Stumped About Why You Didn’t Get Hired? | Here’s the Back Story

To many job candidates, the all important hiring decision is a mystery. More often than not hiring managers don’t say much about the factors they considered. In January 2010, I wrote this post to lift the veil a bit, clear the air, and add some motivation.

Myth: The job candidate who flat out “nails” the interview gets the job.

Truth: The decision about who gets the job is, well, complicated. 

For all the years that I was a senior manager at a Fortune 500, every time I didn’t select internal candidates who thought they had the “right stuff,” I was questioned. Actually grilled!

Filling job vacancies from an internal or external candidate pool isn’t as simple as having an opening, interviewing candidates, and picking one. It would be nice if all business decision-making were linear, but it’s not.

It’s not always about you!

A lot goes on behind the scenes in the hiring process and it’s different in every organization.  (I’m not here to judge either the ethics or the efficacy of those processes.)

It’s just important that, as candidates, we understand that these are business decisions, not personal ones.

Typical reasons why candidates aren’t selected

The hiring manager knew the person s/he wanted from the outset. 

Many companies have a mandated hiring process whenever there’s a vacancy. The preferred candidate participates in the process along with others, although his/her selection may be a foregone conclusion.

That may sound unfair, but if you are a competing candidate, it still gives you a platform for showing your stuff. How you perform in the interview will be remembered and can one day work in your favor.

The company wants to develop a high potential employee or add diversity. 

All companies need to build a bench so they can fill sensitive positions down the road. They look for candidates who have the potential to take on increasing responsibilities or need to broaden their company knowledge.

For those companies that have been slow to incorporate diversity into their workforce and their management ranks, vacancies are an opportunity to remedy that. In both cases, these are business best practices that can add needed capabilities.

Once again, simply by being a participant in the candidate pool, you gain important visibility.

You don’t complement the “chemistry” of the hiring manager’s work group.

The ability of people to work effectively together is important to every hiring manager. Any time a new person is added to the mix, the “chemistry” of the group changes. You may have great capabilities, but if your work style and personality don’t “fit” well within the team, then you will likely not get selected.

The hiring manager doesn’t feel comfortable about supervising you. 

This is a very personal thing. Hiring managers don’t get many perks. The one they do get is to hire people who will make their work life more pleasant and easier. So if there are two equally qualified candidates, they will likely say to themselves, “When I come to work on a bad day, which one of these two people do I want to deal with?” That will be the tie-breaker.

Why this is so hard to swallow. 

If these realities are frustrating to you, I understand. Remember, for you the hiring process is solely about you getting the job. For the business the decision is multifaceted. The best hiring decisions weigh the potential for the candidate to take on increasingly more complex work and then to be ready for advancement in a reasonable period of time.

The only piece of the hiring process that you control is yourself. 

Because there are so many variables contributing to the hiring decision, your best course of action is to simply do your best. Pay attention to the way the process is conducted, the questions you are asked, the responses and feedback you receive. Build on those insights.

Remember: Hiring decisions are business decisions. So don’t take them personally.Your best approach while job hunting is to:

• Be prepared
• Present yourself well
• Have confidence
• Keep at it

In time the right position under the right company circumstances will present itself, and you will be well-positioned to accept it. In the meantime, throw off your frustration and concentrate on becoming a candidate to be reckoned with!

Photo from Giulia Torra via Flickr

Struggling with a Difficult Choice? The Answer Can Be Fit to a “T”

Making the right work decision can be stressful, even paralyzing. We just don’t want to get it wrong.

“What if I:”

• End up looking like an idiot or incompetent
• Lose all the career ground I’ve gained
• Cost myself or the company money
• Cause terrible embarrassment or brand damage

Too often we over-focus on the downside of our choices. However,  being overly optimistic about the upside can be a problem too.

“Finally I’ll:”

• Be the next in line for promotion
• Get a great bonus or raise
• Put the company/my work group on the map
• Have the team I need to lead like a champ

Too much pessimism and too much optimism are the enemy of sound decision-making.

Use your head not your knees!

