Tag Archives: Rose Coaching

What’s the best way to get promoted?

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What’s the best way to present/position yourself so that higher-ups will want to promote you. With many hiring decisions today made by more tha one person – particularly in larger companies – people need to make themselves “promotable”. So what strategies do you recommend for positioning oneself accordingly? 
Effective Business Networking is still critical for advancement. People do business with people they know, like and trust. As you mentioned in your question, committees are not only responsible for hiring and performance evaluations; but for re-organizational decisions as well.  If your manager is the only one that understands your value to his/her department, you are doing a disservice to yourself.

Quick things to keep in mind:
productyou

  1. Marketing and Branding of the product YOU.  Attack this as the CEO of your own career and the product you are promoting is YOU.
  2. Create a Business, Marketing, Branding and Networking plan that consists of the proper managers, mentors, customers, departments and even technical recruiters.  Include contacts associated with the groups and pay grade (employment level) of your desired promotion levels.  This should be your Marketing Plan to attract your prestigious projects, clients and promotions.
  3. Religiously schedule and follow your network and marketing plan.  Work with a business coach or mentors (of the same experience that you are trying to achieve).
  4. Understand the responsibilities of the pay grade or employee level that you have your eye on — and start accepting those roles.
  5. Align your personal business goals with the company missions/vision/goals – i.e. Actually generate revenue for the company through your performance.  Be able to quantify your performance with tangible numbers of how your direct results increased their revenue, lowered their costs, reduced their time to delivery or sale.
 Think like the owner of a very valuable product (YOU) and you want to get it into the right hands.
The Professional Development Toolkit online course goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of these things.

Do’s and Don’ts tips for turning intern or temporary positions into a permanent position

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temp

Tis the season for intern and part-time positions.  It’s a great time to get some extra cash but how do you turn these short-term positions into long-term gains?  Here are some quick tips for workers who hold a seasonal position, and are interested in turning it into a permanent gig.

 

Do’s and Don’ts tips for turning intern or temporary positions into a permanent position:

1) Don’t dedicate all your time and effort into “doing your assigned job well” — Do illustrate your value throughout the organization, not just at your assigned task.
2) Don’t continue to remind them of your end-date – Do talk about what you can do for the New Year, Spring and Summer projects.
3) Don’t act as if this is a temporary job – Do act as if this is your company by implementing process improvements, creating reducing cost utilites, increasing sale and sending referral/leads to marketing

 

The holiday season is a great time to focus on career management and professional development.  Think of it:

  • The workload is slowing down
  • Executives are preparing New Year strategies.
  • Performance evaluations are just around the corner
  • You have some time away from the office

Check out the new online and free course 10 Career Boosing Resolutions at https://www.udemy.com/10-career-boosting-resolutions/

Or How to Get that Well-Deserved Raise at https://www.udemy.com/how-to-get-that-well-deserved-raise/

3 steps to managing people you don’t like

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get back to workThe most effective way to managing people you don’t like is to focus on their positive attributes and not on their annoying habits. Everyone has idiosyncrosies. Everyone brings different things to the party. That is what makes the work force both rich and challenging.

  1. By focusing on the positive attributes and talents that the individual brings to the team, you can not only more easily manage around the uncomfortable areas; but turn those negatives into positives. For instance, if you feel that he/she is too much of a braggart and wanting the spotlight – assign him marketing and promotional activities in which his salesmanship is an advantage to your team. Send him to networking and marketing events. Have those attributes work in your favor.
  2. Also – often the thing you don’t like about someone is a mirror into something you don’t like about yourself. So doing some sole-searching on why you don’t get along with someone might help as well. Seek to improve yourself in those same areas.
  3. Lastly, understand that you can not change how other people respond to you, but you can chang how you respond to others. If the person is constantly late with his/her work (regardless of how little or how easy the task), never assign them a task in the critical path; never put them in the position of becoming the bottleneck of the project.

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 https://www.udemy.com/it-professional-development-toolkit/

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

 

How to Repair a Damaged Relationship with Your Boss

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the books TimePeace: Making peace with time – and the Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations.   I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in professional development, career management, time management, and work-life balance strategies.

Today we are going to talk about How to Repair a Damaged Relationship with Your Boss

get back to work

Everyone wants to work well with their co-workers and boss. But sometimes it’s difficult because of personalities or the way people like to work.

