Tag Archives: Freedom

15 Etiquette Tips to Get Ahead

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This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office methods on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Chewing Gum and other ticks

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

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

3. Dressing with Respect BUT FOR SUCCESS

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

4. Don’t take Personal Hygiene to extremes

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

5. Cover Your Mouth and Say Excuse Me

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

6. Keep Interruptions to a Minimum

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Look After New Employees to a point

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

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

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

13. Respect not only Your Elders

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

14. Manners at All Times but with balance

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

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

30. And Don’t Nit – Pick!

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

 

Try it and let me know what you think.

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

What’s the difference between strong management and harassing behavior?

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One reader asked me: I’d like to get some insight about the fine line between behavior by a manager that is legitimately harsh and within normal management practices and behavior that could be considered harassment. For example, how do you determine whether reprimanding an employee in front of his or her peers is harassment? Questions: Are there certain criteria that apply to conduct that is considered to be harassment? Can yelling at an employee in front of his or her peers be harassment? What determines whether or not it is? How likely is it that an employee who is disciplined under legitimate circumstances will complain of harassment? How does an employer deal with this situation?
I think this issue can be greatly simplified by simply focusing on ‘appropriate behavior’.
Instead of trying to define the line between managing and harassing behavior — corporations should focus simply on appropriate behavior. Something can be deemed ‘inappropriate’ more easily than the legal definition of ‘harassing’.
If the company’s only goal is to avoid legal ramifications, then that is one thing. But if the company’s goal is to provide an appropriate atmosphere for employees to be productive and inspired — then focusing on ‘appropriate’ behavior will be more beneficial to both management and employee.
Appropriate behavior supports calm, confident, and flexible leadership.
If management is confident that he/she can handle any situation – then there is no need to yell, scream or curse at any time.
  • Inappropriate actions would include:
  • reprimanding an employee in front of his or her peers
  • blaming individuals or external environment for project status
  • defending one’s position on a particular solution against all other solutions
  • demanding that there is only one way to accomplish a shared goal.
If you focus on high-level appropriate reactions, then the legal line of harassment rarely comes into play.
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Why do employees continue to job-search?

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Why do employees continue to job-search?

(Even when they already have a good job)

Professional development series

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered the “hiring” topic (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.

Two recent surveys found that a majority of full-time workers continue searching out job opportunities, usually online and often through social media. What are the pluses and potential pitfalls of continually being on the search?

My first recommendation to employers is to not take “continually searching” personally.  There are many reasons individuals window-shop.  People often droop over the newest sports-car or gadget.  But it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are unhappy with their current toys.

There are often many reasons for job-window-shopping:

1) If workers are not satisfied with their current work environment, they will continually look elsewhere.

The advantage to this is that many people can handle a ‘bad working environment’ as long as they see a light at the end of the tunnel (a potential new position in the horizon). Conduct frequent one-on-one meetings to understand what is lacking in your employees career development plans.

2) People are always curious. This is an advantage to everyone.  Employees should be encouraged to bring these new desires and new knowledge to their manager to see if there are appropriate jobs opportunities in your current company that fits.  Management would be prudent to hold frequent career development one-on-one meetings, so that they understand what their talented employees are looking forward to doing.

3) Excellent employees are always forward looking.  If the employee sees no ‘next step’ within their current company, they will look more seriously at their next step outside of their current company.  Management would be smart to continually outline attractive and progression job roles for their best employees.

4) People need to feel valued and want to be continually challenged in their area of passion.  At a certain professional level, it is not ‘money’ that satisfies.  The best employees are attracted toward an increase of mastery and autonomy in the areas that they are passionate about.  If management isn’t listening, they are likely to lose their most valuable employees — because it is the talented that walk and the weak that stay.

