Tag Archives: Management

To Hire, or Not To Hire: Evaluating Sales Skills

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salesThe key to a great organization is great people.

And identifying great people starts with the hiring process.  How well you evaluate a potential employee’s skills, cultural fit and overall personality will dramatically impact your team’s future performance.

To help you get it right, I’ve put together a three-part series on evaluating candidates.

First up: Sales Skills

In his book To Sell Is Human, Dan Pink posits that like it or not, all of us are in sales.  Or what he calls “non-sales selling“.  We might not all be selling a specific product, but we’re all trying to move others to do something.  Pink suggests that 40% of our time at work is spent persuading, influencing and convincing others.

Does it follow, then, that all job candidates should be evaluated on their sales skills, at least to some degree?  I think so.

I look for three things in an effective salesperson:  Resilience, Relationships and Relevance.  (Sorry, I can’t resist a good alliterative list.)

Resilience – Effective sales people respond positively to setbacks.  They accept rejections as a necessary part of the job. They are self-confident, tenacious and have an overall sense of optimism.

Relationships – Effective sales people are an ally for the customer.  They focus on long-term customer value and are able to work with all kinds of people.  They have the emotional intelligence to adapt to the needs of a particular situation or person.

Relevance – Effective sales people are able to identify key drivers of behavior.  They know how to ask the right questions and bring clarity to a situation.  They focus on the benefits of their product/idea/objective and easily convey them to their customer.

To evaluate these characteristics in the interview process, try these questions:

Describe a situation in which you weren’t successful.  How did you recover from this setback? Resilient candidates will focus on what they learned from failure and how they applied it to their future successes.

Describe a situation in which you built a positive relationship with someone very different from yourself?  This question is intentionally broad and open-ended.  It allows you to see how the candidate interprets and adapts to differences.

How would you sell me this pen?  This is a classic scenario in sales interviews.  For the non-sales candidate, this is a good way to see how well they think on their feet.  Did they start with questions?  Did they identify your needs?  Did they sell the benefits of the pen for your particular situation?

Other things to look for:

A good collaborator is an expert at asking questions.  During the interview, did the candidate ask follow up questions to topics you introduced?

And finally, remember the old ABC’s of sales?  Always Be Closing.  How did the candidate end the interview?  Did they express their enthusiasm for the position?  Did they identify where they could bring value to your business?  And ultimately, did they ask for the job?

 

Next week: Evaluating Cultural Fit

 

This post contains affiliate links to Powell’s Books.

 

(Photo credit: Microsoft)

 

Be a better manager in 40 minutes a day.

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Today

Last week, Sarah Von Bargen’s Every. Damn. Day list got me thinking about my daily benchmarks for productivity.  As a work-from-home mom, my personal list includes things like showering (a surprising luxury) and feeding the kid (yes, he wants to eat EVERY day).  But since you’re here to read about management and not my sporadic personal hygiene, here are four daily tasks to keep you on track, even on days when the rest of your to-do list has gone up in flames.

1.  Tidy up.  I think of organizing my desk as the business equivalent of making my bed every day.  It signals that I’m awake, upright and ready to tackle the day.  Whether you’re a neat freak or someone who thrives in organized chaos, spend 10 minutes every day on administrative tasks – filing, opening mail, approving receipts – to keep them from becoming messy and demoralizing eyesores on your desk.  Doing a little each day keeps recurring tasks from becoming huge projects that you need to fit into your schedule.

2.  Walk around.  Whether you call it “management by walking around” or just stretching your legs, you need to get out from behind your desk and see what the rest of your team and organization is doing.  You can learn a lot from seeing your team function in real-time, so take 10 minutes each day to engage with your team without a set agenda.

3.  Think long-term.  It’s easy to get caught up in the urgency of daily tasks and forget to allow time for working on your long-term goals.  Networking, professional development, deliberate practice – you don’t need to schedule large blocks of time for these things.  Once you’ve mapped out tasks required to reach your long-term goal, you can work your plan in 10 minute increments. You’ll be surprised by how much you will accomplish over the course of a month.

