Business Toolkit – Page 66 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

How to Stop Your Boss from Sabotaging Your Career

September 27, 2017/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications /by Mike Figliuolo

Have you ever been in line for a promotion or a transfer to a cool new role only to find out your boss was squashing your efforts to make that leap? Here are some tips on how to deal with them sabotaging your career.

Many of us have been there – you hear about a cool new role somewhere else in the company. You think “I’m a perfect fit for that!” You speak with the hiring manager and get even more excited about the role.

Since you’re a good person, you decide to tell your boss you’re interested in the new role instead of pursuing it behind their back. They agree – you’d be a perfect fit for the job and it would be a great stepping stone for your career.

You ask your boss for their support in the form of serving as a reference for you. They say they’re happy to speak on your behalf and tell everyone how awesome you are in an effort to help you get the role.

You go for your interview and do a fantastic job. You think “this thing is a lock! I’ve totally got this.”

Then it happens.

The hiring manager reaches out to you after the interview and tells you they’ve decided to go with another candidate. You’re pretty surprised by the news because you know the other candidates and you’re a much better fit for the role. What happened?

Upon further investigation and conversation with the hiring manager, they tell you candidly that your boss’ recommendation wasn’t very strong. You’re shocked by the news.

Let me tell you what happened, why it makes sense, and what you can do to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Your boss doesn’t care about your career

There are plenty of people out there who are self-interested. While your boss may say they care about your career and your ability to pursue new opportunities, what they really care about is their own career. If you’re a high performer, your departure will leave a big hole on their team. All those great results you deliver will now be at risk. Your boss can almost see their performance rating declining as you discuss leaving the team.

Your boss may also be worried about all the extra work they’ll need to take on after you depart. You’ll leave a big hole on the team. Someone needs to do your job. Initially that will likely be your boss. Who wants extra work? No one.

Your boss’ final worry is the pain associated with recruiting, hiring, and training your replacement. That takes time and effort. Combine that effort with the additional work they’re picking up due to your departure and it’s abundantly clear as to why your boss doesn’t want you to leave. Add to this dynamic that your replacement will take a while to perform at the level you’ve been performing at for all this time. Your boss’ results won’t be as stellar in the past. They know that. Who wants to deliver worse results?

How can you stop the sabotage?

Get a good reference

Your boss isn’t going to tell you they’re not going to be a strong reference. Heck, they may think they’re being a good reference but all these issues subliminally sabotage what they say to your interviewer. They may not mean to destroy your opportunity but even being only mildly supportive of you can come across as a big negative. While they tell you they’re going to sing your praises, the actual song they sing is way off tune.

If your boss says they’re going to provide a glowing recommendation, ask them to do so in writing. Ask for a formal recommendation letter from them. Once they commit their words to paper, it’s tough for them to say anything out of line with that recommendation. Your interviewer might not even need to talk to your boss once they have the letter.

Alleviate their concerns

Your boss clearly has concerns with your departure. They’re imagining you’ll leave them high and dry. Let them know you won’t do that.

Tell them you’ll complete any major projects before your departure. Make that a condition of your transition and get confirmation from the hiring manager that your start date will be after your project’s completion.

Let your boss know you’ll help them recruit and hire your replacement. Do the leg work for them. Find them a great candidate to fill your shoes. Also offer to train that person once they’re aboard. That will take that burden off your boss and make them less hesitant to let you go.

Make yourself available for future issues. Tell your boss they can always call you if they or your replacement need assistance. Be genuine in this offer and when the call does come, take it promptly and help as promised.

Make the leap

If you’re able to reduce the risk of getting a lukewarm (or even negative) reference and if you can reduce your current boss’ anxiety about your departure, the likelihood of you getting their support for you making the leap to a new role will go up dramatically. Good luck!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Are you exploratory or hypothesis-driven when you solve problems?

September 7, 2017/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: When solving problems, are you exploratory or hypothesis-driven in your search for answers?

– I explore broadly to try to find the best answer: 70%
– I’m hypothesis-driven so I can get an answer quickly: 30%

Exploring instead of driving. Clearly folks have a bias toward exploring and finding the “best” answer. This approach is dangerous. First, it can be time and resource intensive. Last I checked, time and resources are scarce commodities. Second, while you’re looking for the “best” answer, the world is changing and new variables enter the equation so by the time you get to “best” it’s not relevant anymore and you have to find a new answer. This gets you in an endless loop of doing analysis instead of executing ideas. Consider a hypothesis-driven approach. Take an educated guess at the answer. Prove or disprove the hypothesis quickly. If you’re right, execute. If wrong, move to the next idea and repeat the process. You’ll get more done in shorter periods of time.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How well do you challenge assumptions when problem-solving?

