Tag Archives: personal development

Different Types of Managers and How to Work With Them

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As you have already experienced, there are different types of managers and the different styles of management workers might encounter.  A good manager actually transitions and flows between the different roles as the environment or situation dictate.  But some managers naturally gravitate toward their dominate style and stays there – regardless of their surroundings.   The best advice for working successfully with many of the types is to take full control of your own performance, professional development and career management.

You do this by:

There are 8 text book management styles  ( summary at end of note, posted by Touchpoint in General Business on Jan 9, 2012 9:02:00 AM); but a new type has cropped up recently.  It’s the BUSY Manager.

yesmanSome managers mistaken a “hands-off” approach to mean disengaged.  Most companies are understaffed and overworked.  Therefore, managers often have more work than their employees can handle and more stakeholders/clients to report to and appease.   This often puts the manager in a tailspin – which often tempts them to disengage from their employees.  The Global Workforce environment adds additional complications when individuals are remote and on different time zones.  This also contributes to the manager losing touch in what’s actually going on in his ranks.  In such an environment, most managers are focusing on don-time delivery of current projects.

These busy managers are often impatient with items not directly associated with today’s goal.   There is very little time spent on career management and individual development plans for their employees.  There is little focus on the training on next generation technology to reduce the learning curve to get ahead of the market.  Because of their heavy schedule and budget constraints, managers are often just present focus. They are only focused on what is needed to get them to the next hurdle — but not necessary over it.   They are working to keep their heads above water and not necessarily focused on getting out of the water.   If employees depend upon managers like that – staying only present focus will eventually drown you.

If you recognize that your manager is has a “present-focus” mindset (because he has so much to do, it’s the only thing he can focus on right now) – you need to take control of your own career and professional development.  If you are thinking like the owner or manager (discussed in the Professional Development Toolkit DVD) , you can both appreciate and anticipate need.  In “Knowing How You Boss’ Mind Works video (included in the Professional Development Toolkit DVD), you can better position yourself for that excellent performance rating and promotion.

8 Types of Conventional Managers:

Posted by Touchpoint in General Business on Jan 9, 2012 9:02:00 AM

  • Active leadership: Active leaders tend to lead by example and set a high standard for themselves and their employees. They wouldn’t ask an employee to take on a task they’d be unwilling to do themselves. They are highly involved in the day-to-day work and fully aware of what’s taking place in the office.

 

 

  • Directive leadership: Although less authoritative than autocratic managers, directive leaders do not typically solicit employee input. They often cite a short timeframe, an unpredictable client or an emergency situation as the reason for acting unilaterally. Often this may be true. Other times, they may just have a bit more difficulty letting go of control.

 

 

  • Participatory leadership: Based on a coaching philosophy, this style focuses on empowering employees to seek their own knowledge and make their own decisions when appropriate. It can be very effective in fluid work environments with shifting priorities. A more advanced version of this style is the flat management style, where different managers take the lead on projects, depending on their expertise.

 

  • Servant leadership: Based on a “people-come-first” philosophy, this style has been made famous by writer Robert Greenleaf. The style is based on finding the most talented people to run your organization and then empowering them to do what they do best. The leader sees him or herself as a “servant” to the customer and encourages employees to adopt the same attitude.

 

  • Task-oriented leadership: Leaders who use this style may have once been project managers. They are experts in planning projects, allocating resources, assigning roles, setting benchmarks and keeping to strict deadlines.

 

The  IT Professional Development Toolkit, goes into the: who, what, where, when and how to accomplish all of the above. I also have a transferable skill worksheet.  For more information about the toolkit,

Blue-StartHere

5 Ways to Get That Raise

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

Audio of this episode:

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

7 Tips to Finding a Mentor

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

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

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

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

7 Tips to finding a Mentor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

How to Hire Friends or Family Members

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

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

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

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

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

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

2)     Documented detail expectations and work contracts.

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

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

3)     Avoid being their direct report on the job.

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

4)     Proactively eliminate venting to other family members.

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

How do Companies prevent remote workers from feeling “left out”?