4.  Do nothing.  Spend 10 minutes each day reading, writing or thinking about something non-work related.  And, no, I don’t mean browsing E! Online or Facebook, although sometimes those little brain-breaks are healthy.  Instead, pick a topic you want to learn more about – creativity, happiness, design – and allow yourself a daily 10 minutes to explore it.  Getting your brain out of its normal routine will give you fresh perspective and inspiration when you return to work.

“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.”

~ Anthony Trollope

 

(Photo credit: Microsoft)

Three tips for managing creatives.

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pencils


Today I’m excited to have a guest post from the amazing and talented Monica Garcia. 

Monica is a freelance writer and marketing consultant.  She’s a native of the Columbia River Gorge, and mom to a three year old Star Trek nerd.

I’ve had all kinds of jobs in my life.  I’ve bussed dishes in a cafe, made espresso drinks, and had countless customer service gigs.  I even had a brief stint as an obituary writer.  More often than not, being able to do use design software and having a talent for writing has landed me what I’d call “part-time” creative work, or a job where I get to use my creative skills in addition to more administrative duties.  What I’ve learned over the years is that using your creative skills flexes very different muscles than other types of work, and sometimes managers don’t seem to grasp the differences.  With that in mind I came up with my top three tips to keep your creative staff happy by showing you understand the unique challenges that creative gigs present.

1. Output requires input.  I think it is pretty widely accepted that you can’t be a good writer without being a dutiful reader, but somehow folks fail to see the direct connection when it comes to an employee on the clock.

Even creative people can’t always tell where inspiration will come from, so when managers start looking over our shoulders to see if we are “wasting time” it can put undue stress on an already stressed out person trying to pull something artistic out of a hat.

Design is everywhere.  Words are everywhere.  Inspiration abounds and creative people require huge amounts of input to churn out new and interesting work.  A walk in the park, thumbing through magazine, reading an interesting science article – any of these can prove inspirational.  Rather than trying to decide for a creative person what is applicable to their process, I think most of us would prefer that our managers build in some time for us to gather the input we need, and have the effectiveness of our time use be evaluated by our output.

2. Creative work isn’t made for multitasking.  A creative person may like to have several creative projects going at the same time so she doesn’t get bored, but I’m talking about asking your creative professionals to accept duties that require frequent interruption like answering phones or helping customers.  Can it be done?  Sure.  Is it a recipe for madness and mediocre results?  Certainly.  For most creative people concentration is key to getting desirable results, and a barrage of frequent interruptions not only slows down the process, it can completely stifle it.

3. A lot of us creatives don’t take criticism well.  Ever see the posters made by designers to illustrate the worst client feedback they ever received?  Yeah, well, sometimes the most well intentioned feedback comes across like a customer telling their mechanic which wrench to use to fix the car.  Still bosses and clients have to give feedback, and my favorite managers were the ones that gave me lots of information up front and less as the project progressed.  More information in the initial planning stages of a project is almost always preferable (and more efficient) than endless revisions.

Once a creative employee presents their work for review, think about giving feedback like a book editor.  Skilled editors know the difference between a sentence that is tragically ungrammatical, and a sentence that is soundly written, but perhaps just phrased differently than the editor would have written it.  A great editor will hold back comments that would alter the author’s voice and style without offering clarification.  I think this philosophy can be expanded to cover most creative work.

Changes cost time, and by extension, money, so with any change it seems prudent to weigh the costs to the benefit.  Will a quick change clarify the message or make it more accessible?  Probably worth it.  Spending time adjusting the color scheme to match the bosses personal preferences?  Maybe not so much.  That’s a good time to take the role of editor and say to yourself, “it might not be my favorite color, but it gets the job done.”

