Tag Archives: transition strategies

Your mission, if you choose to accept it….

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In my GoTo Academy: Tools for the GoTo Guy and Gal class exercises, I ask my students to do the following:

  • First week, I ask my students to list three heroes (dead or alive) that they would like to meet (and why).
  • Every week thereafter,  I give my students a problem or scenario to solve or improve.
  • I then ask them to pretend to be one of their previously listed heroes.  They are to redo the previous exercise with their new mindset.

They are often surprised how their answers differed — even though their knowledge set, their environment, and their resources did not change.  They only thing they changed was their mindset or perspective.

Putting on the robe or attributes of your favorite heroes makes it easier to take that leap.

Your homework, if you choose to accept it:  When faced with a challenge, pretend to be one of your most admired mentors or Brainiacs.  What would they do?  How would they react or respond?  Pretending to be someone else makes it easier to think out of our default ‘box’ and take that leap.  And since we gravitate toward heroes that exhibit more of who we really want to be — we can’t lose.

p.s.  The best part is that no one needs to know that you are doing it.

Let me know what you think.

Effective use of Voice Mail:

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Regardless of which time zones you are working with, answering machines and voice mail has become a part of everyday existence.  Unfortunately, we don’t always make use of the tool effectively.  For instance, I often receive messages like, “Laura, give me a call” without name or contact information in which to call them back.  Or they rapidly mumble the phone number with no hope of duplicating.

Or you call them at a convenient to you but you know it isn’t a convenient to them.  You want to hand-off the information (essentially getting it off your to-do list) but you know that they aren’t going to receive the message right away (because of their time zone or travel schedules).   This is fine to do, but there are some professional things to consider.  See on…

