Make It Happen

In a departure from my usual analysis and perspective, I thought that I would comment on some of the most useful gadgets that I regularly use. Each of them share one thing in common: they save me time, reduce frustration, and are generally very clever.

Not in any particular order:

The Flip: This is a cell-phone sized video camera that has one-button simplicity, as well as a built-in USB plug that "flips" out of the side. Time from filming to YouTube upload is measured in minutes. The Flip records one hour of YouTube quality video.

Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-210S: Like The Flip, this has a built in USB plug. It records up to 138 hours (or a bit less with higher quality) It's great for quickly recording ideas and practicing speeches.

Logitech remote pointer for PowerPoint, model R-R85: This small remote has all of the required functions, but doesn't overwhelm with buttons. Bonus: a count-down timer causes the unit to vibrant at present intervals, to give a sense of timing.

CardScan Executive: This handy device scans business cards, and then synchronizes them with Outlook. While the character recognition isn't perfect on cards with bizarre fonts, it is a truly clever timesaver.

Dymo LabelWriter 400: This printer only does one thing - print labels very well.

Tablet PC: In my case, I use a glacially slow ThinkPad X41T, but to be able to use a stylus to annotate, draw pictures, and highlight existing documents is huge - and cool.

iPod and iTunes: Any model will do; these clever devices allow a relaxing escape while travelling, or greater accessibility to professional development. And the iTunes store, while not a gadget in its own right, has opened up a world of music.

How long does it take - or should it take - for you to master a new skill? Conventional wisdom suggests that after doing something several times, you should know it fairly well. After doing it for a few months, you should have proficiency. And after a year, you're an expert.

Or are you?

The knowledge that is embedded within an organization is often found in long-time employees - those who have been around for 10+ years. Typically, these are the people who can answer questions about long-time clients and suppliers. These are the people that have strong organizational knowledge - they are the organic databases and walking knowledge management systems. Their skills and experience have developed with time.

Businesses are now (or soon will be) at an interesting turning point. The last generation of long-time employees will soon be moving into retirement. A new generation of "millennials" - all apparently with short attention spans - will be taking their place. Will these younger employees have the skills and the patience to develop the deep knowledge necessary for corporate (and national) success?

This issue came to mind in the strangest of circumstances. I had demonstrated a lengthy karate sequence of moves to my karate sensei the other night. After a demonstration, there is usually a fair amount of critical feedback. In this case, I was told that it was a wonderful demonstration, and that I had finally mastered the sequence.

It had taken me twenty years.

(After a year, you're an expert? Inexperience prevents many people from seeing how much further progress is possible.)

A typical way to develop perspective is to consider issues from different vantage points. A less common - but perhaps more valuable - way to develop perspective is to expose yourself to different ideas.

One way to do this is to read books that are at the fringes of your "typical" interest area - and then apply those concepts in your area of expertise and in your dealings with others. Here are some recent books that I have read, along with the interesting lessons that they taught:

Working the Room (Nick Morgan): If it is important enough to get up in front of a group and say something, then it is important enough to rehearse.

The Trusted Advisor (David Maister): Personal credibility and relationships are what develop long-term relationships with clients - not price.

Chaos (James Gleick): The seminal book on the origins and uses of Chaos theory; The biggest advances in science are often discovered by those whose training started in a different field. Conventional wisdom sometimes prevents progress.

Freakonomics (Steven Levitt/Stephen Dubner): Personal motivation and incentive are often at the heart of behavior.

Growing an Engaged Church (Albert Winseman): The connection between personal engagement and the development of a community of interest.

Getting to Yes (Roger Fisher /William Ury): Wear the other person's shoes: helping others get what they want is the first step to getting what you want.

Linked (Albert-Laszlo Barabasi): It's not the "nodes", but the connections between them that make the network.

Carpe Diem: How to become a latin lover (Harry Mount): This book is a description and primer on Latin; it illustrates what can be learned from a culture from it's language. (And conversely, how hard it is to learn about a culture if you don't know its language.)

Death Sentences (Don Watson): This book rails against the use of weasel words and management-speak.

Godel Escher Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid (Douglas Hofstadter): The intimate, and sometimes surprising, connection between philosophy, art, and music.

Leaving the Mother Ship and Personal Balance Sheet: More so than reading, writing about a subject in depth forces you to think deeply about it.

What's on your list - and what did you learn?

