This time of year, many of us are reflecting on the past twelve months and deciding where we want to go over the next twelve.  Whether you are a proponent of New Year’s resolutions or not, this is the time to take stock and make some goals leading to the outcome you want to see this time of year in 2016.

New Year’s resolutions or not, you need to go into 2016 with a plan.  If you have no plan, how will you get to your desired destination? Obviously, you will be more successful if you plot a course for your desired destination. Furthermore, HOW you set these goals will contribute to your success.

Goal setting techniques have changed!  The old belief that you set one year, three year and five year plans has been replaced with new brain research backed success strategies that recommend shorter duration, ‘chunked’ targets with daily action items. With technology changing at break neck speeds, how could you possibly believe that one year, three year or even five year goals won’t be impacted?  Psychologically, smaller targets with daily action items increases the urgency while maintaining the perception of progress necessary to keep us engaged and prevent goal abandonment. Moreover, success in small daily items compounds resulting in larger gains toward your goal.

This year, change your goal setting by doing this:

1. WRITE it down.
2. BREAK it down.
3. CONFRONT obstacles.

WRITE it down.

Studies show that when you write down your goals versus just making them, you are more successful.  (Try visualizing success as well!) Writing down your goals is concrete. “This year, I will ……”  Similar to learning techniques encompassing the three main processing types including tactical, aural, and visual designed to engage the whole brain, the physical action of writing down a goal triggers different areas in the brain than would be activated by simply deciding on a goal.  Additionally, seeing that goal in writing – in the first person – gives ownership – and responsibility – toward reaching that goal. Put some skin in the game – write down your goal!

BREAK it down.

Break it down into daily, weekly, and monthly milestones up to a 90 day limit! Setting vague goals beyond 90 days lessens the impact and urgency of the goal.  By chunking it down into small, focused increments, you can select one to three actions to undertake immediately.  Select the most important action that moves you toward your goal daily.  Accomplishing one task each day is easier than shooting randomly at a target 90 days out. By achieving one action item each day, you compound your success making great strides toward your goal faster!

CONFRONT obstacles.

Like every dieter knows, you must clear out the usual suspects (For me it is chocolate (duh!) and Mexican tortilla chips, not necessarily together!) before starting a diet or you may succumb in a weak moment.  It is the same with goals.  To be more successful in achieving your goals, you should list your perceived blockages so you can prepare a counter strategy to defeat the goal breaking offenders before they have an opportunity to derail you.  For my dieting example, I remove all my favorite cheat snacks and replace them with healthier selections.  For practical goal setting, list obstacles and solutions to the potential blockages so you can proactively solve roadblocks and keep your eye on the ultimate goal.

This framework, when coupled with visualization, scheduling, and activity prioritization, will help you get better results in your goals or in your productivity.

Do you have any questions on how to make, break down, and strategize your short term goals for long term success?  Any examples you would care to share?

If you like my writing here, please like and share my CorporateCulture.com blog.  I welcome your comments and advice for future topics.

 

 

 

It’s that time of year again…already. Thanksgiving Thursday morphed into Black Friday bringing us to Cyber Monday!  What’s next?  You guessed it…the company holiday party.  Holiday parties by the very essence of their timing – i.e. before the New Year – are well placed for end of year statements which you can use to your advantage.

A dear friend of mine worked for the happiest place on earth (figure it out) in Anaheim, California.  He had been repeatedly passed over for promotions and he thought that perhaps it was because he was single and not considered a stable, committed professional.  One year, he invited me to his company party with intentions of being seen dressed professionally and with a date.  By chance, we happened to be waiting in line with the Vice President and his wife and after briefly greeting and laughing with them, we merrily moved on our way.  The next day, my friend was called into his manager’s office and offered a promotion including a new title and salary package.  To this day, he feels it was this chance meeting at the company party that magically (pun intended) transformed his career trajectory.

