The Employee Development Bait and Switch—Perpetrator or Victim?

It is a downer when we discover that there are few growth opportunities offered at our jobs. 

When we’re hired, there’s usually someone who talks about how the company is committed to developing employees. For sure there will be a fine orientation program and skills training. Then there may be tuition refund offerings, a chance to go to conferences, those wonderful stretch assignments, and mentoring. 

So we eagerly dig into our jobs to discover that: 

• Work demands leave no time for development
• Orientation and training are sporadic and informal at best
• There are major restrictions on tuition refund
• No one really mentors or even supervises, for that matter 

In other words, when it comes to our development, we’re often on our own. 

Who’s to blame? 

There’s plenty of blame to go around, and the blame game rarely fixes anything. The problem is: 

• Many supervisors don’t have the will, ability, and/or time to develop anyone because day-to-day demands don’t enable it
• Human resource personnel/departments are stretched and employee development initiatives are a low company priority
• The company’s business strategy doesn’t recognize the bottom-line value of increasing employee capabilities
• Employees aren’t taking the initiative to develop their capabilities on their own 

In a business setting, growth is about expanding our knowledge, skills, and experiences so we can: 

• Perform in broader arenas and take on more responsibility
• Contribute new and better ideas to increase product/service value
• Be ready to rise in the organization 

Employee development is an advantage to the company and to us personally. 

What to do? 

The economy today is a major challenge to most businesses. The chances of our bosses, HR, or the company looking out for our development are slim, in spite of what’s said. 

So we can sit around and complain or we can take our development into our own hands. 

Your development starts with an awareness of what you want from your career: So, 

• Write one-sentence describing your career aspirations. (If you can’t write it in one sentence, you’re not truly clear about what you want.)
• Then write a list of the skills, knowledge or experiences that you want to add or expand.
• Identify no or low cost actions that you can initiate and manage. List other development activities that you will propose to your boss.
• Put together your own development plan for the next year, stating which activities you will complete each quarter and their value to the company. 

Coming up with initiatives is the challenging part, so here are some suggestions: 

In-house book club: Offer to organize and lead a book club of coworkers around specific books on topics like leadership, project management, and communication that will meet at specific times on or off the clock.

Free on-line webinars: Identify well-known experts on the behaviors you need for career success, attend their free on-line webinars, or ask your boss if the company will cover the cost.

Twitter chats: Find opportunities on Twitter to participate in topical chats at places like #careerchat, #hrchat, or #leadershipchat. Capture key ideas and input; summarize them and share/discuss them with your boss.

Mentors: Seek out mentors within and outside your company. Be clear about the kind of advice and feedback you’re seeking. Maintain a positive relationship.

Blogs: Follow expert bloggers in the growth areas important to you. Comment, ask questions, and build connections with them.

Courses and conferences: Identify coursework or conferences that are relevant to your work and your growth. Ask to attend and offer to share your knowledge when you return through a staff meeting report, white paper, training session, or presentation. 

Add value. 

Your development has the greatest value when it serves both the company and your career. The more you do to expand what you learn to bring better results, teach others, and add to the capabilities of the company, the more support you’ll get for your initiatives. Please don’t wait to be developed. It’s your career, so own it. 

Photo from opensourceway via Flickr

Think You’re Not Good Enough? Look Around. | Evolving Self-Confidence

I’ve never reposted before, but after reading Cherry Woodburn’s initial post in her “Confidence Chronicles” series, I knew it was time to repost this one.  Cherry’s interview with Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, career services entrepreneur and one of only 27 Master Resume Writers in the world, showcases the core importance of confidence to career success. 

I often hear this: “I don’t have enough:

• experience for that job
• knowledge to lead a team
• years with the company to advance
• know-how to start my own business.” 

Exactly, who says we aren’t good enough? Most of the time, we’re the guilty party.

Doubt is our enemy.

Negative self-talk is often riddled with self-doubt. We look at what others are achieving, compare ourselves, and question whether we have what it takes. We self-assess against standards that we invent before we know what the real expectations are.

Self-confidence is as much about being willing to explore an opportunity as it is about being able to execute an assignment. All too often, we worry about our ability to do a job before we understand what it is.

Doubt cannot be allowed to rule.  