Meeting Magic

How many useless meetings have you attended? And how many have you been in charge of? Whether the meeting is a team status review, sales pitch, or interview, following a structured approach can make an appreciable difference. Consider this framework:

Define the purpose of the meeting: Before you even consider scheduling, define for yourself what the best outcome of the meeting will be. "The meeting will be successful if we ___________ ". At the end of the meeting, you can double check to see if the objective is met.

Plan the agenda (and distribute it). If participants understand how the meeting will be played out, they will be better able to prepare. Furthermore, developing the agenda based on the meeting purpose helps determine who should be invited.

Invite the right people. No one will show up unless they are invited. If the purpose of the meeting is to make a decision, then the decision-makers must be in the room.

Give Pre-work. Asking people to prepare - or at least review work that you have prepared - will mean that everyone hits the ground running.

Start and end the meeting on time. Keeping to the schedule shows respect for people's time and priorities. If you're late for a job interview, you probably will not get the job. Why should our mutual expectations change once we're on the job?

Set expectations and rules of order. Will the meeting be free-wheeling and informal, or be managed with Robert's Rules of Order?

Facilitate professionally. Great facilitation ensures that everyone participates, that the agenda is addressed, and that the meeting objectives are met.

Take minutes and note action-items. If you think that minutes are not required, maybe the meeting isn't either? Minutes document the discussions, decisions, and resulting action items.

Follow-up. Check with people just after the meeting to make sure they have what they need to move forward. Then circle back later to check status on their action-items.

While this framework is designed for regular business meetings, with some minor adjustments it also works for job interviews and performance reviews.

This week's action item: Look in your calendar, and commit to incorporating at least some of these items into your next meeting. If it isn't your meeting, reach out to the organizer, and make some suggestions: why not ask for the agenda or volunteer to take minutes? Or better yet, point them to this Tipsheet, and make some meeting magic.

Note: The Make It Happen Tipsheet is also available by email. Go to www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news to register.

Randall Craig
www.RandallCraig.com
www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news

Closing Statements: The last thing you say is the first thing they remember

Have you ever been in a sales pitch, job interview, or other important meeting, and the person you are meeting asks you if there is anything else you would like to say, or ask? How should you approach this situation?

Essentially, you have three choices: say nothing, say something new, or summarize the key meeting points.

* Say nothing: If you are at or beyond the meeting end time, you might choose to respect the schedule, and not say a thing.

* Say something new: During your interview, you may have been asked a question that you didn't have a ready answer for. This might be the opportunity to supplement an earlier answer, or to ask a question that is important to you. Especially when you ask a good question, it helps confirm that you are a thinking person. Or, if there is an idea that you wish to germinate, consider planting the seed at this time.

* Summarize: Alternatively, you can use this time to summarize the next steps or reinforce your key points. Doing this reinforces the clarity of your thinking, and closes the interview or meeting on a high note..

No matter which approach you take, the last thing you say (or don't say) will be the first thing they remember. Make sure that what comes out of your mouth speaks to your value.

This Week's Action Item: Before you next meet someone, pre-write your closing statement. This could be your three key points, your hoped-for action items, or perhaps the seed of an idea that you wish to plant. Then at the end of the meeting, when you are asked if there is anything else, update your closing statement and use it.

Note: The Make It Happen Tipsheet is also available by email. Go to www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news to register.

Randall Craig
www.RandallCraig.com
www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news

Formal presentations are critical to your career success: they are used during the job interview process, as a sales tool, and for key internal meetings.

When we were taught how to make a speech back in grade school, we were given the rudiments: write your notes on cue-cards, don't read your speech, and focus on the point that you wish to make. Has anything changed? Or have we simply forgotten these basics?

Probably the greatest boon to business communication is the PowerPoint program. Unfortunately, it is also the reason that so many presentations flop - or at least, why they rarely achieve their objectives. Think about it: how often have you sat through a dull, seemingly pointless presentation. Typically, the presenters hope to perk us up with snazzy transitions, animations, colorful fonts, and a strange typeface. Or they use a font that is either too big, or so small as to be illegible.

Instead of turning off your audience, before you even think about the first slide, go back to basics by answering two key questions:

1) What are the needs of the audience?

2) What are you hoping to accomplish by the end of your presentation?

The best way to engage a group is to have them focused on your ideas - and on you. Capture this focus by first crafting your presentation without PowerPoint or any visual cues. Once you've done that, consider which (if any) concepts are best presented visually, and create graphics for this purpose. Only then should you start working with PowerPoint.

