Eat a Live Frog First Thing in the Morning, or How to Manage End of Semester Stress

It’s the time of the semester when everyone in higher education feels additional stress, but especially graduate students who are also full-time employees, and often parents and partners.  Everything is due, seemingly on the same day, and if any procrastination has crept into your semester, it’s starting to come back to haunt you.  Since stress management is such an important leadership skill, here are some high impact tips to use now and in the future.

 

 

Change your perspective. Mark Twain said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.  Unless you enjoy frog sushi, you may not want to take Mr. Twain literally, but he clearly understood the role of perspective. Most people think of stress as being an inevitable reaction to the number of stressors in your life.  That’s not totally true.  Your stress level is largely dependent on you mindset, your perceptions and beliefs about your circumstances, so, for example, if you believe you must always be perfect, you will be constantly stressed because you will almost never hit that mark.  The good news is that you can change that by changing those perceptions.  One tool is reframing, so practice noticing your stress-inducing thoughts and changing them in a positive direction.

 

Exercise.  I know, I know.  You don’t have time to breathe, let alone break a sweat.  The fact is, exercise is such a powerful stress reliever that it should be one of your top priorities on a regular basis.  It should be scheduled in like any other appointment.  So make time to get some exercise and you will feel better and most likely be more productive.

 

Take breaks, preferably to laugh. In addition to exercise, laughter is one of the best stress relievers around.  Also, we know from research that working for too long without breaks reduces our productivity.  So take a few minutes to find something funny and see if you are not refreshed and more productive.  Humor is highly individual, but you can try these sites for a few chuckles:

http://www.funnyordie.com/

http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/

 

Prioritize.  Oprah once said, “You can have it all, just not all at once.”  Given your likely overloaded schedule, you must make choices.  That’s what prioritizing is about.  Take a moment to think about the values and goals that are most important to you, and make sure to limit yourself to three or four. Write them down, post them where you can see them, and use them as a decision filter.  Spend your time on those things that are most important to you and put the other things that don’t directly serve those goals in a “later” file.  So, if you have two papers and a presentation due this week, a full-time job, and other family duties, focus on the things you must do to maintain your health, well-being, and progress…and let go of the others.  You can make homemade cookies for the bake sale next time. 

Take a few moments to manage your stress and you will reap the return on your investment immediately.  

Lessons in Social Media from Best Buy’s Brian Dunn

Best Buy’s CEO Brian Dunn is well known as an effective social media user and I recently read a piece he wrote called “Best Buy’s CEO on Learning to Love Social Media.” He mainly outlines his social media evolution and the point of the article is not to give advice, but a close reading reveals some helpful tips:

                                                                                                                                                                                                

If you think social media is a fad or only social, think again.  Dunn tells several stories of how he was able to connect with customers and employees to really get a sense of what they needed or wanted.  He also was able to address an issue or two quickly because of his presence on Facebook and Twitter.  Social media is here.  Get used to it.

Make it meaningful.  Dunn says that he was initially frustrated with the mundane things he read on Twitter, and who hasn’t read one too many “I’m in line at Starbucks” tweets?  So think about what you’re posting and make it meaningful to people. A few mundane posts are OK here and there, but think about what value you’re adding before posting.

Accept that there are risks….because everything has risks.  A Best Buy employee posted several videos where he made fun of the customers he was supposed to serve and on another occasion Dunn’s Twitter account was hacked.  Everything worth doing in life has risks.  Manage your risk well – create passwords that make hacking difficult, for example – and understand that the benefits of well-used social media outweigh the risks. 

Help people make good decisions. One of the ways you can manage risk is to provide guidelines and training for your team members who use social media so that they don’t use it in a way – either personally or professionally – that creates problems.  Best Buy’s summary is “Be smart. Be respectful. Be human.” and Dunn adds that he doesn’t post anything that he wouldn’t want to see published in a newspaper. (This is excellent advice for email use, as well).

Stay in touch with the grassroots.  The further you go up the managerial chain, the more disconnected you become from the front lines of your operation, whether that is students, customers, or constituencies.  Social media can provide an invaluable tool for people at the grassroots level to contact you directly with issues, compliments, suggestions, and many other things you should know about.  Put another way, insulation is good for buildings but not for leaders, and smartly-used social media helps you combat it.

