SmartLemming.com - Manage your career or it will manage you

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: November 6, 2009

Lori Grant — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:00:21 +0000

The Smart Lemming sent out the following tweets, recommending these additional resources from news, articles, and posts on business life, career management, management and leadership, and women in business:

The Smart Lemming’s Weekly Twitter Digest: Week of November 6, 2009

Lori Grant — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:00:42 +0000

The Smart Lemming recommends Lori Grant’s tweets as additional resources for college-age or new workers:

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: November 5, 2009

Lori Grant — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:21:36 +0000

Bullies in the Workplace

Lori Grant — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:33:15 +0000

“Bullying wasn’t okay in elementary school and it isn’t okay now.” - John Doolittle, U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey.

Sadly, bullies are alive and well in the American workforce. 37% of the U.S. workforce (an est. 54 million Americans) report being bullied at work; an additional 12% witness it. 49% of workers.

Key Findings Bullies and Bully Victims

The Workplace Bullying Institute’s U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey (September 2007) reports these facts about bullying — defined as same-gender/same-race harassment ignored by current laws — in the workplace:

Bullying is 4 times more prevalent than illegal forms of “harassment”
American employers ignore bullying. In 62% of the cases, when made aware of bullying, employers worsen the problem or do nothing
Most bullies are bosses, with 72% of bullies as bosses and 55% of those bullied are rank-and-file workers
Bullying mostly affects women, with women being targeted in 57% of the cases and women targeting other women in 71% of cases
Bullying is a public health hazard, with 45% bullied targets suffering from stress affecting their health
Bullied individuals are not “sue crazy,” with only 3% filing lawsuits. In fact 40% fail to complain.

Top Tactics of Bullies

Verbal abuse: swearing, name calling, malicious sarcasm, threats to safety, etc.
Behaviors/action: public or private that were threatening, intimidating, humiliating, hostile, offensive, inappropriately cruel conduct, etc.
Abuse of authority: undeserved evaluations, denial of advancement, stealing credit, tarnished reputation, arbitrary instructions, unsafe assignments, etc.
Interference with work performance: sabotage, undermining ensuring failure, etc.
Destruction of workplace relationships: among workers, bosses, or customers

Bullies are cruel and innovative. Most bullies are threatened by their targets, who are often more skilled than the bully.

Bullying is Top Down

43% of bullies have an executive sponsor
72% of bullies are bosses with women being targeted by bosses 74.7% of the time
55% of those bullied are non-supervisory employees

Bullies operate with confidence that they will not be punished because they enjoy support from higher-ups who can protect them if and when they are exposed.

What can you do if you’re being bullied?

Unfortunately, there are no laws protecting employees from bullying in the workplace. Suing your employer is expensive. Your privacy will be lost because your health records will be available for your bully and employer.

Regardless of whether you pursue a legal remedy, have an exit strategy to get out of your dysfunctional work environment, get help if you need it to get healthy again, and use the Workplace Bullying Institute’s strategy to find a safe employer for your next job.

Resources

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: November 4, 2009

Lori Grant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:06:38 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: November 3, 2009

Lori Grant — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:15:52 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Weekly Twitter Digest: Week of Oct. 31, 2009

Lori Grant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:07:39 +0000

The Smart Lemming recommends Lori Grant’s tweets as additional resources for college-age or new workers:

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 30, 2009

Lori Grant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:16 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 29, 2009

Lori Grant — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:30:07 +0000

You are What You Project

Lori Grant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:45:52 +0000

You have only a few seconds to make a good first impression.

Packaging matters in the workplace, and you are a package. The image you project influences the way others perceive you. Everything about you from your shoes to your hairstyle to your watch communicates some kind of message.

An episode from Bones (”Judas on a Pole”) provides is a great example of how Zack Addy isn’t aware of the importance of image as part of his personal brand.

The Episode in a Nutshell

As Dr. Brennan’s student and assistant, Zack’s is one of the brightest up-and-coming scientists at the Jeffersonian Institute, but his boss Camille Saroyan, the Head of the Forensic Division, tells him she can’t promote him because he looks like a weekend fill-in at a college radio station.
Zack asks his coworker, Angela Montenegro for help, and after refining his professional image with a new hair cut, new suit, and new shoes, Camille hires Zack.

A personal brand is a commitment that you make, a promise to people who do business with you. It represents all the things you stand for, your values and attitudes. Your clothes are part of your package so create a look that’s consistent with the position and goals you’re trying to attain.

But your “look” also includes the way you move and the way you talk. Develop a consistent image, and make the most of your natural attributes (your eyes, your hair, etc.).

Bottom line: you are the image your project. Choose wisely.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 28, 2009

Lori Grant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:30:05 +0000

Loose Lips Sinks Ships

Lori Grant — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:47:22 +0000

Tempted to demonstrate how much confidential information you know at work?

Loose lips not only sinks ships, but the trust given to you by others.

Don’t try to impress a colleague with private information obtained through your supervisor or other key sources.

The Consequences of Leaking Information

An episode from The West Wing (”The People”) provides an excellent example of the consequences of a leak. The Communication Director, Toby Ziegler is angry over a White House leak. The Press Secretary, C.J. Cregg tries to identify where it came from. See this in action here (or here):

Supervisors may reveal confidential information to you as their direct report, or because you’re someone they trust. But when you become a leak, you run the risk of compromising your boss’s position on an issue, and your department in general. It also causes mistrust in work relationships that can alter a department or company’s culture.

I once received information from my boss that I didn’t think was confidential, and then freely discussed it with one of my boss’s peers. My boss felt betrayed, called me out on my indiscretion, and I was never trusted by my boss again.

Information is Power

You will be tempted to feel powerful by sharing the knowledge you hold, but if used improperly, power will harm your upward mobility in your company. Not only does it affect you your career, but it can harm your team, boss, department, or company.

Don’t sink ships. Keep the confidences of your colleagues and superiors.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 27, 2009

Lori Grant — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:34:02 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 26, 2009

Lori Grant — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:53:32 +0000

What NOT to Do in a Job Interview: Talk about yourself in the third person

Sarah Warn — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:00:23 +0000

The first in The Smart Lemming’s new series “What NOT to Do in a Job Interview” (yes, sadly, there are so many dumb things people do in job interviews that it warrants an entire series), I’d like to talk about about how to talk about yourself.

Or more accurately, how not to talk about yourself: in the third person.

Several years ago, I interviewed a guy in his late 20’s — we’ll call him Blake — who, halfway through the interview, began referring to himself in the third person.

As in “Blake increased revenue by 20% year over year” and “Blake always completes his TPS reports on time.”

Laudable accomplishments, to be sure, but I wasn’t listening to them because I was so distracted by his use of the third person. Suddenly I had new empathy for the plight of Whoopi Goldberg’s character in Eddie (1996), whose star basketball player Stacie Patton insists on saying things like, “you want to talk to Stacie Patton, call his agent.”

Then it got worse.

Blake proceeded to whiteboard “Blake’s Hierarchy of Needs,” to demonstrate how a positive working environment ranked higher on his priority list than money, food, or even sex.

Yes, he actually brought up sex in a job interview. But I’ll save that topic for our next post in this series.

Needless to say, he did not get hired.

Bottom line: don’t talk about yourself in the third person in a job interview. Sarah doesn’t like it.

SmartLemming.com’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 23, 2009

Lori Grant — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:17:03 +0000

The SmartLemming.com sent out the following tweets, recommending these additional resources from news, articles, and posts on business life, career management, management and leadership, and women in business:

Managing the Angry Employee

Lori Grant — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:47:16 +0000

How should you manage a subordinate who is taking out their frustrations on coworkers or even you?

If this person is a valued member of your team who delivers results, give them some leeway. Your angry worker will eventually get over it.

If they don’t, then step in to help them manage their emotional state at work. Two episodes from Bones (”The Finger in the Nest” and “The Perfect Pieces in the Purple”) provide a good example of this, when supervisor Camille Saroyan has to set boundaries with Jack Hodgins who’s angry and guilty about his personal life.

