Tag Archives: Time Management

How to judge appropriately

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The most misquoted verse in the Bible is probably Matthew 7:1, “Judge not that ye be not judged.”
It’s impossible not to judge.  Telling someone else  “not to judge” — shows you have made the judgment that they are judging.  Most opinions, descriptions, decisions, views, rulings, and critiques are judgments.
In the workplace, performance review and evaluations are judgments on both subjective and objective criteria.  Business decisions are based on market comparisons and our judgment on ROI (Return On Investments).  Project management schedules and delivery schedules are based on group opinions and past performance trends.

I’m not sure when ‘judging’ attracted such a negative connotation.  But we can’t take inspired action without allowing some level of judgment within us and others.

The key is to judge righteously and appropriately.

“Great!  So how does one go about judging appropriately?”

In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into these things in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

Here are a few things to consider, when making a ruling (or judgment):

  • Be self-aware of any hidden agenda or expectations.
  • Use accurate data from multiple sources
  • Be wary of ambiguous and vague descriptions (indicators of innuendos, rumors and assumptions).
  • Disengage from the results (have no hidden agenda or expectations)
  • Don’t take anything personally
  • Give everyone the benefit of the doubt

The above steps seem simple enough, but how would we incorporate in the real-world?  Below are some common professional situations:

In my on-line coaching series, we use some typical employee complaints and frustrations.  Please add your frustrations to this list for practice.

  • My manager is not a people person.
  • My manager has never learned people skills.
  • My manager avoids confrontation at all costs.
  • My manager is showing favoritism.
  • My manager doesn’t like me.
  • My coworker is a racist and is lying about me.
  • My coworker is getting paid more than I am, and I’m doing more work than he/she.
  • My coworker is always submitting buggy code and it the reason my piece is late.
  • This company expects me to work 24/7.
  • This company won’t give promotions or any type of recognition.

Be self-aware of any hidden agenda or expectations.
Most of the above examples have a hidden agenda.  The ‘finger’ is consistently pointing to someone else. Maybe you know the saying, “When you point one finger, there are three fingers pointing back.   And this is the case in these examples. We create our own situations (good and bad).
Regardless of the specific incident, you have contributed to your current situation.  While blaming someone else provides some limited relief, it doesn’t really release you from your responsibility (your ability to respond).
Review your higher-level mission and what you can do to set things right.

“How could I have handled this differently? What can I do right now that illustrates my expert people-skills, my social skills, and my ease in handling conflicts and confrontations? This incident doesn’t depend on my manager’s people and social skills. This incident depends upon my expert people and social skills. My professional reputation is my responsibility, not my manager’s responsibility.”

Be wary of ambiguous and vague descriptions (indicators of innuendos, rumors and assumptions).
Ambiguity leaves the door open for innuendos, imagination and assumptions.  When you are use words like: never, always, mostly, chances are that you don’t really have your facts together.

Use accurate data from multiple sources
As you gather your accurate data, validate it across multiple sources.  Remember that each source may have their own agenda or personal perspective.  Relying on one or two sources with the same personal agenda

Disengage from the results (have no hidden agenda or expectations)

When you are collecting the data, disengage from the results.  When you have an idea of what you want the answer to be, you will often collect data that supports your expectations.  If you enter into the discovery phase with no expectations and an open mind, you are more likely to make appropriate judgments.

In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into these things in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