Ask the right questions about social media use.  Dunn says he’s frequently asked how he’s going to monetize his social media activity.  While that may not be an issue in non-profits, it is still a question that could be asked: How is your investment of time in this benefiting the organization?  Dunn says this is the wrong question.  He says the question really should be: “How am I going to deepen my relationship with customers and employees and deepen the conversation that goes on where they are?”.

Kenny Rogers Was on to Something: How to Decide when Persistence is Worth the Effort

Kenny Rogers sang a song in the 1970s that gave some great advice: “You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” The song was about a gambler but you can apply this to leadership as well. Major projects usually produce change and change can bring resistance that makes you question your efforts. Some projects just take a long time to see results. How do you know when a project isn’t working out and should be scrapped or when it just needs some persistence to get through to the payoff? Rosabeth Moss Kanter provides us with 12 ways to know when to persist and when to give up on a hopeless project. The entire article is worth reading but here are her 12:

1. Are the initial reasons for the effort still valid? 
2. Do the needs for which this is a solution remain unmet, or are competing solutions still unproven or inadequate? 
3. Would the situation get worse if this effort stopped? 
4. Is it more cost-effective to continue than to pay the costs of restarting? 
5. Is the vision attracting more adherents?
6. Are leaders still enthusiastic, committed, and focused on the effort? 
7. Are resources available for continuing investment and adjustments? 
8. Is skepticism and resistance declining? 
9. Is the working team motivated to keep going? 
10. Have critical deadlines and key milestones been met? 
11. Are there signs of progress, in that some problems have been solved, new activities are underway, and trends are positive?
12. Is there a concrete achievement – a successful demonstration, prototype, or proof of concept? 

After thinking through these points, as well as anything else relevant for your particular setting, you will likely be clearer on whether to “hold ‘em or fold ‘em.”

Your Turn

This blog is dedicated to providing you with information about leadership and management in a brief format suitable to busy people.  But this week, I’d like to hear from you. 

What leadership or management topics would you like to know more about?

What leadership problems or barriers would you like solutions for?

Do you see yourself as a leader, whether at work or in your personal life?

If not, what keeps you from seeing yourself that way?

Thanks in advance for your input in the comments section below.  The feedback will be put to good use to bring you information that you can use!

Your Morning "Ritual"

I recently listened to an interesting podcast called “Become More Productive by Reengineering Your Morning Ritual” by Michael Hyatt.  Michael’s point was that everyone has a morning ritual or routine that influences what comes later and intentionally creating this foundation will enable you to get what you want out of your day.  He recommends seven steps that I’d like to summarize for you here.  His entire 40-minute podcast is worth a listen because he provides more detail and answers to some very good questions that will flesh out what I’m providing.   (Full disclosure:  Michael is a Christian and discusses his faith practices when describing his personal morning routine, but he doesn’t proselytize or dictate that this be part of your routine.)

Step one: Acknowledge that you have a ritual and be intentional about it.

The first step in changing anything is becoming aware of what you do currently.  It’s the first step in becoming more intentional about the connection between what you do to start your day and what comes after that beginning.

Step two: Document your ritual. 

Write down the things you do every morning.  Be honest about the positive parts and the not-as-positive parts, so write down, for example, that you eat breakfast every morning and also that you hit the snooze button three times before getting up.  This will help you see and understand what you currently do.

Step three: Evaluate whether your ritual is getting you what you want.

Take some time to think about the rest of your typical day and see if you can see connections.  Do you commonly feel rushed and stressed as you get to work?  Could it be because you only allow enough time to do the bare minimum of preparation and allow no time for unexpected realities?

Step four: Determine what you want and what you don’t want.

This step corresponds to Stephen Covey’s Second Habit, “Begin with the end in mind.”  Think about what you do (or don’t) want to get out of the beginning of your day before you make changes to what you're currently doing.  So, do you want to feel relaxed or connected spiritually?  Do you want to have a clear idea of the priorities for the day or be organized? 

Step five:  Reengineer your current ritual.