5) If management uses this opportunity to negatively affect the employee’s advancement opportunities, then management is short-sighted. The employee is doing exactly what they need to do to create the most effective and efficient match between what they want to do with their careers and what they are actually doing with their careers. The employee is acting responsibly. Management would be acting responsibly by listening and reviewing current company’s opportunities to better match their employee’s talents and passion.

Conclusions:

Don’t wait until the top-performers leave your company to figure this out.  If you don’t invest in your current employees’ career development, then you will be left with only low to mediocre performers (which makes your management job that much more difficult).

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

 

 

Using Game Theory to Navigate Business Obstacles

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Many of the strategies used in games can be effectively translated to business and professional navigation.  Find out how….

Notice the similarities between game play and office strategies:

  • Play by the rules of the game
  • Familiarize yourself with your opponents strengths and weaknesses
  • Understand the stats on your teammates
  • Accommodate for any handicaps on your team, and defend against the strength on the other team
  • Keep your ‘tells’ in check (Be aware of what your nonverbal cues and reactions are expressing)
  • Understand your options.  (You have more than one game piece on the board)
  • Continue to increase your skills and focusing on gaining additional game pieces
  • Take advantage that you have three lives.  (Be willing to take risks to learn how to get to the next level)

If you were to take advantage of just one idea — I recommend the multiple lives rules.

Most games give you multiple chances to advance. In baseball you get three strikes before you are out.   Even then you have more than one inning at bat.  In video adventure games, you have 3 virtual lives.  We grew up with the idea of multiple changes and taking gaming risks (gambling with our game pieces), but most of us are too timid to do this in the office.  Avoiding risks at the office translate into never going to bat (which means removing any opportunity for a home run).

Take the HOME RUN TEST to learn want steps to take to win at the office.

In my GoTo Academy: Tools for the GoTo Guy and Gal continuous online coaching series, I go into Time-boxing and the use of Parking Lot methods in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please signup for the continuing online coaching series.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Secrets to Taking Command of Your Own Performance Review Part III

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What makes up a Personal Business Commitment plan? Who creates it? Who approves it? How does it fit in the performance rating process?

Professional development series

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered some tips to taking more control of our own performance evaluation process (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.

Last interview and article, we quickly mentioned the Personal Business Commitment tool as a great way to communicate your goals and commitments to your manager.  But what makes up a Personal Business Commitment plan? Who creates it? Who approves it? How does it fit in the performance rating process?

Let’s take these questions individually.

 

Who writes the PBC?  Does my manager or do I?

In the idea world, the PBC is a two-way street.  Your manager would share his/her PBC goals with you.  Then you would create your PBC and commit to your SMART goals that will support your manager in his/her goals.  Your Business Commitments are just that; commitments to the business to make the business prosperous and successful.  (See my articles on always ‘thinking like the owner’ for more tips on this; or subscribe to the weekly newsletter here)

 

 

What does a PBC look like?

It can be as simple as stating what you plan to do to support your manager in his/her goals.  Clear state your business intentions in SMART language (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound).  Plan ahead as you write your goals.  Identify some Reasonable Forcing Functions and accountability partners to help you accomplish these goals.  For more information on Reasonable Forcing Functions and accountability partners,  please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

Example could be:

  • ¡  Be an effective leader in the organization by promoting the goals of  XXX
  • Grow the XXX Program from its infancy stage and gain recognition from executives
  • Deliver quality programs in an on-time, and in effective manner which validates the design and market suitability.
  • Manage and lead others in their efforts toward the PBC goals
  • Continue to drive a more effective use of our tools in-house.
  • Have a positive influence on  revenue associated with XX products

It’s also important that you keep track of your own progress.  Don’t depend upon your manager to remember everything that you are doing or are accomplishing.  Don’t even depend upon your memory at the time of your performance review.  Keep a running Accomplishment Folder throughout the year.  Keep your Professional Press Kit and resume up to date with your transferable skills, technical certifications, publications, patents, etc.    For more business coaching on these things,  please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series or contact mailto:LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

 

Keep an open communication with your manager.  Initiate quarterly performance review meetings with your managers, mentors and coaches.  Facilitate frequent status one-on-one meetings with your manager.  The more frequent your performance-based meetings are, the less daunting they will become.  You and your manager’s goals are the same: To Achieve Your Business Commitments.  And since your PBCs support your manager’s PBCs; your success is also his success.