Knee-jerk decisions can cripple your career. We decide that way when we’re:

• Overly emotionally about expected outcomes
• Impatient with the time factors and/or complexity of the choice
• Confused by things we don’t understand about the options
• Stressed by the pressures to decide

There’s no getting away from these realities, but you can replace those jerky knees with a calm and disciplined head.

There are lots of different kinds of decisions we have to make around our careers like:

• Which job offer to accept
• Who to hire or promote
• Which policy recommendation to accept
• What the most important priorities are

Usually, you’ll have a specific window of time when you have to make a decision, so you need a reliable tool to put into practice each time.

The “T” chart to the rescue!

“T” charts (or tables) are simple analytical tools. They rely on you to identify and weigh the right factors in advance of your decision, so you will balance the positives and the negatives.

Let’s say you have two reasonably comparable job offers and decide to use a “T” chart for each job that you’ll review side-by-side to help you make your choice. Here’s how.

1. On a blank sheet make two large “T” shapes–one for each job you’re looking at.
2. Across the top of each “T” write Pros and Cons.
3. To the left of both “T’s” write the criteria that you are looking at for both jobs.

Consider criteria like:

• Total compensation
• Characteristics of the work group
• Leadership and corporate culture
• Stability of the business
• Opportunities for growth
• Authority and autonomy
• Nature of the work

4. Write the pros and cons for each criteria for each job as you see them on each “T”.

5. Compare both jobs and base your decision rationally the facts you’ve assembled.

You can repeat this process for other kinds of decisions using different criteria in situations like:

Hiring/promotion decisions by considering the candidate’s

• Skills and knowledge
• Interpersonal style
• Leadership qualities
• Growth potential
• Experience

Management policy changes:

• Impact on the bottom line
• Employee readiness
• Timing and potential fall out
• Regulatory/legal implications

The more specific and relevant your criteria, the more likely you will assess your options effectively. The key is not to stack the deck and select criteria that support what you may want to do at an emotional level. You need to keep it real.

Weigh your options.

The cons (the negatives) are often seen as the deal breakers in any analysis. Many of them should be. However, all cons are not created equal.

Once you have looked at your decision-making data, revisit the cons column and see if any negatives can be mitigated. Are there legitimate ways you can make them less of a problem? If, for example, the total compensation for the job you want is less that your other choice, consider whether their job training and opportunities for promotion offer a better chance to advance and make more in the future.

Using a “T” chart to help you make important decisions doesn’t guarantee that you’ll always be right, but it will keep you honest with yourself. It’s just the rationale approach you need for a sound move forward. Choose away!

Photo from paul spud taylor via Flickr

Career Alert: “Your Employer Brands You. Take It or Leave It.”

Companies are credentials. Who we work for says a lot about us. Just ask any resume screener or hiring manager. 

This reality adds to the job search and career building pressures that are already intense enough. No one ever said this career success thing was going to be easy. 

What’s in a name? 

Here’s how it happens: Organizations have their own identities. They are defined by the mission, decisions, and performance of the leadership. 

The marketplace sees organizations as though they are people, judging them based on their conduct. 

When an insurance company is notoriously slow paying its claims, they may be branded as insensitive, unreliable, or ineffective. That can stick to us. 

When a manufacturing company is known to donate money and free up employees to volunteer for community service, we’re part of that brand whether we volunteer or not. 

The old adage even applies when it comes to your employer: “You’re judged by the company you keep.” 

The choice is yours. 

We can choose to work for well-regarded companies or questionable ones. I know these are desperate times and finding a job is difficult. 

But, each time we say, “yes” to an employer, we’re entering into a unique relationship. We agree to perform the work they want in exchange for the salary and benefits they pay. 

Every company operates based on its values. That’s what drives its decision-making. Values attract certain kinds of customers and investors, suppliers and employees. 

Values are words like: quality, reliability, accountability, cooperation, integrity, service, innovation, and safety. 

When organizations deliver on their values, they are held in high regard. (It doesn’t matter how large or small they are.) When they don’t, they get a black eye and share it with you, their employee. 