The antidote to doubt is reality. Not some “reality” you imagine but the reality that exists.

Start by looking around. Who is doing the work that you think you’re “not good enough” to do as well or better?

Look hard and long at those people. Watch exactly what they do and say. Pay attention to the actual results they produce. Examine their work closely. Find out what others are saying about it.

Then ask yourself, “Can I produce work like that or better?”  My guess is that, in most cases, your answer will be, “Sure.”

If you’ve been reading my posts for a bit, you know that I spent many years as a commercial horse breeder. I knew nothing about it when I started.

Before I bought my farm, I had doubts about whether or not I could care for horses on my own since I’d had no knowledge or experience. The owner of the barn where I’d been boarding warned me, “You could kill those horses if you don’t feel ‘em right.” That rocked me.

Then I stopped to think about her and the other people I’d met who were in the horse business. I asked myself, “Is there any reason to believe that the people in this business are smarter than I am? Do I have good people to advise me when I have questions?” The answers were obvious.

Self-confidence is not arrogance. 

Arrogance is when you act like you know everything. Self-confidence is about believing in yourself. It builds courage, keeps you moving forward in spite of setbacks, and enables you to seize opportunities to grow.

You find self-confidence by looking positively at yourself, acknowledging what you can do. You build self-confidence by testing your capabilities.

The biggest mistake we make is telling ourselves that we have to be the best at something before we are “entitled” to be self-confident. In fact, we just have to be as good as the situation requires.

Role models are everywhere. 

If your self-confidence is a bit shaky, it’s time to look around and see who’s out there doing what you want to do with capabilities similar to yours. In the past four months, I watched these two confidence-building situations unfold:

1.) A Gen Y college grad, who hated her job, started a blog, made professional on-line contacts, was recognized for her writing talents, started freelancing, and just got a full-time job.

2.) An experienced marketing professional was downsized, couldn’t find another job, talked to independent contractors about how they worked, informally looked for clients, blogged about her “start up” experiences, got great advice, opened an office, and saw her business start to grow.

Self-confidence evolves. Every step you take helps you build your truly capable self. You can mentor, volunteer to lead a team, give speeches, deliver training, start a hobby business, or cover a temporary vacancy at work.

Every step you take to become business fit builds your self-confidence. If you haven’t had a chance to learn the seven smart moves, perhaps now’s the time. Your self-confidence is your success engine. Without it, we don’t move very far or very fast. Vroooom!

How has your self-confidence been tested? What were you able to do to overcome your doubts and move ahead?  

Photo from nicer than air via Flickr

Turning Employees Around—What It Takes | Feedback Power

Under-performers are part of the landscape in any workplace. You know who they are and so does your boss.

None of us is perfect. Without guidance, it’s easy to adopt behaviors and habits acceptable to us that, ultimately, don’t wear well with others.

As employees we need feedback from day one. There is no better (or cheaper) way to teach us the skills and behaviors we need to be successful.

Performance feedback is one of the most important roles of any supervisors. It’s how problems are nipped in the bud, skills are polished, misbehavior is corrected, and a continuous performance growth culture is built.

Getting through 

Supervisors resist giving feedback because they’re uncertain about:

• What to say
• How employees will react
• What to do if there’s pushback
• Whether they’ll make matters worse

Employees resist feedback because they:

• Don’t want to change
• Don’t get it
• Don’t respect their supervisor
• Don’t see any upside or consequences

To make the situation stickier,  employees may perform exceptionally well in some areas like production but terribly in others like on teams.

As a supervisor you need all employees to deliver value in all aspects of their jobs. That’s what you’re paying them for. To accept poor performance in one area is to accept paying a full salary for only part of the job.

“Can you hear me now?” 

Delivering feedback is one thing. Getting employees to hear and act on it is another.

That means you need to:

• Follow up on your feedback to make sure it’s being implemented
• Reinforce it through repetition, review, and discussion
• Reward or deliver consequences based commitments

Feedback only works when you have your employee’s attention. It starts with a conversation where you and your employee talk to each other. Each needs to hear what the other is saying and come to agreement on next steps.

It takes real commitment from both supervisor and employee. And often it takes repeated effort, time, and sometimes consequences.