Once you see what you’re currently doing and what you’d like to be getting, brainstorm a list of alternative activities that help you get there.  So, if you want to feel calm and centered, you could add ideas to your list about taking time to be still, meditate, listen to calming music or sounds, etc.  Next, you will need to identify how much time each part will take and then arrange the order of the parts, so that they make sense – you don’t want to shower before you work out, right? -- and flow naturally.

Step six:  Implement the ritual.

In the words of the iconic Nike ads, “Just do it.”  You will need to practice the new routine for awhile in order to give it a chance to work and overcome the initial resistance to change that many of us feel. 

Step seven: Tweak the ritual as necessary.

Your life will change depending on your life stage and other realities.  Don’t get stuck in something if it is not working the way you thought it would or has stopped working for you over time.  Add new practices, delete old ones, rearrange the order, expand some parts or shorten others, and make other tweaks to change what you do to get the results that you want.  

In the podcast, Michael answers questions about what to do if you are a night owl, get distracted by other things, experience a disruption, and so on.  I encourage you to take some time to look at how you set up your day to get more of what you want from it.  

Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk

Most of us in leadership positions, or aspiring to them, take leadership pretty seriously.  It’s also important, however, to have fun and today I want to point you to a witty blog post that teaches some good leadership lessons:  Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk.  Trekkies will, of course, enjoy this but the author provides good food for thought -- including why you should play poker instead of chess in leadership terms, the importance of being a part of the "away team" -- whether you like Star Trek or not.  Enjoy!

Good Boss/Bad Boss

You may have heard of a book published several years ago called Rich Dad, Poor Dad, about how differences among people in how they think about money, and the choices that flow from those mindsets, can make an impact on financial success and independence.  I can’t say if this book is true or not, but I do know that supervision, like money management, is largely dependent on the mindset of the supervisor and the choices she makes as a result of that point of view, so today, I want to summarize some of the recent supervision tips I’ve seen and provide you with links if you’d like to know more.  Think of it as the supervision version of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

First, let’s talk about the things bad supervisors do:

They call too many meetings and then show up late while others wait.  This is according to a leader who regularly surveyed his staff but it is often true in many places.  It’s a small thing but it sends the message that their team’s time isn’t important, and no one works well where they think they aren’t respected.

They actively or passively stymie progress on work projects.  These roadblocks can be created in innumerable ways:  supervisors not understanding the actual duties of their teams and the time it takes to accomplish certain tasks, not providing clear vision or guidance, giving conflicting goals, and not responding to requests in a timely way.   The feeling that their boss is creating roadblocks kills an employee’s desire to work hard and accomplish things.

They lack self-awareness and are clueless about how their actions influence their teams.  Bad supervisors do a lot of things to get in the way and, when the team reacts to this, bad bosses blame them instead of looking in the mirror.  That’s not to say that individual employees who are ineffective don’t exist, but…if a supervisor thinks his entire team is ineffective or dysfunctional, the first step is to figure out how the supervisor is contributing to it.

They blame or retaliate against those who try to speak up about problems.  Shakespeare told us not to “shoot the messenger,” and some supervisors have missed this important lesson.  This punishment of anyone delivering bad news stops the flow of any constructive information and what organization can survive with it?

Now that we’ve seen some of the “don’ts” of effective supervision, let’s talk about the things good supervisors do:

They understand the power of relationships.  They know that the work world is more of an ecosystem, with partnerships and collaborations, than a war that needs to be won.  This approach increases flexibility and information flow, which leads to better decisions.

They treat employees as colleagues, not robots or naughty children.  They set high standards – and, yes, that means holding people accountable – but they understand that every person is important, from the person who empties the trash to the CEO.  They set a vision and direction, hire and train good people, and inspire their teams, not crush them with rigid processes and excessive control.

They help their teams understand change.  They neither worship the status quo, nor change things just for the sake of change.  They preserve effective practices and change the ineffective….and they know the difference between the two.  The also involve people in the change process where possible and explain the changes to make people more comfortable.

They do what they can to make work satisfying.  Work is going to have at least some drudgery or administrivia as part of the day – otherwise it would be called “vacation” -- but good bosses want their teams to be happy and satisfied and they work hard to make that happen.