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  • Have that one project that you have been stalled on?
  • Need  objective eyes on your problem?
  • Need just a different way to look at the solutions?

I have helped people on a per project basis.  For example: mapping out the pros and cons of two job offers; revamping their resume to attract more corporate interest; managing their boss; and narrowing the direction of their next steps.  I have reasonable rates for per project consulting.  No long contracts and discounts for continued enrollment.

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory career and time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info   You’ll be surprised how one conversation can change your life.

How do Companies prevent remote workers from feeling “left out”?

I recently received the following question:

How do companies prevent remote workers from feeling “left out”?
Incentives, such as bringing in lunch to headquarters staff and allowing casual attire in the office after employees meet certain goals, do nothing for those who work from home. What techniques improve or solve this issue?

I’m not a fan of handing off the responsibility of our own career and growth to someone else.

  • It is not the companies’ responsibility to make their telecommuters to ‘feel included’.
  • It is not the companies’ responsibility to make sure their employees network and build the proper working relationships with the right co-workers, sibling departments, other managers and executives.
  • It is not the companies’ responsibility to make sure their employees keep their jobs.
Career management and business networking is each individual professional’s responsibility. By placing the ownership of making the employee “feel included’ into someone else’s hands is a loosing proposition, because everyone is different. What works for one telecommuter will fail on the other. And then the company will resent the employee for not fully appreciating the efforts that the company made in the wrong direction. It is best if each individual takes full responsibility for their own career.
The very best way to “feel involved” is to simply to “get involved”. Some things that the telecommuter can do to “feel more included”:

1) Conduct and facilitate Brown Bag Lunch professional development series on new technology or operational procedures. Teleconference technology like Skype allows remote employees to both attend and present. Take the initiate to present on high-profile, company driven topics. Arrange for guest speakers that are expert in these areas. Request that the company cater in lunch for these special training and educational events.

2) Go into the office for face-to-face business networking. Even though you have the benefit of telecommuting, this does not relinquish your responsibility in your own business networking goals. Schedule monthly or bi-monthly visits into the office. Line up the important meetings with co-workers, managers, executives and mentors that are beneficial to your career growth and professional advancement. Your career is your responsibility – and the adage “out of sight, out of mind” is very relevant to telecommuters.

3) Schedule weekly or bi-monthly one-on-one meetings with your managers and mentors. Stay on your manager’s and mentors radar by scheduling frequent and regular one-on-one meetings. Have agendas and meeting goals/purpose identified in advance, so that you are not wasting these important people’s times. YOU facilitate and conduct these meetings to show your intentions and initiative. Ask about your performance and share the type of projects that you would like to be assigned to. Review the gaps in your skill set that you need to accomplish to gain those desired positions. YOU suggest/ask for things that you would like as rewards for meeting certain goals.
These are only three things the employee can do to take charge and ownership of their own professional advancement and career management.

Bottom line: If you leave it up to the manager to guess about your own desires, they will guess wrong. You will be unhappy and they will resent you for not being appreciative for their attempts to make you happy. Take ownership of your own happiness.
In my Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.    In my Book of Answers: Companion piece to the Professional Toolkit, I have 100 work-life scenarios like the above.  The scenarios show how to accomplish your goals in similar situation.
For more information on how to get this toolkit or the “Book of Answers”, please contact:

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

Try it and let me know what you think.

To experience the entire SSWUG TV career management series, <<click here>>


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

Try this and tell me what you discover…..