August 31, 2017/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well do you challenge assumptions when problem-solving?

– Very — I make sure all assumptions are explicit and understand their impact: 43%
– Mostly — I’ll accept some assumptions at face value: 54%
– Not very — I take assumptions at face value and often fail to challenge them: 3%
– Not at all — Assumptions are there to save time. I don’t question them: 1%

Assume Nothing. Assumptions can be a great shortcut. They save time. They eliminate unnecessary analysis. They can also be dangerous. Get a major assumption even a little bit wrong (or a minor assumption very wrong) and your entire plan can crumble. When crafting assumptions and deciding whether or not to validate them, use others as a sounding board. You might be bringing unconscious bias into the situation. That bias can lead you to overestimate your knowledge of the situation as well as get you to view your assumption too optimistically. Oftentimes it’s that “face value” assumption we blindly accept that proves to be our undoing.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Which analytical challenge does your organization predominately face?

August 17, 2017/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: Which analytical challenge does your organization predominately face?

– Analysis paralysis — We never stop running the numbers: 38%
– Weak analysis — We draw conclusions based on limited data: 35%
– Confirmation bias — We only look at data that support our idea: 20%
– No challenges — We’re great at analysis: 8%

Paralysis and Weakness Dominate Analysis. It seems folks are on both ends of the spectrum. They’re either doing too much analysis and being paralyzed in the process or they’re not doing enough analysis and are making decisions based on weak fact sets. There are ways to break out of these dynamics. Taking a hypothesis-based approach to problem solving and making recommendations can help you focus on the necessary analysis required to prove your case. This approach stops analysis paralysis because it focuses your work on the most important analyses. The approach also ensures rigor because it points out what analyses are required for making a decision. The next time you go to solve a problem, try a hypothesis-based approach to how you conduct analysis.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

4 Questions to Make Difficult Switching Decisions Much Easier

July 31, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Customer Service, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

In an age of too many options, four simple questions can provide a clear approach to making those frequent decisions in a way that saves us time.

Today’s post is by Jack Quarles, author of Expensive Sentences (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

We live in a time of unprecedented options. Those of us in developed economies of the 21st century, even with average incomes, have more choices than ever before in what we eat, what we wear, our jobs, where we live or travel, our entertainment and education… and the list goes on.

Our ability to customize the details of our lives is dazzling, but it is not free. Abundant options require abundant decisions, and decisions require energy. Life’s never-ending buffet brings byproducts: too many options can paralyze us, and fear of taking the wrong option can haunt us.

We can benefit from thinking about how we make decisions, and intentionally adopting practices that help us manage the cost of decision-making and feel more confident in the choices we do make.

Let’s examine a class of decision that we face every day: stay or go, fish or cut bait, keep on the same path or change direction. More specifically, we’ll consider people and companies we pay, whether at work or at home:

Do I like my accountant, or is it time to switch?
Should I change gyms?
Do we need a new marketing consultant?
Is our lawn care guy charging us too much?

There are both cost and benefit components to these questions. If your gym is nearby and your friends go there, it may be worth twice the price of a different gym with the same equipment because you’re more likely to go and use it. That’s an easy case. Other decisions aren’t so easy, and sometimes those questions of “Am I paying too much for this?” keep lingering in our mind without a clear answer.

Replacing Gray with Black and White

5 Project Management Lessons from Walking Across Spain

July 12, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Whether it’s knowing what you need and what you don’t on a project or knowing how to manage conflict effectively, a long 500 mile stroll can help you build these skills.

A few summers ago, I hiked the ancient Camino de Santiago trail across Spain. It was the best month of my life for many reasons. Along with a lot of other great things I got by walking almost 500 miles, it also taught me some valuable project management lessons that I can use at work.

Less is More

When you are carrying everything you need for a month on your back, you learn to be very smart with differentiating what you need versus what you want. Variety in clothing colors and styles drives complexity and weight in packing a backpack. By the end of the trip, I found that I used 20% of the clothes I packed 80% of the time, and the rest was dead weight. I ended up throwing away a lot of the “I want” clothes and just washing and wearing the “I need” clothes more.

LESSON – As I scope future projects at work, I will ruthlessly force myself to differentiate between what is essential to deliver well, and strip out all the “nice to have” parts of the project that aren’t absolutely required.

Someone Has Probably Done this Before

An amazing thing about the Camino de Santiago is that people have been walking that same trail for over a thousand years as part of a Christian pilgrimage. Whenever I got a blister or a twisted ankle, I realized that hundreds of people probably had that exact same problem at the exact same place and got through it somehow. When I walked by the 800 year-old ruin of a hostel for medieval pilgrims, I realized they probably dealt with the same loud snoring and other problems that today’s pilgrims face. My guide book had the following quote from the journal of a German peregrino in the 1400s that could still be written today – “The women (nuns) in the hostel yell at the pilgrims a lot. But the food is good.”