You too can help your career at the holiday party. However, holiday party gaffs can do an equal and opposite effect.  Be mindful of the image you project. My top three holiday party etiquette tips to help you survive and succeed in the company party are:

1. Dress the part. That “dress for the position you want” advice applies here. Dress per the event dress code and/or (if no dress code) dress for the level you want to be.  Management will be at the holiday party so let them see you as you would like to be seen! If you are looking for promotion opportunities, dress for the position you are seeking. Avoid making a slinky outfit or cool fashion statement, particularly if you work in a conservative field. Ladies: if it is décolleté to your navel or slit past your hip bones, don’t wear it.  Men: Unless you are a rap star or his manager, consider where your belt line rests.
2. Avoid the office gossip.  Yes, this is a company party, but spare the office talk.  Holiday parties are a company gift (although they often feel like an obligation). Use this opportunity to socialize and relax with your colleagues. Be an ice breaker.  Ask about your associates’ families, their travel plans, favorite sports/teams…anything but the status of their project or the latest office politics!  Do NOT be the office fling! It is unprofessional, disrespectful, embarrassing and career-limiting!
3. Don’t be Bridget Jones.  Limit your alcohol (and or $#%!^*!).  It is still a professional function.  Many (many many many!) years ago, at a company holiday party, I learned (the hard way) that scotch, sake, and Asahi don’t make for a great next day. Thankfully, there was no Karaoke machine at the function!  Take my advice, don’t be Bridget.

Do you have any tips or funny/cringe-worthy holiday party stories to share?  I would love to hear them!

If you like my writing here, please check out my blog CorporateCulturology.com.  I welcome your comments and advice for future topics.

Without doubt, listening is the number one skill to improve both your emotional intelligence and communication skills.  For me, listening and not interrupting has been a huge challenge that I have attacked over the past few years.  I am happy to say that I have made great strides, but I also know how much more improvement I need.

I want to dispel the notion that people who interrupt are rude and don’t care what you have to say.  On the contrary, I usually interrupt during a conversation because I am so excited to communicate a point that I fear I will forget what I want to say.  Yes, fear. And, forget.

I used to think that this was just my failing, a lingering symptom of an illness I suffered. However, I learned from Mark Robert Waldman, a leading expert on communication and author (with Andrew Newberg) of Words Can Change Your Brain: 12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflict, and Increase Intimacy, that recent studies show that most everyone has a window of attention of 4 to 7 concepts or about 10 words in a conversation.  Wow.  So it is not just me.  It is everyone! Our brains have a capability of remembering about 10 of the last few words in a conversation.

Moreover, the speed of conversation affects comprehension.  Faster speech reduces communication. The take away here is SPEAK SLOWLY and allow breaks for your counterpart to respond timely.

Luckily, there are many techniques to improve your listening and, hence, communication. One mantra I use to control my interruptions is, “listen to learn not respond.”  Mark Robert Waldman recommends using his 10/10 method for communicating important points with brevity.  In the 10/10 method, each person gets 10 words – one per finger (!) – to communicate their point. By raising a finger counting each word spoken, your brain is forced to slow down and select the most succinct word to communicate your point in the allotted 10 words.  This not only slows down the pace of communication, increasing comprehension, but also reduces unnecessary verbosity to brief points.

Remember, emailing and texting are inferior communication mediums as there are misinterpretations due to the absence of facial emotion cues, tone, disposition, and body gestures. Next time you are in a conversation, practice listening.  Or, talk to your partner about trying Waldman’s 10/10 exercise.

An important part of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is self management, using your awareness of your emotions in controlling your actions. Sounds easier than it is!  Although there are many aspects of self management targeting techniques to identify and and manage your emotions, for increasing emotional intelligence, the three motivating strategies for success that I like are:

1. Make your goals public.
2. Visualize success.
3. Focus on the positive.

Making your goals public is a powerful motivator. For the fear of failure alone, putting yourself out there and taking ownership gives you a strong sense of accountability and helps defeats procrastination. Being in the public eye pushes you out of your comfort zone and, hopefully,  into a growth and performing phase. Cherish this transparency and learn to love the discomfort. Once you recognize the uncomfortable emotions, fear, shame, sadness or anger, you are able to better address them and control them while pursuing your goal.

There are many philosophies and studies, both secular and nonsecular, on the manifesting powers of thought of which I won’t cover here- but do yourself a favor and look into it.  Now, however, ask yourself this question, “If you can’t see it, how can you accomplish it?”  Visualizing yourself succeeding trains your brain to focus on new beliefs which creates new habits which translates to new skills.  Skills that will help you succeed. Take a lesson from great athletes who envision successful training events and picture your success.

