Tag Archives: growth

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.

Just released: A NEW professional resource from Laura Lee Rose!

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Just released: A NEW professional resource from Laura Lee Rose!  SSWUG_LOGO-NEW190-blacktag
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All the Tools You Need to Get Ahead

Keeping a fast-paced, professional career can be challenging. Wouldn’t it be nice to have access to a secret vault of resources that help you save time and plan smart, plus give you actionable steps to kick-start your advancement and demystify what it takes to be successful? The good news is, it’s not a secret!

Blue-StartHere

 
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Learning your way. Our IT Professional Development Toolkit combines four learning medias into one powerful set of strategy, insight, and actionable ideas so you can get momentum in career today. We have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas. We have practice scenarios in real-world, real-life working environments to inspire the required change in you and those surrounding you.

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10 hidden time wasters that you may be doing

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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 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 of us have complained about the lack of time at one time or another.  If you are consistently running out of time, there may be a few things that you are unknowing doing.  Some of the top hidden time wasters are below.  We often fall into their trap because we don’t readily recognize them.

  1. Allowing things to repeat without investigation and/or fixing
  2. Not recognizing opportunities that propel us forward
  3. Not reusing our own accomplishments to our advantage
  4. Spending time on unimportant items
  5. Spending all our time making and putting out fires (creating critical/ stop production situations for ourselves).
  6. Using imagined dependencies to stall us
  7. Working hard to stay in the same place; using energy to keep the status quo
  8. Not asking for exactly what you want
  9. Complaining with no explicit call to action
  10. Spending energy and attention well past the benefit

 

In my Professional Development Toolkit, I discuss how to get around all of the above.

But a quick remedy is to recognize that ‘item’ is an anagram for ‘time’ (the words use the same letters but in different order).  Remember this and then  every time an item crosses
your desk, ask yourself: “Is this Item worthy of your Time?”

Let’s take the last item 10:  Spending energy and attention well past the benefit.

This could include certain tasks at work, your current position, some work or home projects, hobbies and even some people.  As you evolve and develop you should out grow things like jobs, hobbies and even certain people.  The games and interests that you had at 5 years old are not the same interests you have today.  It is the same as your continue to progress through your life.  But sometimes we stay too long in the same place.  Perhaps it is out of a sense of misguided  loyalty or perhaps simply because it is comfortable and familiar.  Either way, the longer you stay focused on an item beyond it’s benefit to you — the more time you are wasting.  This is even true if the item seems like a worthwhile task.

For example:  You would like to get $15 for your old wooden bench-swing.  You decide to make it more presentable to assure your $15 asking price.  You sand it; you stain it; you oil it; you and add decorative stencils. You now have spent 4 days on it to acquire $25; when having it quickly power-washed (as you are already power-washing your deck) would have accomplished the same goal.

Keeping your ROI (return on investment) in mind, “Is this Item worthy of your Time?”

I go into more detail in the Professional Development Toolkit.  This DVD set contains practices and exercises regarding time management, career management, work life balance strategies and how to better quantify your performance to the company’s bottom line.  for information on how to purchase this toolkit, 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
If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or GET SIGNED UP to my weekly professional tips 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

How to make an impression at your next business lunch

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Professional Work Scenario:

You’re hosting your boss or a client at a business lunch – what can you do to really make a good impression and seal the deal?