Recognize too, that sometimes creatives knock it out of the park on the first try*.  If you want a happy creative staff, recognize and reward those home runs.  It might feel like you haven’t done your job unless you made a few changes, but believe me nothing makes a creative stop trying to hit one out of the park like the realization that no matter what they produce, the boss just has to tinker.

*Rarely does a creative person show their manager or client an actual first draft, so when I say “knocks it out of the park on the first try,” of course I’m talking about the first polished draft.

 

(Photo credit: Microsoft)

 

Keep calm and make a list.

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to do list

In less than a week, I will be braving a cross-country, red-eye flight with a two year old.

Holyfreakingcow.

This is our first plane trip as a family and our longest extended stay away from home.  To say I’m anxious would be an understatement.  My mind has been racing with what seems like a million things to plan:  Figuring out what to bring on the flight.  Getting the house and dog ready for the sitter.  Anticipating what gear we’ll need once we’re in New York.  My blood pressure rises with every new thought.  But today I finally sat down and made a list.  And, amazingly, I feel much better.

Why do I always forget how calming a list can be?  Until it’s on paper, it’s an infinite string of things.  But once it’s in a list, it’s a plan.  And plans I can handle.

Here are some of my favorite thoughts on to-do lists:

 

freak out

Even my hair was freaking out about this trip.

You might also like:

On optimism.

 

What HGTV has taught me about creating a great place to work.

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pink post it

Yes, your HGTV addiction is a management tool.  It can help you turn your office into an inspiring and functional workplace that makes your employees like coming to work.

Here’s how:

Have a Clear Focal Point.  If you’re a fan of just about any of the home makeover programs, you know that the biggest crime a room can commit is not having a focal point.  The focal point is the place the eye goes first, the spot where people gravitate, the central element that defines the space.  In the home, this is usually a fireplace.  Sadly, in the office, it’s usually the copy machine.

What should the office focal point be?  It really depends on your organization.  Maybe it’s the inspirational view outside the window.  Or maybe it’s your central meeting area.  Or your system for tracking performance metrics.  Maybe it’s a visual representation of your mission. (I love this open plan office at charity: water with the vibrant photos of the people they serve.)  Whatever you choose as your focal point, it’s the heart of your design.  It should represent the culture and vision of your organization.

Create an Open Floor Plan.  Tune in to House Hunters or House Hunters International and you quickly learn that the one thing everyone is looking is an “open floor plan”.  Chopped up, closed off rooms are out.  The great room is in.  Why?  Because it promotes interaction.  (And, as every house hunter points out, it’s “great for entertaining”.)  Thus, the open floor plan is a must in real estate.  And it defines the modern office as well.

But…as an introvert, I know that open concept can be very draining. So to make it comfortable and functional for everyone, you need to have defined areas for different types of interaction. Create activity zones (a la the ubiquitous “conversation area” beloved by all designers). Allow your team to choose what they need at a particular time, whether it’s a space for focused, individual work, a comfortable spot for a one-on-one, or a flexible room for group brainstorming.

Keep it Updated.  Every HGTV fan knows that the kiss of death for any design is to look “dated”.  Brass fixtures, tiled countertops, shag carpeting.  No sale.  Why?  Because no one wants to live in a time capsule.  But more importantly, it’s a red flag that other, non-cosmetic, maintenance has been neglected as well.

It’s the same in your office.  Giving the workplace a face lift every now and then indicates that your organization invests in its employees, cares about their needs, and wants them to feel that work is a nice place to be.  A can of paint, some fresh art on the walls and decent technology can go a long way.

 

(Photo by theilr via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)

 

Three ways to help your team navigate their careers.

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ladder In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg notes that she prefers the jungle gym over the ladder as a metaphor for the modern career. A jungle gym lets the climber move in a variety of directions, trying different approaches and learning new positions. And it offers better views for everyone:

“On a ladder, most climbers are stuck staring at the butt of the person above.”

What kind of view are you giving your team? Can they see the whole playground? Or are they staring at your butt, hoping you fall so they can move up?

