Get To Work On Time...Or Else
Best Excuses For Being Late
By F. John Reh, About.com Guide
Mar 1 2011
In economic times like these, when there are at least 10-15 applicants for every job opening, employees who still have jobs are making more of an effort to get to work on time according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com. But that doesn't mean that those who are late don't have interesting reason or excuses for their tardiness.
The survey, conducted in November and December 2010, found that 15 percent of workers admitted to being late for work at least once once a week, down from 16 percent the previous year and 20 percent in 2008. It may be worth noting that the economic downturn did not begin until late in 2008. According to the survey, one-third (32 percent) of employers said they have terminated an employee for being late. Some are more lenient.
Reasons For Being Late
The survey found the most often used excuses were
* traffic-related (30 percent),
* lack of sleep (19 percent),
* bad weather (9 percent), and
* childcare issues (8 percent).
Our Survey
An About.com survey of managers revealed a variety of creative and interesting excuses used by employees who are late for work. These include:
* My wife's brother got arrested on our front lawn, and we were fighting whose fault it was.
* I had to go to the doctor because I have triple pneumonia. (And, were those his exact words.)
* A young lady, who lived a short distance away, did not arrive on time (because) having a pencil skirt on, she could not walk quickly.
* The cat was sick and I had to clean up after her.
* her boyfriend was involved in a fender bender and ended up getting in a shouting match with the other driver who then stabbed him in the neck and drove off.
* He had to take time off to shop for a new phone because he'd dropped his in the toilet that AM and he couldn't live a minute without a cellphone. He's no longer with us.
* She and her spouse argued whose turn it was to stay home when their son woke up sick that morning.
* He had to go and search for his wedding ring, which he thought he had dropped on a gravel road the night before while hunting.
* Her electric garage door opener wouldn't work because of a blown fuse and she had to wait for her husband to come manually raise the door.
* Her son woke up with a loose tooth missing and she had to stay home till he pooped so she could find it.
* The storm knocked out my power and the alarm did not go off.
* I will be late cuz last night there was a storm and I could not get my underwear to dry.
* The Army have exercises in the morning and they blocked the only exit from the complex.
* I would have been here on time if all those other cars weren't on the streets.
The employee whose excuse was "I was too tired to come in on time, so I decided to sleep in and rest up to be more productive" no longer works there.
What's Your Excuse
What is the best, most amusing excuse you have heard? Or have used yoursef? Share the best one you've heard.
MY THOUGHTS
i doubt managers find these excuses amusing. especially if the person concerned is an habitual latecomer. if he's habitually late, i'm surprised he's still allowed to make these excuses (if e still had the job!)
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
ALLOCATE YOUR TIME
Tick Tock: Tips for Allocating Your Time
By Sean Silverthorne | May 13, 2008
Do you spend your work time as effectively as you could? Let me answer for you. No.
Everyone from CEOs to front-line managers squander their most valuable resource — time — like an untuned automobile wastes fuel. Our opportunities to create real value for the organization are chipped away by everything from trivial e-mail exchanges to putting out petty corporate fires.
How do we tune our time management to make us run more productively? A couple of recent posts on Harvard Business offer some interesting approaches to thinking and dealing with the problem. The first approach is to consider what you are working on, the second discusses ways to making how you work more effective.
The Curse of Multitasking
Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath posts on the importance of focusing most of your time on tasks, jobs, and roles where you create value. The more you multitask, she says, the less effective you become. She suggests you separate the attractive opportunities from those less attractive by developing a set of evaluation screens that help you set priorities. Read her post for more details.
In Are You Spending Time the Right Way, executive coach Melissa Raffoni outlines a three-step process for using your time more strategically. In summary she asks you to:
Break your responsibilities into strategic and tactical categories such as growth and improvement, managing people, and administration.
Determine how much of your time should be devoted to each category. “To answer,” she writes, “factor in the competing claims on your time: the activities that enable you to generate the most leverage, the company’s strategic priorities, and the short-term needs of your supervisors, direct reports, and customers.”
Make sure your conclusions align with the mission of our superiors and the company overall. Do you and your boss see eye-to-eye on where your commitments should be?
With this information in hand, Raffoni suggests you conduct an audit of how you actually spent your own time last week by looking at your calendar. Are your time commitments strategic? If not, learn how to box time and delegate to get the most out of your schedule, she says.
MY THOUGHTS
i hate to admit it but i've wasted lots of time and resources while multi-tasking. some of you can probably relate with burnt food because you were also doing laundry. retyping correspondence because you were on the phone while composing it. wasting a lot of meeting time not because the meeting was useless but due to the fact that you were busy doing other work or worse, texting.
thing is, we get so hooked-up with the idea that multi-tasking is a skill you should be proud of. you get so good at it has become a habit. and now you're finding it hard top focus. well, all habits can be unlearned. you just need to desire it. then takes things from there.
By Sean Silverthorne | May 13, 2008
Do you spend your work time as effectively as you could? Let me answer for you. No.
Everyone from CEOs to front-line managers squander their most valuable resource — time — like an untuned automobile wastes fuel. Our opportunities to create real value for the organization are chipped away by everything from trivial e-mail exchanges to putting out petty corporate fires.
How do we tune our time management to make us run more productively? A couple of recent posts on Harvard Business offer some interesting approaches to thinking and dealing with the problem. The first approach is to consider what you are working on, the second discusses ways to making how you work more effective.
The Curse of Multitasking
Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath posts on the importance of focusing most of your time on tasks, jobs, and roles where you create value. The more you multitask, she says, the less effective you become. She suggests you separate the attractive opportunities from those less attractive by developing a set of evaluation screens that help you set priorities. Read her post for more details.
In Are You Spending Time the Right Way, executive coach Melissa Raffoni outlines a three-step process for using your time more strategically. In summary she asks you to:
Break your responsibilities into strategic and tactical categories such as growth and improvement, managing people, and administration.
Determine how much of your time should be devoted to each category. “To answer,” she writes, “factor in the competing claims on your time: the activities that enable you to generate the most leverage, the company’s strategic priorities, and the short-term needs of your supervisors, direct reports, and customers.”
Make sure your conclusions align with the mission of our superiors and the company overall. Do you and your boss see eye-to-eye on where your commitments should be?
With this information in hand, Raffoni suggests you conduct an audit of how you actually spent your own time last week by looking at your calendar. Are your time commitments strategic? If not, learn how to box time and delegate to get the most out of your schedule, she says.
MY THOUGHTS
i hate to admit it but i've wasted lots of time and resources while multi-tasking. some of you can probably relate with burnt food because you were also doing laundry. retyping correspondence because you were on the phone while composing it. wasting a lot of meeting time not because the meeting was useless but due to the fact that you were busy doing other work or worse, texting.
thing is, we get so hooked-up with the idea that multi-tasking is a skill you should be proud of. you get so good at it has become a habit. and now you're finding it hard top focus. well, all habits can be unlearned. you just need to desire it. then takes things from there.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Ways to End Up With a Career You Hate
Five Sure-fire Ways to End Up With a Career You Hate
Oct. 7 2010 - 5:28 pm | 2,860 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
Posted by Chrissy Scivicque
I spend a lot of time sharing information on how to love your career. I talk about making thoughtful decisions, establishing a path and actively managing your goals.
But, equally important, is avoiding those roads that will lead to inevitable career unhappiness. Sometimes, they’re hard to spot. But I’ve found five that are clear, unmistakable danger zones. Take a look below and make every effort to avoid these traps.
1. “…but I’m good at this”
So, it’s not something you want to do, it’s something you can do. I get it. Sounds good at first. Take advantage of your skills and all that. But sooner or later, it wears thin. I see this quite often with mid-career professionals. They’ve been chugging right along, doing what they do, and suddenly they realize they’ve been sucked into a void of discontent. Don’t dedicate your energy to something just because you have the ability. You deserve to be at least somewhat selective. And if you desperately want to do something that you’re not naturally good at, you always have the power to grow your skills.
2. “…but I need the money.”
It sounds like such an obviously bad idea and yet, so many people fall for this one. Money isn’t enough to keep you happy for long. Yes, we all have financial needs that must be met. But, if that’s the sole reason you’re in your career, prepare for misery my friend. There are—literally—MILLIONS of ways to make money. Find something that offers another kind of satisfaction as well. Compensation comes in many forms and your paycheck is just one.
3. “Things will get better.”
Staying the course and hoping that things improve is a sure-fire way to waste time. If you’re in a career that’s making you miserable, it’s probably safe to say that things can’t change enough to make it worthwhile staying. Maybe they can. Maybe your awful boss will retire and you’ll be promoted and the company will be purchased by Google. But I like to encourage a proactive mindset. Do what you can to improve the situation and, if things don’t change significantly and quickly, start the process of moving on. Don’t stick with it just because you feel invested. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that things will just magically get better with time.
4. “I’m afraid.”
If fear is holding you back, you’re not alone. This is the number one reason people stay in careers they don’t enjoy. The unknown path is always scary. But be honest with yourself. If you never confront your fear, you’ll never know what could have been. You don’t want to look back on your life at the age of 70 and have regrets or questions. A few calculated risks lead to a life well-lived. Maybe not always an easy or expected life, but one you can be proud of.
5. “Nothing else would be any better.”
This is the kind of thinking that takes over when you’re unhappy. You just give up. And it’s my job to remind everyone—yes, everyone—that there are ways to find happiness at work. No one is cursed with the miserable career plague. It’s a temporary state, IF you are willing to do the work. Don’t ever believe you’re stuck.
The kind of thinking described above is normal and tempting. We all fall into these thought patterns on occasion. The good news is that you can snap yourself right out of it. You CAN find career nourishment.
MY THOUGHTS
a job that makes you miserable? of course it sucks. and the power to make it better is in your hands. moving on may not necessarily mean moving to a new job. what's the guarantee that it's going to be better? moving on does not also mean moving now. unless your job will bring you to your grave this very minute. i'm talking of real threats to you and your family. otherwise, move with caution. take heed of the points presented in this article. but check and double check if you are the reason you have a miserable job.
Oct. 7 2010 - 5:28 pm | 2,860 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
Posted by Chrissy Scivicque
I spend a lot of time sharing information on how to love your career. I talk about making thoughtful decisions, establishing a path and actively managing your goals.
But, equally important, is avoiding those roads that will lead to inevitable career unhappiness. Sometimes, they’re hard to spot. But I’ve found five that are clear, unmistakable danger zones. Take a look below and make every effort to avoid these traps.
1. “…but I’m good at this”
So, it’s not something you want to do, it’s something you can do. I get it. Sounds good at first. Take advantage of your skills and all that. But sooner or later, it wears thin. I see this quite often with mid-career professionals. They’ve been chugging right along, doing what they do, and suddenly they realize they’ve been sucked into a void of discontent. Don’t dedicate your energy to something just because you have the ability. You deserve to be at least somewhat selective. And if you desperately want to do something that you’re not naturally good at, you always have the power to grow your skills.
2. “…but I need the money.”
It sounds like such an obviously bad idea and yet, so many people fall for this one. Money isn’t enough to keep you happy for long. Yes, we all have financial needs that must be met. But, if that’s the sole reason you’re in your career, prepare for misery my friend. There are—literally—MILLIONS of ways to make money. Find something that offers another kind of satisfaction as well. Compensation comes in many forms and your paycheck is just one.
3. “Things will get better.”
Staying the course and hoping that things improve is a sure-fire way to waste time. If you’re in a career that’s making you miserable, it’s probably safe to say that things can’t change enough to make it worthwhile staying. Maybe they can. Maybe your awful boss will retire and you’ll be promoted and the company will be purchased by Google. But I like to encourage a proactive mindset. Do what you can to improve the situation and, if things don’t change significantly and quickly, start the process of moving on. Don’t stick with it just because you feel invested. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that things will just magically get better with time.
4. “I’m afraid.”
If fear is holding you back, you’re not alone. This is the number one reason people stay in careers they don’t enjoy. The unknown path is always scary. But be honest with yourself. If you never confront your fear, you’ll never know what could have been. You don’t want to look back on your life at the age of 70 and have regrets or questions. A few calculated risks lead to a life well-lived. Maybe not always an easy or expected life, but one you can be proud of.
5. “Nothing else would be any better.”
This is the kind of thinking that takes over when you’re unhappy. You just give up. And it’s my job to remind everyone—yes, everyone—that there are ways to find happiness at work. No one is cursed with the miserable career plague. It’s a temporary state, IF you are willing to do the work. Don’t ever believe you’re stuck.
The kind of thinking described above is normal and tempting. We all fall into these thought patterns on occasion. The good news is that you can snap yourself right out of it. You CAN find career nourishment.
MY THOUGHTS
a job that makes you miserable? of course it sucks. and the power to make it better is in your hands. moving on may not necessarily mean moving to a new job. what's the guarantee that it's going to be better? moving on does not also mean moving now. unless your job will bring you to your grave this very minute. i'm talking of real threats to you and your family. otherwise, move with caution. take heed of the points presented in this article. but check and double check if you are the reason you have a miserable job.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
How to Manage Your Manager
How To Manage Your Manager
By Geoffrey James | December 6, 2010
If you’re like most people, you probably assume that the success of your career rests upon your basic competence at doing your job. And like most people, you’re dead wrong. While job competence is important, the simple truth is that raises, promotions, career advancement and other perks depend directly on how well you can manage your boss.
If your boss doesn’t warm up to you—or worse, doesn’t remember that you exist—you’ll never land the plum assignments you need to get ahead. Therefore, in addition to performing well, you must make sure your boss (gasp!) actually likes you and knows all the things you’re doing right.
Here’s a simple five step process to make sure that your boss sees you as both a top performer and pleasure to work with… without becoming a brown-noser.
STEP #1: Keep Your Boss in the Loop
If you’re going to get ahead, you’ve got to constantly reassure your boss that you know what you’re doing. More importantly, you’ve got establish the groundwork on which to build a strong working relationship. Here’s how.
The secret fear of every boss is that employees are screwing up and either not telling anyone or (even worse) aren’t aware there’s a problem. To reassure themselves, bosses may sometimes pick an aspect of an employee’s job and begin randomly asking penetrating questions about the details. If you answer these queries with grace and aplomb, the boss assumes you’re competent. Hesitate or evade, and the boss may assume all your work is slipshod.
Since you don’t know in advance which questions your boss might ask, be prepared for every contingency. “One of the dumbest moves you can make is to walk into the boss’s office unprepared,” says Jack Cooper, the former CIO of Bristol-Myers Squibb. “For every hour that you’ll spend meeting with your boss, you should spend 10 hours making sure you can answer any questions that the boss might ask.”
Ten hours of prep? For a one-hour meeting? Okay, that’s probably overkill for a typical employee who interacts with his boss on a daily basis. But for senior managers at big companies where meeting with the CEO is an event on par with a presidential visit, Cooper’s 10-to-1 formula makes sense.
Since you’re probably not going to spend THAT much time, here’s a shortcut — a quick list of exactly what your boss expects of you:
* Credibility. Follow through on assignments and do what you say you’re going to. If you want your boss to trust you, your word has to carry weight.
* Professionalism. Bosses appreciate individuals who are serious about what they do and willing to take the time to achieve a deep understanding of their craft.
* Integrity. The test of integrity is whether you’ll take a stand, even when it’s unpopular with your boss. The boss has the final decision, but it’s your job to make sure it’s the right one.
* Caring. Bosses value relationships with direct reports who care about them. Show that you’re truly concerned about what the boss has to say by responding with solutions rather than complaints.
* Knowledge. Bosses need people who have unique expertise. You don’t have to be a pro at everything, but you do need a specific area of knowledge that your boss values.
Make sure that your work life embodies those five things and you will absolutely be well on the way to becoming a star performer in your boss’s eyes.
STEP #2: Create a Core Message
Sad to say, bosses are often forgetful. They’ve usually got plenty on their mind, and may not always be noticing what a great job your doing. The purpose of this step is to make sure that your boss knows exactly how valuable you are.
It’s irritating, of course. When you’re working your butt off, you naturally expect your boss to know exactly what you’re doing. But even though she may have assigned your work to you, in the crush of daily pressures and changing priorities, your contribution can get lost in the shuffle.
In fact, your boss might easily get so overwhelmed that she thinks that she told you to do something different, but actually forgot. Worse case, you could end up pursuing goals that no are longer important priorities — and then find out that your hard work isn’t valued. It’s unfair, sure. But it happens all the time.
According to Spencer Clark, a former general manager at General Electric, the cure for this creeping invisibility is to become a one-person marketing group, constantly positioning your contribution. “Your most important task is to market your services to your immediate boss,” Clark says.
To do this, create a “core message” — a brief summary of exactly what you’re doing and why it’s vital to the boss’s success.
A core message might be, “My team is designing the follow-on products to our most successful product line,” or “I’m recruiting the hard-to-find technical personnel required for the new R&D facility.” Then, Clark suggests, find a way to work that message into every conversation that you have with your boss-even hallway chats.
The trick is to do this without getting all smarmy about it. Think about ways you can casually talk things up without overselling — and without driving your core message into the ground.
Each interaction should add new information, and when you can, fold the message into the day’s news. Examples:
* “I just got off the phone with a candidate for the R&D job. We’re getting resumes from some really impressive people. It looks like my recruiting program is really working.”
* “We just ran my module through the entire suite of stress tests. It looks like the power control system you told me to build is going to do the job nicely.”
* “The agreement with Acme Corp that you asked me to negotiate might come in a little late, but I think we’re going to get the terms that you asked for.”
STEP #3: Cultivate The Boss’s Influencers
It’s not enough to simply inform your boss of what you’re doing. If you want to advance your career and your personal agenda, you need to make sure that the other “powers-that-be” spread the word about your importance to the company.
Here’s some political wisdom for you. You may think you have a one-on-one relationship with your boss, but you’re actually part of a crowd of people — from your peers to your boss’s peers to your boss’s bosses — who influence the boss’s decision-making.
Like it or not, their comments and gossip will inevitably affect your boss’s opinion of you and your work, so you want to be certain that, if they’re not actively singing your praises, at least they’re reading from the same hymnal.
So here’s what you do. Create a list of everyone who carries weight with your boss. Include their job title and whatever you know about their background and role inside your firm. Now craft a variation of your core message that positions what you’re doing as helpful to each person.
Then use that to frame any conversations you have with them. “You want a consistent message coming from the entire organization, not crossed wires that might confuse the boss about your importance to the organization,” says Ken Evans, former North American VP of sales and marketing at Waste Management.
For example, suppose you’re working in a marketing group, developing new sales channels. Here’s how you keep your manager’s peers updated:
* For Your Boss (VP of Marketing): “I’m developing a channel sales program that will increase revenue and profit.” (This is your core message.)
* For the VP of Engineering: “This new channels sales program I’m developing will get the products you’re designing out to an entirely new class of customer.”
* For the VP of Manufacturing: “With the channel sales program I’m developing, we’ll be able to better predict demand, which will cut down on job overruns.”
* For the VP of Human Resources: “The sales channel program I’m developing will let us expand the business without exceeding headcount limitations.”
* For the CFO: “With the channel sales program that I’m developing, we’ll be able to sell products at a 20 percent higher gross margin than with direct sales.”
* For the CEO: “My boss [name] has got me working on a channel program that’s could improve net profitability by several percent. You ought to ask him about it.”
Take especial notice of that last message. Ultimately, every employee has, as their highest priority, trying to make their own boss look good.
STEP #4: Learn About Your Boss’s Career
Now that you’ve convinced the boss that you’re competent, it’s time to make yourself invaluable.
To do this, you’ll need deliver what the boss wants-even before he knows he wants it. Over time, of course, you can observe and learn, but fast-track the process by researching the boss’s career and asking questions that will help you understand his way of thinking.
This activity has a side-benefit your boss will be flattered that you’re interested — as long as your interest is honest and not purely self-serving. But, then, people are interesting, right? Even your boss.
So here’s what you do. Use the Internet, the grapevine, and the boss’s admin to learn about the boss’s work history. Then, when appropriate, find opportunities (such as during lunch or offsite meetings) to express a healthy curiosity about your boss’s experience.
Apart from the fact that most everyone enjoys talking about themselves, bosses find this kind of inquiry valuable because it provides an opportunity to explain the logic of their decision-making processes. To help you out, here are some sample questions:
* “I was on the web learning more about our industry and I noticed that you presented at the [name] conference. What kind of response did you get?”
* “Your admin mentioned you used to work for [name of firm]. What was the most valuable thing you learned from that experience?”
* “I hear you used to work in the [name] industry. What are the main differences between the way that industry runs and the way this one runs?”
STEP #5: Cultivate Compatible Personal Interests
The ideal situation is to have a boss who looks out for your interests during difficult times. This protectiveness is nurtured when the boss thinks of you not just as a competent contributor but as a kindred spirit.
Therefore, if you want a more expansive and resilient relationship with the boss, you’re going to have to cultivate an interest in something that also interests the boss. Ideally, this should be an interest or activity that segues nicely into the work experience.
For example, if your boss likes to talk business while playing golf, learning to play-and enjoy the game-will inevitably bring you closer.
“To really understand your boss, you need to see him or her as a person, not just as a business contact,” explains Dilip Phadke, Hewlett Packard’s director of business development strategic initiatives. “My current manager is a big soccer fan, and although I was never particularly interested in soccer, I keep up on the topic because it gives us something to talk about that’s not directly work-related but can be used to illustrate the value of teamwork, planning, and so forth.”
While this may seem like “selling out”, it’s really just the same sort of thing that you in other relationships, with friends and with family.
Here’s the simple truth. Likeability is a matter of intention and behavior rather than of personality and chance, so to become more likeable, you find similarities and then raise them to the surface, according to Robert Cialdini, author of the bestseller Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion. “If you can find something that you truly like and respect about a person, then that person will naturally like and respect you,” he says. “While this may seem manipulative, it’s not, because if you truly like somebody, you will be committed to help making that person more successful.”
MY THOUGHTS
last night i had the opportunity to spend some time with some of the greatest bosses i've had the chance to work with. i guess i've been lucky when it comes to bosses. i can only think of 1 or 2 who didn't deserve their title. the rest are true leaders, not just managers. but this article is right. no matter what kind of boss you end up with, there is a way of managing them.
By Geoffrey James | December 6, 2010
If you’re like most people, you probably assume that the success of your career rests upon your basic competence at doing your job. And like most people, you’re dead wrong. While job competence is important, the simple truth is that raises, promotions, career advancement and other perks depend directly on how well you can manage your boss.
If your boss doesn’t warm up to you—or worse, doesn’t remember that you exist—you’ll never land the plum assignments you need to get ahead. Therefore, in addition to performing well, you must make sure your boss (gasp!) actually likes you and knows all the things you’re doing right.
Here’s a simple five step process to make sure that your boss sees you as both a top performer and pleasure to work with… without becoming a brown-noser.
STEP #1: Keep Your Boss in the Loop
If you’re going to get ahead, you’ve got to constantly reassure your boss that you know what you’re doing. More importantly, you’ve got establish the groundwork on which to build a strong working relationship. Here’s how.
The secret fear of every boss is that employees are screwing up and either not telling anyone or (even worse) aren’t aware there’s a problem. To reassure themselves, bosses may sometimes pick an aspect of an employee’s job and begin randomly asking penetrating questions about the details. If you answer these queries with grace and aplomb, the boss assumes you’re competent. Hesitate or evade, and the boss may assume all your work is slipshod.
Since you don’t know in advance which questions your boss might ask, be prepared for every contingency. “One of the dumbest moves you can make is to walk into the boss’s office unprepared,” says Jack Cooper, the former CIO of Bristol-Myers Squibb. “For every hour that you’ll spend meeting with your boss, you should spend 10 hours making sure you can answer any questions that the boss might ask.”
Ten hours of prep? For a one-hour meeting? Okay, that’s probably overkill for a typical employee who interacts with his boss on a daily basis. But for senior managers at big companies where meeting with the CEO is an event on par with a presidential visit, Cooper’s 10-to-1 formula makes sense.
Since you’re probably not going to spend THAT much time, here’s a shortcut — a quick list of exactly what your boss expects of you:
* Credibility. Follow through on assignments and do what you say you’re going to. If you want your boss to trust you, your word has to carry weight.
* Professionalism. Bosses appreciate individuals who are serious about what they do and willing to take the time to achieve a deep understanding of their craft.
* Integrity. The test of integrity is whether you’ll take a stand, even when it’s unpopular with your boss. The boss has the final decision, but it’s your job to make sure it’s the right one.
* Caring. Bosses value relationships with direct reports who care about them. Show that you’re truly concerned about what the boss has to say by responding with solutions rather than complaints.
* Knowledge. Bosses need people who have unique expertise. You don’t have to be a pro at everything, but you do need a specific area of knowledge that your boss values.
Make sure that your work life embodies those five things and you will absolutely be well on the way to becoming a star performer in your boss’s eyes.
STEP #2: Create a Core Message
Sad to say, bosses are often forgetful. They’ve usually got plenty on their mind, and may not always be noticing what a great job your doing. The purpose of this step is to make sure that your boss knows exactly how valuable you are.
It’s irritating, of course. When you’re working your butt off, you naturally expect your boss to know exactly what you’re doing. But even though she may have assigned your work to you, in the crush of daily pressures and changing priorities, your contribution can get lost in the shuffle.
In fact, your boss might easily get so overwhelmed that she thinks that she told you to do something different, but actually forgot. Worse case, you could end up pursuing goals that no are longer important priorities — and then find out that your hard work isn’t valued. It’s unfair, sure. But it happens all the time.
According to Spencer Clark, a former general manager at General Electric, the cure for this creeping invisibility is to become a one-person marketing group, constantly positioning your contribution. “Your most important task is to market your services to your immediate boss,” Clark says.
To do this, create a “core message” — a brief summary of exactly what you’re doing and why it’s vital to the boss’s success.
A core message might be, “My team is designing the follow-on products to our most successful product line,” or “I’m recruiting the hard-to-find technical personnel required for the new R&D facility.” Then, Clark suggests, find a way to work that message into every conversation that you have with your boss-even hallway chats.
The trick is to do this without getting all smarmy about it. Think about ways you can casually talk things up without overselling — and without driving your core message into the ground.
Each interaction should add new information, and when you can, fold the message into the day’s news. Examples:
* “I just got off the phone with a candidate for the R&D job. We’re getting resumes from some really impressive people. It looks like my recruiting program is really working.”
* “We just ran my module through the entire suite of stress tests. It looks like the power control system you told me to build is going to do the job nicely.”
* “The agreement with Acme Corp that you asked me to negotiate might come in a little late, but I think we’re going to get the terms that you asked for.”
STEP #3: Cultivate The Boss’s Influencers
It’s not enough to simply inform your boss of what you’re doing. If you want to advance your career and your personal agenda, you need to make sure that the other “powers-that-be” spread the word about your importance to the company.
Here’s some political wisdom for you. You may think you have a one-on-one relationship with your boss, but you’re actually part of a crowd of people — from your peers to your boss’s peers to your boss’s bosses — who influence the boss’s decision-making.
