Business Toolkit – Page 76 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Making Your But More Powerful

February 3, 2010/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s guest blogger is Brian Ahearn who has written here before. Once again, we’re talking about buts. Sorry – I couldn’t resist acting like a third grader there. Take it away Brian before this goes further downhill…

A few weeks ago I read Mike’s article Managerial Miscues: The But(t) Sandwich (Reprise) and told him I really liked it but…

The article addressed how people often blow it when it comes to bringing about behavioral changes because all too often they want to appear nice so they say something nice then finish with “but…” and take the other person to the proverbial woodshed. Not effective management.

I teach classes on ethical influence and persuasion and one of the things I talk about with people is the power of transitional words like “but” and “however.” We focus on how to strategically use those words to make the most effective presentation because small changes can make a big impact!

Here’s the basic teaching point for you to remember when it comes to transitional words – people forget what comes before “but” and focus on what comes after. For example, has anyone ever said this to you, “Honey, I love you but…”? Odds are, all you remembered was the hammer falling after hearing the word “but.”

So how can you use your but better?

Surprise! You’re Getting Fired!

February 1, 2010/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Customer Service /by Mike Figliuolo

Have you ever met someone who was fired from their job? Betcha fifty bucks they said “Yeah, I never saw it coming.” For some reason getting canned always comes as a shock to people. They’re clueless as to how bad they’re doing and how close to the door they are.

Makes you wonder… are YOU close to the door and you don’t even realize it? Put your hand in the air if that question made you uncomfortable.

There are many reasons people get fired. The company is failing and has mass layoffs. Your boss does a lousy job setting expectations and providing feedback. You’re caught stealing money from petty cash. Those are clear reasons for a canning and there’s not much you can do about them (except get your fingers out of the petty cash envelope).

Instead, let’s focus on the “clueless” firing. The one where you think all is well then an anvil falls on your head. Let’s explore how we get ourselves in those situations in the first place then discuss how you can recover from them before you get pink slipped.

I Sucked at What I Did

First a story to illustrate. At one point early in my career, I sucked at what I did. I had been doing very well on performance reviews for a long time. Then I ended up on “the project” – you know the one… the one that’s not challenging, the work is tedious, and the project manager is less than motivating…. THAT project.

Without realizing it, I allowed apathy to creep into my performance. I got lazy and did the minimum amount I had to to get by. My deliverables were less than insightful and not very inspiring. Work became a 7 to 11 (which is AM and PM – the consulting equivalent to a 9 to 5). I was mailing it in.

The weird thing was, I had no clue how bad I sucked. To the client, the work was getting done and my output seemed to be meeting their needs. My manager was clear on a few occasions that I needed to do more insightful work rather than being satisfied with the minimum. His words simply didn’t register for me.

Managerial Miscues: “The But(t) Sandwich” (Reprise)

January 27, 2010/2 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Every once in a while history repeats itself. Those who fail to learn from it are doomed to repeat it. This post is in the spirit of that truism. Today I heard about someone receiving the infamous “but” sandwich form of feedback. Given that, I can’t help but post some thoughts I shared way back in January 08. I’m also posting it for the benefit of the thousands of new folks who read this blog nowadays versus the 11 or so who read it back then (and I know you guys are too busy/lazy to go find this in the archives…). So here’s a good wayback post that is just as true today as it was back then.

A really cool thing happened today – I had a referral come to this blog from a prestigious newspaper’s website forum on career and management styles. At first I was like “Wow! I’ve been noticed by a leading periodical.” Then I read the content of one of the posts on the site and lost my mind. No – the post wasn’t something bad about me or my blog. It was offering advice that made me cringe as a professional manager.

The advice was about how to give critical feedback to your team members. It suggested:

“Use the ‘sandwich technique.’ When delivering a critique, it’s important to censure the behavior, not the individual. One of the easiest ways to encourage receptivity is to preface your criticism with a positive statement about the person’s job performance or character. Once you’ve fortified his ego, deliver the bad news. Ensure that he received the message, and knows how to correct the situation. Then close the conversation with an affirmation.”

Pardon me. I just had an embolism.