Focusing on the positive and remembering your successes keeps you both happy and better in tune with your goals. Why remember your limitations or failures? This isn’t just to be the happy Ned Flanders.  Staying positive, while improving the outward emotional balance around you, also improves your outlook. Positive thoughts reduce stress and the resultant cortisols and chemicals that interupt thought processes. So do your brain a favor and couch everything in the positive!

As many of my closest friends know, five years ago I started on a spiritual journey to change my life into a life of intention of my creation.  Along the way, certain beliefs (many bad, many just wrong), people, and interests fell away while new ideas, knowledge, and people entered my life opening me to reach new levels.

This Corporate Culturology blog is just a small part of sharing old experiences (with the hope of helping others) and new beliefs.

If I can help you, please reach out. If this can help others, please share.  Stay tuned!

Often trial by error, the design of products and processes is a complex procedure resulting in ‘disruptive’ product commercial success or mediocre abyss. However, companies like IDEO, started and run by design savants David M. Kelley, Bill Moggridge and Tim Brown, and Apple, founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and lead now by Tim Cook, have used Stanford University professor and design and innovation company IDEO guru David M. Kelley’s, ‘design thinking’ process of iterative divergent brainstorming and convergent problem solving to create and improve products with society altering success. The design thinking process has taken the competitive field to a new level. Marketing anthropologists, designers, and scientists using design thinking all share three simple rules.

First, the “basics” better work. In competing for customers, you cannot risk losing market share if your basic functions or processes don’t work well.  Consider this an #EpicFail. Consumers simply will not tolerate defective designs. With everyone doing ‘design thinking’ in product development, being the first product to hit market is no longer a sure recipe for success.

Second, Steve Jobs, notable among others, changed the world and made Apple a multi-billion company ($710 Billion with a B! at the original time of this blog post) by proving ergonometrics and coolness were required attributes for a product or process. User-experience or user-centeredness is core to product design. Long after Jobs’ foresight that a personal computer (and custom mouse) would sit on everyone’s desk, the ergonometric iPod product, using the renamed SoundJam MP media management system Apple acquired in 2000, changed both consumers use of electronics as well as the music industry.  Now Apple TV is taking on TV entertainment in what will affect the future of cable, dish and network television.  Be sure, products will forevermore be judged in this manner.

Third, your product or process should address human wants, needs and concerns with elegant design. Remember, it’s all about the cup holder. When developing or improving a design or a process, particularly a complex product or process, don’t forget about the little things. Little things matter. Little things can make or break you. For instance, a couple years ago I bought a new car. I won’t disclose the manufacturer (well, I’m so angry now, that there is a spoiler alert below), but I will say this import car met all my needs in a vehicle. It had great gas mileage; it had room for lots of teenagers; and it had ample room for my two 100 plus pound Beagle Labradors (don’t ask). The only thing the vehicle did not have was a decent cup holder design. The cup holder cup diameter to height aspect ratio was wrong. The cup diameter was grossly oversized, larger than any Big Gulp sold – think Double Gulp! However the height allotted to this large diameter wouldn’t allow a Big Gulp cup to fit due to the short clearance to the dashboard. As a result, any small cup of coffee or soda fountain drink would slide back and forth, spilling over as I drove. This one little detail has made me hate this vehicle. I will not purchase another vehicle from this company.

So after you’ve completed your design, make sure it’s cool and make sure it works, then step away and look at the cup holder.

I HAVE to update this blog post for 2023 regarding the design of this vehicle to include DOOR HANDLES that last beyond 5 years!  This Toyota vehicle had not one, not two, not three, but ALL FOUR door handles break.  The first broke before it the car was 5 years old.  Yes, before the average car loan duration. The rest in rapid succession. This is ludicrously bad (CHEAP!) material use.  Plus, you cannot purchase replacement handles in anything other than plastic or Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. And don’t get me started on the Toyota paint job that is peeling off of the car in sheets! This is tantamount to engineered for failure.  Isn’t Apple facing a similar lawsuit?

Any comments you would care to share?

If you like my writing here, I welcome your comments and advice for future topics. Bloggers LOVE comments! Please LIKE and SHARE!

Namaste,

Lesley

Social media networking sites like LinkedIn are great resources to expand your network and open yourself to new people, ideas and opportunities.  Still, nothing trumps the person-to-person meeting.  Conventions are great for expanding your network, but some pre-planning work can make your convention more successful.