See this in action here (or here):

The Episodes in a Nutshell

Hodgins is acting insufferable (more than usual). He’s a prickly character that his colleagues love and admire but lately he’s been treating everyone poorly as he struggles with his romantic breakup and the loss of a best friend at work.
Hodgins is a dog with a bone. He’s relentless and intense as he lashes out at Saroyan. He has moments of self-awareness but isn’t ready to let go of his anger.
Saroyan finally confronts Hodgins when he crosses the line.

What can you learn from this?

Recognize that your employees are human and will have personal problems that they take to work.
Give them some space, but not too much, to process their feelings.
Send a warning shot across the bow when they start to push it.
Step in after an appropriate amount of time. Be empathetic, but firm about setting a boundary between the worker’s personal and work life.

One more tip: don’t tell your boss you’re trying to stop them from talking. Boss’s don’t like that.

The Smart Lemming’s Weekly Twitter Digest: Week of Oct. 23, 2009

Lori Grant — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:08:13 +0000

The Smart Lemming recommends Lori Grant’s tweets as additional resources for college-age or new workers:

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 22, 2009

Lori Grant — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:40:52 +0000

Smart Lemming Diary: Don’t Avoid Performance Measurement with Your Boss

Lori Grant — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:13:28 +0000

January 24, 2006

What happens when you don’t want to conform to your boss’s job requirements? Your boss starts monitoring performance.

Here’s the challenge facing my CEO: our Sales team needs to close their projected sales in their pipelines and adopt to his Sales standards. He wants two things from this team:

Implement his expectations into their daily, weekly, and monthly workflow
Identify and create an X amount of opportunities each month to fill the Sales pipeline

They did neither so he’s uptight and intense about the lack of sales for January. He’s having an offline meeting with Sales separate from my Marketing team.

Four Stress Drivers for our Startup

My CEO’s stress came out during our one-on-one meeting after the weekly Sales and Marketing meeting. He’s deciding whether to hire someone to take these problems off his plate. He’s holding himself accountable for being spread too thin to effectively manage and lead Sales (we don’t have a VP in charge of the Sales function).

He’s also concerned about the Management team’s performance:

Primary Value Added Reseller (VAR): the progress with our VAR that still isn’t an effective distribution channel for us. We’ve been promised a leadership change over the next 30 days. This VAR is also sitting on a pile of cash and want to go on an acquisition-spending spree this year and my CEO’s company is near the top of the list.
Selling the core service: the company that wants to buy our core service offering met yesterday to decide if they will buy us or not. My CEO is uncertain about what the decision will be. If they don’t buy our core service, then we’ll have to go to Mr. Investor for more funding in February.
Sales team issues: individuals aren’t filling their pipeline with new sales opportunities for one reason or another. Our sales cycle is long and this is not good for us.
Wedgies to Management team members: a sidebar comment on how he’s giving two members “wedgies” for not stepping up.

Talking through the Issues

“I hope this doesn’t stress you out,” my CEO said. “Of course not. I’m sorry to hear these things are making you stressed.” I replied. “I value what you think, am I too over the top?” He asked. “You’re understatedly raging, but raging for you is only intense for others. It’s the right amount of intensity to motivate others.” I said.

“While I’m concerned with everyone else, I’m happy with you. I don’t want you to think you have to decode what I’m saying. You’re doing everything I expect with the resources you have. In fact, I want you to share your views on any issue you can contribute to, but I know that you’re focused and are accountable for your department’s performance, but I want you to add value wherever you can.” He said with sincerity.

Immediately, I thought, “I don’t have to use my secret decoder ring to read between the lines or take my secret Underdog pill in my ring to develop superhero powers to do my job.”

Performance Measurement Solution

I listened to my CEO and then told him that Sales and Marketing have a symbiotic relationship. If Sales isn’t meeting your expectations in doing cold calls, my team will make lead generation a top priority for the next 90 days.

“I can tweak the Board and Management Team monthly report to track each Sales person’s performance. It will give you the performance management tool that you’ll need to track their daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly progress towards their new Sales quotas.” I said, hoping he would see light at the end of the tunnel.

“Good, can you do everything you just said so we can start?” He asked. “Today,” I said as we ended our meeting.

If the Sale team bought into his Sales standards, would my CEO have approved this new report? Probably not.

If you’re worried about the workload created by adopting new standards, then voice your concerns. But earn why your boss is requesting it and get on board with your boss’s mandate.

The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here. For the first diary entry, click here. For the highlighted Smart Lemming Diary entries, click here.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 21, 2009

Lori Grant — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:43:40 +0000

The Pitfalls of Being Too Emotional at Work

Lori Grant — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:27:58 +0000

Emotional people at work are toxic.

If you’re an emotional worker, what are your actions communicating? You’re an unhappy person. You lack control and discipline over your emotions, and that may cause you to do dumb things.

I don’t like people who do dumb things.

It also signals that your emotions affect your judgment.

An episode from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (”Random Acts of Violence”) provides a good example of being too emotional at work, as Warrick Brown’s emotional state clouds his judgment.

(See this in action in the video above, or here).

The Episode in a Nutshell

Warrick investigates the drive by murder of a young girl in his old neighborhood.
The girl’s father is a friend and mentor of Warrick’s from his youth.
Warrick gets personally involved to the point where Grissom pulls him off of the case.
Warrick abuses his power in order to get confidential information on the suspect.
Warrick’s shares too much information with his mentor who retaliates against the suspect.
The initial suspect is innocent, his mentor is arrested, and another suspect is found guilty.
Warrick’s actions cause his mentor to take revenge and become a criminal.

What can you learn from this?

Being overly emotional at work…

Isolates you from others: coworkers will walk on eggshells around you or avoid you all together, which isn’t a good move if you want to be promoted (or just keep your job).
Clouds your decision making: anger influences your objectivity and how you take action. (If you prefer making reactive and dysfunctional decisions, then disregard this tip.)
Affects your health: chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. (But feel free to continue doing this if you believe the world is going to hell in a hand basket, so who cares about life expectancy.)

One more tip: channel your inner Gil Grissom at work, and look at each situation objectively, “regardless of sex, creed, color, or bubblegum flavor.”

Smart Lemming Diary: Developing and Managing Inexperienced Workers

Lori Grant — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:33:50 +0000

January 21, 2006

New knowledge workers need coaching, mentoring, and oversight to be successful. When I manage younger workers, I make sure they don’t miss deadlines because they didn’t understand the assigned tasks. I sometimes call a meeting under the disguise that I’ve forgotten an action item.

This allows me to show them my personal work plan on how I contribute and track my own progress. Sharing gives them an example on how they can manage their work.

Creating Work Plans

My team’s next big Marketing priority is our corporate Website redesign project. My Marketing Manager is the lead. I’m a contributor along with my new Marketing Specialist who’s transitioning into owning our corporate Website. I asked him to email me a copy of his work plan.

The Marketing Manager did an excellent job of creating a quasi-work plan but didn’t divide the work into work blocks of activity like Website tabs, navigation, Web forms, and pages so it looked disjointed.

This is crucial since we’re borrowing resources from the Development team to build these things including the ROI sales tool. His plan also didn’t assign tasks to the three of us, making harder to track our progress as a department.

Ideally, this plan should be divided into Website tabs, navigation, Web forms, and pages. It should also identify the lead and contributors for each item and assigned deadlines.

Teaching How to Manage Projects

I scheduled the meeting with my team under the disguise that I had forgotten about a key CEO requirement (which I really had forgotten). I wrote an agenda and emailed my work plan for this project.

I started the meeting by saying I needed to touch base with them on our CEO’s key requirement. I told the Marketing Manager, “I created a work plan for myself since I know I’m a contributor for 30% of the tasks. Let me take you through the plan…I apologize for not remembering. Since you’ve worked on this for the tradeshows, can you be the lead on this task?”

My team looked relieved once it became clear that neither of them had through about the project in terms of work plan from this perspective.