Safely Navigating the Pay for Performance Minefield

January 11, 2010/14 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Pay. It’s the topic we love to avoid. We don’t discuss it with friends or family. It’s a verboten topic at cocktail parties. Heck, we discuss cancer, religion, and abortion at dinner parties more easily than we talk about our paychecks. We don’t even like to discuss compensation with the person whose pay we’re messing with.

Well you know me – I LOVE to talk about the topics everyone avoids. Why? It opens a conversation we, as leaders, desperately need to have.

So in an era of wacky pay debacles (paging Dr. Lewis, Dr. Ken Lewis to the boardroom please) how do you as a leader and executive navigate paying your people (or not paying them which might be just as well deserved)? How do you personally handle getting paid what you’re worth without having angry mobs chase you with pitchforks and torches on their way to key your car? Tough stuff but let’s tackle it.

First let’s cover why we get into trouble on pay then discuss how you pay your folks and finally how you ensure you get paid what you deserve.

Bread, Lawn Mowers, and Cheap Customers: A New Year’s Resolution to Improve Your Business

January 4, 2010/5 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

To get your New Year started right, I’d like to share with you what I’ve been taught by homemade bread, lawn mowers, and cheap customers. They’ve all taught me my time is valuable and I have to protect it.

Bread

In this economy, money saving tips and articles are hot. You can read such advice all over the web. I recently read one of the dumbest articles I’ve ever seen on this exact topic. The basic premise was you can save a lot of money by doing things yourself. The example they used was one of making homemade bread.

The basic math they used was you buy 4 loaves of bread per month at $2 which comes to about $100/year. Their brilliant idea was buy a bread machine for $60 and ingredients for about $10-15 a year and you’d be saving bread in no time (pun intended).

Hey morons… how about the cost of the gas to go to the store? But that’s not the fatal flaw in this article. What they really forgot to factor in is the cost of your TIME. If you’re making $80,000 per year, your time is worth $40/hour. Suddenly that bread got extremely expensive.

This is only one case of stupidity. Of course I can’t help myself and I have to offer more…

Don’t Waste Your Time Hiring High Performers

November 30, 2009/30 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s all about the people, right? If you hire right, you’ll do well (so states the conventional wisdom). The problem is hiring high performers isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Doing so can create tremendous problems for your organization and you’re the root cause of those problems.

Yes. You.

Hiring high performers can work out great if you do it for the right reasons and if you create the right conditions to bring them in. More often than not, however, we hire for all the wrong reasons and never think beyond our immediate needs for hiring that superstar. When we do so, all we’ve done is arm the timer on an employment bomb that will go off in our faces.

Why do we want to hire high performers in the first place? There’s the belief that their amazing skill set can either save us from the dire situation we’re in or can create that massive new growth idea we’ve been desperately seeking. We believe their stellar track record will rub off on our teams and make us all better at what we do. Sure those things might happen.

Usually what happens though is we bring that high performer in, they burn brightly at first, and then they either sputter or get frustrated and quit. Those are the problems you cause. How? It’s pretty simple…

To successfully hire high performers, you have to first understand the near-term rationale for hiring them and also think through the longer term implications of their personal growth rate relative to opportunities the organization can provide.

Want A Great Year-End Review? Write It Yourself

November 16, 2009/5 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career /by Mike Figliuolo

My favorite time of year is rolling around (and no, it’s not the holidays with their nauseatingly excessive tinsel-before-turkey consumerism). I’m talking about time for end of year progress reviews. They’re those agonizing, mandatory, and often confusing reams of paper we’re forced to suffer through.

Many times you’ll find yourself nervously wringing your hands wondering what’s going to be on the form that determines whether you get a 1.63% raise or a 1.67% one. Once you get your review, I’m sure you’ve wondered more than once if you received someone else’s because nothing on the form looks remotely familiar.

Ah yes… the joys of working in Corporate America.

But you don’t have to subject yourself to this pain. You actually have a tremendous say in what ends up on that form but you’ve likely been too lazy or timid to take advantage of the opportunity. There’s one very easy way to ensure you get a fair review that shows you in the best light possible…

Write it yourself.

Crazy? Maybe, but let’s analyze this situation:

3 Keys to Getting Projects Approved by Slow Decision Makers

November 9, 2009/5 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

You have a brilliant idea. It’s going to transform your business. It will help you get a huge leg up on your competitors and drive tons of money to the bottom line. Heck, if you can get this thing implemented you’ll probably get a big fat bonus and it’ll be a great holiday season at your house.