Some things to be aware of

  • State your name and number up-front to avoid running out of time at the end of the message.  Pause and repeat your contact number very slowly to allow folks to jot it down, if need be. By stating the number up-front, we avoid being cut-off at the end.   For instance: We naturally speed our speak toward the end of the message to avoid the “cut-off” phenomenon.  When we speed up, our voices often lower and we mumble  – making us difficult.   Also by placing our name and number up-front, we save them from having to hear the entire message again — just to write down our number.
  • Keep your voice clear and strong throughout the message and repeat any important numbers or ‘call to actions’.
  • If you call this person often, you don’t need to leave your contact information each time.  But if you haven’t spoken to this person in awhile, just refresh their memory.  They might have changed their phones and lost your number.  Or you may have changed your number in-between contact, etc.
  • If you know you are calling them at a bad time, tell them. For instance, “Hey, Sally.  This is Laura. Mr. Favor’s number is 555-123-4567, once again it’s 555-123-4567.    I know you are traveling today.  No need to return this call. I just know that you wanted to talk to Mr. Favor while you were in his town.  Once again Mr. Favor’s number is 555-123-4567.”  This shows Sally that you were not only sensitive to her goals, but that you were listening to her when she was sharing her travel schedule with you.  Otherwise, if you had left a message like: “Sally, I have that number for you.”; she might get flustered and mentally note (although she would be too polite to actually say it), “Gosh darn it, Laura.  I told you I would be busy and on the road today!  Now I have yet another thing to do to follow-up on this.”
  • Be explicit about any deadlines and when you will call them back (and state the reason for your call) so that they can be on the watch for your next call.  Most of the time, when you give an explicit time  when you will call back (and reason for your call), co-workers will connect with the importance of speaking with you.  They often give you a call back immediately with the information that you are requesting.  When you are vague and ambiguous about your intentions, people unconsciously dismiss the message. If you are transparent and explicit in the reason for your call, they are allowed to do some ground-work and are prepared with the answer in time for your next call.
  • Share why it’s important to them to return your call.  Put yourself in their shoes and figure out why they will want to return your call.  If you are leaving a humdrum, uninteresting or even negative message, people will find other things to delay their call-back.  If you state your intentions in the form of a win/win or exciting collaborative way, people are more likely to respond positively.  For example: “Sally,  This is Laura Lee Rose at 919-614-9029, (once again 919-614-9029).  I was thinking about your concerns over XYZ and I think I have the beginnings of a solution.  I’m excited about discussing this idea with you.  I think with some collaborative noodling, it would be a Wi/Win for everyone.  Are you available for a 20 minute call today or tomorrow? Maybe sometime between 3:00pm and 7:00pm?  If not, can you leave me three other dates and times in which we can brainstorm together?”
  • Make your message count.  Always leave a message that takes you one or two steps closer to your target goal.  For instance, if you are calling to setup a meeting, leave 3 different date/times that you are available to meet and what number they can call.  This way, when they return your call (and get your voice mail), they can say, “Yes — I am available on today at X o’clock”.  As you can see, this is much more effective than a message like, “Sally, I need to talk to you.  Give me a call, please.”  or even “Sally, I need to setup a meeting with you.”
  • If you get their voice mail and your are just leaving an FYI …. be explicit with your intentions and release their need to return your call. For example: “Hey, Sally.  This is Laura Rose. Mr. Jones’ number is 555-123-4567 (once again 555-123-4567). Mr. Jones said the delivery is expected on June 15th.  There’s no need to return this call, unless you have further questions.  I’ll be away from the office the rest of the day.  So, if you have any further questions, calling Mr. Jones directly would be more effective.”  This is much more efficient than “Hey, Sally, call me.”
  • Leave your client or co-worker uplifted by your message.  Realize that leaving a voice mail for someone requires additional work on their part.  They have to schedule time to listen to the voice mail, jot down any highlights, notes or numbers, and schedule time to return your call.  Acknowledge and value their time.  Anything you can do to release them of additional tediousness, please consider it.  For instance, “Hey, Sally.  This is Laura.  I’ll send you an email update on this, so that you don’t have to make notes.  Just letting you know that the deal is done.  Papers signed. Fax on it’s way.  I knew this was on your mind.  So now you can relax and have a glorious, care-free vacation.”
  • Although not always necessary, I have a habit of also sending a recap-email of my phone messages and telephone conversations.  This gives me a virtual paper trail of our agreements, action items and deadlines.  It’s not necessary for everything, but does come in handy many times.  Some people have more access to email than to phones and visa-versa.  Incorporating both helps assures your message is getting received and acted upon.

Using Time Zones to Your Benefit

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No longer is “I’ll finish this tomorrow”  or “I’ll schedule the meeting for later this afternoon before I leave work”an acceptable business mindset.

In today’s global and international work environment, ‘Waiting until tomorrow’ can cost you and entire day of productivity.  On the other hand, I am not advocating working around the clock either.  What I am suggesting is to merely be aware of both your surroundings and those of your clients and stakeholders.
While this is difficult when you are covering several time zones at once, it is manageable if you are working with one or two time zones on a project.
Some tips:
1) For people that are 3 or more hours head of your time zone:

  • Don’t leave your day without processing their request or (providing them status).  This way they will be automatically greeted with an update and feel that you have been very responsive.
  • Don’t suggest an impromptu meeting or interview late in your afternoon.  They have already gone for the day
  • Call them the first thing in your workday.  This will give them the rest of their afternoon to comply with your request.  And you will still have time to respond to their answers before you go home for the day.
  • Be transparent in your office hours. People at your site can see when you normally arrive and leave work.  Those in other time-zones do not.  If you are not normally in the office in the afternoon, tell them that.  This tells the client that if they want a response today, they need to send in the request by a certain time each day.
  • Incorporate and acknowledge time-zone delays and buffers in your delivery schedules.  This will allow you to accommodate for the delays either by adding time to the delivery schedule or deliberately shifting the work schedule to accommodate the time zone differences..