Michael Vick, a dramatic case 

Michael Vick was a high performing employee as the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons football team. He could throw and also scramble for yardage like few others.  Vick was a superstar who came from a rough background where he, as a kid and young man, he struggled to avoid the vortex of the streets.

After he went into the pros, he remained tethered to some unsavory people from his “old life.” For years he received feedback from coaches and others about his need to break those ties. He didn’t heed the feedback.

In 2007, he was implicated in a dog fighting ring and pleaded guilty to federal felony charges that resulted in 21 months in jail. Feedback didn’t get his attention but the consequences of not listening did.

Vick had to come to grips with what he’d done and turn it into advocacy. He had to restart his NFL career and recover from bankruptcy. Coach Andy Reid of the Philadelphia Eagles gave him a job as a back-up QB in 2009 where he faced relentless negative public reaction. It was another round of feedback, often painful,vitriolic, and deserved.

It took positive performance to turn things around for Vick.

On Sunday, September 11, 2011, Michael Vick snapped the ball as the starting QB for the Eagles, winning the game 33-13 over the St. Louis Rams. He ran for 98 yards and threw two touchdown passes. He’s now playing with a multi-million-dollar contact, his life clearly on the upswing.

Michael Vick took a long time to hear it and paid a big price for ignoring feedback.

Hearing feedback pays 

It’s one thing to listen to feedback and another to hear it. It’s one thing to hear feedback and another to act on it.

Good feedback generally comes from people who care about us—people who want us to perform well, so we can experience success and growth.

Each of us is both a giver and receiver of feedback. We are positioned to help others turn around and ourselves too. There’s power in feedback. Let’s commit to using it well.

Photo from Matthew Straubmuller via Flickr

Superstar or Has Been? | Career Tips to Stay On Top

The rush is in the reaching. Ask any athlete whose career is on the rise. Every day is about putting it all out there for the team, the fans, and the games they love. Winning is the driver, the measure of their contribution and achievement.

Their personal value rises when they: 

• win a championship
• get selected for the All-Star Team
• receive Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors 

There’s nothing quite like attaining superstar status, especially in our careers. It’s exciting, often representing the reward for years of struggle and hard work. 

The moment we’re tapped as “best” is when our career life changes. 

The meaning of the moment 

When we’re recognized, we’re elated. We bask in the: 

• Public recognition of our value
• Upcoming opportunities to showcase our talents
• Access to company leaders
• Deference and/or congratulations from our coworkers 

Our moment passes quickly, though, just like the All-Star Game or that “I’m going to Disney World” TV shot. What follows are new challenges. 

At work superstars are usually considered “comers“—high potential performers and/or  succession plan designees. They’re the company’s MVPs. 

Their status is generally achieved through performance results over time and the endorsement of the leadership, not necessarily in equal measure. 

The bottom line: Someone thinks you have “it” and the company wants to put “it” to the test and benefit from the outcome. 

Sustaining momentum 

Superstar status raises your bar. When a broader audience starts paying attention to you, there’s pressure to perform at a higher level.

 Superstar moments launch new expectations for more and better performance like: 

• Delivering significant outcomes on more complex projects
• Assuming greater levels of authority and responsibility
• Demonstrating tolerance for stress and the ability to perform under fire
• Engaging effectively with powerful influencers
• Negotiating with high profile customers or political officials 

You know what happens in sports: Last year’s MVP needs to increase on-field performance or hear about how s/he has declined. This year’s baseball All Star better hit well during the second half of the season or be questioned. 

Once we’re designated as a high potential player at work, if we don’t live up to expectations, we can fall out of favor and see our careers go downhill.

Avoiding “has been-ship” 

It’s difficult to get recognized as a top performer and even harder to sustain it.

In our jobs, success measures combine the objective and the subjective, the concrete and the abstract. But they count just as much as batting averages or yards per carry. 

