Offending People
It’s easier than you think to offend bosses, co-workers, customers and friends. One of the realities of being a coach and consultant involves the risk of offending people you are trying to help. That is a good reason for me to suggest that we all plan to complete a self assessment each year. Call it your ‘annual check up.” Here are the guidelines from what was sent out to a select few earlier today.
This is a worthwhile annual checkup for executives, entrepreneurs and professionals I care about. (Adapted from Harvard Business Review Briefs)
Want to do what the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies do for their annual evaluation by the board of directors — write a self-assessment that helps guide your personal growth? What you write will be a valuable tool for moving ahead, a custom guide for your own development. This gives my ExecWorth friends and clients a great basis for a productive discussion. We can think of the effort as an annual check up on your plans and aspirations for the year ahead. 2011 will be here before we know it!
Self Assessment Guidelines. Here are some guidelines for writing a self-assessment that gives you an initial road map for growing your business or your career:
Reflect. We found that successful leaders and doers think seriously about their motives, beliefs, assumptions and actions. They analyze events and the outcomes of their decisions, particularly how they affect the big picture. They force themselves to give a full hearing to ideas that contradict their own. They take responsibility for their mistakes and treat failure as a chance to learn and grow. Even at the pinnacle of their careers they’re committed to lifelong learning. Make a list of five or more significant events you encountered this year and how you handled each situation.
Ask for feedback? It is OK to get opinions on your performance from people you work with and trust. Resist the temptation to argue against criticism, and be careful not to let your assumptions about your capabilities color what you hear. If you have an executive or business coach, they can add insights. Ask for five or more observations the trusted source can make about you and your performance.
Be honest about your shortcomings. As Oliver Cromwell reputedly told his portraitist, include “warts and all.” You can’t take the write-up seriously if it’s not real — and give you credit for your openness. One hint that you’re ducking doing this: You’re describing a missed goal and putting more blame on external factors than your own actions. If your weaknesses list is too skimpy you may not be digging deep enough, with either self-reflection or your feedback sessions. List five or more strengths and five or more weaknesses and how you are working with or on each. This is a search for the balanced understanding.
Highlight your contributions to your business or organization or self. Did you lead yourself or your staff to overcome a tough problem? Solved a nagging process glitch? Improved connections up or down the value chain? Broadened market share by training others or sharpening your own skill set, bettering customer service, helping to create a new product/service or break into a new market? Cite all the hard data that’s available. Write about your five recent accomplishments (and how you assisted others) meeting specific goals and objectives you had in mind.
Describe the areas in which you improved your capabilities, via formal training and on your own. Position yourself as you would a product: Is your strength in leading, innovating, lowering costs, technology, logistics, analysis, controls, quality, problem solving, international business, e-commerce, negotiation, or a combination of these capabilities? Perhaps, you can list five specific steps you took to learn more about how to improve your own performance .
Don’t be a thunder-stealer. Plain and simple: avoid taking more than your share of credit for a team’s success. Self-serving judgments of any kind will undermine your credibility. List five accomplishments that helped you move ahead where others played an important role.
Be sure your self assessment is in writing. The easy way is to say this is a good idea and move on – no time for this kind of thing. The preferred or recommended response is “Do It!” In addition to following these self-evaluation guidelines, you should be asking yourself these reflective questions: Is what I’m doing working? Of course it is, but what is working, what is not?
Allow enough time to write this up. How can I make it better? Am I realistic about my capabilities? Have I fallen into any unproductive habits? Is any behavioral problem like temper, disconnectedness, undue optimism or unneeded anxiety getting in the way? Am I capitalizing on my strengths and correcting my weaknesses? Am I focusing on my true priorities? Am I modeling the self-awareness that I expect of others? Am I studying the competition and the customers intently but neglecting to look inward?
Self-assessment is a skill. It can be learned and it can be honed with practice. Know thyself, Socrates counseled. That’s good advice for being the best you can be. In truth, the email is just an introduction to the idea of self assessment. If you would like to tailor an in depth look at how to start and complete your own self assessment, email or call me for tailored suggestions. I’ll help you get it done timely.
Regards, Ed
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What is marketing?
will summarize an action strategy later today. In the meantime . . .
Marketing is Confusing. As I reflect, our meetings w a number of friends
did firm up a realization that there may be a shortfall on what people think
marketing (including sales) is all about – and what it is not.
Properly done; It is not really about schmoozing, backslapping, lying,
exaggerating, distorting, or any of those negative images I detect from
time to time. It is one of the important foundations for the success of
any economic endeavor. Content, Images, Interactivity all count!
In the broad sense – Marketing involves awareness; research, listening,
positioning, understanding customers, disappointment and that kind of
experience. It calls for charm, empathy and determination – patience all around
on our part to move projects and people forward.
We did agree it is “What we do consciously to attract, retain and delight
our customers.” That means we target or specify who we think our
customers are and should be. There must be some kind of basic action list
with clear priorities. You and I are marketing advisor/doers, so we need to get
those we work with on the same page. This is an important part of our work.