How To Say No/Tactfully Leave Volunteer Positions

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I recently received the question ” How do I say ‘no’ to volunteer positions I don’t have time for or don’t want?”
How does one tactfully leave a volunteer position that has become overwhelming, stressful, or is requiring too much time? How do I take better charge of my time in the new year?  Read on www.lauraleerose.com/blog
Although this is a common situation —this really isn’t as difficult as we often make it, if you truly understand and accept your value AND acknowledge all the opportunities there are to help.
CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE:
1) You are in the driver’s seat in a volunteer position.
2) Legitimate volunteer organizations appreciate your un-paid time, energy and talent. They don’t really want to do anything that would burn your bridges with them. The ‘tact’ responsibility is therefore, on their side; not yours.
3) Any time, energy, attention you can provide is appreciated with nonjudgmental hearts, at any legitimate volunteer organization. Volunteer organizations do not expect these volunteers to be long-term. It’s not how they work.
4) Volunteer organizations expect short-term stays and large turn-overs. Retention rates are 0. They are equipped to handle this. It’s not a big deal to them. This is in their wheel-house. So – don’t make it a big deal. Don’t make it personal.
4) If it has become too time consuming and overwhelming — this is on you. Therefore, consider reducing your hours or limiting your task responsibilities. Volunteer organizations are appreciative of any level of assistance. They are not the ones telling you that you need to put in these hours or do these tasks.
5) If you can not assist at all at this time, don’t apologize for taking care of yourself. You can not help others if you aren’t taking care of yourself. Things change. Lifestyles and events ebb and wane. Volunteer organizations understand this and they do not take it personally.
6) The volunteer organization has the entire community as a resource; you have yourself. They have better opportunities to fill their positions than you have in accomplishing your personal goals. Therefore, offer to keep an eye out for other people that might like to volunteer for them. Continue to refer others. Although the work needs to be done, it doesn’t have to be done by you. Helping them to find a replacement will be of value to them (although I would not agree to stay in that position until they find a replacement. Doing this gives them no incentive to find a replacement).
7) Realize that if the work you are doing is truly a MUST DO for their organization — they will find someone else to accomplish that task. If they don’t have someone to replace you — that means it wasn’t a MUST DO in the first place.
Sometimes (but not all of the time) it’s not the volunteering that you don’t have time for — it’s the way you are going about it. The way you can make a difference is unlimited.
Volunteer differently:
1) You can reduce or limit your time or tasks — so that it does fit your current lifestyle.
2) You can ask them to contact you in 6 months (or whenever you feel you will be able to donate again). Or contact you when they have a special occasion that needs some extra hands.
3) Consider re-aligning your tasks to support your own career and professional goals. If you are a software developer, then instead of agreeing to clean out the cat-litter at your local ASPCA — offer to work on their website. If you are in marketing and sales — offer to handle their promotions and marketing projects. Integrate your volunteering directly into your professional business development plans.
4) Refer both business opportunities (money making opportunities) and other volunteers to this organization.
5) Use your social media contacts (i.e. facebook walls or linkdin contacts) and blogs to tell people about your experience at this volunteer organization. Ask this organization is there are specific highlights or emphasis that they would like you to publicize.
6) Donate a portion of your Visa or Mastercard Reward Points to this organization to show your appreciation. Since Reward Points really don’t cost you anything — suggest that they create a Reward Point Donation center…such that others can easily donate a portion of their reward points.
7)Offer to keep an eye out for other people that might like to volunteer for them. Continue to refer others.
If you relax into the knowledge that volunteering isn’t an off-on switch or yes/no opportunity, you will be more at ease with handling these types of changing situations. Stress often comes from limited thinking. For example: “If I help, I have to help this way. I want to help — but I can’t do it this way.” This causes an internal dilemma and therefore stress. Volunteer organizations are open to all sorts of collaborations. I recommend that you be open as well.

Secrets to Taking Command of Your Own Performance Review Part III

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

Professional development series

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

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

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

Let’s take these questions individually.

 

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

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

 

 

What does a PBC look like?

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

Example could be:

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

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

 

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

What is an IDP?

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

For more information on this critical workshop, see

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

 

Conclusions:

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

 

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

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

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

 

 

 

Designing an Above Average Performance Rating

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Designing an Above Average Performance Rating

Professional development series

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

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered some tips to taking more control of our own performance evaluation process (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.   Or better yet; attend the workshop at https://www.lauraleerose.com/take-command-of-your-performance-reviews/

Last few interviews and articles; we introduced the Personal Business Commitment tool as a great way to communicate your goals and commitments to your manager.  We also discussed the importance of frequent meetings with your manager on the topic.  This is great for getting a “Meet Expectation” or average performance rating.  What if I wanted to get an Above Expectations, Above Average or even and Exceptional performance rating?  How would I go about that?

How do I go about designing an Above Average rating?

Well – the first step is having a frank discussion with your manager on what he/she sees as “Above Expectations”.

For example:  A developer’s primary role and responsibility is perhaps to design, code, test, and deliver high quality products and services.  Being an exceptional development is exactly what your manager expects of you.  Therefore, being an exceptional developer (even though you feel that it warrants you an Exceptional rating) is a “meet expectation” to your manager.  There is nothing wrong here – except there is a mismatch of understanding.

Above Expectations or Above Average often refers to activities outside your regular development duties (while still accomplishing your regular duties with high quality).  If you were to get published in a technical journal, present at a technical conference, bring back sales leads (contact names, numbers, email address from people that attended your presentation or workshop), visited client sites to provide on-site Q&A, job-shared with a Technical Support person so that you gained additional customer insight into your product, manned a Tradeshow booth as the technical support partner to the sales force, or conduct an executive business strategy proposal based on your innovation – those things would fall outside normal expectations for a developer.  If you were to accomplish those things in addition to your high quality development responsibilities, that would better warrant an Above Expectation rating.

Gosh!  If that’s an Exceeds Expectations or Above Average, what the heck is Exceptional and Excels Expectations?  This rating seems impossible.

Once again, it means sitting down with your manager to discuss what they see as Exceptional. More often it is tied to the business results of your “extra activities”.   For instance, if your client visit (which is outside of the normal duties of a developer) caused the client to purchase $50,000.00 more product or services – that would be exceptional.  If you conference presentation and subsequent collection of contact names/emails, lead to a huge sale – that would be exceptional. If your presentation to the executives an on innovative business strategy was accepted, executed and successful – that would be exceptional.  If the business result of your activities propelled the business forward faster to the business goals – that would be exceptional.

Conclusions:

The key is to have this discussion with your manager to understand what your manager feels is Above Expectations. If you have no clue on your manager’s scaling process, you are less likely to hit the target.

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

 

Give Reasonable Directions

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Follow up instructions with reason.