Before the convention.

Before I attend a convention, I review the show schedule and select the presentations in which I am most interested or in which I want to connect with presenters or like individuals.  Once I schedule my presentations and happy hours (important events!), I review all of the presenters.  I look up each presenter on LinkedIn and elsewhere (Google them!) and review their company affiliation, alma mater, and other activities.  Kind of like mini-stalking.  I make calendared notes to remind me at the correct time what presentation I want to attend and which presenters I would like to meet.  Sometimes I do this months in advance.

Working the convention.

Conventions are to see and be seen.  I love wearing an eye catching color or stand out dress.  Be visible.  Be welcoming.  And by all means, be ACTIVE!  My three convention rules are:

1. Wear your nametag!

Sounds childish, eh?  But wearing your name tag can improve your networking success. Often, people don’t hear or forget (gasp, I know!) your name after introductions.  By wearing your name tag, with your full name and company, you are giving a potential connection another chance to remember your name.  Often, I make brief notes about whom I have met and conversed with at meetings.  Later, I look them up on LinkedIn and send them a personalized invitation.

2.  Work the hallways!

Sure conventions are full of eye opening seminars and presentations, but remember to work the hallways.  I have met more good connections in the hallways during bathroom breaks or otherwise than I have during some of the presentations.

3.  Be open!

Convention schedules include ample open time for networking.  Don’t run away to your room during these breaks.  Use this valuable time!  Learn to work the room.  Trust me, everyone is nervous walking up and making small talk.  Just do it! Ask open ended questions such as, “what do you want to gain from this event?”  If you are in a small group, make sure the group orientation leaves an opening for newcomers to join your group.  Do not overstay your time.   Politely say ‘thank you’ and explain you are going to move along to allow them to meet others.  Then move along.

Following some of these easy tips will bring you more success at those company conventions! Now go connect!

As I stated in Paying It Forward, networking should be a continual activity.  Some people are blessed with large networks while others struggle. But I’m here to tell you that you can turn it around.  I went to a very small college preparatory high school (Go Spartans!) with only 28 graduating seniors.  Then, I moved on to a small, private college (Emory University plug) with a graduating class under a thousand. (Proud to say I have moved up to the University of Florida Gator Nation! Go Gators!)

Moreover, by relocating coast to coast multiple times, it seems like I lost my network over and over. Relocations, divorces, layoffs or job separations; there are many reasons to lose connections and I think I am guilty of all of the above, but it wasn’t until the last five years, yes with the advent of social media, that this failure really hit home. How did I lose track of so many people in my life?  And why? Thankfully, social media has also come to the rescue.  Over the past 5 years, I have used LinkedIn, and other social media platforms, to reconnect and build my network.

If you are networking from scratch, first realize that a grand network won’t happen overnight.  You should accept that building a network is a multiyear project. At first, you may think you are helping others more than you think it is helping you, but when it does help…..ah, the sweet spot. Statistics tossed around state 70% of new job opportunities are found through network connections. You can network in person or on social media platforms (shocking, I know).

Still resisting social media? Sure I have heard some argue (my brother!) that if they are on LinkedIn (or another platform) and networking, their employers will think they are looking for a better opportunity. Well, you should be doing that too! But you should always be networking and paying it forward – IRL (in real life) or on SM (don’t make me spell that out too!).  By now, most firms have their own LinkedIn page and expect employees to have a LinkedIn presence.  As a manager, I encouraged my employees to complete their profile and properly represent the firm.  I suspect your firm would approve as well. After all, it is free advertising!

To add to the plethora of LinkedIn and networking tips and articles out there, I highlight my top seven social media networking strategies below.

1. Know your settings!
2. Be a proactive connector not collector!
3. Mine your connections’ network.
4. Focus on local connections.
5. Seek industry & alumni connections.
6. Group participation.
7. Post, like and share. Participate.

1. Know your settings!

I cannot emphasize enough: Know your settings! This is one of the most important rules of social media. If you are busy, or get frustrated drowning in multiple email notifications, turn them off! Know your notification and privacy settings and social media will become manageable and, I dare say, enjoyable.