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 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

Hosting Etiquette is same in most cases.  Beyond the regular things you might do, review the following and see what you think:

  1.  Find out their favorite foods and make reservations to a restaurant that provides high-quality cuisine of that type.
  2.  If it’s a group environment, make sure the restaurant have enough options to satisfy a diverse group of dietary and religious needs.
  3.  Arrive early – to be at the restaurant before the first guest.
  4.  When you arrive, tell maitre d’ that you are to receive the check at the end of the meal. Do this before you are seated.
  5.  Make it clear to your guests that they can order pre-dinner drinks, even if you are not ordering a drink for yourself.
  6.  If a guest(s) is more than 10 minutes late, seat the rest of the group and ask the maitre d’ to seat the late-comer when they arrive.
  7.  When meals arrive at different times, suggest that those that have received their food to start eating. Follow your instructions to make them feel more comfortable in doing it.
  8.  If an error is made by the staff or kitchen, tell the guest that you will handle it (so that the guest doesn’t have to have that difficult conversation and illustrate that you are a problem solver). Then speak to the server politely and explain the situation without blame.
  9. Don’t discuss the price of the meal when paying. Don’t make a big deal about paying the bill.
  10.  Allow the guest to lead the conversation and topics. Don’t interrupt their story to tell your tales. Don’t use the conversation to show off. Use the conversation to understand their perspective and understand how they can best benefit from your association with them.
  11. When commenting on their opinions, say “Yes – and I have also noticed ….” to introduce an opposing viewpoint without introducing conflicts and contradictions.
  12.  Even when you invite guests to order whatever they want, some guests will hesitate to order. Most guests try to order something priced in the same range as the other guests. And if you make them go first, they don’t have a range to use. Make some recommendations to put them at ease with the pricing.
  13.  Don’t openly complain about the service, restaurant, location, etc. They will wonder that if you don’t like this place, why are you bringing them there? Avoid negatives in speech and actions.
  14.  Don’t point out problems, create solutions at all times.
  15.  Mirror body language and speech pattern to convey that you are synchronized. Paraphrase what they are saying to make sure you understand what they are trying to convey, before you respond. Seek to understand first, then to be understood (from Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People).

Try it and let me know what you think.

p.s. If you didn’t register for the Light Your Fuse seminar last week, you missed a great event.  If you would like to replay the event, please contact me at LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info I can make sure you get a link to the replay sessions.

How to steal a competitors client.

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I find the best way to gain customers from competitors is to collaborate and affiliate with them.

Most services are niche enough that, although they seem competing, they aren’t really stepping on each other toes.  While they may share the same service space,  their products are slightly different and may even be complimentary.   While they may seem to share the same market, their target client description is slightly different.

A successful scheme is to create a catalyst event in which your competitors are invited to speak, perform, or showcase their wares. Every business is responsibly for promoting and advertising this event to their clients.  This offers a Win/Win for everyone. The advantage is that now everyone is gaining exposure beyond their individual circle of influence.  You also include your products and services at this event.  Now you have other service providers bringing in their clients to see your products as well as their products.

Creating a collaborative versus adversarial atmosphere often works better in the long run. In this type of environment, companies often can create a referral program in which you share revenue on clients you refer to each other.  You can also make an agreement to off-load some business during your busy times to the other company (and visa-versa).  If one or the other move into a different market, you are the first they will recommend to their clients.

5 mistakes new entrepreneurs make

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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
It takes courage to take that first leap into entrepreneurship.  As you dive into that brave new world, be aware of some of the top 5 mistakes new entrepreneurs encounter.
A few bad habits an entrepreneur can make:
1) Not thinking like the owner
Because they are small business owners, they spend much of their time doing ‘worker-bee’ type tasks instead of ‘owner’ tasks. They they feel they don’t have enough money, they don’t invest in supporting staff and assistants that would offload the tedious activities that someone else can do — to allow them to focus on activities that ONLY THEY (as the owner) should be doing.
2) Not having a succinct, branding message.
Most new entrepreneurs don’t take the time to create a succinct, branding message and explicit target market. They tend to go throw out too large of a net, in hope of attracting a large number of clients. The results is a confused audience. No one actually understand the entrepreneurs true expertise or niche.
3) Not spending the appropriate and continuous cycles on marketing and sales.
People getting into entrepreneurship because they love doing what they are doing. Often times that ‘passion’ isn’t sales and marketing. But ‘Sales drive the bus’. As an entrepreneur, if you don’t sell – you don’t eat.
4) They don’t know or understand their numbers.
Beginning entrepreneurs often don’t understand their numbers:
  • what yearly income they want to make
  • how much their business needs to make to pay them that year income
  • how many sales they need to make to generate that business revenue
  • what their leads-to-sales ratio is (i.e. how many doors do they need to knock on, to get 1 sale)
  • how many leads do they need to get – to achieve the number of sales they need to get to generate that business revenue
  • what are the start-up costs of the business
  • how many years are they planning to get in the black
5) They don’t keep their business plan up-to-date
Entrepreneurs may create a start-up business plan; but they don’t see it as a living document. They don’t continually review or revamp with their financial adviser, investors and business coaches.
In my “Thinking Like An Owner: Taking the Leap into Entrepreneurship” I do into the who, what, where, when and how of all of the above.  For more information about this toolkit, get signed up:
GetSignedUp