Here are three ways to insure everyone has a place on the jungle gym:

1. Hire smart people and encourage them to work themselves out of a job. Reward system and process improvements that minimize repetitive tasks and free your team to take on more challenging opportunities.

2. Offer cross-training and professional development opportunities. Insure your team has deep industry and company knowledge so they can add value at a higher level.

3. Understand each individual’s long-term career goals and encourage them to explore their interests. Utilize your cross-functional knowledge to identify opportunities for your team outside your workgroup.

 

You might also like:

Are you meeting your team’s needs?

 

This post contains affiliate links to Powell’s Books.

 

(Photo credit: Microsoft)

 

Are you making space for your introverts?

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cube land

I love the idea of an open-plan workspace.  No walls, no barriers to communication.  Total synergy, total creativity.  But then there is the reality of an open-plan workspace. Noise. Chaos. People constantly up in my grill. Trying to get something done in this environment drives me absolutely bonkers.

Welcome to the world of the introvert.

Although we often think of the introvert as shy and the extrovert as outgoing, the difference really lies in how individuals manage their energy, how they refuel and recharge. Introverts are most comfortable exploring ideas internally and they recharge by being alone. They live inside their head and they like to think through problems before acting. Extroverts are drawn to activity, interacting with and drawing energy from lots of different people. They learn by doing and enjoy “thinking out loud”.

As a manager, you likely have a mix of introverts and extroverts on your team, and all to varying degrees. And you probably don’t have a lot of design control as far as office architecture goes. (If you do, you can create an environment like this.) But there are many ways to insure that your introverts have the space they need, both physically and mentally.

Allow individual or small group projects. Introverts aren’t sociopaths; they like people. But they may find working with large groups draining. Working in smaller groups will allow them to be at their best.

Utilize a variety of meeting formats. Introverts prefer the structure of presentations and formal meetings, where the conversational flow is controlled.  The free-for-all of traditional brainstorming sessions can be frustrating for introverts.  They also like to have a plan.  So utilize calendars, create agendas and allow time for preparation.

Let them speak. If you’re an extrovert, make sure you’re allowing an introvert to participate in the conversation. They think before speaking, so curb your need to jump in until they’ve had time to contribute. Schedule plenty of one-on-ones and include discussion of ideas, not just tasks and projects.

Respect the cube. When people are in their cubes, treat it as a no-fly zone. As an introvert, I despise the “drop-by”. At home, nothing sets me on edge more than an unannounced visit, when I’m in the middle of a project, my hair is a mess and toys are strewn everywhere. It’s the same in the workplace. Call first. (And we’ll screen you. But get over it.)

Allow and encourage use of headphones. If you have an open-plan layout, headphones are the universal “Do Not Disturb” sign.

Acknowledge that inspiration and creativity don’t only happen in high-stimulation environments. We tend to idealize these types of environments in modern workplaces, the same way we idealize the extrovert as the creative leader. Introverts are great information processors and excel at connecting ideas. They just need some low-stimulation space to do it in.

 

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Assessing your organizational culture? Start by looking around.

 

(Photo by Sonny Abesamis via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)

 

Assessing your organizational culture? Start by looking around.

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doughnut

Observing the office around you can be quite telling. Try these prompts to get you started.

Picture your staff’s individual workstations. What do they all have in common?
Is every desk covered in personal photos and other mementos? Techie toys and gadgets? Or is it all neat, tidy and nothing but business?

It’s lunch time on an average weekday. Where are your staff?
Is everyone out grabbing a bite together? Meeting in a conference room for a brown bag learning session? Or are they all hunched over a Cup-O-Noodles at their desks?

It’s 5:30 pm on a Friday. Where are your staff?
Did everyone go their separate ways at 5:00 on the dot? Maybe they’re all at the corner bar for some team karaoke? Or are they still at their desks, with miles to go before they sleep?

(Photo by yoppy via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.