To keep your superstar status up, these actions are essential: 

Remain relevant—Keep your knowledge, skills, and experiences ahead of the curve by staying up on innovation, politics, economic issues, and industry challenges; Be the voice of “what’s coming”

Maintain strong connections—Leverage is essential; Build, tighten, and expand your relationships in every direction, both inside and outside your company; Create allies and be one

Over-deliver—Make sure the results you and/or your department produce exceed expectations without exceeding costs, always improving the process

Engage employees—The ability to build and sustain a positive, can-do group of employees, engaged in their work, performing professionally, with little drama, and without giving away the store cements your value

Stay in the mix—Be there. Make sure you have a seat at the table. It helps to be likeable, a source of proper levity, and a voice of reason. When decisions don’t feel right to others unless you’ve been consulted, that’s a plus.

 Keep a clear head

 The rarefied air of superstardom at work can muddle our thinking unless we’re careful. Being recognized is important and when we get it, we should enjoy and value it. Our next moves, though, need to be informed and steady. Getting to the top is only the first step. Staying there is often the bigger one. Go for it! 

Photo of Phillies 2011 All-Star pitcher, Cliff Lee, from Matthew Straubmuller via Flickr

If You Can’t Execute, Job Knowledge Gets You Nowhere.

Knowing is easier than doing. It remains internal until we make it external by showcasing it, putting it into practice, and owning it. 

There are lots of reasons why we don’t immediately put new knowledge and untested skills into practice like: 

• Not knowing how or when
• Being afraid to goof up or look stupid
• Lack of self-confidence
• Laziness or lack of commitment
• Unwillingness to own the outcome 

Our careers go nowhere unless we deliver results, outcomes, and achievements where we work. Not doing matters, big time! 

Right action v. wrong 

Sadly, there are plenty of employees who side-step action when they can. I’m sure you know coworkers and/or managers who: 

• Argue that there’s not enough data to make a decision—ever
• Let problems fester and never intervene
• Won’t act without approvals from higher-ups
• Can’t/won’t put skills training into practice
• Avoid connecting the dots 

The fallout from all this inaction is often, counter-intuitively, dead-end action. Everyone suddenly gets very busy. There are lots of meetings, emails, phone calls, texts, and scurrying about, all hours of the day and night. 

Most of this action is about pushing information around from one person to another, keeping everyone in a loop that likely takes them all nowhere. 

We are branded by the results we produce. It’s what differentiates us when we are candidates for a promotion or for a job with another company. Each career move is driven by what we’ve done so far with what we know.  That means we need to do plenty of the right stuff. 

Knowledge first 

Knowledge is the essential starting point. If it weren’t, then schooling wouldn’t be central to getting hired.

What we learn from trainers, coaches, book authors, bloggers (like me), and talking heads is mostly concepts and methods. The actionable part of what they teach is in their wheelhouse, not ours. 

It’s no easy trick to take new knowledge or skills and, by ourselves, figure out how to use them effectively. We’re usually flying blind. 

So our choices are to: 

• Take a shot anyway, hoping we won’t make matters worse, or
•  Crawl back into our cubicle, risking nothing 

Unless there is a compelling reason for us to stick our necks out, we’ll too often choose option two. 

Supported action second 

I’ve been through this as a manager and with clients as a coach/consultant. You can read all the books about how to monetize a blog, attend conferences about becoming a break-through leader, and participate in multiple training programs on effective supervision, but until you execute the concepts and practices, you haven’t created any new outcomes. Your brand remains as it was. 

It’s a rare person who can transfer knowledge into action on their own. It takes a lot of insight into the: 

• way we work and lead
• dynamics of our work situation
• complexities of processes
• cross-functional implications of decisions
• work group’s tolerance for change 

We need trusted people who know how to operationalize the knowledge we’ve added to our toolkits to help us. 

The best thing you can do for your career is to seek help from a respected advisor who has a stake in your success. That may be your boss, a mentor, or even an outside coach (someone who has been in your shoes). 

Execute your plan. 

Plans keep you focused on action. Hold yourself accountable for getting results from the knowledge and skills you’re building: 

• Write down the results that you will achieve for the balance of the year
• List  the steps you’ll take
• Name the support person you’ll turn to for advice 

The ultimate measure of your business fitness is your ability to make things happen for your company and yourself. Turn knowing into doing and reap the rewards. 

Photo from thievingjoker via Flickr

Pretty Good at Managing Employee Performance? What About Bob?

Go to training. Learn how to manage people. Go back to your work group and deliver all those promised results. Sweet!

Ugh…then reality turns sweet into sour. Live situations don’t match the training role plays or the workbook exercises. 