Here are some different strategies to consider:

1) How can you tell if the relationship with your boss is repairable? The best way to see if the relationship can be repaired is to better
understand how you work and how your boss works. Taking a personality test like Opposite Strengths System <http://www.oppositestrengths.com>,or * Myers Briggs* personality test. <http://similarminds.com/jung.html>  provides an objective and 360 degree assessment.

By understanding the different way people work and how to better relate to those personalities – you are well on your way to repairing the relationship. Since you cannot change how other people react and respond to you – you will need to be willing to make the change. If you are not willing to put in the effort, then the relationship will not change.

2) What if the relationship cannot be repaired but you don’t want to quit?
The best way to change positions within the company is to start business networking with others in the department or area that you want to move into. Start marketing your expertise in their area by volunteering your services, sending helpful articles that point to solutions or new techniques, present Brown Bag Lunch talks on topics of interest, ask to be mentored/coach by others in the other departments, take others to lunch to find out about other opportunities in their area, and schedule an appointment with your HR representative for additional ideas.

Okay – after some soul-searching; you have decided to repair the relationship.  What now?

 

Here are some quick steps:

1) Acknowledge your part in the broken relationship. Make improvements in your performance, stay positive; don’t place him/her in difficult situations; bring solutions to problems; be open to feedback; don’t take things personally, do what you say you would do and keep him/her in the loop when you can not accomplish it and always stay calm and professional (that means no drama)

2) Understand your boss’ point of view: Go the extra mile; anticipate his/her needs; protect his/her time; and  understand his/her communication preferences,

3) Focus on your shared/common goals and interests. Includes some personal interchange. Get to know them a little and give your boss the benefit of the doubt.  Another good reference book is Don Ruiz book “The Four Agreements.”.  This is a great personal and professional relationship manual.

4) Tommy Thomas, PhD  and leader in the Opposite Strength System suggests the following:  To improve your relationship with your manager, the main point to remember is to have an attitude of equality. The mistake most people make in their relationships with people they report to is that they confuse the authoritative position that the manager has in the organization with the value the manager has as a person.

So be sure to blend respect for the manager’s position and authority with conveying an attitude of equality.

The IT Professional Development Toolkit, goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how to accomplish all of the above.  The IT Professional Development Toolkit is covers a comprehensive set of development tools and techniques in less than 10 minutes per practice.  It contains audios, videos, articles, webinars, presentations and practice exercises designed to be less than 5-8 minutes in length.  It can be used as a reference platform or a 12 week course program.

 

The toolkit comes in two forms:  DVD and online eLearning program.

elearning versionDVD version

 

For more information about the toolkit, click on the above buttons or please go to my website at www.lauraleerose.com

For more information about Opposite Strengths System and relationships, check out Tommy’s Relationship Guide. This is a report that will give you detailed; specific coaching on how to approach your manager based on who you are and who your manager is and do so with an attitude of equality. Go to http://www.oppositestrengths.com to learn more.

How to deal with difficult clients without losing business.

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How to deal with difficult clients without losing business.

For your business to thrive, you need the right client (not just any client). Often times the difficult clients means it’s a poor match. It could mean that you don’t have the right product; the right price; or the right service level for them. In these cases, they are not the right client for you. If you continue to try to provide for the wrong clients, you will loose business for a few reasons:
1) customerserviceThey will never be happy with your service.
2) You will loose money trying to make them happy (which you will never be
able to do).
3) They will tell everyone that they know – not to go to your place
(loosing you more clients).

So – sometimes, trying to keep a client actually loses you business.

Some ways to deal with difficult clients without losing business:

1) Understand the reason the client is asking for this particular item. Sometimes what the client really needs is different from what they are actually asking for. If you take the time to understand the client’s perspective, goal and reason for the purchase (of service or product), then even if you don’t have the exact product they are asking for, you may have a different solution for them. Sometimes people get fixated on one way to fix the problem, when there are multiple solutions. You may have a different product that solves their problem – just not the one they are fixated on right now.

2) Be prepared with a list of affiliated or referred partners. If you don’t have the right solution, be prepared to hand-off to someone in your referral or affiliated program. This way the client stays happy and you get the referral fee.

3) Apologize for the situation and ask the client how he/she would like this situation handled. Try to accommodate as best as you can within the goal of your company. If you are not able to accommodate the client and you have caused them some inconvenience, provide them an in-store coupon or gift certificate that requires them to come back to redeem.

