Tag Archives: transformation

What are the best ways to ask managers for a job title transition?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. My background is in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff. I have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.

Today’s question came from a reporter: It’s not exactly a promotion–but you get to do more of what you want to do and maybe even take on more responsibilities to set you up for higher salary and promotion in the near future.

What are the best ways to ask managers for a job title transition?

It’s recommended that you create (and document) an Individual Development Plan in which you outline your career goals and professional path.  At your regular (recommended weekly or twice a month) one-on-one manager meetings, you frequently review your goals and IDP plans with your manager.  If you do this proactively and regularly, when a position becomes available your manager is neither surprised by your interest nor taking it personally.  They are already aware of your goals and have become a co-conspirator to your success.  But keeping your manager in the loop regarding your IDP, they can also bring those matching positions to your attention.  If you don’t include your managers in your plans, it’s just a more difficult conversation.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward.

You can schedule a 30 minute complementary consult right HERE. Do it today, what do you have to lose?ScheduleTime

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “How to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

This presentation isn’t for everyone. It’s for professionals that are ready to succeed. Since we use the time to do some real-time laser coaching around your unique situation, the seats are limited. Even though this presentation is complimentary, there is a $5.00 reserve your seat fee that is refunded when you after attend the presentation. If you register and do not attend, you forfeit the $5.00 and all materials covered in the presentation.

I also have several worksheets that help clarify your goals, your teams missions, and your performance expectations in the Professional Development Toolkit. The toolkit goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of the above. It contains audios, videos, presentations, and worksheets for your use and growth. Take the next step and check the toolkit out <<HERE>>

Perks you should hold out for as you’re negotiating a position with a company

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. My background is in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.

Today’s question came from a reporter: What perks you should hold out for as you’re negotiating a position with a company? What perks do soon-to-be-hired people forget to ask for? What should they try to get?

 

My recommendation is to first understand what your wants and desires are, then use those as the starting point for your perks. Take everyone else out of the picture when deciding what you want.

workerswantReview this survey results on “what workers want” – and decide what you really want from your work experience.  For example if you are want your “opinion and knowledge valued” – discuss opportunities to travel and speak at various conferences in the company’s industry.  If you want to be properly recognized for work well done, discuss award schedules based on your performance. If you want the freedom to create and innovate, discuss their patent opportunities and compensations.  If career advancement is important to you, discuss the possibility of reimbursement for success or career coach fees.   If it’s important that you have the proper resources to do a better job, request administrative help to off-load so that you can focus on items only you can do.  If continuous learning is important to you, negotiate appropriate training time and reimbursements.

Once again – go back to what is important to you and then be creative in your negotiation the essence of those goals.

 

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward.

You can schedule a 30 minute complementary consult right HERE.  Do it today, what do you have to lose?ScheduleTime

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “How to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

This presentation isn’t for everyone. It’s for professionals that are ready to succeed. Since we use the time to do some real-time laser coaching around your unique situation, the seats are limited. Even though this presentation is complimentary, there is a $5.00 reserve your seat fee that is refunded when you after attend the presentation. If you register and do not attend, you forfeit the $5.00 and all materials covered in the presentation.

I also have several worksheets that help clarify your goals, your teams missions, and your performance expectations in the Professional Development Toolkit.  The toolkit goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of the above.  It contains audios, videos, presentations, and worksheets for your use and growth.  Take the next step and check the toolkit out <<HERE>>

3 Tips to manage two jobs.

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Career decisionToday’s question came from a busy professional:

I have been asked to take on 2 day jobs, what are your tips and advice to ensure that it manages both of them without any problems? One of them has a wider scope than another.

 

  1. If you have been “asked” to take on 2 day jobs, you always have the option to say “No, thank you” to one of them. That is always an option.
  2. One way to fully accommodate 2 full-day jobs is to work 16 hours a day and get paid separately for each day job. Otherwise, you are not really handling 2 day jobs; you are merely managing several products, roles and responsibilities. This isn’t that different from many other employees with multiple hats.
  3. My recommendation is to manage your projects and not your “jobs”. Clearly identify the tasks, priority of the tasks, the deadlines and stakeholders for your tasks and projects. Then schedule your time appropriately according to the priorities. Limit your schedule to the 8 or 10 hours of work in which you are being paid. Be transparent with your managers on what you can realistically deliver, and at what quality in that time. If the success is important to your manager, they will be realistic on what can be delivered.

Regardless of how hard you push and pack, a 5 pound bag can only handle 5 pounds of stuff.

I have several self-study courses on time management and realistic scheduling. Check them out at www.lauraleerose.com/ecourses.

I also have a complimentary article on 12 Tips to Realistic Schedule available for download.   Download the full article HERE

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward.

You can schedule a 30 minute complementary consult right HERE.  Do it today, what do you have to lose?

Are Your Meeting a Waste of Time?

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Small business owners and their small staffs are busy, and the last thing they need is an unproductive meeting that drags on and on. How do you tell if your meeting is wasting valuable time and how do you correct the problem?
[ Special bonus:  Download the Effective Meeting Checklist <<HERE and NOW>>]
Some basic rules for meeting management will help the situation:

1) Have a specific purpose and goal for the meeting.

2) Only have agenda items that support and accomplish that goal.  (If you have multiple goals for one meeting, then you run the chance of wasting valuable time for the people that are only interested/involved in one of the goals.  Call different “shorter” meetings instead).

3) Only invite people that have the authority to “do something” to accomplish the meeting’s goal.

4) Setup and publish the meeting’s purpose, ground-rules, time-limits and explicit agenda-topics.

5) Have a note-taker that is not expected to actually participate in the meeting to take notes and publish the notes (you can now include video taping or audio taping of the meetings as well — but you still want someone to quickly summarize the results and action items)

6) Always do an end-game review:

  • Review/Summarize the highlights and decision;
  • Decide if the meeting’s purpose and goal was actually accomplished;
  • Emphasize the “Call to Action” items;
  • Identify the explicit owners for each Action Item;
  • Assign a deadline or time-frame for the item;
  • Clarify the success criteria for each Action item (make sure everyone in the room has the same understanding of what DONE really means in this specific issue – make sure everyone has the same expectations);
  • if it was decided that the meeting was not successful in completing it’s goal – Outline any remaining Open Items,
  • Specify the date/time for the next meeting if there are any Open Items and who is in charge of facilitating and who should be attending that next meeting.

Often times meetings are unsuccessful because they simply do not have the right people in the meeting to make the decisions.  If you have a specific goal for each meeting, you can decide early on if the meeting has the right people to accomplish the goal.  If the right people are not there – do not proceed with the meeting OR have the right meeting for the people that are there.

 [ Special bonus:  Download the Effective Meeting Checklist <<HERE and NOW>>]

How Should Employed Candidates Job Search Secretly?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books 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.

Today’s question is:  How Should Employed Candidates Job Search Secretly?

The most effective way to job search secretly is to perfect your business networking skills.

I am assuming that you have already explored promotions and lead positions with your current manager.  I am assuming that your manager is aware of your career goals and individual development plans.  I am assuming that you feel that your manager can not assist you in these areas.
Some networking options available to you are:

1) Don’t overlook other positions within your company.  Get to know co-workers in sibling departments and invite them for lunch to find out more about their department, positions, products, etc.

2) Offer your services to sibling departments, nonprofit organizations, friends and family – doing the things you want in your new job.  Illustrate your skill and talent in this area to others.

3) Get an appointment with an external recruiter and just talk to them (in confidence) to find out the relevancy of your current skill set, if you need to master a different craft, or gain additional certification to make yourself more attractive to the outside work force.

job labyrint If you are ready to take that step toward job interviewing, I have a list of good questions to ask at a job interview.  To get your copy, please register <<HERE>>

If you need additional information, I am  available for business and professional development coaching.

I also have several worksheets that help clarify your goals, your teams missions, and your performance expectations in the Professional Development Toolkit.  The toolkit goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of the above.  It contains audios, videos, presentations, and worksheets for your use and growth.  Take the next step and check the toolkit out <<HERE>>

How to be super productive when you only have five minutes

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There are several ways to be productive when you only have five minutes (i.e. this will take less than 5 minutes to read):

1) Learn to delegate.  Be open to the concept that you have a talented staff around you.  Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should be doing it.  If the item is something that others can handle satisfactorily, hand it off.  Only keep the items that ONLY YOU can do.   Only keep the items that are aligned with your pay-grade, and career goals.  This allows you to use your five minutes to review several projects that other people are handling for you.

2) Set your timer.  Often times it’s never a “all or nothing” type of thing.  Set your timer for 5 minutes and chip away at some of your inventory and backlog of email, notes or clutter. When the timer goes off – so do you.  Repeat this several times during the week until your inventory is eliminated.

3) Use the time to setup appointments that leads to high-income activities.  Keep your phone conversations short, to the point, and use them to setup a longer meeting to fully discuss the issue.  Keep the interactions to the point — i.e.  decide on time, place, and reason for the meeting.  Then hang-up and log it in your calendar.  You can set several high-income generating appointments within 5 minutes.

4) Announce upfront that you only have 5 minutes to review their progress or listen to their issue.  Use that time to properly delegate to the right group or agree to a longer meeting later to discuss.  Hand-off the coordination of that meeting to the person that brought the issue to you. Tell them at that time, how much time you will have for that lengthier meeting.   Leave in 5 minutes (use the timer method).

5) Always arrive at least 10 minutes early to a meeting or event.  Carry a professional or personal development activity or your Individual Networking Strategy Workbook (discussed further in the Professional Development Toolkit) with you.  When you arrive at a meeting early or the meeting is starting late — take out your professional or personal development activity and study it.  OR use this 5 minutes to business network with those around you.

The Professional Development Toolkit goes into more detail on the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of these things.

For more information, why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward.
With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest speak at no cost to your group organization.

Tips to bring the best out of your team

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Hi, This is Laura Rose and I am a speaker and author.  I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have more time for themselves even if they don’t have the time to learn new technology or train their staff.

At the end of the day, I give people the peace of mind that everything is getting done exactly the way they want.

Today’s question came from a reporter.  She asked “How to bring the best out of your team”

Number one tip to bring the best out of your team is to be an exemplary leader.

Do to this, you need to:

1) Clearly articulate the goals, mission, and vision for your company and your department.

2) Validate that your team understands how each of their roles and responsibilities support and contribute the those company and department goals.

3) Understand your employee’s individual development and career plans.   Clearly outline the different career paths, promotions, and adjacent professional paths that each of your employees have that directly associate with their individual career goals and desires.  (More information on your Personal Business Commitment Plans and your Individual Development Plans in the Professional Development Toolkit)

4) Align their assignments with their individual career plans, talents and passions.

5) Be a co-conspirator to your employees success and they will do the same for you

For a free checklist on “How to Hold an Effective One-on-One manager’s meeting”,  request the checklist <<HERE>>

I also have several worksheets that help clarify your goals, your teams missions, and your performance expectations in the Professional Development Toolkit.  The toolkit goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of the above.  It contains audios, videos, presentations, and worksheets for your use and growth.  Take the next step and check the toolkit out <<HERE>>

MicroManagers – how do you deal/handle them?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books 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.

Simply put, I give people the time to be, do and have whatever they want.

Today’s topic: Micro-managers – how do you deal/handle them?

I am sure many of us have come across micro managers; I have been told there isn’t the best way to tackle them. However, there are some effective approaches..

Do you handle them( micro-managers) from the top management level or through other workers who work under and around the micro manager. But more importantly what is  a tactful strategy or a method you can take.

What are some tactile actions to dealing with them and how one can be brought into control.

How can they be avoided – Is the culture of the company to blame for their behavior?

The false premise in this question is the idea of “how to control your micro manager”. The idea of “control” is what started this discussion in the first place. Most micromanaging stems from an insecurity that things are not going to be handled the way that they should be. The manager doesn’t either truly trust his/her team OR his own management of his team. He wants to control everything to make sure it is a success (or match what he believes to be a success).