LESSON – Whenever I start a new project at work, I will seek to learn from the experience of others who have done similar projects in the past.

Know When to Pull the Fire Alarm

Differentiate Your Business Through User Experience Research

July 10, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

While quantitative analysis is great, don’t dismiss the value of qualitative research and how it can help you understand your customers and differentiate your business.

Today’s post is by Julie Lellis and Melissa Eggleston, authors of The Zombie Business Cure (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

What do successful companies like Charles Schwab, MailChimp and Indiegogo have in common? They put significant time and money toward crafting the experiences both potential and current customers have. This level of commitment helps these companies stand out among peers and builds loyal customers. How do you start doing the same? You start by doing user experience (UX) research to understand the experience people are currently having with your business.

“Qualitative research doesn’t get enough credit,” said Aga Bojko, the director of UX for Indiegogo, the popular global crowdfunding platform. “I love quantitative research too, but dismissing qualitative work as ‘unscientific’ is naïve. For example, an ethnographic study with just a few participants can provide the depth and richness of information you’d never be able to achieve with a high sample size survey.”

The author of a highly regarded book on eye tracking with more than 15 years of industry experience, Bojko joined Indiegogo a little more than two years ago in part because she was attracted by the core values it espouses: “fearlessness,” “authenticity,” “cooperation,” and “empowerment.”

In the San Francisco-based company of approximately 130 employees, Bojko works on a team of 13 UX professionals, four of whom focus solely on research. All researchers work very closely with Indiegogo’s designers, product managers, and marketing specialists. In fact, in an effort to optimize communication with the customers, earlier this year the marketing team asked Bojko and her team to revisit the company’s personas.

Indiegogo must attract and satisfy two primary target audiences:

The Easy Way to Write a Great Business Case

July 5, 2017/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Business cases are the key to getting ideas approved and funded. If you follow a few basic principles, you’ll find the cases you make get approved more quickly and easily.

If you want to get people’s attention with your business case, you need to solve a big problem. The problem definition section outlines the core business problem or opportunity that your project will directly address. Provide a summary of the core problem, including a description of the pain point and what’s causing it, also include the impact that this problem has on the organization.

Defining the Problem

A well-written problem statement gets your reader to say, wow, that’s a big problem and we need to solve that. It’s what motivates action and will lead to approval of your idea.

Write in plain language. Remember, people from all different functions across the organization will be involved in the approval process. You need to make it easy for them to understand what the problem is.

Let’s look at some example problem statements. My first example is about training.

Problem: Our associates have skill deficits in their ability to write a business case, communicate clearly and effectively, and make decisions quickly. The negative impacts of these skill gaps are that business cases often need to be rewritten, which delays project implementation and time to value. Also, our associates are spread out all over the country. The travel cost of sending someone to a training session is $1,000 per person.

My second problem statement example is about a company’s website:

Problem: The company website was built in 2004. It’s on an outdated content management system platform that lacks basic search engine optimization functionality. Creating pages and blog posts on it takes substantial amounts of time. This means our site is not ranking well in searches, which leads us to miss traffic and sales leads we should be getting. There’s also a need to refresh the image of the website and incorporate our blog into the main website itself. Website standards have changed over the years and the current site looks outdated. This has a negative impact on our image.

Both problems I just laid out are stated clearly and simply. They give the audience a quick understanding of the issue and why we must solve it. When you write your business case, make sure you have the same level of clarity on your problem statement.

Defining Your Idea

Data Analytics Requires Leadership by Mind and Machine

July 3, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Data analytics is no longer the preserve of innovative tech companies or large multinationals; it is becoming a tool that could play an essential part in every organization. However, this powerful medium, which can offer great insights and guide business decisions, requires some thought and attention.

Today’s post is by Marc Vollenweider, author of MIND+MACHINE (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

In order to successfully implement a data analytics function, you need to combine the benefits of machines with human ingenuity and skill. Mind-only analytics, where humans do all of the work, is recognized as being too slow and costly. On the other hand, machine-only analytics rarely delivers the insights needed. Goals are achieved only when mind+machine come together with structure and purpose to solve a problem. And therein lies the challenge!

While everyone is talking about artificial intelligence, implementing data analytics in your business is slightly more complex than installing a new coffee machine; it requires a harmonious interaction of humans and machines. As a leader, it is your responsibility to create the necessary culture and environment before you can expect your data scientists to churn out value-adding use cases on a regular basis. For those who are not familiar with the term, here is a quick definition:

A use case is the end-to-end analytics support solution applied once or repeatedly to a single business issue faced by an end user or homogeneous group of end users who need to make decisions, take actions, or deliver a product or service on time based on the insights delivered.