What other “good boss” or “bad boss” beliefs or practices have you observed?

Want to know more?  Here are the resource pieces for this post.

Four Ways Supervisors Frustrate Their Employees—Are  You Guilty?

How to Completely, Utterly Destroy an Employee’s Work Life

Eight Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses

Whining, Venting, or Problem-Solving?

All of us encounter a stressful or perplexing situation now and again.  Friends, family, and colleagues may bring theirs to us to discuss, and we do the same.  Over years of participating in these conversations, both as the listener and as the speaker, I have observed something that, once I got it, had saved me some time and frustration and I want to share that with you.  That lesson is to consciously categorize your conversations, and only spend time with those that are constructive.

The first step is identifying the conversation.  When a negative or stressful situation is being discussed, the conversation generally falls into three main types: 

1. Venting:  This involves describing the negative circumstance and voicing complaints about it.  Its main purpose, however, is to discharge negative feelings in a safe environment before moving on to more constructive solutions, either in the conversation or outside of it.  It can be positive if it allows the speaker to get out her frustrations, preventing them from blowing up in an inappropriate way or time.
2. Problem-solving:  This conversation acknowledges the concern and then quickly moves toward solutions.  The bulk of this conversation is about making the negative situation right, seeking greater understanding, or reframing the circumstance from negative to positive.  In situations where the speaker doesn’t have much power to affect change, the problem-solving focuses on how he can alter his perception of the situation, create a work-around, accept the situation, or plan an exit strategy.
3. Whining:  This involves describing the negative circumstance and voicing complaints, but the conversation never moves to possible solutions.  When constructive actions or remedies are suggested, the speaker usually shoots down all of them and resists any attempt to brainstorm solutions.  He may even disparage the person trying to help, saying things like, “You just don’t get it.”  Whining’s main purpose is often to reinforce the speaker’s perceived powerlessness, regardless of the reality.

Understanding these types of conversations has saved me a good bit of time and frustration.  It’s helped me focus my energy on problem-solving conversations and prevented me from expending energy attempting to help people who didn’t want it, at least at the time I was offering it. 

Take a moment or ten this week to notice the types of discussions you have.  Whether you are the speaker or listener, set a “no whining” goal and nudge your conversations toward support and problem-solving.  You’ll get more done and feel better about it, too.

How to be a Good Boss in Tough Times

The purpose of this blog is to provide you with leadership knowledge that is useful, whether it’s through summarizing information and experiences for you, or pointing you to powerful resources that don’t take a lot of time to absorb.  Robert Sutton is one of my favorite management resources because his work is based in research and he presents it in a very practical, if earthy, way.  This week, I want to point you to another good piece from him:  a 10-minute video about how to be a good boss in bad times (there is also a transcript of the conversation at this link, if you prefer that format).  There are many good points, but the two to watch for in particular are his discussion of “the toxic tandem” of power and the recipe for being a good boss in bad times.  (Teaser: The ingredients include prediction, understanding, control, and compassion.)

Those two pieces, along with several other points he makes, are immediately useful, whether your organization is experiencing layoffs, budget cuts, reorganization, or any of the other forms of workplace change and stress.  If somehow you have escaped any of these workplace realities recently, hang on, because they are inevitable over the course of a career.  I hope you’ll enjoy the video.

Improving Strategic Thinking

You already know that strategic thinking is important.  Cave men and women couldn’t bring down that mammoth for the tribe or figure out how to use fire without that ability.  It has become an increasingly important skill as the pace of change has increased from millennia (for cave folk) to days (us).  Sharper strategic thinking allows you to see current, unmet needs and emerging trends.  It makes your decisions less reactive and more constructive.  Interested?  Read on.

As I was reading three recent articles about this topic, one thing was immediately clear:  Strategic thinkers have open minds and not only aren’t afraid to be wrong, but also actively seek to prove their ideas wrong.  In other words, they do everything they can to prevent groupthink. 