Our success as managers is a function of our ability to select and apply the best practices we need to solve the performance issues staring at us. 

Here’s a test case for you the puzzle through. See what you think and then we’ll compare notes at the end. 

What about Bob? You decide. 

Bob is an individual contributor who wants to become a supervisor. He’s been after his supervisor, Gail, for an opportunity to demonstrate his leadership skills and his readiness for a promotion. 

Recently, Gail’s work group customer satisfaction ratings had declined, so she wanted to determine the root cause. She saw this as an opportunity to give Bob a chance to lead a team to develop an improvement plan. 

Gail met with Bob, explained her expectations, assigned three coworkers as team participants for two hours each a week, and gave Bob a deadline to deliver an action plan. She also asked for bi-weekly progress reports. 

After the first team meeting, Bob told Gail that he didn’t think the right people were on the team. He also requested more detail about what kind of action plan she wanted and tried (unsuccessfully) to negotiate more weekly meeting time. 

After each team meeting, Bob was in Gail’s office asking for more particulars about what she wanted and for her approval of his meeting minutes before sending them out. 

Bob then started having disagreements with team members and asked Gail how to handle them. He complained again that they weren’t the right people. Gail was spending almost 3 hours a week dealing with Bob. 

To make matters worse, Bob submitted the action plan a week late. It lacked substance and did not have the full endorsement of the team. 

What would you do? 

This situation challenges us to put into practice all aspects of what we’ve been taught about managing employee performance.   

Here’s my take on the performance management techniques that were at play. (The bold is what I focused on.) Gail used some techniques effectively but not others—at least not yet. What did you see? 

Employee development: Gail decides to give Bob a chance to lead a team, an opportunity for professional growth aligned with his career aspirations. The project was important and created an opportunity to engage other employees by making them part of Bob’s team. 

Project management: Gail recognized that process and accountability are important to team success, so she built that into her stated expectations for Bob when she asked for bi-weekly progress reports. 

Coaching: When Bob started having disagreements with two of the team members, Gail needed to coach him on how to resolve conflict effectively, including some self-examination by Bob about his team leadership approaches. 

Time management: Bob’s reluctance to act and/or inability to solve problems independently was costing Gail almost 3 hours a week. She needed to reestablish her expectations with Bob and hold him to them. 

Performance feedback: Bob delivered an action plan… that lacked substance which was unacceptable on several levels. So, that assignment needed to be redone with or without Bob. Bob needed specific, documented performance feedback about his work, including initiatives for further supervisory skills development. 

We need all the pieces. 

Using performance management techniques in isolation only gets us part way. Each situation we face demonstrates how different best practices intersect, strengthening each other and delivering greater benefit to the employee, the company, and ourselves. 

Effective management is both art and science. The people we work with are pieces of a complex puzzle which challenge our ability to solve problems. Individual performance management techniques are part of our toolkit. When we use them well and together, we can create a positive workplace experience. 

So how do you size up this situation?

Photo from alasis via Flickr

Going It Alone? Then Don’t Expect Much. | The Essential Career Support Team

Career success is a ladder, right? If we do our jobs well, take advantage of training, and follow the rules, we’ll get promoted again and again. 

So why doesn’t it work out that way? We see under-performing coworkers get ahead instead of us. We submit our best ideas and they don’t get implemented. We keep our noses to the grindstone but don’t get noticed. 

Get help. 

A job is one thing. A career is something else: It’s bigger. 

Careers are about progress, growth, and ever-expanding success. We build careers by moving from the bottom rungs to as high as we have the desire and courage to climb. We may each start on different rungs, but we’re all on the ladder. 

Our success is a function of our skills and abilities, our personal/professional style, relationships, vitality, and ability to navigate the political waters. This means we need to be acutely aware of each factor, weighing them before acting. 

The problem: Most of us don’t have full awareness or understanding of the implications and impacts of our next moves. 

The solution: Support from a team of experienced people who want you to succeed. 

Follow the winners 

Professional athletes, actors, and musicians set career paths for themselves with clear measures of success—on-field performance stats, movie ticket or album sales. Every day they’re making business decisions, expanding relationships, and improving their performance so they can rise. 