Hiring interns for the first time

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Most new business owners don’t have much budget for staffing.  So we experiment with interns or inexperienced new hires. The success or failure of any new-hire (intern or paid) depends on how well we prepare.
Below are some tips:
1) Don’t underestimate the value of an orientation program
All new employees need to go through a documented and repeatable orientation program. In this program, you cover important policies, procedures, daily administrative expectations, code-of-conduct, company hierarchy;organization flowchart, and company mission and vision statement
2) All origination material should be available 24-7
Place all learning material on-line on your website – for future reference.
3) Pair new employee with a buddy or mentor
The buddy system reduces multiple people getting interrupted by the new-employees questions and issues. Having an assigned buddy or mentor enables the manager to manage the training load. The training curve isn’t limited to the new-employee’s learning curve — but expands to everyone they interrupt to ask questions.
4) Have documented procedural manuals for all significant tasks
If you don’t have documented procedures, have the new-employee be responsible for create (or correct). Having the new-employee document the procedures keep the living documents relevant and accurate.
5) Conduct frequent one-on-one meetings with the new-employee as well as with others
During your regular one-on-one meetings with yoru employees, explicitly ask how the new intern is coming along. Have specific SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) goals for them to accomplish in a timely fashion. If they are consistently not meeting those metrics, then it’s prudent to release and find someone else better suited.
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 professional development and 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.

You can’t get your refund, if you don’t mail in your tax forms…..

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A friend of mine asked me to help a friend of his with their taxes.  I worked on this friend’s (first-removed) back taxes from 2010 with great results.  After filling out some simple forms, his was owed a very nice accumulated refund.  I had the forms done, appropriate W2 forms clipped to the right forms, the envelops addressed and even stamped.  All this gentleman needed to do was to review, sign, fold and mail.  The paperwork mentioned that he would get his refund in 2-4 weeks.

4 weeks later, I asked this friend-first-removed if he had received his refund yet.  He confessed that he has the forms signed, but he has not mailed them in yet.

“Well — you know you can’t get your money, until you mail in forms in….”

 

It’s the same in life and work.  It’s more difficult to get what you really want if you don’t explicitly ask for it and then follow-through with your plan.

  • You want a new position or a promotion; make your manager and mentors aware of your aspirations.
  • You want to speak at local conferences; submit abstracts to those conferences
  • You want a raise or bonus; ask your manager what are the specific requirements to receive a raise or bonus.
  • You want to make extra money; ask HR what other side projects you can do to make additional money. (Some companies pay you for technical articles, patent ideas,  sale referrals, some off-hour billable  tasks, etc)
  • You want to spend more time with family; investigate flex hours, working from home, or 4-day work week options

Is there anything you are procrastinating?

 

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.Whether we a member of the staff or the owner of our own business, thinking like an owner provides additional solutions that we otherwise would never consider.

 

For more worksheets (like the individual development plan,and the individual network strategy worksheet) check out my Worksheets for Success at https://www.lauraleerose.com/worksheets-for-success/

Links:      

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

 

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.

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