Action Items for each Task in the Work Plan

I pulled up the Website shell. This allowed us to check off what work was done, what content or work was being revised, and what work still needed to be done.

I explained that I had just learned our CEO’s travel schedule so we needed to update the deadlines and also back in to some dates because we needed to change to the Go Live date of January 27 to the last day of the month.

They followed my lead. The Marketing Specialist’s confidence started to soar after we had identified or validated her next steps. My Marketing Manager became his animated, happy self again.

By the end of the meeting, all of us had confidence in what we needed to do individually and as a team. I also managed to demonstrate how the two of them are leads on different tasks due to geography or job.

Am I Nervous?

Not in my team. I’m nervous about our ability to hit the deadline because of our dependency on others because we’re doing just-in-time delivery on some of the tasks. My team learned how to identify the tasks and resources across the company.

I’m providing the right amount of oversight to help my team be as successful as possible on this project. The website is the last major deliverable in this 90-day plan. My CEO’s watching us like a laser beam so it’s important that we nail it even if we slip by a day or two, it will be okay.

Fortunately, I sensed my team wasn’t confident on managing this project so I’m glad that step in. I’m pleased with the fact that my newbie knowledge workers are so earnest, willing, and able to learn from me.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 20, 2009

Lori Grant — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:24:57 +0000

Business Lessons from Star Trek: Take the High Ground

Lori Grant — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:46:01 +0000

To succeed in your career, you have to learn how to admit mistakes, and to take the higher ground. You also have to assess if you’re really ready for that promotion you want, or if you’re just being impatient.

Managing your career takes patience, grace, and wisdom, all of which are mastered with time and experience. It requires thinking through how others are managing their careers - especially if their career is intertwined with yours, and being gracious with peers, subordinates, and superiors.

“The Best of Both Worlds - Part 2,” an episode of the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, provides valuable career management lessons on the topic of promotions.

(Also see “Business Lessons from Star Trek: Keep your Ambition Under Control” and these embedded video for specific Shelby and Riker footage that highlight their conflict and resolution of their power struggle.)

Here’s the episode in a nutshell:

Commander Riker has been promoted to Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise after Captain Picard has been taken hostage by The Borg.

Lt. Commander Shelby realizes she erred in treating Riker as an obstacle to her success, rather than someone to learn from. He knows how to lead others, including those that he doesn’t agree with (most of which he learned from Picard), and she still has a lot to learn.

Fortunately for Shelby, she reminds Riker of himself earlier in his career, so he extends an olive branch to Shelby by promoting her to First Officer in this time of crisis. Riker doesn’t hold grudges against Shelby. He even uses Shelby’s plan to fight the Borg and rescue Picard.

Riker demonstrates his leadership skills in this time of crisis, reflecting the wisdom he’s gained as Capt. Picard’s First Officer for four years. It also becomes clear that he hasn’t been playing it safe by turning down promotions to lead his own ship, he’s consciously chosen to continue learning under Captain Picard instead.

This is what demonstrates that Riker has been ready to be Captain for some time. But he’s waiting to be the next Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Riker and Shelby shine in their new promotions and crisis. Shelby no longer disregards the chain of command as she gladly follows Capt. Riker’s orders, finally appearing to respect him.

Shelby makes up for her initial missteps with Riker, and she gains a new respect for him as they battle the Borg.

What can we learn from Riker and Shelby in managing our career?

Admit your mistakes, and learn to take the higher ground: Shelby is fortunate that Riker acknowledges her expertise on the Borg, and overlooked her previous behavior. All Shelby needs is mentoring, to learn by following his example. Be like Riker, learn how to extend olive branches and take the high ground. Learn to course correct like Shelby. Avoid making the mistake in the first place.
Think through other’s career choices: Shelby was so busy making assumptions about Riker that she never considered why he was choosing to stay in his position as First Officer under Captain Picard. The next time you see someone in your way - don’t pull a Shelby. Try to understand why this person is doing what they are doing, and factor it into your own career goals.
Assess if you’re really ready: Shelby’s in a hurry. She’s running over anyone that she thinks is standing in her way for her next career move, which only demonstrates that she lacks the patience required to manage and lead others. Don’t be in a hurry for your next promotion; learn and master your current position. Practice being your next position in your current job, but still respect the boundaries of your position.
Rebuild burned bridges: Don’t burn bridges, but if you do, make rebuilding them a top priority.
Be gracious: Shelby learns how to be gracious by the end of her service with Riker. As she departs from the Enterprise, Shelby lets him know that she would enjoy working with him again in the future. She positioned herself as a candidate to serve under Riker, if he ever chooses to leave the Enterprise for a Captain commission. The moral? Always be gracious with peers and superiors, because one day, you may need them.

Oh, and one more thing: don’t get captured by the Borg. It isn’t pleasant.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 19, 2009

Lori Grant — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:45:07 +0000

Business Lessons from Star Trek: Keep Your Ambition Under Control

Lori Grant — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:53:11 +0000

To get your next promotion, you have to learn how to take initiative, have patience, master your body language, and not burn bridges. Don’t walk over peers and superiors either.

“The Best of Both Worlds - Part 1,” an episode of the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation provides valuable career management lessons on the topic of ambition, as demonstrated in the video above or click here.

The episode in a nutshell

An upstart named Lt. Commander Shelby is an expert on the Borg, assigned to the Enterprise to assist in a crisis. But Shelby’s too aggressive with Commander Riker’s choice to remain on the Enterprise. She fails to treat him as a superior officer, only seeing him as a barrier to her promotion.

She disregards the chain of command by doing an end run around Riker to Captain Picard.

Shelby’s a woman in a hurry. She’s so ambitious that she assumes Riker’s career choices are in her way.

What can we learn from Shelby in managing our career?

Don’t be too aggressive: don’t be so ambitious that you walk over your peers and superiors because your actions will come back to haunt you.
Take initiative: if you have a good idea, run with it but keep your superior informed. Don’t do an end run around your boss. You may need this person someday.
Master your body language: don’t use negative body language. Learn how to show concern or disagreement without looking smug.

The next time you’re battling the Borg, focus on defeating the Borg, not on promoting yourself.

Smart Lemming Diary: Don’t Undermine Peers, Find Alternatives to Get Your Point Across

Lori Grant — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:36:08 +0000

January 15, 2006

I thought it would never end. Our Governor declared a state of emergency for our area. The region has suffered flooding in so many parts of the Puget Sound. On our property, we had flooding that nearly washed away our private road.

I had to complete sales training deliverables remotely during this crisis. Later in the week, I had the two-day sales training itself that well, being careful not to to undermine a colleague in the process.

Sales Training was a Success

We had our bumpy moments, but the training went well. I was especially pleased with my return-on-investment (ROI) sales tool training. The demo script turned into a work session, which was great. The only trouble was the start of the first day, but we managed to get through unexpected problems. All it all it went better than expected.

Talking Stress Levels with CEO

My CEO has been worried that I’ve been stressed, even before the flooding. “As a matter of fact, yes. During the Christmas vacation, I thought we were deferring the training to February, so I adjusted my workload accordingly. I also agreed to go to NYC for my own business. Then you really wanted the sales training, so I proceeded with that work. I didn’t see a problem with meeting the sales training deliverables. But the flooding caused problems in my ability to have 100% of the deliverables complete. I only completed 80%,” I said. “You are much hard on yourself than I could ever be,” my CEO replied. “The crisis with the road took priority in your life and I certainly supported it. I just didn’t want you to be so stressed about work,” he added.

Protecting a Collaborate, Non-Competitive Culture

In the same conversation, I had to bring up my CTO’s surprise news that he doesn’t know when he can build the new tab structure and UI design that Management Team had approved. “I have to walk a fine line in my job. I have experience in so many areas that don’t fall under marketing like Product Management. I make decisions on what to say and what not to say, but I make sure I fulfill my Management Team oversight role for you. I had to request the meeting between you, CTO, and me on Tuesday. We found out that our CTO didn’t know when he was going to build the new design of the product. It was a shock to you and to me. The CTO hadn’t communicated this to the Management Team. You had to leave the meeting and I could tell our CTO was deflated in having to tell us. As his peer, I made sure that he focused only on this his priorities for the week and we’d figure the rest out later.”