They’re just like us, only their platform is the public. Ours is our company and/or industry. 

But they’re also different from most of us because they realize they can’t become successful by themselves. They need a support team to help them, people who care about them and whose advice they will listen to even if the message stings. 

Individual sports like golf showcase what support teams mean to professional success. Take this year’s Masters Golf Tournament. Each golfer had a story about what it took to get there—a story of his support team, including several or all of the following: 

• A caddy—who helped him navigate the course, validated club selection, and calmed his nerves
• A swing coach—who helped him improve his game, prepare for the tournament, and gave him pointers between rounds
• A sports psychologist—who helped him overcome self-doubt, stay in the moment, and manage his nerves
• A nutritionist—who helped him eat well to maintain energy, lose or maintain weight, and deal with health issues
• A strength coach—who helped him build the right muscle groups, stay flexible, and develop endurance
• A publicist and/or administrator—who helped him handle the press, the off-course appearances, and tour schedule
• Family and friends—who cheered for him, win or lose, and loved him in ways that kept him going 

As standout athletes climb their ladders, their support teams get larger. That’s what it takes to win. 

Who’s helping you? 

We need people around us who know what our career goals are and the kind of success we want. 

It’s not about who you can periodically call on for help. It’s about who’s consciously, continuously, and consistently committed to helping you. There’s a difference. 

It starts with family, friends and even your boss and/or a mentor. Explain as clearly as you can what kind of help you want and need from them.  

You may need an experienced career coach you can rely on, someone who has successfully mastered the kind of growth you’re after. This is someone who is objective about your strengths and weaknesses, your performance and drive, and able to help you overcome obstacles in ways that build you up. 

Then you need to invest in yourself by expanding your knowledge and practicing.Yes, practicing! You need to use your skills in situations that test you. 

Going it alone is not a winning career strategy. In fact it takes the joy out of the process. Helping hands turn our uncertain and arduous climb into an adventure where everyone shares in the outcome. Onward! 

Photo from ▲Bonard▼via Flickr

When You Don’t Know, Find Someone Who Does—Like Jack Nadel

Success is the prize. Seeking it gets us to make the effort. 

Sadly, our efforts don’t always deliver the success we’re after. We look around and wonder what we’re doing wrong. Now it’s time talk to someone who’s been through it all. 

Enter Jack Nadel.  

At this writing, Nadel is in his late 80s. He spent 65 years in business, primarily in product sales, as founder of Jack Nadel International. After serving as a decorated combat veteran in WWII, he started his business in a tiny office without money, education, or experience. He became a successful global entrepreneur, author, TV personality, and philanthropist—a source of the guidance we need. 

Starting with nothing and ending with enormous success is inspiring. We want that to be us, initiating a great idea, building know-how, and taking prudent risks that work. Often, when we read success stories and try to replicate the steps, we end up disappointed.

The value of priceless wisdom 

Our flawed or misguide notions often get in our way. It’s not what’s on the surface that gives us an edge: It’s how we interpret, translate, and innovate what’s behind it. Insights are the real keys to success. 

I was treated to that special insight when I was invited to blog about Nadel’s new book,Use What You Have to Get What You Want: 100 Basic Ideas That Mean Business. 

I admit I didn’t know anything about Nadel before the book arrived. But I was immediately taken by the uncluttered, easily absorbed advice he gave. Each of the 100 ideas with a real-life illustration from his experience fits on one page. 

His insights work, no matter whether you’re managing a household, a small business, or a department in a corporation. 

Selling is a success staple.

 Nadel’s expertise is broad: His knowledge of sales and deal-making is laser sharp. There’s selling in everything we do: We sell ideas, products, services, relationships, and opportunities. Whenever we try to get someone to act, we’re closing some kind of transaction. 

Nadel zeroes in on the principle that there’s right-way and wrong-way selling. The right way ensures success that lasts. 

Here are ten Nadel selling ideas that struck a particular chord with me. (The parens are how I intend to apply them.) 

