a manager of developers and testers, highlight your team leadership skills and collaboration skills with the developers, testers, sales, technical writers and managers. Highlight your on time delivery, coordination and project management skills versus the ability to program in less time and code lines than anyone else. Be selective and strategic in the skills you highlight.

One way to coach your references – is to actually supply them with a template or sample version.  This saves them time and allows you to emphasize what you want them to emphasize.  They can modify as they see fit – but you have made it easier for them to do what you want.

 As for finding reference after you have lost your job – I always recommend collecting references and testimonial every time you accomplish or achieve something significant. Collect the references throughout your career – don’t wait until you need it. This is what your Professional Career Press Kit is all about. For details on what is and how to create a Professional Career Press Kit, setup a one-on-one consult or take advantage of the eCourse The Professional Development Toolkit.

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

How to Spot a Bad Boss in the Interview

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This question came in from a professional wanting to advance in his career.
How can you tell in the interview that your boss is going to be horrible?
One recommendation is to remove the idea of “a Bad Boss”.  Instead, realize that there are various management styles that you work better with.  Once you understand that it’s just a matter of management styles, write down the management style in which you excel and perform best.  Identify the traits and environments that you work best.
REPEATING Important Concept: Instead of focusing on what makes someone a “Bad Boss” – focus on what helps you work at your best.

Once you have done this self-awareness discovery session, then you can easily come up with questions that will help you decide if this is the place for you.

For example – if you realize that you are the type of person that needs lots of direction (just starting out in this industry), explicit steps, and someone to review your work, then asking questions to see if the interview is a “hands-off” manager, a “mentor/coach” manager or a micro-manager.  You can find out about their training, orientation and mentoring/buddy program.

If you are more experienced and need more autonomy, you can ask questions about opportunities for you to mentor/coach/train other people in the group.  You can ask about team lead positions, etc.

Once again – I recommend and encourage high performers to avoid focusing on what you do not want “a Bad Boss” – and focus on what you DO want.  This means that you need to do some serious self-assessment to understand what type of environment will help you perform at your best.

If you need help in identify the proper work environment for you, what do you sign up for a discovery strategy session.  That way, I can find out more about your specific situation and can give you some next step recommendations.  You can easily sign up for a complimentary session at https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

 

How to capitalize on your GENUIS

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I have lots of knowledge to share. What are some ways to share my knowledge and get additional exposure as an expert in my field?

Can do it any number of ways – Speak it, Write it, Perform it.

JUST GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD!

Speak it: audio, webcam video

Write: Articles, blogs, Tips, Interview

Perform it: brown bag lunches, professional organizations, Youtube it

  • Once you have it out of your head – you can productize it any number of ways.
  • Slap a graphic or slide deck to an audio, and you have a video
  • Put your speaker notes into your slide desk presentation and you have an ebook
  • Take your article and split it into digestible tips and you have your social media postings

Full list of the things you can do can be found in my Productizing Your Genius Cheat Sheet at

http://eepurl.com/Vy0-n

What kinds of jobs and careers are good for people who are detail-oriented

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Most successful careers are those that connect your skills, talents and passions.  There are many jobs that are good for people who are detail-oriented.  But to have a sustainable career, you need to align that detail-orientation to your talent and passion.  To be the best in anything – you need to be detailed oriented in that particular industry or situation (regardless of the position or job description).

1) Quality Assurance Expert is detail-oriented, and can be aligned with many fields such as Health-care, Manufacturing, Software/IT, Insurance, Banking, etc.

2) Prestigious  Head Chief is detail-oriented  — and is aligned with their passion and talents.

3) Successful Surgeon and doctor has to be detailed-oriented in regards to their craft.

4) High-quality Construction Supervisors, Architects and Designers have be to detailed oriented when building large foundations for important buildings.

5) The best Attorneys and Judges are detailed oriented when it comes to their important, high-profile cases and decisions

6) Successful Accountants and CPAs are detailed oriented when it comes to their work

7) Scientists, Researchers, Inventors, developers, testers, writers are all detailed oriented when it comes to their work
I think the question is misguided.  It’s not the specific job that is key.  It’s the desired quality, success and profile level that you want to achieve.  People that are dedicated and what to be successful in their selected craft are very driven and detailed oriented toward their success.  People that just look at their work as simply a job and are not motivated to provide the best and are not as detail oriented.

For a worksheet on how to line up your passions, talents, experiences and skills toward something that is more than a job, subscribe to the worksheet <HERE>

How to Regain Credibility After a Mistake

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Your reputation witreputationh your customer isn’t tarnished by making a mistake; but how you respond to your mistakes.
Some quick tips on how to best respond to your mistake:
  1. Take full responsibility for fixing it.  Responsibility doesn’t mean “taking the blame”.  Responsibility means being able to respond (response – able), to take action to fix the issue.
  2. Acknowledge that this situation is certainly frustrating and inconvenient to the client – and that you are going to do everything you can to eliminate as much inconvenience as you can.
    • Note: If the correction takes awhile – don’t keep the client in the dark, while you are correcting the issue.  If you don’t periodically update them on your progress, they will automatically assume you are doing “nothing” to help them – because they can see no evidence that you are doing “something”.  This runs the risk of them telling ten of their friends of your lack of customer care – even if you have good intentions.
    • If you don’t know how to fix the situation, ask the client how they would like you to fix the situation and how often they would like to be updated.  Even if you can’t do exactly what they want, it will give you some insight and clues on what your next steps should be.
    • The goal here is to make sure the client is delighted with the final outcome (not that you are happy with how you handled the event).  And you can’t delight the client if you have no idea what will turn this around for the client.  Therefore, don’t be afraid to include them in the process.  People enjoy providing their opinion and advise to various situations.  This will be no different.
  3.  Go above and beyond expectations in fixing the issue.  This would include (but not limited to)  additional products and service; or even a full refund in addition to the product or service.
  4. Do a follow-up after the situation has been fixed, to make sure the client is fully satisfied.  Thank the client for pointing out the problem and being so patient while you fixed it.
  5.  Include a thank you note to the client summarizing the events, how you fixed it and procedure changes that you put into affect to assure no one else get puts into the same difficult situation that the client did.
The client not only wants his/her issue fixed, but an assurance that it will never happen again.  Providing them tangible evidence that you have changed the procedure that caused the mix-up in the first place provides them this assurance as well as illustrates your commitment to continuous improvement and that you took their issues extremely seriously.
There are many other ways to delight your client. If you need additional ideas, 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.With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