My CEO replied, “You didn’t have to do that. The CTO’s a big boy.” I replied, “Yes, but you’ve created a collaborative, non-competitive culture here, so I wanted to make sure our CTO, my teammate, was assured that we could solve it later. Today, it was important to communicate this news to the sales team during the training.”

I added, “I have to be careful in not recommending to the CTO how to do his job, because I know what could be done or how it could be done. We have different approaches to product management. I don’t want to be perceived as judging his approach. I don’t want him to think I’m telling him how to do his job. I’m sensitive to our roles and want to solve problems, not blame him.”

Play to Your Highest Level

My CEO then told me, “I need you to play at your highest level. I need you to say things that you feel you should say.” “I agree, but not at the expense of your culture. I can still accomplish that in talking with you and then you can decide how to handle something with one of my peers. But I’m uncomfortable about telling my peers how to do their job.” My CEO relented, and then reiterated that he wants me to contribute on issues that I know about. “Of course,” I said.

My CEO wants me to speak my mind with my peers on the Management Team. I’m happy to do that. I want to help my peers, not tell them what they should be doing. The Management Team’s camaraderie and company culture comes first. I treat others how I want to be treated. I know that I wouldn’t want someone telling me how to do my job, but I would be open with someone working with me on finding other solutions to get the job done. Now that this issue is settled, I can get my team focused on our next priorities: the new corporate Website, press releases, case studies, and action items from the sales training all while we maintain our Webinar schedule and other duties as assigned.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 18, 2009

Lori Grant — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:30:08 +0000

The Smart Lemming sent out the following tweets on recommended news, articles, and posts on business life, career management, management and leadership, and women in business:

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 17, 2009

Lori Grant — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:00:16 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 16, 2009

Lori Grant — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:00:27 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Weekly Twitter Digest: Week of Oct. 16, 2009

Lori Grant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:00:21 +0000

The Smart Lemming recommends Lori Grant’s tweets as additional resources for college-age or new workers:

Elephants, Mice, and other Critters in Business Books

Lori Grant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:30:44 +0000

Was it about using animals to get a business lessons across? I admit that I’m not one to talk, since I use a Smart Lemming as my metaphor for proactively managing our career for success. But I find the trend of using parables or other animals as metaphors interesting. I didn’t realize how many were out there until I started listing them. Below are the book titles and a quick summary of each title:

10. Animals Inc.: A Business Parable for the 21st Century by Kenneth A. Tucker and Vandana Allman. Animals Inc. is about “a group of animals with self-perceived shortcomings but great aspirations decides to attend school to become more well-rounded. But as the rabbit tries to swim, the pig tries to climb trees, and the others try to improve upon their ‘weaknesses,’ they end up frustrated and unhappy with each other. ANIMALS, INC. is a simple but powerful parable explaining a basic but vital business lesson: executives, managers, and employees need to focus on their strengths rather than spending too much time concentrating on their weaknesses.” Sounds like Animal Farm with a twist.

9. Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up by Stanley Bing. This is a useful book. It was the first time I read a book by Bing. It’s helpful in case you have a high maintenance boss. Bings provides “a spoof of just about every career advice and management-by-metaphor book ever created, Bing (What Would Machiavelli Do?) delivers a Zen-like guide to managing your boss. The premise? Here’s what Buddha would tell you if he were your personal career coach. A book juxtaposing faux-Zen advice with embarrassing corporate situations (e.g., how to handle a drunken boss).”

8. Peacock in the Land of Penguins by B. J. Gallagher Hateley, Warren H. Schmidt, B. J. Gallagher-Hateley, and BJ Gallagher Hateley. Never heard of it, but I think it’s a worthy cause to try to explain diversity using this concept. Peacocks and penguins in the same book? Apparently, “a Peacock in the Land of Penguins brings to life the challenges of birds of different feathers trying to work together through the engaging story of Perry the Peacock and the other exotic birds who struggle to be themselves in the conformity-minded Land of Penguins.” It illuminates the importance of understanding and embracing the full range of perspectives that people bring to bear on their work.”

7. The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable by Seth Godin. This is a business classic. One that that I read time and time again. “Godin derived the title for this engaging anthology of business homiletics from his marketing manifesto Purple Cow, which extolled the importance of garish new products that grab customers’ attention. Phrased as a feel-good kindergarten platitude (”you are not ordinary/In fact, you’re remarkable”), the principle seems a harmless nod to fancy-free individualism.”

6. Squirrel Inc.: A Fable of Leadership through Storytelling by Stephen Denning. I almost bought this at Borders, but couldn’t pull the trigger. I love squirrels, so you’d think I would have picked it up. “Denning’s Squirrel Inc. must deal with a technological change in order to survive. In this case, the company must transform itself from a nut-burying firm to a nut-storing firm. The main squirrel in the apologue is Diana, a company exec who learns the basics of creating stories from a bartender at the local nectar tavern. Although written in a narrative form, Denning’s book provides plenty of “pull-out” nuggets for quick reference as well as concise summaries at the end of each chapter. This book may not turn skeptics into believers, but it should ignite the intellectual curiosity of all who would like to learn more about the power of telling stories in the boardroom.” Sounds great, but I think this a case of the book cover not selling the product.

5. Bag the Elephant!: How to Win and Keep Big Customers by Steve Kaplan. This is a useful book if you’re in sales operations or sales management. An excellent resource for understanding how to sell to the big potential client. It’s about the “need to win and keep those all-important Elephants‚ the big make-or-break customers that can increase your revenue, profits, and success on: (1) 2ow to map and use a big company’s red tape to your advantage, (2) why the Elephant needs you as much as you need it, (3) six keys for successful big-customer focus, (4) how to negotiate with an Elephant without giving away your profit margins, and (5) how to avoid the five killer mistakes, from mismanaging client expectations to losing sight of the numbers.

4. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin. Another classic by Godin. “You’re either a Purple Cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice…Cows, after you’ve seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though…now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won’t forget a Purple Cow. And it’s not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent.”

3. Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen. “In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, recently widowed and mother of two, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company’s troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen describe as a “toxic energy dump.” Most reasonable heads would cut their losses and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? But the authors don’t make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she’s left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace.”

2. Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber, Peter Mueller, and Spenser Johnson. This is one my favorites in this Top 10 list after the two Godin books. Harvard Business School professor Kotter teams up with executive Rathgeber to offer his contribution to the “business fable” genre. Kotter presents his framework for an effective corporate change initiative through the tale of a colony of Antarctic penguins facing danger-inspired, perhaps, by today’s real-life global warming crisis (or, perhaps, by March of the Penguins’ box office). Under the leadership of one particularly astute bird, a small team of penguins with varied personalities and leadership skills implement a thoughtful plan for coaxing the other birds in their colony through a time of necessary but wrenching change.”

1. Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth H. Blanchard. I have it. I read it. Frankly, the mice bugged me. Of course, they would bug me because one of the mice couldn’t change. Perhaps I wasn’t ready to change when I read the book? “This is a brief tale of two mice and two humans who live in a maze and one day are faced with change: someone moves their cheese. Reactions vary from quick adjustment to waiting for the situation to change by itself to suit their needs. This story is about adjusting attitudes toward change in life, especially at work. Change occurs whether a person is ready or not, but the author affirms that it can be positive. His principles are to anticipate change, let go of the old, and do what you would do if you were not afraid. Listeners are still left with questions about making his or her own specific personal changes.”

Fables and parables will always be useful in conveying lessons. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of animals in the business book genre because penguins, mice, elephant, mice, squirrels, and fish haven’t cornered the market yet.