How do they do this?  According to our three authors linked above, strategic thinkers start by constantly scanning the environment for data and patterns that help them anticipate what may be emerging in their workplaces or in their industry or field.  They spend time figuring out what they really need to focus on, to get to the core questions of any given issue. They listen well and think critically about what they hear.  They understand confirmation bias, which is the mind’s tendency – and yes, everyone does this -- to only attend to information that confirms what is already believed.  They self-monitor to become aware of their own assumptions and seek information that contradicts them.  That may include reading authors with whom they disagree, but it certainly includes seeking a team whose members think differently from them.  Finally, they avoid “analysis paralysis” by understanding that, while information gathering is important, they never have enough and decisions do have to be made. 

The core issue here is that strategic leaders manage their own egos – which tell them that they are always right -- and they reward constructive disagreement within their teams.  (A leadership model profiled earlier on this blog calls this “Consciousness of Self” and “Controversy with Civility.”)

Strategic thinking is a skill and Shaun Rein suggests three ways you can improve it  on a daily basis:  (1) Constantly question your own opinions for biases or untested assumptions; (2) Surround yourself with people who have well-reasoned but different viewpoints than your own; (3) Take time to recharge and get out of your ruts.  See or experience new things in your private life on a regular basis and this will freshen your viewpoint when you return to your leadership role, wherever that occurs: work, home, volunteering, or at school.

Being enrolled in a graduate program and experiencing an election year are both great opportunities for you to do these things.  Any small opportunities you take to strengthen your strategic thinking add up into a stronger professional with better thinking abilities.  Now let's go get strategic!  

Can You Hear Me Now? But More Importantly, Are You Listening?

Think back to your best supervisors, teachers, volunteer leaders, clergy members, or other leaders you’ve come in contact with.  What made them great? Chances are that good listening skills are one thing that made them stand out.  This is not surprising.  One of Stephen Covey’s habits is “Seek first to understand, then be understood” and many prominent leadership educators have focused on this topic as well. In last week’s profile of Michael Mack’s failure and eventual success, listening to others was a key factor. 

Most people think they are great listeners, but they may only be great at hearing.  True listening means hearing with an open mind, with a willingness to be changed by what you hear, and that gets increasingly harder as our lives get busier, our list of devices grows, and our media diet becomes ever more saturated.  Even after you are attentive, you have to be an active listener and that takes practice.  Want to know more? You can find a brief but useful summary of specific skills to practice here. 

Why not spend the weekend practicing these active listening skills?  As you talk with individuals you encounter or even as you do reading or other homework, spend more time asking questions and learning about those you encounter, or the content you are studying, rather than focusing on what you think of the person or material.  When someone tells you a story about themselves, instead of telling one of your own, ask them questions about theirs.  You will gradually increase your skill level and you’ll strengthen relationships, too.  Happy listening!

Garden Fresh Leadership Lessons in Losing it All and Getting It All Back Again

Michael Mack built the company Garden Fresh (which would later become Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation) from the ground up with a business partner, but in 1990, he was fired as CEO by his board.  Four years later, he was rehired, mainly because of the way he conducted himself and lessons he learned.  You can read a more complete account of his story here, but the main takeaways are:

1. There are no Lone Rangers among successful leaders.  Mack was fired, in part, because he focused too much the numbers and ignored the people.  He always thought his way was best and refused to listen to the ideas of others or involve them much in processes.  By his own description, he was “arrogant, self-righteous, and overly independent.”  We all learned this lesson in kindergarten and it’s true today: to succeed you must play nicely with others.
2. It’s not about you. After being fired, Mack says he learned to focus on the outcomes and not as much on micromanaging the way people got there or on work as an vehicle for his personal ambitions. We know from other research that a sense of autonomy is one of the biggest predictors of workplace satisfaction and productivity.  Mack learned that the autonomy of others mattered as much as his own and a productive, happy team stays longer and produces more.
3. Look for ways for everyone to get what they want.  One of the changes Mack made was to stop shooting out “yes, no” answers and start conversing with people about their priorities.  He found ways for priorities to align and others to get what they wanted, which created better solutions, a happier team, and, ultimately more success for the organization.
4. Unburned bridges are best.  As a founder of the company and investor, Mack stayed on the board after he was fired.   He overcame his anger, stayed professional, and focused on company goals.  This impressed the board and was a major factor in getting his job back.
5. Bad things can turn out to be blessings.  Mack got fired when his wife was 8 months pregnant.  Unable to find work other than consulting, he stayed home with his daughter for several years and built a relationship with her that was incredibly fulfilling to him.  That relationship – which wouldn’t have happened given his previous 100-hour work weeks – and the personal changes he made led him to call the firing “a gift.” 

Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creativity

I think one of the most important, but under-emphasized, qualities of effective leaders is creativity. When most people hear “creativity” they think of artists and will often say, “Oh, I like that stuff but I’m not a creative person myself.”  They couldn’t be more wrong. 

Creativity is more about thinking differently and seeing things from new perspectives.  Artists certainly do that and we reap the benefits, but it is possible to bring creativity to everything , and all of us can learn to be more creative.  Why do this?  We all encounter situations or problems or needs that require solutions.   We can come up with the “same old same old” but, as a very smart person once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.”  Creative thinking is required to solve those problems, prevent others, and, most importantly, proactively innovate new ideas, solutions, products, and services for our organizations.  I believe creativity has never been more important, given the pace of change in our culture.  Creativity is needed now just to keep up and super creativity is needed to truly lead.

I recently read an excellent, brief piece about creativity that I highly recommend, called “Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creativity.”  In this piece, you will find clarification about creativity, tips for how to improve your creative thinking, and things to anticipate if you are a creative thinker.  I’ve read it a few times now and I highly recommend it.  

Is Your Integrity Showing?

I’ve been in my profession for almost 20 years and spent many more years observing successful and unsuccessful individuals and organizations.  After giving some thought to what the successful individuals and groups have in common, it became clear that we rise and fall on many qualities, but two are the most common:  integrity and communication.  I’ll write more about communication in another post but let’s focus on integrity today.  For the record, the definition of integrity I use is your values matching your actions, forming a unified ethical whole.  Most people associate integrity with honesty, but it goes further than that.

Integrity is like a good sense of humor or good driving skills:  Everyone thinks they have it.  Some would even argue – as did some recent college graduates I interviewed – that they always live in a state of integrity; they always live their values.  The truth is that no one has perfect, unfailing alignment between their values and actions.  We all occasionally – hopefully rarely -- do things that are out of step with what we believe we should do or be.  Some people, however, have more alignment than others, and organizations, like individuals, can “walk the walk” (or not), too.  This is important for ethical reasons, of course, but it also has pragmatic benefits as well:  That level of integrity is part of what determines success. 

The reason integrity is so important in terms of leadership and success is that it is one of the major factors in creating trust.  Without trust, you simply cannot have effective working relationships, whether it’s with supervisees, supervisors, colleagues, customers, constituents or any other group or individual you work with.  Can you work effectively with someone you can’t trust?  Probably not.  You can work with them, sure, but I’m guessing that you will be guarded, the interactions will take longer because of the need to verify and follow up, and you will almost always attempt to lessen or avoid contact with those untrustworthy individuals because working closely with them costs you too much emotionally and temporally.  Those relationships are the key to doing anything at all, whether it’s selling a car or teaching a student. Trust is the foundation of those relationships and integrity is the concrete that makes up that foundation.

So how do you know you have integrity?  Here are five ways to see if your professional integrity is showing.

What do you do to ensure trust and integrity?

Do You Work How You Dress?

Last week, I talked about Facebook profiles and what they say about potential team members you may be hiring (or about you, to potential supervisors).  But what about a low tech work influencer like your clothes?

We’ve all been given some form of advice about “dressing for success,” such as dressing “one step up” from your current position so that senior executives or administrators can more easily see you as one of them.  Most workplaces have a dress code and most of the time that code is about communicating what your clothes say about your organization.  “Business casual” clothes can send the message that you are a laid-back or fun organization while more formal attire or a uniform (such as a doctor’s coat) can send messages about authority and expertise.  Did you know, however, that how you dress at work can affect not only how others see you but how you actually perform?

New research shows that people do better on certain cognitive tasks when they are dressed in clothing that they associate with positive qualities like attentiveness or professionalism.  I have used this advice in the past when I had a phone interview I did from home.  It’s tempting to put on something casual for comfort, but I’ve found that wearing interview attire even when the interviewers can’t see me helps me get in the right frame of mind for the conversation. 