How to keep that new employee

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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.  The Professional Development Toolkit package covers professional development and real-world IT topics in detail. If you are interested in inexpensive training in these areas,get signed up

I received the following questions about why new employees leave a job:

  • Why do new employees leave?
  • How can a company on-board them immediately and create an environment that makes new employees want to invest in their future with the company?

 

Most new employees leave because of just a few reasons:
  • they are frustrated with the work that they are assigned;
  • they are offered a better job;
  • they are the wrong fit for this company/job.

To avoid some of these issues, do your homework:

1) Make sure you do your due-diligence in the interview process.  Understand their motives and career goals.  As best as you can, make sure their career goals, personalities and work ethic meets and matches your needs.

      This reduces incidents of  “they are the wrong fit for the job”

2) Have copies of your company policies, orientation materials and task procedures (that they will be responsible for) for them.  Make sure your training and procedures are well documented with steps, the reason for doing it this way, and your success criteria (how they know it’s completed correctly).

     This reduces the incidents of “they are frustrated with the tasks they are assigned”

3) Provide career support.  Partner the new employee with a buddy and a mentor.  The buddy system gives the new employee someone to go-to to ask daily questions.  The mentor (which is a different, higher-level person) helps them stay future career focused.  Also, setup regular one-on-one meetings with the manager.  The meetings can be as frequent as once a week but no less than once every two weeks.  The meetings can be as short as 15 minutes but schedule at least 30 minutes in the calendar.  This gives them a known and regular time to meet with their manager.  This support encourages transparency and open communication.

This reduces the incidents of “they are frustrated with the tasks they are assigned”.  Also – by building a good working relationship with their managers and co-workers, they will see this as “the better job” – reducing the ” they are offered a better job”.

In the Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.    In my Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations, I have 105 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 LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

When it comes time to quit your job, do it without burning bridges.

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

When it comes time to quit your job, how can you do it without burning bridges.

Of course this depends upon how you have conducted yourself throughout your career; but if you have been professional and a valued contributor all along – here are a few tips:

1)  Highlight all the positive things that this company has allowed you to accomplish.  Show appreciation for your manager and all the opportunities provided on your behalf.

2) Share your individual career goals and plans.  You should have been sharing this all along with your manager in your regular one-on-one managers meetings (detailed in the Professional Development Toolkit).  Therefore, this will not be the first time your organization hears about your career goals.

3) If you have been sharing your career goals with your manager and mentors; and your current company can not provide your ‘next step’ – there will be no bridges burned.  You are simply continuing your career growth and following your IDP (Individual Development Plan detailed in the Professional Development Toolkit).

4) Stay in touch with your managers/mentors/co-workers.  After you leave, stay in contact with past managers, mentors and co-workers.  Everything changes.  It’s a 75% chance that those people will also move on (change their positions) within the next 5 years.  Continue to network with them to understand how their power of influence is growing.  Continue to share with them about your career plans (as well as understanding their goals).  Continue to help each other achieve those next steps.   Stay on their radar – such that when a great opportunity presents itself to them, you are on their minds.

5) You never know who other people know or what the future will bring.  Make sure you stay LinkedIn.com (or similar) connected so that you easily see who they are connected with.  This way you can more easily leverage your links or network.  Joe may not be in a direct position to help or mentor you; but you see that he knows Dr. Barklette that would be a great mentor for you.  If you had asked Joe if he had any recommendations for a mentor, he may not think of Dr. Barklette.  But because you can see Dr. Barklette in Joe’s circle, you can ask for the specific introduction.  You also know that Dr. Barklette might need a research assistant or project manager on his next program, etc.

Bottom line is that right way to quit your job doesn’t stop when you walk out of the door.  It’s really just the beginning.  Make it a point to continue the business network and build a working relationship with those past relationships.  The biggest mistake that people make is to close the door on those years of collaboration and professional network.

If you would like to know more details, please email LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

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_-/

Using hosting etiquette to close the deal

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Using hosting etiquette to close the deal

 

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.  Steve Wynkoop and I talk a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG TV. Recently I was approached by reporting wanting to know the following:

 

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

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. – Vegan, probably a steak place isn’t the best choice.
  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 first 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-comers when they arrive.
  7. When meals arrive at different times, suggest that those that have received their food to start eating. Lead by example and 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 you are 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 patterns 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).

 

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 transferable 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 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.