It’s easy to tell ourselves that we’ll just keep our heads down, do our work, and go home, so we don’t get tangled up in all this. But at some point, we know whether or not what’s going on around us is compatible with the person we are. Protecting our personal/professional brand is essential to our successful career. 

Sit on the right shoulders

There is enormous benefit to your brand when you work for a well-respected organization, large or small. Here are a few: 

No apologies required: When asked where you work, your answer is met with positive reactions to what the organization does and your part in its success.

Requests for information: People consider you a credible voice who can help them connect with the right resources and/or put their concerns or questions in perspective.

Access to influencers: Simply being employed by well-respected companies makes it easier to be heard at community meetings, gain access to politicians, and  meet with other business leaders.

Invitations to represent: Good companies are sought after and need employee representatives, like you, to serve on non-profit boards, to attend local fund-raisers, and to speak to community groups.

Opportunities to grow: Everyone loves a winner. When you work for a successful company, their success rubs off on you, expanding your credentials by proximity. As more doors open to you, your brand expands. So you may find yourself asked to attend a special meeting for an executive, participate on an industry research project, or write and publish a paper. 

When I asked Nichola D. Gutgold, PhD, associate professor of communications arts and sciences atPenn State University, about how she was able to gain access to so many powerful women in government, media, and the Supreme Court for her books, she told me: 

“To have Penn State Universityas my employer is a huge asset. In many ways, I stand on PSU’s shoulders and that opens doors. My academic credentials also have weight.” 

Give credit 

The resources and the reach of our companies propel their brands. We draw on both to expand our own brands. 

Our organizations aren’t perfect and neither are we, but together we can help each other to be better. 

You know when you’re working for the right organization. Its shoulders give you the lift you need to reach great heights. Steady now! 

Phote from nedrichards via Flickr

Executive Hot Buttons—Press With Caution

It can be stressful at the top where pressure might not bring out our best. 

Executives are vulnerable all the time to the unexpected. The winds of marketplace change are always in their faces. The potential for bad decisions by managers and misconduct by employees is also ever-present.   

Although executives can’t escape the unforeseen risks that come with the job, they will often show us how they cope. 

Making the complex simple… 

Executives are expected to focus on the big picture. They rely on the managers and subject matter experts, like us, who provide information, recommendations, and analyses needed to make their decisions. 

Our obligation is to influence executive decision-making so our companies move in the right direction, treat employees fairly, and deliver quality products/services to customers in an ethical way. 

Our ability to present information convincingly to executives means knowing what to say, how, and when. Timing in life is everything! 

Executive responsibilities are complex, but often what drives individual executives is simple by comparison. 

Triggers and principles… 

I’ve worked with a fair number of executives over the years as a manager and as a consultant/coach. Each one was different but the process for working effectively with him/her always meant managing the conversation so we could hear each other. 

We don’t always come to an executive with the information or ideas they want to hear, but we need to be sure they can and will listen. 

To do that we need to understand what words and issues set them off as well as the principles that drive them. 

Here’s how it worked with several executives in my professional life, labeled by their hot buttons—the factors that put their teeth on edge: 

Ignorance and Poor Preparation–Knowledge mastery was what gave you credibility with this executive. His overriding leadership principle was to understand fully all aspects of the business: It was his source of certainty and influence. If you wanted to get heard, you needed to be completely prepared, humble in what you might have missed, and willing to dig deeper. 

Weakness and Lack of Commitment—With this executive, an unwillingness to stand by your ideas and/or take ownership of your position resulted in immediate rejection of your proposal. If he could intimidate you into abandoning or waffling on your position, it was deemed unworthy. If you wanted to come out ahead, you had to be prepared to state a strong case and stand up to the grilling. 

Superficial Analysis and Detail Errors—Mistakes in calculations and logic, no matter how insignificant overall, called all other material into question. It provided occasion for this executive to nitpick other details of your proposal and negate the entire work. To stay out of this quicksand, you needed to scrub all data and proofread multiple times.