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3 Sure-fire Ways to Screw Up a Project

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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

There are several ways to fall behind in a project.  Most times we can rebound from them  But these three mistakes are very hard to recover from.  Please keep an eye out for them:

1) Not verifying that everyone understands the success criteria.
For example: Make sure everyone has the same definition of DONE and the quality criteria. A developer may feel that “done” means that he has completed his section of code. But the project definition of ‘done’ means design spec written, reviewed, approved; code developed, reviewed, tested, unit tests done and automated, all Severity 1 defects fixed and retested on that section of code.
Make sure the entire team (business analyst, developer, tester, technical writer, technical support, managers etc )  is using the same definitions.
2) Not sharing the reason behind the quality metrics.
For example: The quality metric goal is to fix, retest and clear all high-level, Severity 1 defects by 6 weeks before code-freeze. In other words, the team’s goal is to have the count of  0 (none) High-level, Severity 1 defects at the 6 week milestone before code-freeze. This is because with every code change, there is a 10% chance of introducing new defects or uncovering hidden defects. In this example: Retesting 100 fixed defects has the possibility of finding another 10 new defects. By finding these new defects 6 weeks before the code-freeze allows you to fix and retest those 10 fixed defects before code freeze. If people do not understand the purpose of retesting the logged fixes that many weeks before code-freeze – they may decide to just close the fixed defects (to meet the 0 Severity 1 defect goal) without retesting them. This meets the 0 Severity 1 Defect metric criteria – but bypasses the intent or reason for the quality metric. If you just close the fixed defects without retesting – you have released with an additional (potential) 11 defects that would have been found/fixed if you had retested prior to the 6-week milestone.
Make sure everyone fully understands the reason behind the procedures and not just number goals.
3) Not selecting and reporting meaningful metrics.
Every project’s quality, forecasting, and progress metrics should be re-evaluated for each project. While past project report templates may be relevant – it should not be assumed that they are relevant. You still need to re-evaluate for each new project. Every project should have a mission and goal. Every metric that you report needs to support the mission and project goal. If you can not align the project mission and the metrics you are reporting, you are not emphasizing the meaningful targets.
In my Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.    In my Book of Answers: Companion piece to the Professional Toolkit, I have 100 work-life scenarios like the above.  The scenarios show how to accomplish your goals in similar situation.
For more information on how to get this toolkit or the “Book of Answers”, please contact:

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

Try it and let me know what you think.

What should job hunters highlight for a contract job?

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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

What special steps do job hunters need to take if a company is contracting?

If a company is looking to hire contract consultants, their main focus is to make sure the candidate will hit the ground running. People are normally searching for contracts because:
1) They are behind in their delivery schedule and are looking to quickly make-up the time with additional resources with no need for training or learning-curve costs.
2) They don’t have the expertise in-house to accomplish the task – and do not have the time or budget to training in-house expertise
3) They discovered an unexpected need for an additional resource with a certain skill sets and they don’t have any available people at this time.
In all three cases, the contractor will have a limited time to produce. Therefore, they need to emphasize that they have the ability to produce at the get-go. Therefore, in your resume, highlight past products and services that are comparable to the current position needs. Illustrate the design to market speed rate of your past contracts. Include satisfied client testimonials on your professionalism and productivity.
In my Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.  For more information on how to get this 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

Try it and let me know what you think.

How to capture that hiring manager’s attention

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Your work history is solid.  Your experience is exceptional.  Yet you are not getting the job offers that you want.  How can you get your resume out in front?

One thing that would make your resume more powerful and therefore, stand ahead of the others, is to quantify your achievements toward “what it means to the company” (money wise).

Remember that companies are in the business of making money.

Add a section of Professional Skills — that quickly lists all your technical and transferable skills.

Then ….

Rethink your great achievements (and qualifications) and voice them in “what it really means to the company” – or “what did the company get out of it” in regards to (but not limited to):

  • Increased customer satisfaction
  • Retention of customers in migration process
  •  Brought in new customers/clients
  • Speediness of customer to find->see->purchase and repurchase
  • Increased referral of new customers by previous clients (referrals increase revenue without additional marketing costs. It’s expensive to find new clients because of a large lead-to-sales conversion rate. Getting referrals from previous customers is a Win/Win/Win).
  •  Reduction of lead-to-sales conversion rate (it may take 100 leads to make one sale….if you can show how you reduced this conversion rate….)
  •  Increased revenue into a new market or client base
  •  Conversion of customers from competitors to your product
  • Use of affiliates and even competitors to gain a market advantage
  • On-time delivery into the market
  • Reduced time to market to gain the sweet spot of the market window – and gain a competitive edge
  • Reduced technical support and maintenance costs which increased customer loyalty
  • Reduced the number of maintenance cycles or eliminated them altogether – which reduced costs and increased client satisfaction.

