Make It Happen

September Social Media Tune-up

Your car needs a tune-up every once in a while. As individuals, we go to the doctor or dentist on a regular schedule. But how often do we do a social media tune-up? Rarely if ever. We sign up to a number of sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Plaxo, and maybe others), use them freely, and ignore what doesn't seem relevant. Unfortunately, the world doesn't ignore anything: each word of every site is indexed on Google, is instantly accessible - often to our detriment.

Social Media is often where we make our first impressions: to new friends, colleagues, prospects, and recruiters. Avoiding a Social Media Tune-up is like avoiding a dental check-up: eventually, something bad will happen. A few minutes preventative work can make all the difference.

Five parts to a September Social Media Tune-up:

1) Remove risky content: Whether it be inappropriate photos, or easily misunderstood comments, content posted by others can sometimes lead to problems. Review your sites and delete anything that doesn't give others the first impression you want.

2) Make yourself up-to-date: Nothing says "stale" like old content. Make sure that both your personal and professional background information is up-to-date.

3) Connect the dots: Cross-linking between Social Media sites will both increase your traffic from the search engines, and help your connections discover more about you. At the same time, make sure that the links to your web sites (corporate site, personal blog, etc) still work as expected.

4) Add more connections: If you're like most people, you collect many business cards from new clients, suppliers, and others - and they usually sit in a pile at your desk. For those that you have a real-world relationship with, search for them in the Social Media sites, then ask to connect. For those who already are your connections, look through their connections to see who you know - and ask them too. (Of course, no tune-up would be complete without acknowledging the need to remove those who you no longer have relationships with - or who are pests.)

5) Ask for recommendations: Make a list of all of your "big wins" during the last twelve months, where you went above and beyond the call of duty. Then ask those people to give you a recommendation on LinkedIn (or Plaxo). At the same time, return the favor to those who did a great job for you.

Finally, a bonus recommendation for parents of students starting school: Using Social Media during high school is very different than using it in preparation for a later job search. Forward this tip to your friends and family, with particular attention to tip one, removing risky content. 

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

Alternative options

At any point in your life, have you ever found yourself backed into a corner, uncertain how you were going to proceed? It may have been a tough client, a project gone awry, a personal relationship gone sour, or maybe a financial crisis. When this happens, there are a number of common responses, some helpful, and others which are not.

Good responses:

• Take personal responsibility, and be accountable for the situation. Admit that you're wrong, and take your lumps as early as possible.
• Let those impacted know as early as possible. (Especially your manager or clients.)
• Reach out to colleagues, friends, and family for support.

Bad responses:

• Compromise values: If you compromise your values, then you've "re-set" people's expectations of what you would be willing to do in the future. Changing your values to get out of a tough spot might seem like an easy fix, but a reputation for dubious ethics will stick with you forever.
• Be to easy to please. When this happens, you appear desperate. Others will be tempted to take advantage of the situation.

Of course, the best protection against tough situations is to avoid them altogether. Yet if we avoid all challenges, we will never grow. It is these experiences that strengthen us for even greater challenges, increase our value in the job market, and increase our personal equity with friends and family.

This week's action item: Each day we are faced with situations that require our input. This week, before reacting to a tough situation, consider your options: what is the impact of each alternative? How might each impact your reputation over the longer term? Choosing an option from a list of alternatives will always produce better results than a decision made in haste.

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

All by myself

The bane of the extremely capable is that they tend to do things themselves. They are masters of rationalization: it is faster if they do it. Only they have the experience or judgement to make the call. They don't have time to delegate. Or they don't know how.

The result is too-long working hours, little growth from others on the team, and often a feeling of dis-empowerment from staff. Ultimately it leads to employee turnover, or worse, employee disengagement.

While most managers delegate at least something, everyone falls into the non-delegation trap from time to time. To avoid the problem, consider that tasks fall into three categories: those that you can do by yourself, those tasks that you know well that can be delegated, and those that should be done by the team.

This week's action item: Look at your to-do list, right now, and subdivide the tasks into these three categories. Put other people's names next to all of the tasks that you know well, and schedule meetings with each person to begin the delegation process. For any team tasks, choose a leader other than yourself, and learn to be a coach. The more you delegate, the more capable your team will grow to be. And since your professional success is dependent on those around you, the stronger your team, the stronger you'll be.

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

Career Spin Doctor

Is the glass half-empty, or half-full? How you answer will usually brand you as an optimist or pessimist. But is one answer better than the other? Optimists usually are great at envisioning the possibilities, while pessimists can often spot risks well before they occur. Both personality types are critical to the success of a team.

But what about the success of you as an individual? Is your career half-empty or half-full?

Think about how you express yourself:

• Let's find a way to make it work... vs It doesn't work.
• I've already completed half of the job... vs I'm still not finished.
• I'm part-way through my professional certification... vs I don't qualify.
• I want to find time to meet you, let's compare calendars... vs If you want to meet me, it will have to be at 2pm.

Many people don't realize the impact that their optimism (or pessimism) can have on others. Consider the statements above a second time, but think of yourself as the recipient. How would you feel if a colleague answered you one way, vs the other? Individual success is far more likely for the optimist.

This week's action item: Spin doctoring isn't just for politicians or public relations consultants. Take one day this week, and commit that every word that you say - or write - is "half-full." It's better to be known as someone who can make things happen, than someone who knows why they can't.

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

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