There’s a catch to all this, of course.  (Isn’t there always?)  To have such a positive influence, you have to be wearing clothes that you associate with professional qualities and that varies somewhat across individuals.  Wearing a suit, in other words, does not mean the same thing to everyone.  Read here to find out the full story and to start your thinking about the workplace attire of you and your team.

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Facebook Profiles and Job Success

We’ve all heard the advice to clear our Facebook pages of compromising photos and we know that potential hiring authorities peruse social media to see what we may have posted that is publically available.  If you’re in charge of hiring, you are doing this as well for your prospective hires and for current staff if a problem emerges.  (Some are even going too far by asking for their potential employees’ log in information, but that is a topic for another time).   These efforts are aimed at finding “dealbreaker” information about job candidates, such as a tendency to broadcast risky behavior.  It speaks to your maturity and judgment and can be used against you, as a Secret Service agent found out recently when he posted unprofessional comments on Facebook about his time protecting Sarah Palin.

But did you know that other things in your or your team members’ Facebook profiles could do more than predict failure, that those profiles could indicate success factors, too?  Researchers had participants take personality inventories that measured conscientiousness, emotional stability, agreeableness, extraversion, and openness.  Three raters looked at their Facebook profiles and rated them as well.  Six months after getting hired, supervisors rated each participant on job performance and there was a correlation between the Facebook ratings and performance, even stronger than the relationship between the personality inventories and success. 

Two quick caveats should be noted:  One, correlation is not causation, so no one is saying that having a great Facebook profile that shows how open to new cultures or fun you are causes success.  They are saying that the two are related, meaning that who you are in terms of those five characteristics and your likelihood of success are reflected in things like your Facebook profile.  Two, this is a small study so wholesale changes to screening policies based on these findings should wait until more research is done.

This story does provide you with a good chance to evaluate yourself, however.  You’ve already scanned for compromising things, but take a moment and look at your Facebook page as objectively as you can.  What does it say about you, when viewed through the lens of a potential employer?  Do you have lots of arguments with friends, venting or other caustic comments, or are you supportive and happy?  Do you talk about reading a smart new book (or classic old book)…or the latest trashy novel?  Do you have pictures of yourself on your trip abroad…or pictures of yourself doing something that would put off most supervisors as they picture you at a conference or trade show away from the office?  Take this opportunity to use Facebook as a mirror, showing you habits or trends in your life that you might want to rethink or change.  This type of feedback is vital to improvement.

Want to know more about the five characteristics mentioned here, in terms of this research?  Look here.   

Introverts, Embrace Your Strengths and Network Like a Pro

Let’s just admit it:  The world is skewed toward extroverts and it adds an extra challenge for introverts.  Being an extrovert married to an introvert, I’ve had my eyes opened to how this affects people.  (For the record, introversion is a preference for the inner world and thoughts, which is where introverts get their energy and where they process things. It’s often used interchangeably with shyness but the two are not the same.) The world is, however, finally starting to see that introversion has its benefits, as evidenced in the recent popularity of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.

Networking and connecting with others in social or quasi-social settings is an extroverted activity and it’s critical in many, if not most, fields.  It can be exhausting, even prohibitively so, for introverts.  There are some useful strategies, however, that will help introverts manage these events and realize their benefits.  They include:

1.     Appreciate your introversion.  It’s not a weakness.  It’s a preference.  Many times, it is even a strength as it may make you more predisposed to listening and observing things that the more talkative might miss.  At events where you need to connect, seek out one conversation at a time and ask questions.  This will help you budget your energy reserves and connect with others because it displays your interest in the other person.

2.     Reach out first and try pre-introductions before events.  If it’s possible, use social media to connect with a few people who might be at an event to ease the way.  Let them know that you are looking forward to meeting them, which will make it easier when you actually do.  If that’s not possible, practice being the first to offer a friendly contact when you meet someone in person – those old standbys:  a smile, your name, and a nice handshake – because everyone responds well to this.  Then you can use your introvert strengths (see #1 above) to wow them. 

3.    Recharge your batteries.  An introvert friend once told me at a conference that she was going up to her hotel room for an hour because she was “extroverted out.”  This was a great idea because it gave her quiet time to power up internally and prepare herself for more  events to come later that day.  Use the time you need to recharge after these types of events and you will feel better about them.

Click here for more information about these tips and happy networking!

There Are Really Only Three Interview Questions

Professional recruiters tend to believe that there are really only three interview questions.  They are:

Can you do the job?

Will you love the job?

Can we tolerate working with you?

George Bradt, author of The New Leader’s Playbook, will tell you more about those questions and how to prepare for answering them here.

Job Searching Advice from the Founder of LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become a major player in job searches.  Not surprisingly, its co-founder, Todd Wasserman, has some insightful tips for anyone who is job searching and some of his advice runs counter to come classic career advice.  He says there’s no need to “find yourself” to find the right direction or position because your “true identity” is constructed, not discovered.  You certainly have some strengths and preferences for how you work, but your environment and experiences also influence you all the time.  Some self-knowledge is certainly helpful, but not the “be all, end all” that it’s been made out to be.  So you can stop trying to figure out what color your parachute is and start figuring out if you like where it’s taking you. 

Another piece of advice he offers is being able to explain what value you bring to an organization in very specific terms.  You are competing with other talented individuals, but what makes you different from others? 

Want to know more?  Find Wasserman’s eight tips here.  

Five Things Interviewers Look for in a Great Job Interview

It’s the time of year when many of Gwinnett Campus students are getting close to graduating and may be looking for new jobs to go along with their shiny new UGA credential.  So this is the first in a series of posts that will help you in a job search process, whether you do it now or later.  Check back regularly for more tips or get the updates sent to your email address by signing up to the right in the box that says, “Enter your email address.”

Have you been in the work world a long time and think you don’t need these tips? You may need it more than anyone because job searching and interviewing is a skill.  If you haven’t used that skill in a while, a refresher will really help your chances.

In a recent post, CEO Matthew Swyers describes five things he looks for in an outstanding job interview and they apply no matter what your field, from sales to social work to education.  Find them here.  

Why Be a Networker When You Can be a Connector?

We’ve heard lots of advice over the years about networking and its importance to leadership and career development.  While I would never deny that relationships are important to leadership, there may be an even better way to build them than networking, and that is connecting. 

Many networking events are about what you can get out of them, so they can be a bit self-serving, but connecting is about what you can do for others.  Are you very curious about lots of topics, have high energy and are comfortable with meeting new people (or at least willing to work through discomfort of shyness)?  Then you may be more of a connector than a networker.  You can use those abilities to help out those you connect with, which in turn builds relationship in less of a self-serving way that networking might. 

How can you connect?  One way is to join groups, clubs and organizations but only those that pertain to what you love.  Learn as much as you can and get to know people you meet, which should be easy because you have something in common.  Give thought to how you might help them and who in your contacts list might help them, too.  And then do some connecting.  People remember this and it helps build great relationships with them. 

If you work in a competitive field, you don’t have to sell out your own interests to connect.  Use good judgment to not hurt yourself in the connecting process  – if you’ve got your eye on a job opening, connecting doesn’t mean you have to call all your contacts to advertise this position to them, too.  Connect people without thinking about immediate payback, and you’ll find over the long term that you get more back than you ever could have dreamed. 

Want to know more, including what connection advocates like Malcom Gladwell (The Tipping Point) and Keith Ferrazzi (Never Eat Alone) suggest?  Find out here, in the article from which this summary was derived. 

Does your resume tell your story?

Whether you are actively searching for a new job or satisfied with your current position, it's always good to keep your resume or CV updated and polished so that it is ready.  Opportunities can happen very quickly -- an impromptu conversation with a senior colleague at a conference or event, often when you're not "in the market" -- and it's so easy to let accomplishments go by without being noted in your professional record.  You don't want to be scrambling to update and refine when you get an unexpected, "Hey, send me your resume and we'll talk more!" request.  January is a good time to do that update and, as you do, a question to ask yourself is whether your resume says enough about who you are, your values, and what you bring to prospective employers.  We've all been told to keep our descriptions brief but it's important not to edit so much that you lose context.  Check out this interesting piece with an example of a resume makeover that better tells a candidate's story.