At what point are you being too greedy in salary negotiation?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author.  My background is 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:At what point does the hiring manager or boss think that you’re being too greedy when it comes to negotiating your salary?

My recommendation is to take everyone out of the picture as your first step.

1) Understand the salary market of your current position and region

2) Understand how relevant your current skills, experience and background is to the current market

3) Understand what salary you desire to achieve the lifestyle that you currently want.

After you have done these steps, you can decide if your salary demands can be sustained by the current market demand.

Then have a transparent discussion with your manager on what your salary goals are.  Provide him with a time line, and alternative compensation solutions.

Work with your manager to define an Individual Development Plan that will take you from where you are today – to where you want to be (in regards to both salary and position) within the suggested time frame.  Work together on a plan to achieve your salary goals.
Avoid approaching this as a “Black/White” negotiation.  Offer alternative compensation solutions like a 4-day work week, flexible hours, working from home a few days a week, an additional week of vacation, additional employee benefits donation/savings matching, educational reimbursements.  Consider to offer if you increase sales and reduce costs by xx% within the next 6-months, that your salary increase will be approved.  Attach your salary directly to monetary performance results.  There are a combination of ways to increase the bottom line of your salary.
The company is in the business to make money.
If you can tangibly quantify how much money you are bringing – it’s easier to negotiate for a raise.

I realize that your situation may be 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.

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

Contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info for additional information on these things.

I also have several worksheets that help clarify your goals, your teams missions, and your performance expectations in the Professional Development Toolkit.  The toolkit goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of the above.  It contains audios, videos, presentations, and worksheets for your use and growth.  Take the next step and check the toolkit out <<HERE>>

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

 

How Should Employed Candidates Job Search Secretly?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books 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.

Today’s question is:  How Should Employed Candidates Job Search Secretly?

The most effective way to job search secretly is to perfect your business networking skills.

I am assuming that you have already explored promotions and lead positions with your current manager.  I am assuming that your manager is aware of your career goals and individual development plans.  I am assuming that you feel that your manager can not assist you in these areas.
Some networking options available to you are:

1) Don’t overlook other positions within your company.  Get to know co-workers in sibling departments and invite them for lunch to find out more about their department, positions, products, etc.

2) Offer your services to sibling departments, nonprofit organizations, friends and family – doing the things you want in your new job.  Illustrate your skill and talent in this area to others.

3) Get an appointment with an external recruiter and just talk to them (in confidence) to find out the relevancy of your current skill set, if you need to master a different craft, or gain additional certification to make yourself more attractive to the outside work force.

job labyrint If you are ready to take that step toward job interviewing, I have a list of good questions to ask at a job interview.  To get your copy, please register <<HERE>>

If you need additional information, I am  available for business and professional development coaching.

I also have several worksheets that help clarify your goals, your teams missions, and your performance expectations in the Professional Development Toolkit.  The toolkit goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of the above.  It contains audios, videos, presentations, and worksheets for your use and growth.  Take the next step and check the toolkit out <<HERE>>

How to be super productive when you only have five minutes

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There are several ways to be productive when you only have five minutes (i.e. this will take less than 5 minutes to read):

1) Learn to delegate.  Be open to the concept that you have a talented staff around you.  Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should be doing it.  If the item is something that others can handle satisfactorily, hand it off.  Only keep the items that ONLY YOU can do.   Only keep the items that are aligned with your pay-grade, and career goals.  This allows you to use your five minutes to review several projects that other people are handling for you.

2) Set your timer.  Often times it’s never a “all or nothing” type of thing.  Set your timer for 5 minutes and chip away at some of your inventory and backlog of email, notes or clutter. When the timer goes off – so do you.  Repeat this several times during the week until your inventory is eliminated.

3) Use the time to setup appointments that leads to high-income activities.  Keep your phone conversations short, to the point, and use them to setup a longer meeting to fully discuss the issue.  Keep the interactions to the point — i.e.  decide on time, place, and reason for the meeting.  Then hang-up and log it in your calendar.  You can set several high-income generating appointments within 5 minutes.

4) Announce upfront that you only have 5 minutes to review their progress or listen to their issue.  Use that time to properly delegate to the right group or agree to a longer meeting later to discuss.  Hand-off the coordination of that meeting to the person that brought the issue to you. Tell them at that time, how much time you will have for that lengthier meeting.   Leave in 5 minutes (use the timer method).

5) Always arrive at least 10 minutes early to a meeting or event.  Carry a professional or personal development activity or your Individual Networking Strategy Workbook (discussed further in the Professional Development Toolkit) with you.  When you arrive at a meeting early or the meeting is starting late — take out your professional or personal development activity and study it.  OR use this 5 minutes to business network with those around you.

The Professional Development Toolkit goes into more detail on the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of these things.

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