Once your presentation is complete, rehearse it to check for timing, fluency, and impact. The rehearsal can be quick by yourself, or it can be with an audience. Ask your audience (or reconfirm yourself) whether your key questions are answered. If your presentation is worth delivering, then it is worth rehearsing.

This Week's Action Item: This precise technique (asking, crafting, rehearsing) works for every interaction that you have: with your colleagues, customers, suppliers and recruiters. Before your next meeting or presentation, try it - don't be PowerPointless.

Note: The Make It Happen Tipsheet is also available by email. Go to www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news to register.

Randall Craig
www.RandallCraig.com
www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news

Lester Thurow, one of last century's great economists, coined the phrase (and wrote a book) called "Zero Sum Society". In it, he described an economic system that had a finite limit, where one person's loss would precisely be another person's gain.

Unfortunately, many of us seem to use this mindset as we progress along our careers. Someone's promotion is our loss. Someone's injury is our gain.

Success, however, is absolutely not a zero sum game - it is additive. One of the most interesting examples comes from the automobile manufacturing business. Toyota is eclipsing the large American car companies on many different dimensions: product quality, market share, financial results, and so one. Nevertheless, several years ago Toyota sent teams of engineers to GM to help them improve their product quality. When asked why they did this, they responded that only strong competition will make them stronger.

Trainers and teachers often comment that they learn more when they teach their subject to others. When your mentor helps you with some key advice, both of you gain. And as the author of this tipsheet, I am not diminished by sharing it with tens of thousands of readers. Zero Sum Thinking doesn't work here either.

Zero Sum thinking has no place in our careers. When we see others' losses as our gain, we lose the opportunity to profit from their experience. And when they push towards excellence we are motivated to do so ourselves.

This week's action item: What are you doing to make your staff, colleagues, and manager stronger? Pick one person this week, and find one way to make them stronger. You will learn something when you do so, and they will return the favor later.

Note: The Make It Happen Tipsheet is also available by email. Go to www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news to register.

Randall Craig
www.RandallCraig.com
www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news

I recently had the pleasure of spending time in Houston, Texas. The people were friendly, the weather was great, and the event was a success. I stayed in one of the nicer hotels, The Westin, which was convenient, but also because of a great prior experience there. They gave me one of the nicer rooms near the top of the building, away from the noisy elevators and ice machine.

Unfortunately, sleep was impossible because of a loud party (complete with DJ) in the suite directly above mine. When I called the front desk to complain, their response was that they had "contracted" for the suite, and the music should end sometime soon. I pointed out that I had "contracted" for peace and quiet, and that I certainly wasn't getting any.

This anecdote is a perfect example of a gap between performance and expectation. This same gap appears all of the time: between employee and employer, between vendor and customer, and even between a web site and it's users. When the gap is narrowed, service quality increases and relationships become stronger.

Whenever there is an interaction, each person brings along their own assumptions. It isn't rocket science, but so much of the gap can be closed merely by validating these assumptions, and setting proper expectations. This can be done either contractually or through informal meetings. The rest of the gap is closed by executing flawlessly. (If execution gaps occur too frequently, look to solve the problem by examining the execution process itself, then looking at the process training.)

PS: To their credit, the Westin offered to comp the night for me. It didn't make me less sleepy, but it did reduce the sting a bit.

Randall Craig
www.RandallCraig.com

How many people remember the concept of "customer first"? Recently I had an experience where this lesson was absolutely forgotten.

I had done my homework beforehand, and had gone to the retail outlet to make a multi-thousand-dollar purchase. There were three clerks on duty, and not another customer in sight. My question on delivery options could not be answered by anyone - so I asked whether a manager would be available to shed some light.

The clerk said absolutely, and then went to the back room for a minute, returning with the answer to my question - or so I thought: "The manager is on lunch - come back later".

I asked if it would be possible for the manager to answer my one question, and then I could proceed with the purchase. The clerk scurried into the back, returning again with a similar answer: "The manager is still on lunch - he doesn't know when he'll be finished. Come back later."

Putting aside the customer-last attitude, the manager's answers were unbelievable: the example being set for the floor clerks is unfortunate at best.

I left, telling the clerk that it was clear that the manager's lunch was more important than me, and that this wasn't appreciated.

Who bears the blame here - the manager? I would suggest that he was somewhat at fault. But who hired the manager? Who trained the manager? And who is monitoring the manager?

Randall Craig
www.RandallCraig.com