 Not Seeing the Big Picture—Proposing narrow solutions and initiatives that failed to incorporate the needs of the entire organization came across as self-serving and unsupportive of the company vision. This executive became exasperated when proposals failed to take a comprehensive view, leading to lost confidence in her managers. The key is always to address the potential impacts and implications of anything you propose within and outside your organization. 

Look within… 

We each have hot buttons, so look within to see what yours are. That will help you understand why executives jump out of their skin for some things and not others.

For me, unfairness to others, not doing the right thing even when it’s hard, haphazard work, and not living up to commitments are my hot buttons. They make my heart pound and my ire rise. 

Our principles drive us just as an executive’s does. The stakes can be very high for them, so it’s predictable that they would react strongly when someone pushes their hot buttons. 

So take a moment to think about what drives the executive or manager you work for and how you might approach him/her the next time you have something to propose. That bit of insight can make all the difference.

Photo by JohnE777 from Flickr

Career Going Nowhere? Ask for What You Want

Do you keep repeating the same old lines about your career?

“I work hard but I’m going nowhere. I want to: 

• Earn more money
• Be promoted
• Get interesting assignments
• Work somewhere else.” 

Who are you actually saying this to? Yourself, close friends, coworkers, and even strangers at a party (how sad is that?). Is it helping? My guess is, “no.” 

Exactly what do you want, anyhow? 

We have an easier time saying what we don’t want than what we do. 

At work, no one is assigned to read our minds. (Where’s Johnny Carson’s Carnac when we need him?) 

We’ve likely spent little or no time thinking, planning, or positioning ourselves to be considered for real opportunities. On top of that, we haven’t told anyone specifically what we want or asked for help. 

Now what? 

We have to plan our own course: That includes making decisions and acting on them, being fully invested in outcomes, and not being afraid. 

Start with these steps which aren’t as easy as they sound: 

• Decide on the kind of work you want to do and where
• Find out the salary growth potential of that work
• Understand the progression line of jobs that you’ll need to follow
• Look at growth opportunities over the next 5 years
• Commit to developing your knowledge, skills, and experience 

This is the front work that hardly anyone does. 

Be decisive. Commit to a specific career path for the next 5 years, even though what you want may come sooner or a little later. Follow your plan, capitalizing on opportunities and learning everything you can.  

Now, ask for what you want! 

“Asking” makes what you say you want real. That scares some people.   

It also means meeting face-to-face with the people who can help you, saying the words, and committing to a course of action. You’re now entering into a unique kind of partnership. 

Your first “asking” conversation would likely be with your boss or an influential colleague and should be big picture focused like this: 

“I want to grow in my career and be recognized for my contributions. I’m committed to doing the work that’s necessary. I specifically want to position myself for opportunities (like______) and am looking for guidance/support/mentoring (depending on whom you’re talking to) from you. Would you be willing?” (The follow up ask: “If not, can you suggest someone else?”) 

As things start to unfold, you’ll want to have targeted “asking” conversations with your boss and others like these: 

1. “I would like to create more stretch goals for myself this year so that I can continue to demonstrate my value. I would appreciate your input/support on these 4 new goals.” 

2. “During the year I took on additional duties outside my job description which was a cost-savings to the department. I would like to be considered for a raise and/or an exceptional contribution award for that work. Is that feasible?” (The follow up ask:” If not, what will it take to get a salary increase?”). 

3. “I would like to be considered for an XYZ position when a vacancy opens up. What additional knowledge/skills/experiences should I work on to make me the strongest candidate. Would you be willing to give me routine feedback?” 

4. “I’ve always wanted to participate in the development of a new product launch. I see that the company will be forming a team this summer. Would you be willing to appoint/recommend me?” 

Asking is the first step: Reminding (not nagging) is the next. We need to keep our wants and expectations visible and in the right context. 

Remember, it’s your career 

We don’t always get what we ask for, but that doesn’t mean we give up. However, if things don’t progress according to our timetables, we may need a change of venue! 

It never hurts to ask. The worst that can happen is that someone says “no,” an important bit of information for your on-going decision making. 