Do the same with your performance evaluation summaries as well.

If you can put some tangible $$ or % numbers to your accomplishments that explicitly quantifies your value to the company’s bottom line – I think that would be a show-stopper.

Made up examples – just to give you the idea:

Things like:

  •  Initiated a referral program that allowed us to track the number of clients getting referred to us, but also allowed us to devise an improvement program to increase (and forecast) the number of referrals in the future.
  • Increased customer satisfaction by 50%, which resulted in a 30% rise in client referrals.
  • RE-introduced ProductX into a totally different market. By slightly re-engineering the product, we were able to launch our solution into an unsaturated market with little overhead. This resulted in an additional $100,000.00 in revenue the first quarter and forecast to double in the next.
  • Redesigned the e-commerce site for more visibility that resulted in 50% more traffic to our sights, and an increase of $100,000 in sales per month
  • Initiated 2 affiliation partnership with complimentary companies/products. These partnerships increased our advertisement exposure by 75% with no increase our marketing budget. It also resulted in $100,000.00 additional sales per quarter.
  • Wrote monthly whitepapers on hot-topics in the industry. This free subscription added approximately 200 new sales leads a month, which resulted in 100 new clients a quarter (resulting in additional $50,000 in sales a quarter).
  • Implemented various shopping cart optimization routines that made it more efficient for clients to view, select, and purchase the products. This reduce their shopping-to-purchase time by 10% and increase customer satisfaction by 30%. Because of these changes, “Returning customer numbers” increased by 45%. And referrals (by previous customers) increased by 30%.
  • Achieved 100% on-time delivery of 7 of YYY products and services which resulted in 100% client retention between releases.
  • Incorporated Early Product Release to certain high-profile clients – to assure these million dollar clients stayed with the company.
  •  Initiated a loyalty reward program that resulted in 30% increase retention rates of clients
  • 100% retention of our client base through the migration of Product X to Product y. Typical migrations lose up to 7% of our customer base in addition to bad reviews. This migration not only accomplished our 100% retention rate, but gained us an 5% bump in referrals.
  • Increased company revenue by $1,000,000.00 by converting a competitor’s client to our product line.
  • Consistently pulled in the release dates on <list the products> – which enabled the company to hit the market early and before competitors. Early release allowed the company a greater lead time and resulted in a million dollars of new market shares. Our current 100% rate was written in the XXX Technical Journal, giving us free advertisement and contributed to a 30% bump in sales leads.

Think like the owner.   What is he/she most interested in knowing?   Quantify your accomplishments in those terms.   Don’t get rid of your other resumes … just see how this new version of your resume feels to you.

How to handle jealousy in the office

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I received the below great question a few days after my Art of War for Product Managers and High-Performing Professionals.  I thought you might be interested in the answer as well.

Q: Many senior employees work under my lead. In this case, many other senior employees think that what a lucky me. Jealousy is coming up from them. Do you have any tips for me as new entrant in product management to face this kind of condition?

Thank you for writing me. And congratulations for getting such an amazing position! You deserve it.
I do understand about jealousy. Jealousy is more about your senior employees’ confidence level in themselves. If one is competent, well-balanced and talented – there is no need to be jealous or even feel a need to defend ourselves. Even understanding this, you still may have some conflicts in the office.