What is an IDP?

My upcoming “Taking Command of Your Performance Review” Workshop will go into detail on this topic.  It’s a three-hour workshop (75 minutes of presentation content and 90 minutes of actual hand-on coaching of the provided worksheets). At the end of the workshop, you will have a customized PBC and IDP started.

For more information on this critical workshop, see

https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

 

Conclusions:

Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for your performance review. Consider everything that you do in the work environment as input into your performance evaluation process.  Keep an achievement folder to continually collect your accomplishments (until waiting until the last minute to remember them).  Read the follow-up articles in this series for more information.  Or better yet; attend the workshop at https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

 

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

 

 

 

Detaching from results opens doors to new possibilities.

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Detaching from results opens doors to new possibilities.

This week I have been reviewing some of the events that lead me to some of my largest successes.  Almost all of them stemmed from unexpected and unforeseen resources.

Some examples:

  •   Last several years I had been invited to speak at the DevLink Technical Conferences in Tennessee.   Last year SSWUG.org was attracted to my DevLink seminars and invited me to Tuscon, AZ to tape 4 seminars for their SSWUG.org online webinar series.  This led me to a wonderful working relationship with Stephen WynKoop (founder of Bits on the Wire and SSWUG.org).  We now have a weekly interview program and online coaching series on professional development.
  •  A few years ago, I presented at a local company health fair.  There I met Theresa Corcoran (who was manning another booth at the fair.  Today we are business partners at 360 Degree Inspired Success  (www.360degreeInspiredSuccess.com)

 

In both cases, I had no reason to expect these results.

 

1)      Although DevLink is an exceptional conference, I had no reason to believe that another company would be interested in video and incorporating the 4 presentations into their main-stream learning cycle.

2)      After I connected with SSWUG, the DevLink invitation stopped coming.  This was very interesting to me because it led me to believe that my DevLink interaction has completed its mission.  The sole reason for DevLink to cross my path this way was to allow me to hook up with SSWUG and to better sales opportunities.

3)      The local company health fair only had 20 employees.  On the surface, one may have thought it wasn’t worth my time or energy.  But I met my future business partner — which is leading me to better recurring revenue stream in areas that are in my genius.

Bottom Line:

Don’t attach to a specific result.  Chances are that the results of our actions are not always predictable or immediate.

Take a deep breath and relax….everything is unfolding perfectly.

Secrets to Taking Command of Your Own Performance Review Part II

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Secrets to Taking Command of Your Own Performance Review Part II

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered some tips to taking more control of our own performance evaluation process (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.

Last interview and article, we quickly mentioned the Personal Business Commitment tool as a great way to communicate your goals and commitments to your manager.  But what makes up a Personal Business Commitment plan? Who creates it? Who approves it? How does it fit in the performance rating process?

Let’s take these questions individually.

What makes up a Personal Business Commitment plan?

The PBC contains a list of high-level business goals (typically handed down from the executive and management ladder).  The goals could be similar to:

1)     Increase sales by 50% by year end

2)     Retain 100% current clients and increase 10% of new client

3)     Release at least 3 new high-quality, in-demand products/service by year end

4)     Reduce incoming Customer Complaints by 50%

5)     Resolve 100% of critical and high-level complaints with 72 hours of issue.

6)     Resolve backlog of customer complaints by 75%

Once you have your manager’s business commitment goals, you can draft your personal business goals to support them.