2) For people that are 3 or more hours behind your time zone:

  • Process their requests first thing in the morning.  Because they are not in the office yet; and this gives you an opportunity to comply with their request without them waiting.  This way they are greeted with your response the moment they start-up their computer.  If you wait until the end of your day to respond, you have delayed your progress two days (they have to wait until tomorrow to work on your follow-up request).
  • Give them a lunch-time (your time zone) call with any of your requests.  If you greet them with a lunch-time call, you can interactively review the materials that you have previously sent them earlier in your morning.  This allows you to answer any of their questions and give you time to respond to any follow-up requests before you go home (at your regular time).  If you call them the moment you get to the office, you know you will be leaving a voice mail and adding another to-do item on their list to call you back.  Deliberating orchestrating a ‘voice-mail’ tag game is non-productive and frustrating for all involved.   It may seem like you are ‘trying to communicate’ — but you are actually merely delaying the interactive interchange.

**Some people actually do this on purpose because they want to deliberately avoid confrontation and extend the deadlines.  Don’t dance to this song with them.

  • Be transparent in your office hours.  People at your site can see when you normally arrive and leave work.  Those in other time-zones do not.  If you are not normally in the office in the afternoon, tell them that.  This tell the client that if they want a response today, they need to send in the request by a certain time each day.
  • Incorporate and acknowledge time-zone delays and buffers in your delivery schedules.  This will allow you to accommodate for the delays either by adding time to the delivery schedule or deliberately shifting the work schedule to accommodate the time zone differences.

Asking the right question takes skill

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I had a vivid dream last night.  In this dream, a friend was very proud of her published article in a certain magazine.  She asked me to read it.  I was very excited and was looking forward to a pleasant and proud read, “Sure, where is it?”

She hands me the magazine and says, “It’s in there”.

I start thumbing through the magazine.  The type was very small, and all the articles started with the same 6 words, making it:

1)      Very difficult to read, because the type was small and in italics.

2)      Time consuming, because all the article titles started the same.

I was squinting and found myself losing interest the longer I searched.  Then my self-doubt set in.  ‘Maybe I scanned the titles too quickly?  Maybe I misread some of the titles? Maybe I’ve actually passed the article?’  So I confessed, “I can’t seem to find the article in here.”

She quickly said, “It’s in there.”

The more I searched, the more impatient I became.  “I’m not seeing it.”

She was now getting frustrated, “It’s there.  Keep looking”.

By the time I found the article on page 101, I was not in the right frame of mind to read it.  At this moment I woke up with one question in my head: “Why didn’t I ask which page her article was on, in the first place?”

Asking the right question isn’t as easy as it sounds.  First – we need to recognize that an important question needs to be asked.  Second – we need to decide what that ‘important question’ would be.

In my dream, I was so caught up in the ‘action’ of finding the article that I did not pause to recognize my mounting frustration.  Although my initial goal was to pleasantly and proudly read my friend’s published article, it mutated into merely finding the article.  By the time I actually found it, I was neither pleasant nor excited.  Even though I found the article, I didn’t read it (failed at the essence of my goal).

One recommendation is to use your emotional trigger of frustration, or impatience as a sign that a question needs to be asked.

Try that trick and let me know what happens.  My June 5th newsletter article has examples on how to best use questions in your personal, professional and entrepreneurial roles.  Quickly subscribe to my weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/  to get that edition.

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

 

Networking Dilemma: The Net Taker

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As a success and business coach, I received the following question:

  • There is a person in your network who is smart, reliable and competent at what they do – providing a service that is highly specialized with few (if any) reliable competitors.
  • Over the years, you have referred this person many great clients and this person has always thanked you for this business. Further, without exception, the people you have referred have been ecstatic with the price and quality of service this person has provided, which reflects well on you.
  • The problem is that even though this person’s clients (and other contacts) could be great clients for you, this person has never referred you anyone. Not one. Never!
  • You have talked with this person about this and they openly acknowledge the lack of reciprocity. They assures you that it is nothing personal. This person does not refer anyone, as they simply have a personal policy against referring clients or making any referrals (of any sort) in general.

I recommended the following — but what would you have said?