1. “If you can’t explain your product or service in 30 seconds, you probably can’t sell it.” (Test my elevator speech and revise as needed.)
2. “Selling…[has]…a built-in scorecard.” (Track revenue and opportunities in the pipeline to measure progress.)
3. “The best way to learn to sell is to go out and sell.” (Make contacts. Meet with people. Use #1.)
4. “Features tell and benefits sell.” (Clarify my “what’s in it for the client” message.)
5. “It’s easy to sell glamor, excitement, hope and feel-good products. It’s tough to sell insurance.” (Understand my service touch points.)
6. “Perceived value is what sells—real value is what repeats.” (Continue to deliver what’s promised.)
7. “The road to hell is paved with misrepresentation.” (Make sure there are never any surprises.)
8. “Honesty is not only the best policy; it’s the most profitable.” (Own up when I goof up. Make things right.)
9. “After you negotiate the best deal, give a little extra.” (Be counted on to over-deliver.)
10. “Careful planning is more important than hard work.” (Think first; then act.) 

Life runs on transactions 

There’s a business aspect to almost everything we do. Good business ensures that each transaction feels like a win on both sides. As Nadel says: 

 “If I give you a dollar, and you give me a dollar, we each have a dollar. If I give you an idea, and you give me an idea, we each have two ideas.” 

Our success is achieved on the shoulders of others. Generosity in the way we do business has a way of boosting success. Nadel’s generosity in sharing his immense insights is an example of that. 

You can purchase a copy on Amazon.com.

When Employees Aren’t Feelin’ It, Try “Enchantment,” Guy Kawasaki Style

Today, Guy Kawasaki’s new book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, is released. Guy offered me an advance copy about a month ago with a request to blog about it. I’m so happy I said, “Yes.”

We really want our jobs to mean something. It’s usually the rush more than the money that keeps us showing up every day. 

When there’s nothing to feel—no excitement, satisfaction, optimism, or joy—we’re less likely to put it all out there. Employees need leaders to tug at their hearts, excite their minds, and call them to action. Their enchantment starts with you! 

Captivate to motivate 

For years, Guy Kawasaki has been a booming voice for innovative changes. As the former chief evangelist (yes, that’s a job title!) of Apple, cofounder of Alltop.com (an online magazine rack), and author of nine other books, Guy is about building and sustaining momentum in the marketplace.

No matter what business we’re in, we need employees who have strong, positive feelings about their careers so they can: 

• take the business to the next level
• develop courage and take smart risks
• innovate and expand their reach
• make the world a better place 

What employees want is what we, as leaders, want, a chance to make a difference. It’s that enchanted connection that Guy gives us the tools to build. 

“Enchantment” 101 

The book provides tools and perspectives on planning and launching change, using social media effectively, and overcoming obstacles. 

But, it starts with simpler stuff that can be challenging for some. 

Guy writes: “Step one [for enchantment] is achieving likability, because jerks seldom enchant people.” 

I’ve often heard it said that employee respect is more important than being liked. We might get employees to follow our lead out of respect, but, Guy shows us, it won’t enchant them to embrace a vision, a cause, or an opportunity. 

Likability, Guy explains, grows from such things as smiling (he always seems to be), a warm handshake, using words effectively (since they are “the facial expressions of your mind”), and accepting others for who they are.

He reminds us that it’s enjoyable to be in the company of people we like. We’re more inclined to be drawn to and act on ideas they propose. Isn’t this what a great workplace team needs to get the job done? 

Trustworthiness is our other challenge, Guy writes, “…because people can like someone but not trust him enough for enchantment to occur.” Our hearts and minds are what we invest when we are enchanted, so gaining and retaining trust is a must. 

The book provides a great list of trust-building behaviors around Guy’s call to “Be a Mensch,” including: 

“Always act with honesty.

Treat people who have wronged you with civility.

Help someone who can be of absolutely no use to you.

Suspend blame when something goes wrong and ask, ‘What can we learn.’

Do no harm in anything you undertake.

Give people the benefit of the doubt.”

Trust enables us to throw ourselves into work that’s important, turning our fear of failure into the excitement of discovery. 

About being there… 

Guy’s book took me back to my first corporate job where I had the chance to put together a team of former educators to develop a K-12 energy curriculum fostering energy conservation. None of us had any idea how big business worked, but we cared deeply about what we were hired to do. 

We nicknamed ourselves the “Schleppers” because we did whatever it took. If that meant hauling boxes of workbooks, picking up donuts, or counting out curriculum packets, we did it. Our motto: “No job too small.” 