Smart Lemming Diary: Managing Workload is like Bailing Out a Leaky Boat

Lori Grant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:00:04 +0000

January 10, 2006

Over the course of my career, I’ve learned to manage my reactions, handle high-level stress, and focus on the task at hand. I’ve mastered my Just-in-Time delivery of my work, juggling my deadlines with my Management Team responsibilities. During my commute, I contemplate business challenges in channel management, Client Services, and Sales.

Once I’m in the office, I work with my Marketing Manager, talk with my Management Team peers, and then find time to do my own work. This week I’m generating Sales and Marketing tools for a Sales Training. While I feel low-level stress, I can’t let it show to my CEO, Manager, or other peers. We’re all stressed for different reasons. Sometimes when you let stress show, it’s contagious. I need to be calm for my Marketing and CEO, so they have confidence that every detail will go as planned.

Cross-Functional Sales Training

With so much going on in my mind, I just want to survive this week. During the week of Christmas, I counted on my CEO to defer the Sales training until we hired a third Sales person. It made sense to wait, but then during the first week of January, he decided to move forward with the training before hiring a new person. The attendees will include the two existing Sales people, two new Client Service people, one new Marketing person, CEO, Marketing Manager, and me. Our CTO and his Sales engineer will be in and out of the training.

Planning on Dependencies

I’m extremely tired after returning from Manhattan on separate business. I have 38 deliverables due by Thursday for the training. Fortunately, I have 73% complete, but have dependencies on our CTO. I can’t finish my documents until he clarifies what he’s really committing to for the next product release, which is the whole point of the training. My CEO wants me to train the Sales team on the next product release, so they can start pre-selling. I’m not concerned about my productivity because I know that our CTO is moving as fast as he can too.

I still have some major deliverables due. Yesterday, I finished the some minor documents, but managed to get one Sales demo script completed. I have another major Sales demo script scheduled for today. I’ll also have to finalize the Sales presentation to pitch to CEO for his review. My CEO shall use this presentation on Thursday for a real prospect sales presentation. Fortunately, he’s been so busy with his own stuff that he’s left me alone to do mine.

Wearing Many Hats, Using Just-in-Time Delivery

Meanwhile, I have a Board report to prepare for December and I have a new employee starting. I’m also thinking about issues that need addressing, like how we can build our next major release. Can we support our new clients? Who will manage our channel partners? Will Marketing’s workload become manageable now that we have another body?

I’m relieved that I’ve learned how to move in and out of my different roles and deliverables by mastering a just-in-time delivery work approach. I’ve learned not to stress over current business issues or my own deliverables. I focus on what’s due first, and then move onto the next priority. It’s like bailing out a leaky boat; you just keep bailing, bucket by bucket, until most of the water’s out of the boat.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 15, 2009

Lori Grant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:00:54 +0000

Smart Lemming Diary: 7 Tips on How to Professionalize your Work Space

Lori Grant — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:03:48 +0000

January 6, 2006

Forbes.com’s 7 Tips on How to Professionalize your Work Space

Part of our personal brand includes how we decorate our cubicle or office. Check out Forbes.com’s keys to success in using desk and office decor to underscore your professionalism. It’s easy forget that as knowledge workers, managers, and leaders we must have our work area instill confidence in our abilities.

This is especially true of people, who have interactions with customers at their office. If you’re not in customer service, then be prepared for random higher ups, who may walk by or walk in your work area. The image you project can be improved by following these seven steps:

Burnish your image by posting news clippings about industry trends or big names in your field in your cubicle or on your office wall.
Photos defining your company’s product or service can highlight your desk and even the office’s reception area.
Your screensaver might display your company logo or mission statement or relate to the type of work you do. Your cubicle shouldn’t be cluttered with goofy photos of you and your friends painting the town red in exotic places.
You don’t have to be politically correct up to the eyeballs to know that beefcake and cheesecake photos are wildly inappropriate for your cubicle, screensaver, or private office.
Clients need to know you’re focused on their needs. It’s fine to keep a small photo album of family shots tucked in a desk drawer to share with co-workers, but you don’t want to overdo the personal shots with clients or prospective clients, who may walk through the office as they size up the company. It’s also wise to keep after-hours items out-of-sight. If there’s no closet available, tuck your gym bag under your desk and prop the tennis racket up in the corner behind the chair where guests will sit.
At staff meetings, show up with a portfolio and a metal pen to underscore your seriousness and attentiveness.
A desk lamp is a good way to make your workspace stand out in a large room filled with cubicles or a wall lined with offices.

Desks as Children, Desks as Adults

It’s hard to believe that we used to sit at desks like this in grade school. I remember having a desk like this in the second grade. Some of my classmates had papers coming out of their desks as the inside of it looked like a rat’s nest. I can just image what their workspace looks like today. Even in second grade, I was meticulous about my workspace with the same habits that I have today as an adult. I hadn’t thought about the “Desk for Success” facet of career management. I naturally do my thing as I did as a kid, making sure my workspace is peaceful with little clutter and optimized for organization and productivity.

Your Work Space Is Part of Your Brand

Your workspace is an important part of your brand. It’s a direct reflection of you, how you work, and how you manage your work. Over the past few years, I’ve learned to keep my area free of personal effects since I was always concerned about an impending layoff. My current office configuration and its desk felt wrong when I first moved in. It had belonged to my CEO’s partner/wife, but she gave it to me and started working from her home office. At first, I moved one table and a few other items. Then I created an L-shape desk configuration. I have two large picture windows, running the length of the wall behind my desk with evergreen trees seen in the background. I decided released the mini blinds by one foot from the ceiling, giving it a sleek look.

I keep my paperwork from laying around on my desk to a minimum. I also brought in my own black, executive leather desk chair as a finishing touch. Within 48 hours, my CEO and his partner immediately noticed my office changes, letting me know that my office felt calming and welcoming. Excellent, my task was accomplished. In fact, my CEO prefers to talk with me in my office than in his. His office needs lots of work, since it doesn’t do him justice. It’s visually cluttered and cramped, not reflecting his executive presence. After seeing my office changes my CEO wants me to help him fix his office.

My recommendation? See what you can do with your office or work space, if you haven’t thought about it until now. See how you can show more professionalism. The devil’s in the details.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 14, 2009

Lori Grant — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:00:17 +0000

Women in Business: Baby Boom (1987) Continues to Mirror the Challenges Women Face in Business Today

Lori Grant — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:58:24 +0000

Through the books Through the Labyrinth, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps, and the 1987 movie Baby Boom, Alice Eagly, Linda Carli, and Sylvia Ann Hewlett outline the perennial issues women face in business.

The bottom line? Not much has changed since 1987.

Baby Boom and these books provide invaluable information for women in business, many of whom will eventually face the problems of balancing/trading off their family lives with their work lives.

Baby Boom’s Message

Baby Boom depicts a successful New York business woman, J.C. Wiatt, that’s about to make partner in her firm. Known as the “Tiger Lady,” her life dramatically changes as she gets news of an inheritance from a relative from another country. Thinking it’s money, the inheritance is really a baby girl from a distant cousin that has just died. J.C.’s life changes as she struggles to become a new mother, loses a boyfriend, and manages career changes.

J.C. eventually chooses to remain the permanent guardian of the baby, much to the dismay of her employer. At work, she becomes distracted, her priorities change, and she’s forced to make a choice: she’s has a chance at becoming a partner in her firm, but they want her to continue to work at 110%, which she’s unable or unwilling to do.

J.C. is fired from the firm, and then strikes out on her own. She accidentally becomes an entrepreneur by producing her own organic baby food she brands Country Baby. She quickly becomes a local and state sensation, and eventually her former firm asks to meet with her, giving her the VIP treatment as they court her because her last client, a regional grocery chain, wants to acquire her business by offering a “world class deal that would make her richer” than she ever dreamed.

But the former Tiger Lady opts out of the deal, after realizing that her values and priorities have changed. She loves being a mother, running her business, and knows that she can grow her own business on her own.

Lesson learned from J.C. Wiatt’s journey?

Women can find success in business by making decisions based on their values and priorities. J.C.’s experience and knowledge perfectly position her to take her small startup to regional and national success.