Your first priority is to your client. If this “net taker” is truly the best person for your client’s situation, then focus on your client’s needs and go ahead and recommend the best person for their situation (until your find a suitable replacement). This way you are doing right by your important client or potential client.

In the meantime, continue to network with others that are expert in the “net taker’s” domain. When you find someone comparable with even more positive attributes, then you can confidently guide your clients appropriately.

Recognize that you have full control of this situation by finding other comparable experts. This “net taker” is not the only expert in their field. I recommend having an open conversation by saying “Mr/Ms X, I totally understand your positions and I want to continue to be sensitive to your principles. You are a dear friend and I value our relationship. In addition, I want to collaborate with someone of your caliber that is open to referral and recommendation reciprocation. I was wondering if you can help me in my goal. Who are your competitors? Who do you feel have similar expertise and is comfortable in reciprocating?” In this manner, you are telling them that your are openly looking for a replacement in your network for his/her position.

You are not trying to sway them in their principles, but you are being forthright in your decision to find a better referral match to your business goals. And there is nothing wrong with that.

5 Tips for managing cultural or process change in the workplace

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 “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”

Buddhist proverb

The most effective way to lead and mentor, is when the student is wanting or asking. An inherent problem occurs when you are mentoring or leading groups (such as in a corporation). Often times a company, division or department will adopt a new process or software life cycle method without regard to the culture or readiness of the employees. This creates a frustrating and possibly a “no-Win” position for anyone responsible for auditing or managing this process change.

Sometimes when people are having trouble with change, it is because they are not ready for the change. Forcing them in a direction that they are not ready for is more difficult than merely allowing them the time to adjust and continue to lead them in that direction. Allowing and recognizing the stages of acceptance are also important (see 10 Tips for dealing with change in the workplace for more information).

Some additional points to consider when leading folks toward a new culture, development lifecycle method or process:

  1. Acknowledge that it isn’t your responsibility to ‘force’ everyone to adapt to the change.
  2.  Share reason for the process change
  3. Celebrate even the smallest process successes.
  4. Ask for help
  5.  Lead by example

Read the full article at :

www.lauraleerose.com/5 Tips for managing process change in the workplace.pdf

Which superhero are you?

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With adversity comes super-human strength and determination.
Over the rainy weekend, I watched The Fantastic Four (a movie about 4 comic book superheroes). While watching it, it occurred to me that we possess those same inner powers.

• We have Mr. Fantastic’s ability to stretch and reach beyond what we ordinarily expect from ourselves.
• We have the Invisible Woman’s ability to telepathically send energy waves and vibrations toward other so either repel or protect.
• We have Thing’s extra ordinary strength and determination in the face of danger.
• We have the Human Touch’s has extraordinary fire and passion for things that align with our purpose.

What other comic book heroes do you align with, when called to inspired action?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an alter-ego to call upon, to help us take that next leap?

We all have it within us.  What if we deliberately wore our superhero alter-ego to get us over that next speed bump?

What would happen?

 

 

Email or not to email – that is the question.

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Have any of these happened to you?

  •  An email is sent at 4:00am to tell you that the 8:00am meeting location (for the same day) has changed.
  • You are waiting for your next private student and they never show.  When you return home, you find an email send 1-hour before the class saying that they will not be able to make it.
  • You need answers to some important project answers.  You continue to send email requests without success.  Your report is late.

Email is very convenient, but it’s not the best way to communicate time sensitive information.  In all three of the above examples, email isn’t the enemy but it contributes to the problem.

Some problems with the above examples:

  • Sending the message doesn’t assure that the message is received.
  • Avoid imposing and passing along your chaotic schedule onto others.  Consider that your late notices are the results of your poor planning, not the person’s that you just passed it along to with a quick email note.  In this example, you essentially “washed-your-hands” of your responsibility for your last minute change and left it up to the other person to manage it.
  • Sometimes emails can be lost and automatically filtered into junk or spam folders.  Don’t automatically assume that they are deliberately ignoring you.
  • Not everyone has email capability strapped to their belt or in their purse.  It may be several hours or until the next day before the message is actually received.