I was the project lead but always felt like a teammate. We liked each other to the point of hilarity. We trusted each other to know our weaknesses and our fears. We cared completely. 

Our enchantment came from the delicious blend of commitment (heart) to a change we believed in and the confidence (mind) that we could make it happen (action). And we did, ultimately winning an award from the Department of Energy and the praise of school teachers and students across the state. 

Enchantment works. If it’s in your heart to make a difference, then you’ll find Guy’s book the perfect read to fuel your fire.  

Employee Coaching: Reality or Just Talk? | A Wake-up Call

Careers are about growth. The better we become, the more options we’ll have. 

We expect our career growth to follow these steps: 

• Take jobs that align with our skills and knowledge
• Complete training on processes and technical requirements
• Apply learned skills and knowledge
• Implement performance feedback
• Repeat these steps 

This is the “science” of career growth, but that’s only half of it. 

It’s the art of doing your job well that delivers lasting success. 

Training programs teach job mechanics and requirements for representative situations handled by “typical” employees who aren’t you. 

Your success is influenced by your work ethic, communications skills, interpersonal behaviors, values, and personality. These are your art. 

We need coaching 

Our supervisors (coaches) arrange our training to make sure we know how to play (do our work). While we’re in the game (our jobs), they watch to see how we do. As we play, they support, correct, encourage, reinforce, and direct. That’s coaching at work in an ideal world. 

Alas, the pity! In the real world, supervisors aren’t doing much employee coaching, using excuses like: 

• It’s too time-consuming (or not worth the time).
• Employees are uncomfortable with my individual attention.
• I don’t have the skills (or the patience) to coach, so I’ll do more harm than good. 

It’s time to wake up and do what needs to be done. 

Without coaching, there’s floundering. 

The pace of our professional growth is a function of the amount and quality of coaching we receive. 

Employee productivity and morale flat-lines when we don’t grow. Supervisors with stagnant employees will deal eventually with eroding performance.  

Unbeknownst to some supervisors, it’s the employee who does the work associated with the coaching. The supervisor as coach provides support, encouragement, and direction in areas where employees aren’t performing “artfully.” The employee transfers the direction on how to improve from his/her “coach” to the job. 

Everyone wins when supervisors coach. 

Be systematic. 

Keep your coaching process simple, focusing on what the employee needs to do better to move forward. Remember: You’re coaching for career growth. 

Start by focusing initially on no more than 3 employees. 

1. Schedule individual meetings and ask each employee to bring a list of 3 possible areas for coaching. Prepare your own list of three.
2. Start by asking the employee  to share his/her list and the reasons behind the choices. Follow with your list and reasons.
3. Agree on which areas will be addressed.
4. Ask the employee what specific actions s/he will take to improve.
5. Ask what kind of coaching support s/he will need from you. Agree on what’s reasonable.
6. Identify how you will both know if there is improvement—measures, observations, feedback from others
7. Establish a timetable for meetings (Put the employee in charge of scheduling and running future meetings.) 

If the employee is not committed to his/her own growth, then your coaching time is better invested in someone else. So don’t chase after employees showing no initiative. 

Even as you’re coaching these employees for growth, you’re still providing performance feedback, formally and informally, to all employees, intervening when there are performance problems. There’s no rest for the weary! But it’s all good.

Recognize achievement 

The best part of coaching is seeing the growth. By recognizing the employee’s successful efforts, you: 

• Build self-confidence and sustain motivation to continue to grow
• Encourage others to want to be coached
• Start to build a culture of peer coaching and self-developing teams 

Recognition can be a hand-written note from you, a gift card, or a formal celebration with his/her team, depending on conditions. 

Make coaching a reality 

A lot of organizations give lip-service to coaching. Employees know when they’re being sold a bill of goods. If employees are told the company believes in coaching for growth, then deliver. 

I bet you’ve coached a child on how to tie his/her shoes or a friend on how to use a social media widget. Coaching isn’t rocket science; it’s support, direction, encouragement, and guidance. Not only can you do this, it’s your obligation. Done well, it becomes part of your legacy.

So please give coaching for employee growth your best effort. It’s personally satisfying and very good business.