2. Be a proactive connector not a collector!

Be a proactive connector rather than a collector.  Everyone has seen the LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) moniker. I have found that most of the LIONs are merely collecting contacts. Bling. Bling. Networks work better if you actually communicate with your contacts.  Get to know your contacts. When sending an invitation or accepting one, send a personalized email thanking your contact and offering help from you or your network. Strike up conversations. Ask open ended questions.  And do NOT spam your new contact! Total faux pas!

3. Mine your connections’ network.

Mine your connections’ networks. This is the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon of LinkedIn. The Faberge of LinkedIn. When you make a connection, you see their connections, and so on and so on and so on. Review your connections’ network for new potential contacts. Ask your contact to introduce you, or reach out on your own. I enjoy connecting my networks and have done it many times. Pay it forward!

4. Focus on local connections.

Social media is great for its reach, but sometimes a little local color is preferable.  I seek out local contacts and try to build a closer connection. Try to meet local contacts over coffee or lunch. In-person meetings still trump online communications.

5. Seek industry & alumni connections.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but I assure you there are plenty of people who fail to reconnect with alumni or other people working in the same industry.  These connections already have something in common with you. This is proverbial low hanging fruit!

6. Group participation.

LinkedIn Groups are a great way to meet new connections, learn or teach.  As an early adopter of LinkedIn, I used groups extensively to build my network.

7. Post, like and share. Participate.

Be in the game.  Enough said!

Next time I will discuss my IRL networking strategies.  Until then, pay it forward!

I’ve known a lot of people with high IQs, but horrible emotional intelligence IQs (EQ) at work, and worse in their personal life.  (Legitimacy claim here – I have a cousin who was a big wig in the International Mensa organization, but no, I’m not in Mensa.)

In light of the Steve Jobs biopic and the Time Magazine article on Mindfulness, a related topic, there’s been a lot of talk about this emotional intelligence IQ at work, particularly Jobs apparent lack of emotional intelligence – or low EQ.  I think we try to view Steve Jobs as a manager where we should realize he was a visionary leader. Thus, ‘being kind’ or ‘being mean’ is moot.  Being exacting and demanding is how we should describe his leadership.  Important note here, we are describing Jobs’ leadership – not necessarily his management.

Management, on the other hand, demands a certain degree of emotional intelligence.  In your organization, you want your managers to have some degree of emotional intelligence for employee development, retention and advancement (yes, of said manager and their subordinates).  Managers with higher emotional intelligence can reduce stress and create more communicative environments resulting in obvious benefits to employees and the company bottom line.

Luckily, emotional intelligence can be taught.  Anyone who Googles EQ in Amazon or elsewhere will come back with a compendium of new books on the topic.   I will not promote any one book here, but I will summarize that methods to increase your soft emotional quotient usually start with self-reflection.  Self-reflection can be an ugly, scary thing.  But, once you identify some of your skills and/or weaknesses, you can manage yourself, still not an easy task, but the first step in improving your emotional intelligence skills!

Once you start managing yourself, you should (ok – ‘may’, ‘might’, ’hopefully’, fill in a word) become more socially, situationally aware at work.  This is how your office now becomes a target rich environment.  It is in this new array of social awareness, where relationship management improvements can occur.

Why don’t you start with a free Emotional Intelligence test online?

Is networking an activity you only do when you are in dire straits?  Or, is networking a potentially embarrassing, dirty word announcing you are starting a new job search?  Whichever view you have, you’re wrong.  There, someone said it.  Again.

Networking is one of the most crucial ways to expand your sphere of influence to attract new people (with), new ideas, and new opportunities into your life.  And, it is just a way to grow.  Sure, networking takes work and is a skill in and of itself. (which you can improve – I will post networking skills in a later post) However, platitudes from so many great influencers including Neal Donald Walsh, whom I will give credit for many reasons I will get back to in later posts eventually, scream, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

Life. Growth.  Sounds like work.  And it is.  Networking is not a ‘one-way street’, ‘you only scratch my back’, ‘all for one and only one’, activity.  Successful networking demands altruism.  Altruism – yup. Big word that means you are a member of the human tribe and must act like a member. Networking, in light of the fact you are human, means that you have a duty to help those with whom you network as well.

In fact, I argue here that you should ALWAYS be networking and ALWAYS be looking for a way to help your tribe.  Networking is not about you. Networking is about paying it forward.  Sure, you will gain as well, but you will gain so much more if you change your thinking.  Now go out there and connect!