Many times we use this method to avoid conflict or embarrassment for something we are uncomfortable saying in person.  Many times we use email to simply cross a to-do item off our list.  The mistake is that we feel that once we “send” we are done.    As you can see from the above examples, that is not always the case.  Communication is (at minimum) a two-way street.   Your initiated email or text simply doesn’t complete the circuit.

An good way to avoid a mistake with email is to:  review why you are sending this message and what you hope to accomplish with it.  What is your goal?  Is the goal for them to actually receive the message and take some type of action?  Or are you merely giving some background information or reference material for later use?

Also consider:

  •  Would you be inconvenienced if they don’t get this message?
  • Would they be inconvenienced if they didn’t get this message?
  • Are you sending this email to avoid talking to them in person?
  • Are you deliberately ignoring their request for response to avoid conflict?

None of these are very good uses of email alone.

But how does one know when it’s appropriate to send an email message and when it’s not enough?  Some things to consider is the type of message, urgency and amount of lead time available.

Some good general communication rules:

  • Provide the recipient enough lead time to actually receive and respond (at least 2 business days).   If less than 2 days, call instead.
  • If 2 days passes without a response, switch to another (more urgent) form of communication preferably a phone call or a meeting.  This way you can get your response immediately through that interaction.  Both email and text is a delayed form of communication ( i.e:  send a one-way communication and wait minutes, hours, days, weeks for a response).
  • If you are not interested in continuing the relationship, respond “I’m not interested; please remove me from your subscription list; please remove me from this project; etc”.  Ignoring their emails in hopes that they will get the message is neither considerate nor effective.  They may be giving you the benefit of the doubt and are assuming that you are not receiving the communications.   Once you have explicitly stated that you are not interested and asked for them to stop all communication, and then most reasonable people will take you off their project status list.

Conclusion:

Take the time to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.  If your positions were reversed, how you would like someone to notify you about a last moment change; how much time lead time would you like before you reschedule and rearrange your day;  how would you like the other person to deal with a difficult situation?

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

When your peer is now your boss (or visa-versa)…

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As a business and success coach, I help people manage their career development. There will be times when someone is promoted from within their team or department.  At these times, there may be some initial strain when a fellow peer is now your boss (or visa-versa).  I find that appreciation in the workplace goes a long way in eliminating the awkwardness of these dynamics.

Teams work because of the diversity and skill set of each individual in the group. Whichever received the promotion, they received it because of the previous team dynamics. Therefore, every member of that team was somewhat responsible for that person’s promotion. The team will continue to succeed as long as they see themselves as a team.

With that in mind, consider these tips:

 When your peer becomes your boss:

1) Show appreciation for the individual talent and skill that got them promoted. AND acknowledge your strengths and your part in this promotion.

2) Congratulate them on their promotion and assure them that you will continue to support them and the team.

3) Share with them your understanding that they are now in a position to network and influence a higher level of management and oversee an expanded level of projects. With this in mind, outline your strengths and your career goals to your new boss. Your new boss has seen you in action (which is a positive), but possibly does not know your individual career and development plans. Share these with your new manager, so that they can continue to forward opportunities that match your desires as well as your abilities..

When you become the boss to your peers.

1) Show appreciation for their individual talent and skills. AND acknowledge that they were a large part of your promotion.

2) Ask for their help and support to continue to have the strongest team in their division.

3) Clarify your vision and mission for the team and ask for their ideas on how to accomplish these goals. Be clear in your direction, but continue to work as a team to accomplish the goals.

4) Share that this new opportunity for you also means new opportunities for them. Because of this promotion, you have access to departments and contacts that you didn’t have before. Convey that your goal is to appropriately share these contacts and opportunities with them. Invite them to share their career aspirations and goals — so that you can introduce and connect them with projects and teams that will get them to their goals..

As a success coach, I find this type of mindset deflects any awkwardness that people may anticipate.

If you need some one-on-one consult, please consider taking advantage of your free introductory coaching session.