Here’s the catch – this idea is a little risky. It’s not fully proven in the market. There’s a chance of failure and with it, the loss of any investment the business makes. On balance, the risk-adjusted return from the project is astronomical but you have to get past the most difficult gate of all: the senior decision maker who has to approve the idea.

That’s no mean feat. Realize that many of these decision makers are busy and they might not have the same risk appetite you do. They might have a strong financial interest to NOT take on large risks (e.g., they have a large bonus coming if they hit their numbers this year and the risk of losing the investment you’re seeking would torpedo that bonus).

So how can you move the business forward in a climate where senior management is slow or hesitant to make a decision? Here are three things I’ve found to be extremely helpful in those situations.

Lessons from Leonidas the Spartan King: Why Shrinking Your Business is Smart

November 4, 2009/2 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Social Media, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s guest post is written by Brian Ahearn (no, that’s not his picture at left). Brian’s one of the most knowledgeable guys I know on the subject of influencing people (which is why he’s been a guest here before). Enjoy!

I conducted a workshop recently called Principles of Persuasion. During a break, one of the students said she’d had a conversation with her five-year-old son and expressed parental surprise over something he said. She told him she was going to a meeting about leadership at work. He told her they had talked about leadership at school and he knew what a leader was. He said leaders were people who had followers. Simple and to the point, his definition was right on. Out of the mouth of babes!

Let’s look at this leader/follower idea as it applies to the online world. If you’re on Twitter then you follow people and people follow you. In a sense, for those who follow you, you’re a leader. You might be a leader by virtue of your expertise in an area or simply because people find you interesting. But, by definition of our young friend, people have chosen to follow you and therefore you’re a leader.

4 Ways NOT to Run an Internship Program

October 28, 2009/2 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Guest Blogger, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

An internship program can be great for your company, but don’t do it simply because everyone else is. Just like Mom used to ask, “If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you?” Make sure you can provide a mutually beneficial opportunity, and make sure you’re thinking from both perspectives – the employer and the intern – when you’re developing your program.

One of my favorite references of real-life internship nightmares (and how to prevent them) is Krista Reaves’ “Do Interns Take Lunch Breaks, Too?” It’s a pretty candid look at shocking internship debacles, including some of these common mistakes:

How Blowing Up Your Business Can Drive Innovation

October 26, 2009/6 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Innovation /by Mike Figliuolo

Last week I pounded on folks for being wimps and not making decisions. Out of fairness, many of you want to move your organizations forward but might not have all the tools or resources to do so, Given that, I’d like to provide you some explosives.

These are the good kind of explosives. The kind that enable you to blow up your business model and find innovative new ways of doing things. Too many times we get trapped by our routines. Have you ever tried to change your personal routine? Uncomfortable and difficult, right? Now multiply that by the number of people in your organization and you have a sense for why nothing ever changes.

Sometimes the only way to change things is to (mentally) throw away everything you’re doing and declare a “do over.” In doing so, new opportunities might pop out and innovative ways of doing things can emerge.

Far too often, we wave our arms at innovation. We spew consultospeak like “think outside the box, push the envelope, and break the paradigm” with absolutely no clue what those words mean or how to do pursue those tasks. For those of you who know thoughtLEADERS well, we see it as our charge to provide you practical tools for taking action (shameless plug: we teach classes on this stuff too).

Enough blathering – here’s how you can (constructively) blow up your business and find potentially innovative new ideas:

5 Reasons No One Reads Anything You Write

October 21, 2009/4 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger /by Mike Figliuolo

Please give a warm welcome to our guest blogger Chandra Clarke who is the founder and president of Scribendi.com.

It’s cool to complain about “information overload.” It’s less cool to realize you’re a big part of the problem.

Yes, you.

When we think about information overload, we tend to think about web sites, RSS feeds, videos, and podcasts – things other people produce. But you know what? You produce information too. Tons of it. Go have a quick look at your outbox. How many e-mails, memos, manuals, and reports have you sent out today?

Know what else? Nobody is reading it. Here’s why: