From Success to Success

The Seattle Seahawks surprised many football pundits over a week ago when they beat the New Orleans Saints in a Wild Card game, winning a berth in the playoffs. They played over their heads, behind their veteran quarterback Matt Hasselback, who had a career-defining kind of day. As a lifelong Bears fan, I was hopeful that after the Seahawks’ efforts and emotional high last week, they would suffer a letdown and play badly. I was not disappointed. Yesterday at Soldier Field in Chicago they took a beating by the Bears who ended their season. Lovie’s Bears played really well, and Seattle didn’t have enough gas left in their tank to rise to the challenge.

Corporate leaders are responsible for managing their teams in a way that encourages a string of successes. It’s important to celebrate and acknowledge wins earned by individuals and groups, but there must be a calculated focus in how this is accomplished…with an eye on cranking up for the next challenge. Played correctly, the momentum from one success is fodder for the next.

First… The team culture should include a group understanding of their purpose and long term goals. Each individual should believe in where the team is headed, and be able to visualize and articulate what success would be.

Second… When important successes are realized, take time to celebrate. Recognize the specific achievements of the team and individuals – loudly and publicly. Thank them for their work. Be sure that the “Powers That Be” are aware of what has been accomplished and its contribution to larger corporate goals.

Third… Stop patting yourselves on the back and dissect your success. Discuss it, analyze it, and criticize each step. Acknowledge where you could have done more/better. Counsel individuals that didn’t carry their weight during the project, and ask for greater effort next time. Make this motivating.

Fourth… Plan how to take the skills and experience of the team and apply them to the next challenge. Define and document what success will look like. Set new goals. Make sure people know what is expected of them. Cheer them on their way to their next celebration.

Don’t forget to provide leadership along the way. The best coaches are able to change the game plan during halftime if the original game plan is going awry. Be flexible and adapt quickly to changes. Recognize your “Player of the Game” and find a way to make the most of their skills while they are hot.

Now get out there and win one for the Gipper.

Respectful Coexistence

The terrible events in Tucson this past weekend have made many of us think about our desire for peaceful coexistence. We wish that our differences could be expressed and debated in a civil manner, without vituperative spewing, threats, and other extreme and violent behavior. Let’s let tolerance and respect for other people and their views drive our behavior and interactions. Overcome polarization with open-mindedness, thought, and an eye on important goals. I’d like to see us apply some values, intellect and effort to minimize conflict over differences and find common ground that allows us to move forward constructively.

Our challenges are broad, in our personal lives, in business, in our communities, and politics. But we have choices we can make in all of those arenas. We control our own behavior and are responsible for our actions. We choose to participate in our communities and shape them into places we can be proud to live. We elect our politicians, and are entitled hold them accountable to represent us conscientiously.

The business world is reflective of many of the issues exhibited in our world today. In a well-run corporation, ethical leadership, effective management, clear goals, policies and procedures, the application of laws, and human resources programs help govern the chaos. Individuals mostly “behave”, at least in part because they don’t want to harm their careers, lose a paycheck, or be humiliated in front of their peers.

Each of us can make a difference at some level. Be caring in your personal relationships, respectful and constructive in your work environment, cooperative with community efforts, and active to make your voice heard in politics. Let’s all lead by example, and make clear what we expect from our fellow civilians and our governments. We’re smart enough and good enough to make some changes.

Differentiate Yourself to Win

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2011. The U.S. economy continues a slow rebound, but the general consensus is that the recovery won’t be truly complete until the unemployment rate is reduced to a healthier (lower) level. For many companies, a new calendar year brings shiny new budgets and staffing plans. People return from their winter holidays ready to tackle a whole new set of challenges…and they may need you!

Job hunting today is a very competitive activity. So many qualified people are looking for good positions. Tension is high for those who have been unemployed for any length of time. It’s a “buyer’s market” right now, and employers can be choosy to make sure they hire the right people.

A friend of mine is currently competing with three other finalists being considered for an attractive position. They have been asked to prepare a presentation for the management team of the hiring company. Although the situation is a little nerve-wracking, she has been given a great opportunity to differentiate herself from the other candidates.

If you are up against multiple candidates, what might you do to differentiate yourself?

• Research, research, research the hiring company. Scour their website, the annual reports (for a publicly-traded company), blogs, reviews, and product descriptions. If your network contains anyone already employed by the company, take them to lunch and pick their brain. Use the information you gather to insert knowledgeable commentary during your interview(s), and to ask informed and insightful questions.

• If asked to do a presentation, don’t just do a boring PowerPoint presentation with a bunch of bullets that you read! Try something different, such as all graphics as a mere backdrop for you (which is where you want them to focus their attention anyway). Or introduce yourself using another presentation product, like Animoto (animoto.com), where you can create a free 30-second presentation with original music and photos you choose. It’s easy, and different.

• Think about ways to showcase your unique personality. You want to draw people to you so they can imagine how pleasant it would be to have you around. Tell an engaging story, spice up your interview suit with a colorful tie or scarf. Don’t forget to smile! Appearing too serious, or even grim, can be a real turn-off.

• Be sure to tell your prospective employers how excited you are about the opportunity, that you appreciate their time, and that you really want the job. They have the gift of employment to give, and expect a little appreciation and enthusiasm.

• Follow up any face-to-face interaction with a “Thank You” communication. Hand-written notes are still always appropriate, and I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with a creative digital thank you sent via email.

Good luck, and keep your chin up! There’s a good job out there for you.

New Year's Resolutions for Marketers

Last year, we offered a list of suggested resolutions for corporations. This year, we'd like marketers to use these resolutions to gain more loyal fans for the brands they promote. Better yet, perhaps they would less frequently disappoint the customers they already have!

• Our membership program will be valuable to our customers, and allow for easy participation (i.e. no card to carry in already overstuffed wallets).

• Forays into social networking will be driven by a plan with measurable goals, and will be managed as a serious offshoot of our overall, integrated marketing plan.

• Our Facebook presence will reflect the personality of our brand, and provide important information that lets our “friends” feel like insiders, and presents valuable deals that lure repeat visitors to our page and attracts new customers.

• We will strive to engage our fans with our brands and products, and create opportunities for them to interact as a community, share experiences, and generate buzz.

• Managing negative feedback will be part of our transparent communication with our customers. We will view it as a positive opportunity.

If you missed last year’s blog on resolutions for corporations, click here:
http://habaconsulting.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-years-resolutions-for-corporations.html

How To Be A Bad Boss

It’s hard to verbalize all the attributes that make someone in management a good boss. But, after many years of experience in the workplace, I do have some firm ideas about what makes a bad boss. If you want your employees to despise you, here are some sure-fire ingredients for leadership failure:

• Be close-minded and keep doing things the way they’ve always been done. Ridicule anyone who makes suggestions for positive change.
• Publicly and repeatedly claim the success of your team as your own, with no mention of the efforts of your employees.
• Ensure that people that work for you that do a good job stay in their position for years and years. Allowing them to be promoted up and out would disrupt your operation.
• Be sure that you give more credence to ideas that come from highly paid consultants than those generated by your experienced team.
• Don’t trust anyone (however experienced they may be) to do their job without incessant needling, pushing, and questioning from you. It’s your job to keep them on their toes.
• Being remote and inaccessible suits your position of importance. If an employee comes to you for help, push the challenge back into their court and make it clear that you’ll be disappointed if they can’t work it out.
• You are the idea guy/gal, so be sure you not only tell your team what to do, but exactly how to do it.
• Minimize risk by squelching creativity. You can’t afford to make a mistake and look foolish.
• Make sure any training you authorize doesn’t interfere with real work.
• Business is serious – discourage levity in your workplace.
• Push on relentlessly from challenge to challenge. There’s no time to celebrate when there is so much still to accomplish.
• “Rank Hath Its Privileges”, which include vendor-purchased or hosted trips, gifts, and fancy dinners you have earned.
• Instill a little fear in your team members. It’s good motivation.
• Always balance the occasional compliment with a well-chosen criticism.
• Enlighten your subordinates only on a “need to know” basis. Explaining context and strategy to them is a waste of time.
• NEVER admit that you’ve made a mistake.

There’s so much material for this subject! Chime in, and contribute your own bad boss experience.

Make It Work

On Lifetime TV’s hit show “Project Runway”, Tim Gunn is co-host, consultant, and mentor for the fashion designer competitors. His grace, honesty and gentle humor make the show something special. “Make It Work” is Tim’s well-known directive to contestants when he is concerned that they have designed themselves into a corner. That phrase, “Make It Work”, can be well-applied in a corporate environment.

When faced with an important assignment on the job, conditions are never perfect. Challenges are ever-present, and come in various unwelcome packages. You may have an unreasonable deadline, insufficient funding, the wrong skill-set, changing requirements, conflicting priorities, and/or a lack of management support. In spite of everything – you are responsible to Make It Work. That requires fluid, creative thinking and guts.

First, discard any unrealistic, preconceived notions about the best way to accomplish your goal. That might have been the easiest and fastest route, but is not necessarily the best. Start back at the beginning, thinking about exactly what you are trying to accomplish and, for the moment, divorce the end from the means. There is always more than one way to get something done.

Brainstorm with others. Talk about your end goal and review the tools you have at hand. Look at the situation from all perspectives and kick around some “crazy” ideas. Keep your solution simple and straightforward. Assuming that the stakes are high, invest more of your own time and energy to make up for a lack of other resources. Use the specific strengths of individual team members to contribute an organic uniqueness to your solution (i.e. technical ability, artistic flair, writing skills, hole-poking, and humor).

Once you have an idea for your approach, float it past your target audience to test their reaction. Make adjustments. Dummy up a draft of the final product and see how you feel about it. Let the creativity of your team flow, and don’t be afraid to do something a little unorthodox or even wacky – it will be more memorable.

Overcome obstacles, trust in your instincts, your team, and feedback from your audience, and Make It Work. Tim Gunn would approve.

Lessons from Kindle

I’ve only had an Amazon Kindle eReader for about 3 months, but I have already experienced multiple examples of Kindle Customer Service that were really impressive. Here are the lessons customer service providers can glean from Kindle’s practices:

TIMELY & TARGETED COMMUNICATION: Before Kindle released its new generation Kindle, it announced that pre-sales were available. I ordered mine through a link made available on Facebook. On the release date, the new Kindle was shipped to me overnight at no additional cost.

MAKE PRODUCTS EASY TO USE: The Kindle is very user-friendly. Start-up was amazingly simple, and I downloaded books and started reading immediately.

PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL MEDIA: I “Like” Kindle on Facebook, and have received many useful tips and recommendations by monitoring their page.

APOLOGIZE FOR ISSUES & MAKE IT RIGHT: I use my Kindle a lot to play word games like Scrabble, and (to my dismay) the letters started to wear off the keyboard. I called Kindle Customer Service, and the first thing they did was to apologize. Then they arranged to send me a new Kindle via overnight delivery.

GREAT PRODUCTS HAVE GREAT SOLUTIONS: My replacement Kindle came with simple instructions for re-loading content I had already purchased. I was up and running within minutes.

MAKE LOGISTICAL ISSUES YOURS; NOT YOUR CUSTOMER’S: I needed to return my defective Kindle within 30 days, in order to avoid being charged for the replacement. Kindle made it easy. I used the new packaging to pack up the old Kindle, and printed a prepaid mailing label provided via a link in an email from Kindle.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO SMOOTH THE WAY: Just as I was wondering how to “wipe” my old Kindle before sending it back…it turned itself on, activated its wireless communication, and displayed a progress bar indicating that content was being deleted. When done, it turned itself back off – ready to be sealed up and shipped. That was a “Wow”.

The only thing that would have made the exchange with Kindle more perfect was to be reassured that they have resolved the issue with the letters on the keyboard, so that I know I won’t have the same problem with the replacement. But, time will tell.

Kindle has a new loyal customer in me, and I’ll be providing a referral to Santa for additional purchases. HO, HO, HO!