The Challenges Faced by Women in Business

Baby Boom was made in 1987, and the movie reflects the decade (complete with Dynasty-era shoulder pads), but its message is just as relevant today. While some employers are becoming creative in how they manage women by offering flexible schedules, women still face career challenges.

Here’s how Eagly and Carli summarize these challenges in Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders:

Glass Ceiling: the glass ceiling has been broken, but women now must find their way through a labyrinth to get to the executive suite.
Prejudice: women face are discriminated against in promotions at all corporate levels.
Career Path is Stymied: women who leave their jobs to raise children usually encounter corporate resistance when they want to go back to work.
Networking: employers who require constant availability, after-hours socializing, and weekend outings discriminate against women and men who have significant parental duties.

The Barriers to Women’s Success in Business

Off-Ramps and On-Ramps also does an excellent job outlining the barriers that consign many talented women to the lower end of promotions and pay scales. Her research suggests that:

Blocks to Career Advancement: women in the workplace face blocked “on-ramps” to career advancement.
Off-Ramps from Success: they are penalized for taking the “off-ramp” for breaks from the workforce. More than 60% of top-tier female professionals have taken either voluntary time out or a flexible or reduced-hour option.
Networking Challenges: regaining corporate status is difficult, and often impossible with high “face-time” demands, such as 10-hour workdays.
A New Model is Needed: outdated, traditional (read: white male) career development models do not accurately measure the value of women in the workplace.

Fortunately, Hewlett highlights some innovative firms that are developing programs for recruiting and retaining talented women. Her book’s an excellent resource for learning how to recognize and define the impact of gender differences in your workplace, how employers can develop flexible work programs, how “off-ramp” career breaks affect women’s advancement, and how to adjust career models to meet the demands of today’s workplace.

Through the Labyrinth, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps, and Baby Boom are excellent resources for up-and-coming women in business. Just say no to the shoulder pads.

Smart Lemming Diary: From Unemployment to Marketing Director in 5 Months

Lori Grant — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:26:10 +0000

December 31, 2005

2005 is a year to remember. I’ve transformed from unhappy, disgruntled knowledge worker at a toxic technology company to an uncertain, content entrepreneur managing my own little startup, and running my own department as Marketing Director for non-toxic, a healthy technology company.

Lessons Learned from Surviving a Toxic Work Culture: March-April

I’ve learned so much about myself. It pains me to see how unhappy I was in a job that used to love and be attached to. I’m still processing and struggling to let go of this experience. Only time can take care of that, as I try to be mindful of my feelings and thoughts as they come up during my commutes or while I’m at work. I’ve learned that my intuition is rarely wrong. I was able to read the smoke signals and knew I was at risk. I tried to give it my all, giving my former company the best work I could give right up to the end. I maintained my integrity and work ethic in my final days. Do I have any regrets? Nope. I just hate unhappy endings. May through July was spent working on my own startup with my partner, working with developers to get a new website built.

New Marketing Directorship: August to Present

I’ve learned that I have very high standards for my managers and leaders. My current boss is a man whose values and integrity are of the highest standards. It was a different experience having the job come to me, receiving the job offer, and going through the salary negotiations with him during the end of June, early July. Certainly one to remember. I’ve never had a company with a position that was as wonderful fit as the position I eventually accepted.

Poaching Top Performer from Former Employer: Late August to September

Another high point of my work life for 2005 was poaching my Marketing Manager. We’re a great team as a Marketing department, we’re a great team with our Sales team, who we’ve both worked with. I appreciate that my CEO always says, “I was lucky to just add water, and presto! I have an instant Sales and Marketing team that had all worked together before.”

As a Marketing department, we’ve hit the ground running, accomplishing everything in my rolling 90-day plans. 2006 will be an exciting year for me as a manager and as a leader on my CEO’s Management Team.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 13, 2009

Lori Grant — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:00:46 +0000

Personal Branding Tip: Lose the Tone in Your Voice, Don’t Channel Your Inner Seven of Nine

Lori Grant — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:21:26 +0000

Intelligence, certainty, and confidence contribute to a successful career. How communicate with others, specifically speak to others influence how others perceive us. But what does tone have to do with our communications with others? Everything. If we have a tone like, let’s say Seven of Nine from Star Trek Voyager, then you can be sure that others will be put off in their first impressions of you. When you sound too intelligent, too certain, and too confident, we come off as arrogant, close minded, and not open to others input.

Why should you care? You don’t, unless you want to move up the career ladder or be a successful entrepreneur. I speak from experience. I admit that I have to watch the tone in my voice from sound too authoritative or condescending. I don’t know why my tone can sound like that, but it’s certainly not my intentions.

When know I’m going to say something with certainty, I’m mindful of how communicate my message to avoid sounding like Seven of Nine. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to channel my inner Seven of Nine. She’s a Borg that’s wicked smart. But she’s a little challenged in working well with others because of Borg intelligence and certainty.

What can you do if think you sound like Seven of Nine?

Asks friends and coworkers if you have a “tone” that annoys them
Ask them how it made them feel when you used this tone
Ask them what topics or statements you were saying, when you used your Seven of Nine voice

Become aware of these circumstances of when you channel your inner Seven of Nine, so you can be mindful of the situations you’re likely to use this tone. By being mindful, you can avoid it all together, improving your personal brand as you deliver others from chaos.

Lessons from The Office: Don’t Jump to Conclusions, Don’t be Fearful

Lori Grant — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:24:54 +0000

Why does Michael Scott make me uncomfortable? Because Michael’s management and personal actions are often an extreme version of the business life and career management lessons that we need to learn. In The Office episode called “The Meeting,” we learn the Buffalo branch has been closed; Michael’s Scranton office is pickup up the slack. Michael has too much on his plate.

David Wallace is trying to manage Michael, asking Michael if he needs help. Of course, Michael handles this meeting poorly. David Wallace and Jim have a private meeting in the conference room. Michael’s anxiety and fear become uncontrollable, while he’s left out of the meeting.

After a series of ridiculous attempts to get into this meeting, Michael unknowingly kills his own promotion to Northeast Sales due to his paranoia. Michael jumps to the conclusion that Jim is trying to get him out of the company, so he decides to sabotage him with Wallace. Michael causes two career problems for himself:

Jim was pitching Wallace to promote Michael to the head of sales on the northeast and to take Michael’s place in the office.
Michael has to save his friendship with Jim and his promotion that could possibly happen by trying to take all of the sabotage back.

In the end, Jim and Michael become co-managers in Scranton. What can we learn from Michael’s comedy of errors? That fear at work can subvert us. That paranoia can harm work relationships. That making assumptions or jumping to conclusions can damage our career track and work relationships. Unless we’re a fly on the wall of private meetings that escalate us to Michael’s level of fear, we don’t know what’s really going on, so we can’t let our fear get the best of us.

The next time you’re feeling fearful in the workplace, ask yourself, “What would Michael Scott do?” Then do the opposite.

Smart Lemming Diary: How to Manage Your Ambition

Lori Grant — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:50:09 +0000

December 30, 2005

Managing Your Ambition

How do we manage our ambition? What are the risks of wanting more responsibility? I check in with myself to make sure I’m not being self serving by using my company’s interests as a compass to my initiative and ambition. I’ve learned how to manage my feelings after a disappointing bid to evolve my job or take on more responsibilities. My goal is to inform decision makers by offering alternatives to their situation.

Taking on More Responsibility

When I ask for additional responsibilities, it’s usually a mutual benefit to me and my employer. At times, it’s a balance act. When we act in a self serving manner, we run the risk of being transparent (in a bad way), with our boss or stakeholder being weary of our intentions. Manage my ambition has come second nature to me, especially when I get into situations where there are few resources, so everyone has to do everything. In my latest situation at work, I never had the chance to follow-up on idea of adding the Channel Management function to my Marketing department.