Clients have to want to increase sales, devote time and energy, embrace change; and
in most cases be part of a team – a learning team. It may be a good idea for us to
prepare a position paper that will help folks we want to assist – align with us.
If you agree, let’s put that on our task list for September. In the meantime, it is
helpful to affirm the primary marketing functions. Later, we can add definitions
and examples. There is Offline and Online marketing to consider.Marketing
Research; Advertising, Sales; Sales Promotion, Public Relations; Product Management,
Distribution. We have to think about the four P’s: Product, Place, Price,
Promotion. This is just a start. Anyway, see you in a few.
Value Added Thinking
Hey Jonathan:
If I can save you $500,000, will you pay me $60,000?
If I can help you add $5,000,000 to sales one year sooner,
will I be worth a $50,000 bonus? Yes, its about results,
things we can measure that prove your value added.
Its less expensive to live here.
Folks who want to hire for less often point to their lower cost
of living to rationalize/ $50K in Oakland is $32K in Lexington -
for example. You want to focus on value added. Handle training
maybe $35 to $40K; add the other departments to the job,
your value added gets close to what you need – even discounted.
Salary is Only part of the Compensation.
If you wind up offered a $40,000 base, the key is where you wind
up in one year: bonus, incentives like stock, advancement thru
raises and promotion. The opportunity remains marginal in many
ways unless you can get them to understand value added.
We All Make Less Money Here.
One of the problems is that COO John may be paid under what job is
worth and the owner never had a problem hiring at his preferred
lower pay scale. The best solution is to point out how you can
save money and add to revenue. You will probably have to convince
the owner as well as John?
Make a Big Difference.
Think in terms of specific impact. If they do not improve the “training
process” it will cost $50K to $100K in lost progress. If they do not make
changes and improvements in other key areas it will slow down their
growth by as much as $1 million! You can make the difference. Value
Added = $250,000. Added $25K pay from gains very worthwhile.
You are also versatile trouble shooter type person. That means you
can shift gears and adjust as priorities change. That alone has value.
There are major functions in most business: sales/marketing; finance &
accounting; operations/distribution; and the staff functions like HR
and research – lower pay usually. You are best placed in Operations.
Sales Drives Profit
The greatest salesman I ever met was a terrific listener, very smart,
very attentive, very structured. Not so much a schmoozer as a
thoughtful, likable type. He sold more than 10 folks combined,
because people respected what he said!
Attract, Retain & Delight Customers.
Customer Service is a big deal. The best marketer I ever met was
the same plus creative – out of the box thinker. So, you have the
range to improve customer service! To listen. To ask? To initiate
change. You are one terrific investment – when we consider your
full potential for a company like this. People will respect you because
you are a very good listener. Thoughtful. Likable.
Return On Investment (ROI).
For every dollar they spend on you – you will provide a a ten fold
return. People are one of the best investments a company can make
at the critical growth periods. Ask Bill Gates! Or the guys at AMAZON!
Or just ask me about the cost of trying to hire cheap. It means
opportunities missed, corners cut, disappointment, etc.
Think “Value Added” Examples!
Hilary Added Some Real Good Thoughts:
I just want to throw in that the cost of living decrease is not as significant as they may want to play it. Sure, housing and food are cheap, but a car payment, your student loans will remain as high. Plus you will have to spend MORE money to travel out of the area to socialize and get exposure culture, entertainment, etc. A young single well-traveled educated man is not going to sit around in his big cheap house every night 365 days a year!
Also, future compensation will take that salary into consideration. It’s seems unfair to expect you to take a salary in the 30Ks. Vermonters suffer some of the lowest salaries in my experience. Don’t let it affect your expectations.
I agree with Ed that if they can’t stomach paying you a decent salary, they should look at other performance-based compensation to add into your contract.
Just FYI, according to Salary.com in Lexington, KY these are some samples median salaries:
Project Manager 1 $51-71K
Customer Service Training Manager $52-74K
Customer Service Trainer $36-49K
Administrative Services Manager $57-79
Admin Asst. III (like an exec secretary) $37-47K
Business Development Associate $42-62K
Business Development Manager $77-109K
Call Center Director $98-133K
that’s just some samples (you should go look at the most relevant job titles you can think of on there and search different areas) and Lexington can’t be that much more expensive than where they are. I’m just saying, don’t let them kid you into thinking that they are doing YOU a favor and that you’re desperate. Raises never come easy. Your starting salary will define a lot about what you can make there and how you are perceived.
Good luck!
xoxoxo, hil
What Can I Do?
Morning Tom: I started to think about you again this morning - your search for inner meaning,
your longing for a more fulfilling life; your fear of looking back and finding too little to satisfy
your inner needs. What occurred to me is how to have you get more out of every day. We have
tried a many different strategies. A few good ideas bubbled up. Yet, you continue to wonder “What
can I do?”.
Google a thing called the Change Blog. It started by a young Australian – not sure why or
how he really makes a living. But, it reminded me of so many good people who spend their
lives searching. My thought – be sure you are enjoying all that you have; take things one day
at a time! Here’s just a look at my self observations on yesterday.