Use cases can be very simple or incredibly complex. I have seen a use case that was based on a mere 800 bits and others, in the realm of Big Data that need hundreds of gigabytes worth of data. An example of a use case could be developing a solution that analyzes customer data in order to improve the understanding of customer churn and thereby inform the development of a new customer retention strategy.
Allow me to point out two key factors that will directly influence the success of your data analytics use cases.

The Psychology of Analytics

The Power and Danger of Overallocating Goals

June 28, 2017/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Goal setting can be tricky business. By overallocating goals from top to bottom, you can improve the odds of hitting your top level goal; but be careful you don’t put too much pressure on your team members.

Goals shouldn’t just tie from your strategy down to the individual goals. When you add your goals up, they also need to align from corporate goals down to individual goals.

Ensure everyone’s work is headed in the same direction and people know how they fit in and how their work contributes to the broader goals you’re trying to achieve. The way you do this is you work from the company vision down to divisions, then down to teams below that, all the way down to individual goals.

Goals should cascade from the highest levels down, and when you add them all up, hopefully it’s more than you’re trying to achieve at the top level.

Why?

Well, you want to make sure that you hit your big corporate or division goal. By overallocating that goal across the organization, you’re going to increase the chances that you hit the big goal.

Here’s what overallocating a goal looks like:

When Going Global, Customize Your Management Strategy

June 26, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

When dealing with global business partners and operating in foreign lands, you don’t have to rely on country generalizations. Analyze your unique contacts for maximum effectiveness.

Today’s post is by Dierdre Mendez, author of The Culture Solution (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

For stressed managers dealing with international employees and partners, a profile describing the country they’re dealing may seem like a natural thing to reach for. Brazil has a score of 34 for punctuality, Finns value quiet, serious conversation, good things to know. But think about the U.S. There are cultural differences from north to south, between rural areas and big cities, and across generations. The same is true anywhere in the world. Your contact might be a talkative Finn or a punctual Brazilian—the opposite of what their country profiles predict.

Fortunately, there’s a solution. Each person you deal with offers signs of their cultural orientation—through the way they greet others, express disagreement, present information, solve problems, and organize tasks. Learning to read these signals will give you accurate information about each individual contact, whether or not they fit a country profile. In my new book The Culture Solution, I provide tips on recognizing eight cultural dimensions likely to cause confusion and frustration and developing strategies for managing problems and communicating effectively. The following tips will get you on your way.

Analyze Your International Contacts

Check for what seems different or surprising. Suppose you vising a new partner for the first time and you notice that your contacts there line up in order of rank to receive you. They have a set seating order, again according to rank. They are formal in the way they dress and sit, and use titles plus last names, like” Director X.” There’s an organization chart on the wall, and all the managers are older men. You’re seeing signs that your partner company is “endowment” oriented—that it has a very hierarchical structure that prioritizes age and male gender and values formality and respect for rank.

Predict and Strategize

The Power of the Mind in Decision Making

June 5, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

The inner voice, or what is more commonly referred to as “intuition,” is a powerful tool in the decision-making process. Opportunities open when the guidance of the inner voice is used because it is a reflection and compilation of the knowledge, experience, and conclusions thus far in a career and/or lifetime.

Today’s post is by Gabrielle V. Taylor, author of Legacy of Wisdom (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Imagine you lead a $1.5 billion company in the United States that sells financial products and services. The firm offers everything from mutual funds, derivatives and money market instruments to financial management and insurance. There is an opportunity to expand into virtual currency, the most widely known type being Bitcoin. The Blockchain technology, which is the encryption method used for many types of virtual currencies, has come a long way; but there is a trail of investors that have fallen victim to hackers who have targeted Bitcoin-based accounts and investments. Do you take advantage of this opportunity? What does your inner voice tell you?

At first, you ponder the expansion into virtual currency. Your firm might be able to position itself on the cutting edge of the virtual currency revolution that is in the nascent stage in the U.S. but further along in other countries such as China, United Kingdom, and Germany. Early entry into this market by a U.S. firm may facilitate new innovations that prepare you to take advantage of opportunities for growth.

Then, your inner voice no longer throws caution to the wind and gives you doubts about the viability of this opportunity. There is considerable risk and many financial firms are deferring to the Central Banks to explore this market first. Why should you risk losing share value and possibly customers through increased liability by participating in the complicated world of virtual currency that is still prey for hackers? The situation is riddled with pros and cons but your inner voice plays a critical role as a trusted advisor that no one can see. For many leaders, the inner voice guides us when sorting through opportunities in order to make decisions.

Have you ever heard your inner voice telling you what to do and then you don’t listen to it? Read more