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“In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.”

– Dwight D. Eisenhower

or, more succinctly:

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”

The delightful Whit B Nimble recently posed this question to her readers:

“What’s your business mantra? (Your go-to quote or inspiration that drives you toward greatness)”

The Eisenhower quote is my mantra.  It’s something that I come back to time and again. Managers must be able to adapt to evolving situations. If we adhere to a plan too rigidly, we risk missing unexpected opportunities or falling victim to unexpected threats. But staying flexible doesn’t mean that planning should be abandoned altogether. The planning process forces us to seek information, anticipate costs, and prepare our team. It allows us to think through potential scenarios and fully understand our capacity.

You can find Whit B Nimble’s 9 other questions, as well as her responses to my own here.

 

How do you survive a job you hate?

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Out of Office by Everjean

Being stuck in a job you hate is draining – mentally, physically and emotionally.

You’re unmotivated, unproductive and unhappy. 

How do you get through it?  Here are three tips that have helped me in the past.

And as I wrote this, I started thinking about the flipside of the question:  How do we as managers make sure our employees aren’t stuck in jobs they hate?  Interestingly, the same advice applies in both cases.

Fight negative self-talk

There’s a voice inside your head that narrates as you go about your day, and sometimes it says the same negative thing so often that you don’t even realize it has become your mantra:

“Ugh, I hate this place.”      “I’m trapped.”      “This sucks.”

This inner curmudgeon is hard to ignore and only serves to make you feel even worse about your situation.  But if you can become conscious of your own self-talk, you can stop the voice before it starts.  When you hear your inner dialogue start to take a downward turn, pull up some positive phrases to counteract the negative voice.

“I feel good today.”       “I can do this.”

It won’t change the realities of your job but it will help you feel better as you do it.

The flipside…

As a manager, you obviously can’t change an employee’s inner voice.  But you can insure that your workplace culture doesn’t promote complaining and negative cross-talk.  Keep lines of communication open between you and your staff by creating a space for genuine feedback in your team meetings and one-one discussions.  Encourage your staff to bring their negative opinions into the open so you can actually deal with the underlying issues.  And don’t forget to make sure you’re curbing your own inner critic as well.

Focus on growth

It’s tempting to check out of a job you hate… zoning, surfing the web, napping in your car.  While it seems like focusing on anything other than your job will cheer you up, the reality is that we need to be challenged to be happy.  Simply “doing your time” will make the days even longer and yourself even more unhappy.  So use the time you’re stuck in a bad job to grow your professional skills.  Take on a new project, rework a process or try a new technique.  Challenge yourself to learn something new every day.  The days will go faster and you’ll be beefing up those weak points in your resume to boot.

The flipside…

As a manager, this one is pretty straight forward.  Make sure your team has challenging work and the opportunity to try new tasks.  Cross-training is a great way to keep your employees learning new things while also making your team stronger.  It’s important to encourage your staff to explore projects that are of personal interest as well.  Tune in to your team’s individual career goals and focus on helping them grow.

Tackle big projects in small doses

As much as you hate your current job, you probably need to find a new one before you can move on.  Even if jobs are plentiful and you’re a hiring manager’s dream, job hunting sucks.  When you’re drained and demoralized from 8 hours on the job, the last thing you want to do is spend your free time writing cover letters.  But if you want to find a better job, you’ve got to tackle the process.  If this seems daunting, work in small doses.  Commit to working on the job hunt for 15 minutes every night.  It won’t seem so overwhelming and you’ll be able to get a surprisingly large amount accomplished in a week.

The flipside…

As a manager, make sure you’re paying attention to your team’s workload and let them know they can come to you when they’re feeling overwhelmed.  Coach them on how to approach large tasks and help them find smaller side projects that they enjoy.  This will give them something to focus on when they’re feeling burnt out on their main project.

 

How about you?  How have you gotten through a job you didn’t like?

 

(Photo by Everjean via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)