“Yesterday, we headed off to the Oakland Zoo – a 580 acre marvel of attentive animal care.
Elephants, gibbons, zebras, tortoises and lots of others – all treated kindly and thoughtfully.
The idea was to have fun w my grandson Bodhi, daughter Hilary and son-in-law Niran. After
a few hours I found myself waiting for more than an hour as Bodhi and Hilary took the train tour.
It was a long, boring wait that led me to ask “What am I doing here?” “Am I wasting my valuable
time?”
Guess what Tom? I missed the opportunity………. The smart idea was to take the train w Bodhi,
not to sit by myself and wait. There are so many times when we miss the train of the day. Of course,
I wanted to save the $5 for a ride I did not need. But the family time I missed was lost. So, the lesson
for me was to pay more attention to the moment (the present) and watch for the opportunities that are
right in front of me. These kind of moments occur throughout the day for most of us: the kind gesture,
the thoughtful note, the profound thought (write it down), or a brief pause to be thankful for what we have.
Have a great day again. See you in September. Regards, Ed
Change Explorers
The Change Explorers Network (CEN) offers online and local connections to help professionals explore the frontiers of change free of charge or obligation. Members are interested in learning about new opportunities
Timing, Leverage & Networking
Timing is a factor in so many things. One Psychiatrist I am helping got a great lead yesterday for a Medical Director job. Her contact is well placed to serve as an advocate. Her intention was to hold off until they have a chance to meet in three weeks. My concern was all about timing, leverage and networking. The strategy I recommended is as follows:
Morning to You Dr. Julie:
One of the easiest paths to follow is to put all of this on hold until you visit California later in the
month. Of course, I completely understand that strategy: easier, slows the process, seems natural,
you’re in no hurry (opposite in fact), and what will be – will be. I on the other hand have seen
many ideal situations drag out; causing more uncertainty and delay than beneficial or necessary.
If this is as good a match as it appears, I like the idea of you being the front runner.
That means taking steps as you go to secure that lead. In truth, this may be the best possible job
available over the years to come. So, a letter ahead can help you to meet more people during your
next visit – decision makers who can smooth out the process for you. I have a sense that they will be
as excited about your availability as you are about the possibilities. Here’s draft to help set the
stage for meeting later this month:
Dear Friend: Thanks so much for sending me the listing for Medical Director w USC’s Dep’t.
of Psychiatry. As you know I am interested, but will be hard pressed to apply before I can
investigate the situation more on a first hand basis. Hopefully that can be accomplished
over the weeks ahead. A few of my concerns are as follows:
My references can only come into play after we have confirmed mutual interest. Otherwise,
the word of my plans to move to California would become a source of difficulty for me.Timing
is another factor in that we do not plan to list our home in Philadelphia area for sale until next
Spring for all the obvious reasons. Of course, that may be a more secondary consideration at
this early stage of consideration.
After reading the key points on the recruitment ad a few times, I find the job description pulling
in several directions. My hope is that the emphasis is more on services and teaching than it is
on research. Research can be a factor, but my priorities would tend to be more on the innovation
side – bridging the gap between the hospital and the community. This plays to my strengths and
interests. I do love the idea of teaching however.
With the above in mind, I am hoping you can help me get together with some of the physicians
and community leaders involved in a position like this to learn more before I proceed any
further. For example, maybe your husband could give me his views on what is needed and areas
of emphasis as he sees things. Also, it would be nice if I could meet Dr. Martin from USC’s
Department of Psychiatry. Her name was posted in the JAMA recruitment ad as a party to contact.
If that is not a good idea, maybe there is someone else close to the situation that I could talk with.
All in all, I am excited about the possibilities and can’t thank you enough for your help. I look forward
to seeing you on August 23. Sincerely . . .
The idea is to try to set some wheels in motion before you arrive. The strategy is obvious, but you
may decide to just wait and see anyway. Bob mentioned that the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly
and it is possible/common for the job to be open for a year or longer. I still tend to like to put your best
foot forward each step of the way.
It is probable that the is a new job – which could explain the seeming contradictions. The Department of
Psychiatry wants to be proactive on service, but financial concerns are likely to be underlying problems as
one looks at the teaching hospital and the community involvement. That may be why you get the idea that
hospital Dr. is an important part of the equation. Once again, emphasis on “people skills” is suggested. Psychiatric
Crisis Services look like a hot topic for 2015 if not already!
Good luck on the trip. Ranger Ed
Time Out
For those who work more than 65 hours per week, it may make sense to track what you are actually accomplishing. Maybe it’s is time to change your strategy. Studies find that there is a chance for many workaholics to improve performance while improving happiness. A simple adjustment is to program your highest priorities. One person I have worked with found his productivity lagging as he worked at his PC for more than four hours straight. It was simple to program a “change task alarm” which indicated a time out is called for. He found that 15 minutes away from his computer helped. 30 minutes made a huge difference. He believes he doubled his productivity after his time out. Next time we’ll look at how to create value added during the 30 minute computer break!
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