How about taking a fresh look at the direction of your career? Then ask specifically for something you want. You might actually hear “yes”!

When Your Career’s Sagging, Get Yourself Business Fit.

Ever had that old sagging feeling? It’s when: 

• Nothing at work excites you.
• Your motivation has flat-lined.
• The signs that “you’re going nowhere” loom.
• Your energy is drained.  

Even a Red Bull can’t jolt us out of that. 

Wake up! 

When our careers are sagging, it’s because we’ve allowed it. After all, we own them.

They’re a function of our choices—the education we pursued and the work experiences we’ve accepted. 

Each year of our careers is like a professional sports season. It’s a cycle: The draft (our hiring or retention), then camp (team alignment and goal setting), and the season (the work and its outcomes). Then it starts over again. There’s a calculated method to all of this, because, after all, it’s big business. 

Similarly, our companies make money through the contributions we make along with their other employees. When we act like the company is holding us against our wills in careers we’ve chosen and allowed to sag, something’s wrong about us. 

If that’s how you feel, it’s time to ratchet up your business fitness. 

Step up! 

Clayton Kendrick-Holmes is the sixth year, head coach for Maritime College in New York, a 2010 championship contending, football team. He’s also a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves being deployed to Afghanistan in November 2010. 

Coach Kendrick-Holmes promotes the importance of principles over personalities with his team. In place of having his players’ names on their jerseys, he has them select words like accountability, family, respect, character, and work ethic for their backs—a driving principle that motivates their play. It shows what’s important to them. 

A sagging career often lacks a driving force, that compelling reason to dig deep, test ourselves, take risks, and work hard for success. 

Ask yourself what’s causing you to feel in a career slump. Think about what you want from your career: Maybe your word is fortune, change, service, security, collaboration, quality, innovation, or connection. 

The word(s) we choose help us figure out what’s missing in our careers today, so we can make changes. 

Buck up. 

Knowing your personal drivers is a starting point. Now you need to look at where you are. Ask yourself these questions:

• What kind of work gives me the most satisfaction? Where can I find it?
• What causes me to feel inadequate on my job? What am I ready to do about it?
• Who are the colleagues I count on and who count on me for leverage and support? What can I do to get more connected?
• What are the knowledge and skill gaps that I need to plug so I can grow?  

Think of yourself as the professional you are: Then ask yourself whether or not you have prepared yourself physically (knowledge and skills) and mentally (savvy and toughness) to compete for the career that you want, just like any serious athlete. 

Business is about competition like any sport. You’re a player. The more business fit you are, the more valuable you are to the team and to yourself. When you aren’t, you risk getting cut. 

The discipline of building your business fitness is like an athlete’s workout/practice regimen but without the sweat. That includes knowing how to find out what’s really going on around you and how to deal with it effectively.   

Commit. 

I write in my book, Business Fitness: 

“If you start out on a journey to success without a clear picture of what you are pursuing, then what you get in the end will be some kind of default result. You might like that result or not. Either way you have nothing to complain about since you had no particular direction in the first place.” 

I advocate taking charge of your work life as much as possible, by committing to your success vision, building your capabilities, and moving forward with courage. When you’re business fit, you’re ready for most everything. Time to get pumped up! 

What words best describe what drives you? How has that focus helped keep your career from sagging? Thanks for commenting.

When You’re Guessing, Say So! | Leadership Honesty

Finally! It’s your break-through assignment—the chance to lead a project that breaks new ground.

Leadership alert!  Find out whether that ground is hard or soft, rocky or sandy, dangerous or solid before you go too far. Figuratively speaking, you’re now the company’s excavator. Time to get fitted for your hard hat!

Everyone’s counting on you! 

New initiatives come with high expectations. There’s often a lot of hype and eagerness around a new effort but shaky consensus about:

• Scope—how big or small it will be
• Resources—the money, personnel, and time to be invested
• Impacts—the effects it will have, both positive and negative, over time
• Deliverables—the reports, analyses, communication, and products
• Roll out—when the effort will be completed and implemented 

Once you’re designated project leader, all eyes are on you. You will likely start out assembling an in-house team. You may get to hire independent contractors or collaborate with experts within your industry or in higher ed. Every one you assemble is counting on you to lead the way.