Also create an IDP (Individual Development Plan) to accompany your PBC.   This plan will outline how you intend to stay up-to-date on the new technology and critical business skills.  Include any intentions for external professional coaching, internal mentoring programs, job-sharing opportunities, conference attendance, etc.  Make sure your IDP ties in with your PBC and your manager’s PBC goals.

The intent is to have a blueprint for the year.  If you know where you are heading, it’s much easier to get there.

My upcoming “Taking Command of Your Performance Review” Workshop will go into detail on this topic.  It’s a three-hour workshop (75 minutes of presentation content and 90 minutes of actual hand-on coaching of the provided worksheets). At the end of the workshop, you will have a customized PBC and IDP started.

For more information on this critical workshop, see https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

Who creates it?

In the idea world, the PBC is a two-way street.  Your manager would share his/her PBC goals with you (which he/she created from their manager’s PBC and so forth up the ladder).  Then you would create your PBC and commit to your SMART goals that will support your manager in his/her goals.  Your Business Commitments are just that; commitments to the business to make the business prosperous and successful.  (See my articles on always ‘thinking like the owner’ for more tips on this; or subscribe to the weekly newsletter here)

If your manager hasn’t created his/her PBC goals, initiate a one-on-one discussion.  Request a meeting in which the sole purpose is to walk out with a set of PBC goals in which tie your PBC.

Who approves it?

Both you and your manager collaborate and approve it.  It requires both signatures.  Often times, the manager would then have his/her manager sign-off on it as well.  It is critical that you have it documented and signed, because a change of manager often occurs.  If this documented and signed, you can have something to refer to with the new manager.

How does it fit in the performance rating process?

Once this is created and approved, it becomes a living document.  Every time a directive or project is changed, review your PBC to see if the document is still accurate.  If your management chain is altered, review your PBC with your new manager to see if the document is still accurate.  If you title, roles and responsibilities change, review your PBC to see if the document is still accurate.

Take the initiative to schedule quarterly performance progress reviews with your manager.  Use your PBC as the agenda for those critical meetings and request frequent one-on-one meetings in the interim.   The more performance-based meetings you conduct with your manager, the less anxiety the yearly review will

Conclusions:

Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for your performance review. Consider everything that you do in the work environment as input into your performance evaluation process.  Keep an achievement folder to continually collect your accomplishments (until waiting until the last minute to remember them).  Read the follow-up articles in this series for more information.  Or better yet; attend the workshop at https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

Give Reasonable Directions

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Follow up instructions with reason.

Professional development series

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

I experienced two very different situations that highlighted the need for explaining the reason for your instructions.

1)     A friend received instructions from her doctor to take the next few days off and away from work.  My friend agreed to take several days off – then proceeded to continue to read work emails and call into conference calls.

2)     A family member wanted to increase their protein intake and purchased some Whey powder to mix in with their coffee.  Since the canister’s instructions mentioned that 9 scoops will cover their daily protein requirements, she returned the product because she would not be using 9 scoops in her coffee.

As you can see from the above (very different) examples, different people interpret instructions differently.

But what if the instructions came with the following explanation or reasons?

What if the doctor said: “The reason I recommend taking several days off and away from work is to allow both your mind and body a break from work-related issues”?.  I want you to unplug completely for several days to recharge and get well.  This means no emails, no meetings, no nothing.  Hand off any immediate tasks to your manager and then completely unplug.”

What if my family member understood that the protein supplement is just that, a tool or supplement to add more protein to your current dietary program?  You wouldn’t necessarily need to use 9 scoops, if your current meal plan already included protein.  It is only meant as a tool to assist you in absorbing the right amount of daily required protein in a balanced plan.

If my friend and family member had understood the purpose behind the instructions, their response would have been more in lined with the intent of the instructions.  But by providing just the instructions, we have allowed room for error.

So – how can we, as team leaders and employers, avoid these pitfalls?  The first step is to avoid one-way instructions or directions.  Although email may be a convenient “instruction” media, it does not assure that the directions were interpreted correctly (or the way you had intended).