3 tips to reduce:

  1. Take on the attitude of service. They are senior employees and know a great deal about their area of expertise. Give them their due respect in their field. Acknowledge that, even though you feel they are working under your lead, you are actually in a service position. They know way more about their jobs than you do. But you know way more about directing traffic than they do. Acknowledge that without their piece, there would be no product release. Acknowledge that their position and experience is very valuable and critical to the product success. Continue to openly appreciate their position in the stream of things (tell them how much you admire what they do). Continuously remind them that the purpose of your position is to be of service to them. (All great leaders take on the attitude of service.)  Continue to ask them what they need from you to help them achieve their goals. Explain to them that you admire what they do (they are the drivers that will get the product released). And that you see yourself as the traffic cop whose job is it to keep the traffic moving smoothly, in the right direction, and avoid traffic jams to get the product out the door on time.
  2. If someone seems particularly envious or jealous, maybe they want to be a product manager. Ask them if they really want to be a product manager? Do they want you to put in a good word for them in your department? Help them get the job that they really want. If they really want to get into the product management arena, start introducing them to the staff and management of the team. Share the type of tasks and experience that they need to do the job. Share what a day in the life of a product manager looks like. Take them to lunch with some of your department staff. Keep that service attitude – and ask them what you can do to help.
  3. Sun Tzu (author of Art of War) would say: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. Make these people your friends. Periodically bring in breakfast or snack treats to their staff meetings or labs (where ever they gather in a group), make public announcement of appreciation when they do something that you have been asking the team for; write thank-you email to them and their managers – when they turn in their status reports early, show appreciation when they are doing what they are supposed to be doing (and make sure their managers get a copy of these things to show that you are on these people’s side); and acknowledge acts that make your job run smoother and easier. Keep your manager and their manager aware of the good things that are going on in the group (this shows the individuals that you are on their side to get them a good performance review). Take the most troublesome folks out to lunch and ask them for their advice on some things OR -better yet – say that you want to understand better what they do. People love to talk about what they do and give their opinions on things. Asking about them is another way of showing respect and interest in them. The more time you spend understanding them, the more they will take the time to understand you. The more you understand how they work, the better you can devise processes that naturally blend with the way they already work. Treat them with the respect that senior employees are due. Consider their insight, feedback and advice. Choose the path that feels right for you (which probably will include some of their ideas and your ideas). Don’t do what they say, just because they say it. But use their insight to improve your product process so that it better fits into what they are already doing.  The more things you implement that naturally fit the way things work – the easier your life with be.

You can’t change how people treat you. But you can 100% control how you treat others. Make your “service attitude” more public – to show them that you’re there to help them achieve their goals. Continue to remind them that you know that they are doing the significant, heavy lifting in the product design and implementation. Your role is to help the team achieve their common and shared goal. If you approach this with the service-attitude, you are more likely to reduce much of the negativity.

p.s. Keep all your “thank-you” notes and notes of appreciation in your Achievement Folder….so that if something comes up in your performance review, you can show tangible evidence that your intend was not to agitate. Document everything as you go along — so that at the end of the year (performance review time) – you don’t have to remember what you did all year.
Try it and let me know what you think.

Use Change Management to create an impeccable reputation

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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 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.
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My mother very much enjoys the daily judge programs. When I was growing up, soap operas was the prominent daytime TV.  Today, it seems to be the judge programs.  programs.  Majority of the conflicts stem from miscommunication or lack of communication.   Many times one person is suing the other for “not doing what they promised they would do”.  Other times, they are in court because one person doesn’t feel that the other is taking responsibility for their own actions.Most of these cases can be eliminated and avoided with some simple Change Management steps.
Although organizational change management processes can vary (and are often more extensive);  following these minimum steps in both your working and personal relationships, you will avoid much grief and regret.

1) Clearly state, document, and sign the agreement of action.  Have all stakeholders agree and sign the agreement.  Include communication plans in this agreement).
2) Verify that all parties understand the issues.  Get individuals to paraphrase the agreement in their own words, so that you can validate that they really understand the expectations on both sides.
3) Agree upon communication plan.  Define how parties are going to provide status, communicate problems, and discuss deviations/consequences from above agreement.
4) Immediate communicate any deviations from the signed agreement. Expect change and be totally transparent on the progress and status of the activities
5) Collaborate, document and sign the agreed change to the original plans.  Have all stakeholders agree and sign the agreement.

Taking the time to do these simple steps keeps everyone in the loop and protects both working and personal relationships.

Try it and let me know what you think.
In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into this in detail.

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