The hard realities 

Getting selected to lead a new project team is a major opportunity to demonstrate your capabilities. It broadens your visibility and expands your brand. So you don’t want to blow this!

There’s pressure because it’s a “new” initiative. No one has led a project like this before. There have been other new projects, but not with the parameters you’re expected to meet.

That means you’re on foreign ground. No one knows exactly how this project needs to be done. You can ask advice from others, but ultimately you have to figure out what to do.

This can be a lonely and unnerving spot to be in. 

What’s a Project Leader to do? 

Provide structure, first. Then provide process. That’s the surest way to keep your team going in the right direction and your eye on what is and isn’t getting done.

This is what you need:

• A “charter” for the project that is approved by whomever is senior to you, stating the scope, owner (you’re the leader), expected outcomes, your decision-making authority, budget, and deadlines
• A detailed action plan with specific accountabilities for each team member and deadlines
• A budget and system for tracking expenditures
• A reporting mechanism for the team and you to use that keeps the project owner and/or company at large informed 

Everything on a project, however, won’t go according to plan. Things get messy and uncertain.

Draw on your team and your honesty

If you pretend you know what to do (when you don’t), then give a directive and are wrong, you will lose the confidence of your team and boss.

This is what has worked for me at a crossroads:

• Meet with your team and/or the owner of the project.
• Summarize the options/choices on the table.
• Describe the “what if” scenarios you’ve considered
• Ask for their input
• State the course of action that you have decided is best.
• Ask once more for input and then act. 

I have always told both my teams and my boss, when it comes to complex new initiatives, that ”I’m making this up as I go along.” I say this because it’s honest, helps manage the expectations of the team, and motivates everyone to do their best to make things work.

Embrace calculated risk-taking

Breaking new ground means developing something that never existed before. No one knows how it will turn out. It’s the tried and true business best practices that help us find our way.

That’s why our business fitness is so important. The seven smart moves give us the insights and the relationships we need face uncertainties and keep moving ahead with confidence, even when we’re unsure! Now fire up that backhoe!

What missteps have you seen that have affected a new project/program? What should have been done? I always love your comments!

Wanted: High Flying Career. Will Work Without a Net! | Risking Failure for Success

High wire acts. Acrobats. Human cannonballs. Circus careers come with big performance expectations and high stakes. The consequences of failure can be dire.

Successful circus performers are masters of precision, flexibility, teamwork, and consistency. They own every move they make for their own good and the safety of others.

Flying through the air on a trapeze with no net below is the measure of a career that you own. When you don’t expect to fail, you’ve arrived.

What’s your act? 

Everyone wants an exciting career:

• Marketing lead on a big account
• Editor at a hot shot publication
• Start up business owner
• Global account exec
• Ecotourism director 

What does all this take? Do we just grab a chair and dash into a cage with the Bengal tigers, listening for the roar of the crowd? 

A career is a progression of our work life. It doesn’t just appear. The jobs we take are how we get things started. There are no guarantees that those jobs will add up to a career, particularly one that makes us feel successful. We just give it our best shot.

Risk is the route to reward!

Fear is the death knell for our careers: fear of failure, the boss, new assignments, change, or rocking the boat.

Playing the game to get a raise, promotion, or plum assignment isn’t risk taking. It’s maneuvering within the safe zone.

Career risks are about owning your choices and the consequences of your decisions, good or bad. That’s when you feel the exhilaration of flying through the air without a tether or that proverbial net. That’s when you know you are fully in charge of your career and, perhaps, your life.

Unfortunately, most of us aren’t as brave as those circus aerialists. We make decisions expecting that:

• If it doesn’t work out, we can rely our parents or spouse to bail us out
• We can go back to the job we left behind or a prior employer
• Going back to school will ultimately land us a better job 

We tend not to take risks that will leave us in a helpless heap if we come up short.