The next false premise is to spend time on finding someone to blame “Is the culture of the company to be blamed for their behavior?” While it may make us feel better to “pass the buck” – it doesn’t help us in our immediate situation. Cultural change in an organization takes time. But there are things we can immediately implement to get ahead.

As an individual and team contributor – one can 100% affect change in our own responses and reaction.(and not anyone else’s).  So that is where I recommend my clients to start.
In my experience, the best way to work with a micro manager is to understand their fears and their department goals. Then do everything you can to illustrate that you are in their corner; that they can rely and depend upon you; that you are their right hand person. And I’m talking about action and deeds (not just lip service).
This is my same recommendation for working with any type manager or team. It’s just that with a micro-manager, you need to increase or heighten your awareness and steps. For instance:

1) I normally recommend employees take the initiative to schedule regular one-on-one meetings with their managers once a week or at least twice monthly. If you are working with a micro-manager, you may need to schedule a 15 minute daily meeting. If you don’t already have daily one-on-one meetings with your micro-manager to proactively review what’s been done, where you are now, and where you plan to be by the end of the day or week – start. If you schedule daily, regular check-ins – the manager will avoid interrupting you frequently because he knows he has a regular meeting already scheduled with you.

For a free checklist on “How to Hold an Effective One-on-One manager’s meeting”,  request the checklist <<HERE>>

2) Be totally transparent with your manager (this is the same advice I would give working with any type of manager or team player). Since the micro management comes from insecurity and distrust, be an open book. Go out of your way to lay your cards on the table (using your frequently, scheduled one-on-one meetings) to discuss his expectations, the department goals, your goals. And explicitly discuss and show how you plan to achieve those goals. Illustrate that your goals and his goals are aligned. That when he does well, you know you will do well and vice-verse.

3) Ask him what you can do for him to achieve his business commitments and exactly what you need from him for you to help him meet his business commitments. (Once again – I would recommend this action with any type of manager).

4) Ask him how often he would like an update, how he would like it, when he would like it.   If he is micromanaging and constantly asking for updates – it’s a sign that you are not giving him updates as frequently as he needs to feel comfortable.  Create a Communication Plan and outline how you should communicate regular status, problem issues and solutions, Critical issues, etc. If you and he have an agreed upon communication method (like a fire escape plan) – he knows how (i.e. email on regular status, by phone on critical situations and your solution) and when (how frequently) he will be notified for different issues. [People often make the mistake of not reporting in when nothing has changed. The fact that nothing has changed is a status report and can be important information to your micro-manager ] Find out exactly what he needs from you to feel comfortable and safe. Then do it that way every time.   This gives you the reputation of dependability and reliability.  Attributes he needs to see to feel safe.

5) If your manager suddenly turns into a micro-manager (not his normal style); realize that he/she is probably getting some heat from his supervisors AND he is probably trying to shield you from the chaos from above (while at the same time get the executives the information that they need). Offer to attend and speak to the executives yourself (with your manager). This reduces some of the pressure, because you can answer the technical and day-to-day questions that the executives might have. You will also get some great high-level exposure as someone that really knows his stuff.

Once your manager realizes that he can count on you to deliver exactly what you say and when you said you would do it – he will be able to rely on not only your deliveries but your advice as well.

If you take on more of a leadership role in your relationship with your manager, he will feel more comfortable releasing his reigns. Sometimes people micro-manage because they can’t literally see anyone else stepping up to the plate. Sooooo, Step UP!

If you want more information on these techniques, just holler at me,  LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

In the Professional Development Toolkit, I go into the: who, what, where, when and how to accomplish all of the above.

For more about the toolkit and my other online courses, please visit www.lauraleerose.com/ecourses

 

Also following online courses:

 

 

 

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

 

Bragging advice for the terminally shy

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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.

Simply put, I give people the time they need to be, do and have whatever they want.