Like it or not, their comments and gossip will inevitably affect your boss’s opinion of you and your work, so you want to be certain that, if they’re not actively singing your praises, at least they’re reading from the same hymnal.
So here’s what you do. Create a list of everyone who carries weight with your boss. Include their job title and whatever you know about their background and role inside your firm. Now craft a variation of your core message that positions what you’re doing as helpful to each person.
Then use that to frame any conversations you have with them. “You want a consistent message coming from the entire organization, not crossed wires that might confuse the boss about your importance to the organization,” says Ken Evans, former North American VP of sales and marketing at Waste Management.
For example, suppose you’re working in a marketing group, developing new sales channels. Here’s how you keep your manager’s peers updated:
* For Your Boss (VP of Marketing): “I’m developing a channel sales program that will increase revenue and profit.” (This is your core message.)
* For the VP of Engineering: “This new channels sales program I’m developing will get the products you’re designing out to an entirely new class of customer.”
* For the VP of Manufacturing: “With the channel sales program I’m developing, we’ll be able to better predict demand, which will cut down on job overruns.”
* For the VP of Human Resources: “The sales channel program I’m developing will let us expand the business without exceeding headcount limitations.”
* For the CFO: “With the channel sales program that I’m developing, we’ll be able to sell products at a 20 percent higher gross margin than with direct sales.”
* For the CEO: “My boss [name] has got me working on a channel program that’s could improve net profitability by several percent. You ought to ask him about it.”
Take especial notice of that last message. Ultimately, every employee has, as their highest priority, trying to make their own boss look good.
STEP #4: Learn About Your Boss’s Career
Now that you’ve convinced the boss that you’re competent, it’s time to make yourself invaluable.
To do this, you’ll need deliver what the boss wants-even before he knows he wants it. Over time, of course, you can observe and learn, but fast-track the process by researching the boss’s career and asking questions that will help you understand his way of thinking.
This activity has a side-benefit your boss will be flattered that you’re interested — as long as your interest is honest and not purely self-serving. But, then, people are interesting, right? Even your boss.
So here’s what you do. Use the Internet, the grapevine, and the boss’s admin to learn about the boss’s work history. Then, when appropriate, find opportunities (such as during lunch or offsite meetings) to express a healthy curiosity about your boss’s experience.
Apart from the fact that most everyone enjoys talking about themselves, bosses find this kind of inquiry valuable because it provides an opportunity to explain the logic of their decision-making processes. To help you out, here are some sample questions:
* “I was on the web learning more about our industry and I noticed that you presented at the [name] conference. What kind of response did you get?”
* “Your admin mentioned you used to work for [name of firm]. What was the most valuable thing you learned from that experience?”
* “I hear you used to work in the [name] industry. What are the main differences between the way that industry runs and the way this one runs?”
STEP #5: Cultivate Compatible Personal Interests
The ideal situation is to have a boss who looks out for your interests during difficult times. This protectiveness is nurtured when the boss thinks of you not just as a competent contributor but as a kindred spirit.
Therefore, if you want a more expansive and resilient relationship with the boss, you’re going to have to cultivate an interest in something that also interests the boss. Ideally, this should be an interest or activity that segues nicely into the work experience.
For example, if your boss likes to talk business while playing golf, learning to play-and enjoy the game-will inevitably bring you closer.
“To really understand your boss, you need to see him or her as a person, not just as a business contact,” explains Dilip Phadke, Hewlett Packard’s director of business development strategic initiatives. “My current manager is a big soccer fan, and although I was never particularly interested in soccer, I keep up on the topic because it gives us something to talk about that’s not directly work-related but can be used to illustrate the value of teamwork, planning, and so forth.”
While this may seem like “selling out”, it’s really just the same sort of thing that you in other relationships, with friends and with family.
Here’s the simple truth. Likeability is a matter of intention and behavior rather than of personality and chance, so to become more likeable, you find similarities and then raise them to the surface, according to Robert Cialdini, author of the bestseller Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion. “If you can find something that you truly like and respect about a person, then that person will naturally like and respect you,” he says. “While this may seem manipulative, it’s not, because if you truly like somebody, you will be committed to help making that person more successful.”
MY THOUGHTS
last night i had the opportunity to spend some time with some of the greatest bosses i've had the chance to work with. i guess i've been lucky when it comes to bosses. i can only think of 1 or 2 who didn't deserve their title. the rest are true leaders, not just managers. but this article is right. no matter what kind of boss you end up with, there is a way of managing them.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Have Job Satisfaction: Take Ownership of your Job
Take Ownership of Your Job
By F. John Reh, About.com Guide
Any job you do is going to "have your fingerprints all over it." That is why it is so important to take ownership of your job, any job you do, and really own it. Do it the best you can; do it the best it can be done. That is how you succeed.
Passion for the Job
The article Passion Pays notes "when you are passionate about what you do, you do better and you enjoy it more" and explains how that pays off in increased success. Sometimes you can't be passionate about a job, but you can still take ownership. You can still own the job and do it well.
Making A Difference
The people who get promoted are those who make a difference. If there is no difference between what happens when you come to work and when you don't, why would anyone want to pay you?
One simple way to make a difference is to do any job you tackle the best it can be done. That is what taking ownership means. You may not be the best choice for a particular job, but once it is given to you it is up to you to get it done the best way possible.
If you do that, people will notice. And when they see you take ownership of every job you do, they will start to give you the jobs that are important to them. The more you do jobs that matter to your superiors, and do them well, the faster you will move ahead.