What are you willing to wager?

This is the quandary: Because self-preservation is a strong motivator, how do we balance our risk tolerance and our success aspirations?

Start out by being honest about what you want to achieve and why. What will make you really proud of yourself? What choices are you willing to stand up for in spite of the potentially negative reactions of people you care about? What sacrifices are you ready to make?

Look at professional athletes. Many come from backgrounds fraught with struggle and want. So they bet everything on the outside chance they will become big time athletes. If they fail, nothing much changes.

Look at children of privilege who were expected to go into the family business but want to do their own thing instead. That’s what happened with Warren Buffet’s, son, Peter, who became an Emmy Award winning musician his way. If he’d failed, he’d have paid the price on many levels.

Look at William Gates Gill, author of How Starbuck’s Saved My Life, who lost his high-powered marketing job at J. Walter Thompson Advertising. At 63 he took a service job at a Starbuck’s store in New York City because he was down and out. If he failed at that, he was done.

Fold the net…Find the glory!

Career success feels sweetest when you’ve made it your way. Safety nets are often an illusion and can become a prison. Tune out the naysayers who chant: “Girls/guys don’t do that,” “What if this all goes wrong,” “You don’t know what you’re doing.” Think for yourself and about yourself. Don’t fear risk. Embrace it smartly.

When you’re business fit, you’ve thought through the options. You’ve done your due diligence. You know where you’re headed. You’ve inventoried your capabilities. You’re packed and ready to run away to the circus! See you there!

What was the biggest career risk you’ve taken? How did it work out? Can’t wait to hear!

Beware of “Bring Me Another Rock” Managers!| Clarify Direction. Provoke Decisions.

They make us think we’re the problem. We produce work our managers assign and they throw it back.

“Revise this,” they say.

“What am I missing?” we ask.

“It doesn’t quite address the issues,” they answer. “When it’s right, I’ll know it.”

We go back to our desks deflated, believing that somehow we’re just not grasping things. We still don’t have a clear idea of how to “fix” anything.  We start to worry that our career will suffer because of this.  We’re bummed.

Take heart! It’s not about you! 

Let’s look at the logic: You get an assignment from your boss. You’ve asked clarifying questions about what is expected and taken notes.

You do the work, checking it against the direction you received. You even ask questions along the way to make sure you’re on the right path.

But when you submit your work, you’re told to rework it. After you make those changes, you’re told to make new ones—again and again!

In all likelihood, your boss is figuring out his/her direction on the fly, using the work you’re doing to put the pieces together.

These managers keep us busy turning over and retrieving one rock after another until they see the one they think they’ve been looking for.

I’ve had bosses like this and it’s maddening. Why? Because the boss has you jumping though hoops as a result of his/her inability to:

• Provide clear direction
• Make timely decisions 

“Bring me another rock” managers (BMARM) are costly. 

They spin everyone’s wheels. A spinning wheel makes no progress. In business that means spending time and money getting nowhere.

In addition to frustrating you, these managers frustrate the business like this:

Hiring Fiascos 

The BMARM needs to fill a vacancy. S/he writes a job posting and human resources posts it. Qualified candidate interviews are scheduled but no one is selected. The BMARM tells HR the candidates “aren’t quite right.”

Question: “What are you looking for in a candidate?”

Answer: “I’ll know the right person when I see him/her.”

So HR keeps providing additional candidates (rocks) until the manager finally figures out what s/he really wants the job to be. The issue is the manager’s inability to decide on the scope of the job and his/her failure to make good management decisions in a timely way.

Requests for Proposal 

A manager needs to contract with an outside service. Prospective bidders receive a request for proposal (RFP).  Significant time and cost go into developing these bid submissions.

Managers who don’t really know what they want float RFPs with general specifications, believing they’ll know “when they see it” which is the best choice. In some cases, when they “suspect they see it,” they will request additional information (rocks).

Often these RFP’s get deferred or cancelled. If accepted, they can be fraught with difficulties because the BMARM wants to keep modifying the terms.