It can be incredibly difficult for women to self-promote, since culture traditionally encourages self-disparaging attitudes in women. But not just women have this problem.  How can you get over cultural barriers, or natural shyness, and really toot your own horn? Here are some tricks, and methods for learning to brag about one’s skill set and experience in order to build a business, attain new clients or get that promotion.
Several avenues:
1) Just Ask.  When you do good work, more often than not, a coworker, sibling department or client will come up and either thank you for your service or complement you.  Take that opportunity to ask them to “put it in writing” as a testimonial or to your manager, and cc you and their manager.  They are always happy do do that.  The only reason more people don’t do it, is because it never occurs to them.  Just Ask.  Make is a point to do something nice and valuable for someone else, at least twice a month and ask for the note or even a video testimonial.
2) Create your Professional and Career Press Kit.  Collect accolades. awards, recognitions, accomplishment, and customer notes in your achievement folder or Career Press Kit – as they happen.  To many times people wait until the end of the performance review to remember what they accomplished throughout the year.  Note them as they happen and you won’t have to remember.
3) Speak up.  Start giving informative and valuable presentations and proposals.  The best way to illustrate your value is to illustrate your value.  If you are in the corporate environment, give Brown Bag Lunch training sessions on the next generation technique; create a proposal on how to either increase revenue, reduce costs or decrease time to market; start a movement to optimize or automate non-billable hours so that everyone can spend more time making money for the company.  Stay visible with videos and even incorporating your head-shot to your email signatures.  Make sure people know who you are.  Make it a point to do at least 1 public speaking engagement a month.
4) Appreciate others.  When someone else helps you, write a note to their manager and cc-your manager and them.  Outline the important task that you accomplished with their help.  Make it a point to thank at least one person a week this way.
5) Shine through others.  Bring in valuable speakers and talent into your department.  Create your own catalyst event to bring others together.  Be the opportunity agent that connects the right pieces by asking experts to speak at your speaking series, interviewing them for the company newsletter, or arranging a consultation on a specific problem that your department or client is having, etc.  Include this as your one-speaking engagement a month activity.
6) Weekly manager or client meetings.  Take the initiative to schedule repeating weekly one-on-one meetings with your manager or client.  Through the act of reviewing your weekly accomplishments, you are getting your achievements some stage time.
7) Don’t keep it in-house.  If your manager is the only one aware of your talent and expertise, you are doing yourself a disservice.  During performance time, all the managers of the same band have to rate and rank their pool of employees against each other.  If you are only known to your manager – you won’t fair well in that comparison.  Start volunteering your service and expertise to sibling departments other target markets.  Be working on at least 1-side project for someone else at least twice a month.  This is a good way to get “thank you notes” from the others and keep the pipeline of jobs coming.

As you may have noticed, I included a schedule to each of these action items.  And each of this actions as associated with actually “doing the work” ( or the right to brag).   The key is keep practicing on a regular schedule.  If you continue to see yourself as shy, the you will stay that way.  If you visualize yourself as a mover and shaker, you will become what you imagine.  A habit is just a thought you keep practicing.  Keep practicing the thought that you are a valuable and vibrant person.

If you want more information on these techniques, just holler at me.  LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

What strategies do you use to stop procrastinating?

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I am a business and efficiency coach.  I work with my clients on this issue frequently.  We would take an objective look at why you are procrastinating.  Sometimes your inner-knowing is using “procrastination” to actually tell you that this isn’t really your responsibility or the timing of this tasks isn’t right or the way you are planning to go about the task isn’t right or any number of things.

Instead of fighting against procrastination – use it as an indicator to re-evaluate what you are about to do.

  • Is this task really on your purpose – or are you doing someone else’s responsibility?
  • Is this task really worth your time?  Even though it’s a MUST DO – can you pay someone else do accomplish it in less time and money – then it would cost you to do it yourself?
  • Is this task better accomplished with friends and family – instead of all alone?
  • What’s the reason for this task?  Sometimes the task mutates away from the actual essence of the goal.  ASAP is (Analyze, Strategize, and create an Action Plan)

Then use the 4D’s to make better use of your time.   If you want more information on these techniques, just holler at me.  LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info