It’s been a week since my CEO and I last discussed the channel role. Currently, he has too much on his plate to continue being the lead for this function. This problem came up during a one-on-one meeting. He actually brought it up in the context of our staffing resources plan on the operations side. “I told our Controller to that I’m going to add a Channel Manager to the budget. We need to raise funding in January/February, so I won’t have time to do this.” My CEO looked a little pensive as he told me this. I was too taken back by his thought. My only reply was, “That makes sense. I’m sorry my last referral wasn’t interested in the job.” I was surprised and bummed about this news, but we had other urgent issues to discuss like the upcoming sales training.

Why did it bother me?

Why was I bothered by my CEO’s decision? I know I wanted to add this role to my plate, but I was really surprised at how disappointed I was. He brought up our VAR channel partnership by stating he was going to meet with their CEO to discuss the upcoming year. “I have some thoughts on what I’d like to see happen in establishing mutual goals. I’ll put something together for you for your review. Perhaps it will give you ideas for your meeting.” I told him, hoping to get my foot back in the door.

After reflecting on my disappointment, I think it bothered me because I felt that he didn’t remember my interest in the function. I expected him to at least say, “I’ve thought about it, but I really want you focused on marketing, adding channel management would be…” But he didn’t, so I was left wondering why.

Why Do I Want More?

Am I so ambition that I need another function in under my department? I don’t think so. Empire building is not in my nature. I know that in order for my department to be successful in supporting Value-Added Resellers (VARs), I need direct access to the VAR, rather than going through an “Alliance Manager” or soon to be Channel Manager role. also think it’s because I have a healthy level of confidence that my department would best manage this function. I’m just disappointed that he didn’t take me up on my offer to take this off his plate.

Making the Pitch for Channel Management

In my past, I’ve been involved in contract language revisions, executed the agreements, and managed the relationship for ongoing support. I would have to demonstrate or assure my CEO of four things:

Identify and validate VAR strategy and potential partners to target.
Contact and being discussions with potential VARs.
Potential negotiate terms with the VAR, but my CEO would most likely want to do this since negotiation is fun for him and it’s his thing.
Assure my CEO that I can add this function to my plate.

Next Steps

I’m convinced that I do want this additional responsibility because it’s the best use of my skill set and the function is a fit in Marketing. We could prevent adding one full-time equivalent (FTE) for a position that may not be full time by putting together a proposal on why Marketing should have this function. I can update my Marketing Workload Analysis approach by applying it to the Channel Management function. I’ll do the following today and over the weekend:

Scope of Work: I’ll scope the functions and responsibilities. There are three functions: strategy, identifying potential VARs, negotiating with the VARs, and executing and managing the VARs. I already have an idea of what the work will look like; I just need to document it.
Resource Loading and Time Estimates: I’ll identify estimated level of hours it would require and how the Marketing department could add it to our plate.
Marketing Work load with New Position on Team: I’ll be able to shift some of my work load to Marketing Manager now that we’ll be hiring our Marketing Operations Specialist.
Proposal with templates: I have documents in my mind’s eye that would be useful for this role. I’ll add them to the analysis.

I’ll perform this analysis. I’ll also let my CEO know that I was disappointed in not having a chance to discuss the possibility of this function being in Marketing. I’ll give him my analysis and pitch my idea. If I still don’t get it, at least he’ll have a road map that he can modify for the position he’s creating.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 12, 2009

Lori Grant — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:00:51 +0000

Smart Lemming Diary: 10 Reasons for a Job-to-Person Mismatch

Lori Grant — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:25:27 +0000

December 28, 2005

Post-Christmas is always a weird time in offices. Fortunately, I have fun projects on my plate such as the corporate website redesign, the channel management function, and a new marketing position. My top priority is to identifying any obstacles, so I can prevent and correcting a job-to-person mismatch. Ideally, creating a team that’s balanced in skills, temperament, experience.

Preparing for the Interview Process

After demonstrating my department’s need for more resources using my Marketing Department Workload Analysis, we’re preparing to interview for my second marketing headcount of a marketing operations specialist. It will be nice to have my CEO on vacation, so I can get organized again and be ready for 2006.

Today, as I prepare to interview an internal candidate for my marketing operations specialist, I’ve revisited one of my favorite books, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late by Leigh Branham. Branham discusses, “The mismatch between job and person.” The internal candidate for my position is a young woman, who’s quiet and reserved. She’s smart, meticulous, and has her master’s degree in Publishing Production. She used to work for our company prior to her master’s degree. After attaining her advanced degree, she returned as a contractor, hoping for a permanent job. I’ve reviewed her resume and have talked with her former boss and current supervisor, our COO, who highly recommends her.

Identifying Obstacles to Preventing and Correcting Job-Person Mismatch

All things being equal; I’d like her for the job. However, I wanted to review the mismatch between job and person in the book, so I could either ask the right questions in the interview or if I do get her for the job, then prepare to manage her with this in the back of my mind to avoid any potential problems. According to Branham, the job-person mismatch is caused by deficiencies or organizational leadership and HR department. Here’s their list, some are attributable to the manager and others to the individual with my comments:

The organization doesn’t have a basic job description - Good, I have this covered. Not only do I have a job description, but also a list of projects and tasks.
The organization is using out dated job descriptions as a basis for screening, interviewing, and hiring - N/A.
The organization has so narrowly defined the activities of a job that employees who occupy that job feel they have no room to perform the job in a way that makes best use of their strengths - N/A. I strongly urge direct reports to pursue projects or priorities that allow them to stretch or development new skills.
The organization hasn’t analyzed jobs based on key targeted results to determine the critical few talents that distinguish top performers from average performers in each role - Company’s too little to formalize. However, below average performers are removed from organization quickly. Currently, Management Team knows who the top performers are.
The fast pace of the organization and/or the manager has created a tendency to rush through the interview process and makes hires without careful evaluations - Yes, we’re moving fast; however, with internal references and her stellar performance record, combined with her reputation for being one of the top performers negates this.
Senior leaders have failed to establish a rigorous talent evaluation process, both for new hires and for current employees, as part of career/succession planning process - We haven’t gotten there yet.
Seniors leaders and managers have over promoted the idea of “selecting the best” instead of “selecting the best fit” – CEO’s been pushing me to find the best fit.
There has been an excessive focus on eliminating employee weaknesses through coaching and training when it could have been wiser in many cases to put those employees into new roles where they can better capitalize on their greatest strengths - The company’s learned the hard way on this one are now open to finding other roles for employees.
Organizational values, structures, and policies have reinforced the idea that the only way to grow professionally is to be promoted - N/A. The company has made a committed to employees that we will help employees grow professionally.
Hires made from limited talent pool have greatly limited the chances of finding an acceptable match – Yes, my pool is very small, but if I need to, I’ll recruit from outside the company.

I think we’ll be able to prevent and correct any potential job-person mismatch with our internal candidate. We interview her on Thursday, so it will be interesting to finally talk to her personally about the position and to gauge her understated interest in the job. I’m optimistic that we can avoid the ten reasons for a job-to-person mismatch is we go into this process understanding how to avoid the situations.

Website Redesign

My CEO’s in the office only two days this week. This gives me time to catch up on the website redesign project that my Marketing Manager and I are working on. I’m having a contractor add our revised content into the Microsoft Content Management tool, so our CEO will have an easier time to review and provide feedback.

My Marketing Manager has a lot on his plate, but hopefully we can get back on this project next week. I need to write a functional specifications document for the return on investment (RIO) sales tool that we’re adding to the website, based on our CTO’s ROI calculator spreadsheet. It’s used for the ROI Financial Dashboard sales tool I’ve customized for our startup. I need our CTO to provide me with development resources to build the ROI Calculator on the website. My target date is end of January for a go-live on the new redesign.