A manager’s inability to make decisions is a serious problem.

Dodge the rock pile! 

Inquiry is your best defense again the request for rocks. When given an assignment, be relentless about clarity. Here are a few things that you need to get straight from the beginning. Ask:

• What’s driving the assignment? Who’s invested?
• What’s the purpose? The time frame?
• What’s the scope? The boundaries?
• What actions are expected? 

Turn these answers into a written project overview and get your boss to give the okay before you start. Each time there’s a change, write it down and validate it again with your boss.

Protect yourself.

The object is to minimize your rock collecting. If it happens anyway, you will, at least, have a clear record that what you did was based on approved direction.

I’ve been in this boat and have had projects that went nowhere. But I was always sure that the non-result was no reflection on me. Feeling business fit always made my load feel lighter.

Do you have a BMAR manager that you had to deal with? How did it go? Any tips to share?

Stuck? Try Getting Out of Your Own Way! | Overcoming Risk Aversion

Mistakes are a bummer. We don’t like being on the receiving end (like when they don’t’ “hold the onion”) or on the doing end (like when you miss a due date). Some mistakes have greater consequences than others, but we never quite know how great. 

Mistakes lurk, so be heroic.  

Keep working. Get stuff done. Make decisions. Choose options. Make your best guess.

You’ve been given a job to do…so just do it! No one else is.

Business is a machine. It thrives on forward motion created by people doing things that need to be done.

Your life is a business too. So, you need forward motion to find a job, navigate a career, and position your future.

Every time we take action, we leave ourselves open for both mistakes and success. Most of the time, the success odds are in our favor!

Trial and error is a good thing. It’s one way we figure things out! 

So why do we obsess so much about maybe “doing it wrong?” Unless the consequences of a mistake are death or financial ruin, there’s little reason to defer action.

Now, I’m not proposing that we act without thinking, planning, and considering consequences. I am proposing that once we’ve done reasonable thinking, planning and considering, we act. (Haven’t read Seth Godin’s, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? It’s time.) 

When we don’t act, it’s often because we fear:

• Negative judgments by others (our who and why never explained)  
• Looking stupid or naïve (the rationale, basis, and likelihood unstated)
• Disappointing ourselves (the result of a bar we set too high)
• Becoming trapped (our baseless belief that situations control our future)
• Personal loss—(the notion that there is some concrete price to pay) 

These fears will paralyze us if we let them.  

Shackles you choose are still shackles. 

The relentless pursuit of approval and permission coupled with the endless need for more information, discussion, and analysis becomes self-imposed career imprisonment.

Analysis to paralysis is what it’s often called. It happens when you believe you need just one more bit of information, insight, and affirmation before you’re safe enough to act.

Problem: There are unknowns, surprises, and discoveries in every decision.  It’s the “successful people” who come up with winning discoveries and get credit for them, even when it all started from mistakes they made.

The people who end up in the best careers often got there by stumbling through jobs that took them to places they never imagined, both good and bad. They just kept moving along and discovering things while doing quality work.

You can’t become a success when you stand in your own way, waiting for analysis and approval to open doors.

Please, let this be like you. 

Karen was a call center support specialist who knew I needed a call monitoring feedback system fair to our reps. On her own, she found out what other companies did, discussed the law with Legal, and drafted a process for me and my boss to consider, all in short order. A smart, gutsy move for her career.

Herb was a union guy, servicing electric meters. He wanted to move into management but didn’t have the best credentials. He bid on a mobile exhibit job covering a 10,000 square mile area. During the interview, I asked him to write an essay about why he wanted the job. That threw him, but he gave it a go, not knowing where this “no job security” position would take him. In time, he became a respected marketing manager…not bad!

Believe in yourself…because you should! 

Look around. The success you want is within your reach. You just need to be willing to reach for it! The more actions you take, the more ground you gain. Business fitness is about building momentum toward your goals. So pull on your best sneaks and hit the trail!

What fears have held you back along the way? How did you reduce or overcome them? Any advice is a real gift!