Ms. Sincerity

You walk in a conference room and you’re spotted.  Ms. Sincerity smiles a big toothy smile, asks how you’ve been, tells you it’s so good to have you in the meeting and just can’t wait for the wonderful wisdoms that you’ll contribute.  She’ll also make it clear to all in the room just how brilliant you are.  With all those glowing accolades you should be feeling flattered instead you’re feeling a bit embarrassed and want to have the conversation quickly move to the next topic.  Why?

The reason is Ms. Sincerity is well known for her “over exuberance”.    She’s viewed as over the top in the warm and fuzzy department.  She smiles way too much.  She comes across as way too enthusiastic.   She is way too kind in her comments of others and quickly volunteers to help in any way she can.  Everyone sees her as a bit kooky because no one in the business place is just that joyful.  Therefore you see her as having absolutely no credibility with your colleagues.

However, before you quickly comply with common workplace opinion, you should keep your eyes open to see the results of Ms Sincerity’s approach.  You will begin to notice that when you have asked her for help she does and notice that you are not the only one she has.  You should notice that the result of all that good will has given her a large network of people.  You should begin to notice that she has 10x the number of recommendations on Linked In then you or any of your VP’s.  You should also notice that when she needs to find a job she finds one relatively quickly even in this daunting job market while others are out for nearly a year.

So in the end, the lesson may be we should all take time to be more joyful, to recognize the goodness in others, call it out and help those people we can.  All that goodness may just make us smile more broadly then others are used to but in the end we know that when in need we will have a network of people that will sincerely want to help us as we sincerely want to help them.  Now that is not such a kooky place to be.



Don’t be a Mouse with People Who Pounce

Do you dread certain meetings because you know you’ll have to deal with a pouncer?  Those are the people who can’t wait to interject opinions or objections the minute the meeting begins.  They lay in wait like a cat watching a mouse hole, tail twitching, waiting for the first opportunity to jump all over a proposal or idea with a take no prisoners approach. 

Whether driven by territorialism, attention getting, or a love of contrariness, your meeting can take an immediate nose dive down the proverbial rat hole when they pounce.  Your job is to get it back on track as quickly as possible.  This can be a real challenge because once a pouncer has the floor, it can be difficult to refocus the discussion and accomplish your goals.  You can’t avoid the situation but you can be prepared.

If you already know a pouncer, it can be an easier situation to manage because you know going that the behavior is predictable.   That allows you to prepare in advance by identifying possible issues or concerns that will allow you to move the discussion along and defray arguments.

If you’re meeting someone for the first time it can be disconcerting and possibly throw you off your game plan so it’s important to listen and acknowledge the person.   That allows the pouncer to feel some level of control and gives you a chance to martial your arguments with a thoughtful response.

Remember that while a pouncer can be challenging, they also may have a lot of value to add once you win them over.  When people feel you’ve listened they are far more likely to support your efforts. 

Here are a few simple rules:

• Be prepared and thorough in your planning and consider all the issues that may arise in advance.
• Clearly state your goals early.  If things start going off course, bring the discussion back to what you’re trying to achieve so you can gain agreement.      
• When dealing with a pouncer, let them have the floor long enough to get their ideas on the table.  You might learn something you hadn’t considered.
• Remember, some people enjoy being difficult but this may stem from being passionate about their experience or their role.  If you give them their due, you may find you have strong support in the long run.

Tell us how you manage people who pounce.

Is Your Resume Showing Your Age?

In tough economic times, your resume can open doors or shut them if you use an outdated style to communicate your business expertise.  Here’s a list of best practices that will give your resume a facelift.

Courtesy of WebGuild we discovered a CNN Money.com article with a compilation of 11 excellent examples that can help you refresh your resume.  We’ve provided our top five below.

1.  Keep your contact list simple with email address and cell phone only.  Don’t…not ever…list a fax number.

2.  Get rid of the clichés.  Hackneyed adjectives like innovative, results oriented, motivated, team player etc. aren’t going get your resume noticed.  Think about the key words related to the job you’re interested in.  Those are the words the resume scanning devices are looking to match.

3.  Use an up to date format.  Dates of employment go to the right of the company and your title.  On the left is so last decade or two and don’t include the months.

4.  Never put the date you received your degrees as this may draw attention to your age.

5.  Only list jobs that might be relevant to the one in which you’re interested.  Try going back 15 years and leaving older positions off.

Don’t forget some of our earlier tips as well.  A presence on LinkedIn is a must since many hiring managers use it as a recruiting resource.  Keep in mind the tips above when you’re updating your social networking information and remember, it’s all about key words. 

Check out this great example of a before and after resume rewrite by Wendy S. Enelow, an executive resume writer and career consultant.

Born Salesman

As they say some people are born salesmen. Others swear that they could never go into a sales job.  The truth is that whatever job we have we are selling, be it our ideas, plans, an even our own career advancement. At some point in time, we all make sales pitches to people that we want to influence.  So knowing what makes a good sales pitch is a important key to success. Here are some tips that will fine tune your skills.

Keep it Simple:  When you’re making a pitch keep it very simple.  So simple that whatever you’re asking for or selling won’t get lost in the barrage of rationale of why it is a good thing.

Set the Context:  Make sure that you give enough background so that that your audience understands the circumstance of why you or they need or want what you’re selling.

Listen:  Don’t be so anxious and fixated on the sell that you don’t really listen and answer your audience’s question.  That is when the term “pushy” sales guy gets attached.  No one likes not to be heard.  A clear sign of that is when you do not give another person a chance to speak.

Some additional tips can be found in Geoffrey James’ BNET post on Selling to Top Execs: 10 Easy Rules.

Evolving Leadership

Are the leadership skills needed today changing or is the environment in which it needs to be practiced?

We’ve discussed in several articles the changing world of management and the new value being placed on the ability of business leaders to communicate and collaborate.  As advances in technology and communications brings employees, customers and competition around the world closer, top down leadership approaches start to collapse.  

Shelly Alcorn, CAE, speaker, and association management consultant writes, “When the cry “we just need leadership” goes up, I am going to hazard a guess that what is broken is probably not the leaders themselves.  It is the fact that they are practicing “leadership” in an old school way and actively preventing necessary changes in order to preserve the status quo. Nine times out of ten when forward progress is being killed, it’s someone who is exercising “leadership” skills that is killing it.”

Maybe it is not that “Leadership” is killing progress but it is the way the Leadership is being practiced that needs to change in order to ensure progress in today’s changing environment. She goes on to write “As the operating environment becomes more sophisticated and complex, and the problems more wicked, can we really expect that even exemplary leadership skills will be sufficient?

In this new connected world “status quo” is not an option.  Leadership is the ability to access information and successfully interpret it, to anticipate and adeptly execute, to communicate and delegate power to others in order to thrive.

If you are going to survive in this new environment you must evolve your skill set from “exercising leadership” to “leading change” and understanding the opportunities that come with it.

Do you agree that we all need to become change agents within our business communities from the leaders on down?  We’d love to hear from you.