Professional development series

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Understand the intent or goal of your instructions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusions:

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

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

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

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

Design your next performance review workshop

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Greetings from Laura

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

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

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

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

Warmly,
Laura Lee Rose

Replay with additional proactive techniques

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With some additional proactive (Quadrant 2 preparation — sign up for the online coaching sessions for more information on this technique), you can perform even better.

You get into the office early because you need to review the results of the overnight test run, and mail in the results before the 9:00am meeting.

“Darn, the overnight test failed at stage 6.  Why did that fail?  I need to figure out why it failed and start it back up.
Oh – the error message says that there are too many input files.  It also states that the unit tests were successfully run with 20 files, which suggested that perhaps more files could be run but it wasn’t guaranteed.   I’ll create a batch file that splits these in 20 file chunks that run them in the background.  In the meantime, I’ll manually run stage 6,7 and 8 on the first 20 files.  At least I will have sample report on the data. 
The time Carl took in making these error messages more user-friendly and understandable really paid off.  I’ll make a parking lot note to thank Carl (and copy his manager) for the error message AND suggest automating the 20 file-batch  routine.  I’ll also jot down all my notes and steps.  They will be helpful in his automation of the batch pre and post processing.”

You create a  routine that takes your 1,578 files and parses them into 20 file chunks through stage 6,7 and 8.  Once the first 20 gets through stage 6, they automatically move onto stage 7 and then into stage 8 (while the next 20 are being processed through stage 6, etc).  This way just in case you can’t get through all 1,578 files before the meeting – you’ll still be able to report some preliminary results at the 9:00 meeting.
While those files are running, you create a PowerPoint slide deck on the 20 files that have already completed.  This way, you will only have to update the data, analysis and recommendations at 8:00am.

Co-workers start trickling into the office.  Your tests are still running and your PowerPoint template is complete.  If worse comes to worse, you can present your status with these files.  You take your timer with you to the coffee station and chat with others.  While at the water cooler, you overhear that the email from the executives was just them expressing how appreciative they were of everyone working extra hours to get this product delivery completed.  You were right not to be distracted by those emails — even if they were sent at 2:00am by upper management.

At 8:00am your timer goes off.  You return to your desk to complete your report.  1,000 files fully completed the tests.  You use that data to update your deck.  You take the extra step to create an analysis and next step recommendations.  At 8:30am you see Carl walk down the hall.

               “CARL!”
Carl: “Hey!  How did those tests go?”
“Great!  Do you have a moment to take a look at the results?  I want to bounce off my analysis and recommendations off you….before the meeting.”
Carl:  “Sure!  “

While you and Carl are reviewing the recommendations, the last 578 files complete.  You and Carl contemplate updating the report.  But decide against it.  The results of the last 578 didn’t change your recommendations and would cause unnecessary panic in updating the slides.  You can safely report that all the tests were completed and are in compliance with these recommendations.

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly 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

 

Make compromising your second choice

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I am a dance instructor as well as a success and business coach; and I often find things we can learn from dance.  For instance: Sometimes it is possible to make everyone happy.  You just need to be willing to take the time to look for the shared  “Win” in every opportunity.

For instance:  A beautiful couple was taking some private dance lessons from me.  At our last lesson, I asked them if they had been able to attend some dances to practice and show-off what they were learning.  The young lady confessed that they were having some disagreement about that.
She said, “He just wants to dance with me; and I want to dance with other people as well as dancing with him”.

I certainly understand both sides of that coin.  But both partners can get exactly what they want.

1) He can only dance with her.
2) She can dance with other people as well as dancing with him
3) While he is sitting out (because she is also dancing with other people), he can be on the look-out for new moves to try out on her.

This way, everyone is playing in their comfort zones.  He can relax and watch other people dance.  He can eye-spy some interesting moves that he had not tried before; while she is experiencing some new moves with the other leaders.  When they come together again, they can share what they have learned from others.

It’s like this in life as well.  When a couple comes together, it’s good to have individual interests as well as shared activities.  This way, when you have your quality time together — you have lots more stories to share. This is the same in business relationships as well as family issues.

As a business and success coach,  I realize that there are various solutions to a problem.  Few things are his way or her way; your way or their way.  If you take the time, you can often find a higher-level solution to most situations.

If you like the above tips – subscribe to my Dance Thru Life Tips newsletter at
http://eepurl.com/cSDC6

Multi-tasking or “allowing interruptions”?

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To me, multitasking is merely a euphemism to “allowing interruptions”.

One technique I use is the Sprints and Buffer technique.

  1. Divide your tasks into smaller mini-tasks with scheduled buffer time between the tasks.   This way you can make forward progress on a multiple of things — without churning from task to task.
  2. When an interruption enters the queue, simply schedule that interruption at the next available “buffer time”.  This allows you to complete several different categories of tasks AND handle the unexpected interruption.
  3. If you are a valuable component of your company or business, then you will be interrupted…you will be in demand. That’s the definition of an MVP.

The trick isn’t to turn-off that flow of influence and appreciation; the skill is to merely manage your time better. Planning for the unexpected is the key. We don’t know what will show up — but we do know something will show up. Therefore, it makes sense to actually schedule for those inevitable interruptions.