Assessing the Channel Management Function

I also need to think through the channel management function that my CEO may choose to hand-off to me. I’ve been thinking about the functions, roles, and responsibilities for the function that my CEO discussed with me. I plan on assessing our current value-added reseller effectiveness, so I can identify a plan to monitor VAR performance to goals/forecast. A lesser priority is helping my CEO with a VAR strategy, but I have been thinking about that detail too. On Thursday, I may meet with him to discuss viability of me taking on this responsibility.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 11, 2009

Lori Grant — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:00:36 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 10, 2009

Lori Grant — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:00:42 +0000

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 9, 2009

Lori Grant — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:00:08 +0000

Smart Lemming Diary: Pitching the Need for More Department Resources, Part 2

Lori Grant — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:01:53 +0000

December 26, 2005

Are you following how I performed a Marketing Department Workload Analysis to demonstrate and pitch my need for more marketing resources? What were the findings in my Marketing Department Workload Analysis? What was in my presentation to my CEO and peers on the Management Team to move closer to getting more resources?

I presented a compelling explanation highlighting: my analysis’ objectives, a well-defined scope of work for my department in its functions, my department’s top priorities, and what the risks of understaffing. I then detailed my detailed finding of staffing requirements, the potential solutions, my recommendation, and next steps to problem solving my department’s resource issues. I successfully demonstrated my department’s need for an additional resource. This process also reminded me that all the skills, knowledge, and experience we gather over the course of our career are building blocks to career success.

Framing the Argument

First, I started by framing my Marketing department’s background. Our company identified a need to create a marketing department in July 2005. Subsequently, my CEO hired me as a Director of Marketing at the beginning of August to establish the department and quickly create sales tools to support their VAR efforts. In September, a Marketing Manager was added to the marketing function to clean-up Salesforce.com and be the lead for this tool. They were hired to perform more strategic and in-depth work in addition to Salesforce.com responsibilities. A second Sales person was hired in September as well, adding another person the marketing department would have to support. A third Sales person is in the budget to be hired in the next quarter, adding additional workload to the marketing department.

Second, I summarized the Marketing Department Workload Analysis objectives:

To identify marketing department functions and activities
To identify hours required to support marketing activities by function and marketing position
To identify resource allocation and loading issues for rolling, top marketing priorities per 100 days or quarter
To identify marketing staffing options if my company chooses to fully staff the marketing function to match total projected FTE (full-time equivalent) hours by function, activity, and position

Then I provided an over of my Marketing Departments functions and activities, based on expectations from my CEO:

Management: individual, department, and Management team
Product marketing/product planning: sales tools, online product demo, new product features, product launch, market planning, executing quarterly action plans, and Marketing plan for 2006
Channel partners: providing channel partners’ sales and marketing support
Sales support: return on investment tools; Salesforce.com’s data entry, campaigns, managing dashboards and reports
Marcom: advertising, direct/eMarketing, public relations, events, and corporate website

Since my CEO and I manage by running 90/100-Day plans, I explained my top Marketing priorities for the next 100-Days: November 2005 through January 2006

Internal marketing programs and collateral: update existing with workflow, demo update, update the existing demo with the new UI design for existing product and for forthcoming product
Corporate website: incremental and complete redesign
Search engine keywords: evaluate buying keyword, optimize corporate Web site for search engines
Events: Leverage channel partner’s tradeshow schedule
eNewsletter: December and February newsletters
Public relations: begin article submissions to targeted periodicals
eMarketing: adding the ROI into each step in the sales cycle process

I explained the risks of currently staffing and resource allocation:

Marketing will always have bandwidth issues, limited to how much they can perform and results they can deliver: The limited number of 8 priorities is still unachievable, Director of Marketing is allocated at 1.9 FTE resource loading for current priorities, and Marketing Manager is allocated at 3.1 FTE resource loading for current priorities
Marketing Manager is dangerously over allocated, even if there’s a reduction in priorities: Salesforce.com low-skilled, data entry continues to take 60%-70% of Marketing Manager’s time; doubles as a writer with Director of Marketing
Losing opportunities to pursue public relations in speaking engagements and article submissions since this is a lesser priority
Existing FTEs not played to their highest value

Marketing Department Workload Analysis Findings: Top Marketing Priorities

When I do any analysis that requires decision making, I provide scenarios. In my presentation, I provide two scenarios:

Scenario 1: Using Existing FTEs in Marketing:

Based on the Top 8 Marketing Priorities for the next 100 days, the marketing department is short by 1,210 hours.
The total available hours for the next quarter for 2 existing FTES (Director of Marketing and Marketing Manager) are 1,600 hours.
The resources required to complete the projected work is 2,810.
The marketing department would need two 1.9 Directors of Marketing and 3.1 Marketing Managers to complete these priorities.

Potential solution #1

Based on the analysis, two additional positions are identified: a Marcom Writer and a Data Entry Position to Top 8 Marketing Priority activities.
The available hours for the next quarter for 4 FTES (Director of Marketing and Marketing Manager) are 1,600 hours.
The marketing department would still require 1.5 Directors of Marketing, 1.8 Marketing Managers, .8 Marcom Writer, and 1.5 Data Entry position to complete these priorities.

Scenario 2: A Fully Staffing Marketing Department

If we resource loaded for a full, functioning marketing department: For identified functions and other functions not pursued to do limited resources

Potential Solution #2

Based on all identified marketing functions and activities, the marketing department would need the following resources in the following positions: 2.4 FTEs for Marketing Managers, 1.0 FTE for Marcom Writer, 2.2 FTEs for Data Entry positions
Issue: The Director of Marketing continues to be potentially over allocated by .7 FTEs.

Recap, Recommendations, and Next Steps

To close my presentation, I reviewed my Marketing Department Workload Analysis in terms of recapping, recommendations, and next steps:

Recap:

The Marketing Department Workload Analysis identifies serious resource issues in headcount.
On a quarterly basis, the number of marketing priorities is limited due to the total available hours of only 1,600 for 2 FTEs.
There’s an opportunity to staff the Marketing department with a minimum staff, covering all skills sets required for a properly functioning department.

Recommendations: 2 FTEs should be added to alleviate workload from Director of Marketing and Marketing Manager

These two positions are a Marcom Writer and a low-level Data Entry position.
Currently, Director of Marketing and Marketing Manager in their existing role are being utilized to their highest level since they currently have to perform the functions of a Marcom Writer and data entry position.
Explore FTEs or contractors

If we do nothing in headcount option: Reduce Top Marketing Priorities

In the near term for the next 100 days, the Top Priorities list will have to be reduced from its existing level to accommodate the resource constraints in the department.

Next Steps: Meet with CEO in one-on-one meeting today to review analysis and recommendations to discuss:

If green light to pursue, then meet with Controller and CEO to identify impact to budget for adding headcount
Data entry positions and/or Marcom Writer and/or contractors
Two candidates have been identified for each potential position (one through Director of Marketing and the other through Sales person)
Consult with HR contractor for potential salary ranges for both positions and contracting
Controller to run scenarios on budget based on HR’s salary information
Meet with appropriate stakeholders for final approval
If no, then reduce priorities and deliverables to better match available hours

The Results of the Presentation

I successfully convinced my CEO and Management Team that we needed to solve my department’s resources problem. As a next step, I private met with my CEO to discuss potential options. I’m in the process of hiring another full-time employee with our contract HR person.

Lesson Learned

All the skills, knowledge, and experience we gather over the course of our career are building blocks to career success. Each skill, project experience, and job experiences build upon each other, allowing us to use this combined career wisdom for greater job responsibilities. Could I have achieved my current level of success? Maybe, but today I have all that cumulative wisdom that allows me to us my skills, knowledge, and experience creatively and uniquely to each business challenge that I face as a Director and Entrepreneur. While I used to be impatient with my career goals, wanting to move up the ranks quickly,

I’ve learned patience over time. More importantly, I’ve learned there are no shortcuts to career management success. Whenever I coach people on their career, I gently remind them of this secret. Patience is required, as we navigate the course of our career, taking all the required paths and turns on our journey to career success.

For background, read Pitching the Need for More Department Resources, Part 1 and Marketing Department Workload Analysis.

The Smart Lemming’s Daily Twitter Digest: October 8, 2009

Lori Grant — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000