Passion, Energy, Pride
When you are passionate about what you do, you have more energy. You care more about what you do. When you care more about what you do, you do it better and you can take pride in what you have done. When you are proud of what you have done, you are passionate about it. It is a cycle that feeds on itself and increases your capability.
On the Other Hand
Try this. Don't take ownership of some job. Just slide through it. Take the easy way out. Let others do the work and sit back and take all the credit when it is done.
Do you think that job will be done well? Do you think upper management is going to be looking for the person who did that job so they can put him/her in charge of the next job? Or when the next layoff comes will that person be on the list of expendable people?
Don't kid yourself. Every job you do has your "signature" on it. People know who did it.
Bottom Line
You want the work you do to be something to be proud of. You want the jobs you take on to help your career, not hold you back. So go above and beyond and really take ownership of every job you do. You will feel better for having done that. And others will notice.
You don't want the Vice President to tell Human Resources, "We can let (your name here) go. He/she never does much anyway." Instead, at the next company meeting, you want the CEO to stand up and say "and special thanks to (your name here) for that great job on the xx project." That is a big step on the way from first time manager to CEO.
MY THOUGHTS
Passion is great! Ownership of your job is all that your boss should ask for. But first, you need to look for an organization whose culture is all about ownership and passion. If you have passion and you work like it's your own company and you find yourself working for an organization where ownership is for the owners and passionate people is a threat to them - then you'll be like a duck in the desert. But then, who cares. At the end of the day, even if it didn't work and you know you gave all the passion you have - that's still something to be happy about.
By F. John Reh, About.com Guide
Any job you do is going to "have your fingerprints all over it." That is why it is so important to take ownership of your job, any job you do, and really own it. Do it the best you can; do it the best it can be done. That is how you succeed.
Passion for the Job
The article Passion Pays notes "when you are passionate about what you do, you do better and you enjoy it more" and explains how that pays off in increased success. Sometimes you can't be passionate about a job, but you can still take ownership. You can still own the job and do it well.
Making A Difference
The people who get promoted are those who make a difference. If there is no difference between what happens when you come to work and when you don't, why would anyone want to pay you?
One simple way to make a difference is to do any job you tackle the best it can be done. That is what taking ownership means. You may not be the best choice for a particular job, but once it is given to you it is up to you to get it done the best way possible.
If you do that, people will notice. And when they see you take ownership of every job you do, they will start to give you the jobs that are important to them. The more you do jobs that matter to your superiors, and do them well, the faster you will move ahead.
Passion, Energy, Pride
When you are passionate about what you do, you have more energy. You care more about what you do. When you care more about what you do, you do it better and you can take pride in what you have done. When you are proud of what you have done, you are passionate about it. It is a cycle that feeds on itself and increases your capability.
On the Other Hand
Try this. Don't take ownership of some job. Just slide through it. Take the easy way out. Let others do the work and sit back and take all the credit when it is done.
Do you think that job will be done well? Do you think upper management is going to be looking for the person who did that job so they can put him/her in charge of the next job? Or when the next layoff comes will that person be on the list of expendable people?
Don't kid yourself. Every job you do has your "signature" on it. People know who did it.
Bottom Line
You want the work you do to be something to be proud of. You want the jobs you take on to help your career, not hold you back. So go above and beyond and really take ownership of every job you do. You will feel better for having done that. And others will notice.
You don't want the Vice President to tell Human Resources, "We can let (your name here) go. He/she never does much anyway." Instead, at the next company meeting, you want the CEO to stand up and say "and special thanks to (your name here) for that great job on the xx project." That is a big step on the way from first time manager to CEO.
MY THOUGHTS
Passion is great! Ownership of your job is all that your boss should ask for. But first, you need to look for an organization whose culture is all about ownership and passion. If you have passion and you work like it's your own company and you find yourself working for an organization where ownership is for the owners and passionate people is a threat to them - then you'll be like a duck in the desert. But then, who cares. At the end of the day, even if it didn't work and you know you gave all the passion you have - that's still something to be happy about.
Haapiness at Work Means Job Satisfaction
Happiness at Work Isn’t Soft, It’s Smart
By Margaret Heffernan | August 19, 2010
You can’t have any more staff; you can’t have any more money. So what are you supposed to do to get more out of the resources you have?
Cheer up your workforce.
“Yeah right,” I hear you say. “We’re still in recession, everyone’s fried — and you’re telling me that in these conditions an effective leader goes around entertaining the troops?”
Yes.
That’s what the economist Andrew Oswald found in a recent experiment. Two groups of volunteers were asked to do some math questions. The task wasn’t tremendously hard but was taxing under pressure. “It might be thought of as representing in a highly stylized way an iconic white-collar job: both intellectual ability and effort are rewarded,” Oswald wrote. The more correct answers each volunteer provided, the higher the pay they would receive.
The difference between the two groups was simple: half got to watch British comedy routines, and the other half did not. Which group do you suppose worked better? The volunteers who’d had a good laugh before they started work, the ‘happier workers’, were 12 percent more productive, and the unhappy ones were 10 percent less productive.
But surely the state of mind of the volunteers played a part, regardless of the film clip? Of course it did. Those who started the experiment depressed by a death or major illness in the family performed 10 percent worse than their peers.
On one level, this could all be dismissed as blindingly obvious. Happy people work better? Of course they do. What’s perhaps more important is that, under the imprimatur of academic research, the economists have validated what all good CEOs know: that emotion and work are deeply connected. This doesn’t mean you have to turn into an office entertainer. It does mean you have to pay attention to how your employees feel and what’s making them feel that way. It also means that the CEOs who’ve always done that aren’t soft, they’re smart. You can study those spreadsheets as much as you like, but you won’t shift your bottom line if the happiness and wellbeing of your employees isn’t a top priority.