Here are some steps to assure that you will get what you want.

Understand the intent or goal of your instructions:

If you cannot articulate the reason for your request, it’s impossible for your employee or teammate to ‘hit it out of the park’ for you.

Verify that every step of your instructions support and are aligned with your goal.

Everything changes.  What worked last month may not be relevant today.  Verify that your current process is still aligned with your intentions.

For example: Requiring your salaried employees to submit time cards to verify that they are working the proper number of hours.

 This procedure may not be accomplishing your true goal.  Your goal is probably to make sure your salaried employees are performing and accomplishing the work they are committed to accomplish.  You may want to consider weekly one-on-one meetings to verify status on projects and tasks (versus keeping track of the hours they are logging).

Convey both the directions/instructions and reason to your staff/team.

To properly convey the instructions and reason, you need to also include active and empathic LISTENING skills.  Merely stating the instructions and reasons, only, do not assure that the message was received properly.  You need to also ask Open-ended questions to verify the message was received correctly.  This means sending an email-instruction is not sufficient.  You need an interactive face-to-face or phone meeting.  Some things to validate on that interactive meeting:

  1. Convey your instructions and reason
  2. Ask audience members to paraphrase your instructions and reason
  3. Ask audience members to share what these instructions mean to their current roles and responsibilities
  4. Ask audience members how these instructions will change the way they do their jobs (both positive and negatively)
  5. If any negative changes results, discuss/brainstorm on alternatives to accomplish your goal without negative impact to the team.

Conclusions:

Although these above steps take a little more time upfront (versus merely providing an email directive), it will avoid misinterpretations and some email-churn of Q&A after the project has started.     Being impatient or too concise with your direction may cost you in the long run (because your instructions can be misinterpreted and your project derailed). Allowing your team to play a co-creative role in this solution will lead to a more collaborative working relationship.

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Design your next performance review workshop

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Greetings from Laura

I just completed a great lesson plan on “Designing your next performance review.” for my online coaching series.  I’m really excited about the materials, techniques and alternative references that I have been including in this subscription based lessons-learned series.
But this particular episode holds a particular soft-spot in my heart.   Most of my professional friends are disappointed at one time or another about a recent performance appraisals.   This particular lesson outlines several easy steps to assure an exceptional review.

If you would like this on-line class material (at no cost and one-time limited offer), please fill in this order form.  No credit or payment information is required.

My hope is that you will find the material very valuable and decide to subscribe to this continuous on-line coaching series.

Even if you decide not to enroll in the series, please use this particular lesson to your best advantage.

Warmly,
Laura Lee Rose

Is keeping the status quo keeping you back?

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Is keeping the status quo keeping you back?
Is there such a thing as being too content?

Take these three scenarios:

  1. low income, high school degree, 2years of college, working at hardware store, getting married in spring, looking forward in starting a family right away
  2. medium-high income, college and master, software industry, interested in expensive side hobby or second business
  3. multimillionaire on the level of Donald trump and Oprah Winfrey

Of these three, who do you feel should be working to keep everything exactly as it is?

Who should keep their income, their job level, the size of their home, their circle of friends, their opinions and beliefs–exactly the same? Of these three, who should consider a lateral change over a promotion with addition training, growth and income opportunities?

Would it be the multimillionaire that already has everything anyone could ever imagine?  Or would it be the medium or low income group, because they don’t have any spare funds to explore and experiment with (you have to have money to make money…)?

It’s difficult to answer because it is not the individual situation that dictates our response but our emotional and belief system.  People that believe they can do, have and be anything they can imagine are often both very appreciative of what they currently have —- and are excitedly anticipating more and greater things.  They are always exploring and expanding.

It’s rarely the size of their pocket but the wealth of their confidence-in-self that dictates the life they have designed for themselves.

Let me know what you think about these ideas.

And if you would like some individual help on designing your perfect life, contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.com