MY THOUGHTS
i'm a firm believer that humor in the workplace is important. we need tolearn how to laugh at our bloopers, irritating co-workers, demanding bosses, slow internet connection, lack of funds, etc. despite all of these hassles, work can really be fun. especially when you're enjoying it with others.
By Margaret Heffernan | August 19, 2010
You can’t have any more staff; you can’t have any more money. So what are you supposed to do to get more out of the resources you have?
Cheer up your workforce.
“Yeah right,” I hear you say. “We’re still in recession, everyone’s fried — and you’re telling me that in these conditions an effective leader goes around entertaining the troops?”
Yes.
That’s what the economist Andrew Oswald found in a recent experiment. Two groups of volunteers were asked to do some math questions. The task wasn’t tremendously hard but was taxing under pressure. “It might be thought of as representing in a highly stylized way an iconic white-collar job: both intellectual ability and effort are rewarded,” Oswald wrote. The more correct answers each volunteer provided, the higher the pay they would receive.
The difference between the two groups was simple: half got to watch British comedy routines, and the other half did not. Which group do you suppose worked better? The volunteers who’d had a good laugh before they started work, the ‘happier workers’, were 12 percent more productive, and the unhappy ones were 10 percent less productive.
But surely the state of mind of the volunteers played a part, regardless of the film clip? Of course it did. Those who started the experiment depressed by a death or major illness in the family performed 10 percent worse than their peers.
On one level, this could all be dismissed as blindingly obvious. Happy people work better? Of course they do. What’s perhaps more important is that, under the imprimatur of academic research, the economists have validated what all good CEOs know: that emotion and work are deeply connected. This doesn’t mean you have to turn into an office entertainer. It does mean you have to pay attention to how your employees feel and what’s making them feel that way. It also means that the CEOs who’ve always done that aren’t soft, they’re smart. You can study those spreadsheets as much as you like, but you won’t shift your bottom line if the happiness and wellbeing of your employees isn’t a top priority.
MY THOUGHTS
i'm a firm believer that humor in the workplace is important. we need tolearn how to laugh at our bloopers, irritating co-workers, demanding bosses, slow internet connection, lack of funds, etc. despite all of these hassles, work can really be fun. especially when you're enjoying it with others.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
are work friends real friends?
Work Friends Aren't Real Friends
By Jessica Stillman | September 22, 2010
Of all the difficult aspects of the working world, few things flummox those making the transition from school to employment like the unexpected emotional complexities of offices. You might think you’re not the type to play politics, but everyone soon realizes that bland cubicles across the country mask a complex reality of alliances, feuds, resentments and badly handled insecurities.
WSJ columnist Alexandra Levit recently used her blog Water Cooler Wisdom to warn new entrants to this complicated social reality, not to bring the naive view of friendship that served them well in college to the office. “There are differences between close friends who will be there for you through life’s tough times and people you hang out with while you happen to be stuck in the same building,” she says and suggests that “”you can spare yourself disappointment later on by noting the differences between a work friend and a real friend.” How can you make the distinction? Levit provides a handy checklist of questions to consider:
If your friend left the company, would you still be in touch with her in a year?
If you had a personal emergency, would you consider asking your friend for help?
Do you hang out with your friend outside the office? (weekday lunches, happy hours, and business trips don’t count.)
Have you met your friend’s significant other? What about her friends outside the office?
If your friend received the promotion you were banking on, would you be genuinely happy for her?
If you ran into your friend in the grocery store, would you be able to talk to her for 10 minutes without mentioning work?
Have you seen where your friend lives?
Do you and your friend have anything in common besides your age and your job?
Is Levit’s view of office friendships too chilly for your taste, or do you think she’s right about the ultimate value of most work buddies?
MY THOUGHTS
worth thinking about. seriously. do you have friends at work or just "people you hang out with because you are stuck in the same building"?
By Jessica Stillman | September 22, 2010
Of all the difficult aspects of the working world, few things flummox those making the transition from school to employment like the unexpected emotional complexities of offices. You might think you’re not the type to play politics, but everyone soon realizes that bland cubicles across the country mask a complex reality of alliances, feuds, resentments and badly handled insecurities.
WSJ columnist Alexandra Levit recently used her blog Water Cooler Wisdom to warn new entrants to this complicated social reality, not to bring the naive view of friendship that served them well in college to the office. “There are differences between close friends who will be there for you through life’s tough times and people you hang out with while you happen to be stuck in the same building,” she says and suggests that “”you can spare yourself disappointment later on by noting the differences between a work friend and a real friend.” How can you make the distinction? Levit provides a handy checklist of questions to consider:
If your friend left the company, would you still be in touch with her in a year?
If you had a personal emergency, would you consider asking your friend for help?
Do you hang out with your friend outside the office? (weekday lunches, happy hours, and business trips don’t count.)
Have you met your friend’s significant other? What about her friends outside the office?
If your friend received the promotion you were banking on, would you be genuinely happy for her?
If you ran into your friend in the grocery store, would you be able to talk to her for 10 minutes without mentioning work?
Have you seen where your friend lives?
Do you and your friend have anything in common besides your age and your job?
Is Levit’s view of office friendships too chilly for your taste, or do you think she’s right about the ultimate value of most work buddies?
MY THOUGHTS
worth thinking about. seriously. do you have friends at work or just "people you hang out with because you are stuck in the same building"?
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