Alan See

As soon as I bit that piece of candy I knew it was trouble.  Yes, I chipped a tooth and that meant a trip to the dentist.  The process of getting a crown wasn’t that bad though.  Then again, I used noise cancellation headphones to drown out the sound of the drill.  I also asked the dentist to use both Novocaine and Nitrous Oxide.  In short, you could say that I really didn’t want to be there. So where does the phrase “I’d rather go to the dentist than [you fill in the blank]” come from? What type of task or obligation is so hideous that you’d rather subject yourself to a root canal than deal with the event?  A simple search uncovered a few examples:

• According to research from an insurance company 39% of women would rather go to the dentist than talk to their spouse about their daily finances.
• According to a travel survey 54% would rather go to the dentist than sit in the middle seat on an airplane.
• 40% of Americans think filling out income tax forms is worse than going to the dentist.
• According to a technology company survey 40% said they would rather go to the dentist than deal with poor customer service.

Where do you stand on the following statement?

“I’d rather go to the dentist than do a performance review.”  For many people this statement rings true.  And it’s often the case for both the giver and receiver of the review!  The performance review is a high-stakes conversation for both parties.  The risk of frustration, disappointment and even anger is possible if not approached correctly.  How do you conduct a powerful and effective performance evaluation?  How do you approach your own evaluation?  Here are my approach considerations for both sides of the evaluation desk:

Giving:

1. An effective boss will not save his constructive criticism for the annual evaluation, but will be offering feedback throughout the year.  Reduce the stress by making your reviews a process rather than once-yearly events.  Nothing in the evaluation should be a complete surprise to the employee, so if you check-in via brief meetings on a quarterly basis you can make small incremental changes along the way when needed.
2. Talk about goals and talent development as part of your appraisal.  These topics introduce positive feelings and the sense of working together to develop skills and align tasks.  In addition, find at least one or two aspects of their job performance that are good and start there. We all need validation. That enables you to come across as fair and helps the person being reviewed to be receptive to hearing about the areas that he or she needs to improve on.
3. Tie your performance reviews in with career planning, succession planning, and leadership development. The review can become a fountain of opportunities, in many cases, that will prompt employees to participate enthusiastically.  But remember, criticism, even legitimate criticism, is hard to take, so be as diplomatic as possible in how you word the person’s weaknesses. Make it “you can improve this” rather than “here’s where you messed up.”
4. Make sure to ask the employees how they feel about their own performance and ways you could be a better boss to them. A humble boss is a boss people want to work for and work hard for.

Receiving:

1. Recognize the difference between feedback and criticism. Your manager is probably trying to help you improve for the coming year rather than penalizing you for the past.  And that’s something you want to do, right?  So, even if you have been excelling, try not to go into the evaluation expecting only to be showered with praise.
2. Listen first and try not to react immediately after hearing criticism. Take a day or two to absorb it and then get back to your boss with a response if you feel the need to. Time will allow you to respond rather than react.
3. Look past the critical language to see the basis of the criticism, and strive to understand it.  Try to develop empathy for your boss who has the tough job of trying to assess your performance.  Empathy goes a long way toward helping you be receptive to what he or she is saying.
4. Use “I” statements to keep things more objective. “What I hear from your feedback is that I sometimes invite too many people to my meetings.” Couple this kind of sentence with another “I” statement that suggests specific things you can do differently.  “What I could do is invite fewer people and then provide a summary of the meeting to my team.”
5. Take advantage of opportunities for setting clearer goals and developing your skills. One approach is to sit down after your meeting, consider the constructive feedback, and come up with a few ideas for developing your skills in those areas.  You can then bring those up with your manager.

Criticism is both hard to give and hard to take. We want people to like us. We want to succeed. So it can be difficult to tell an employee something he or she may be disappointed to hear and it’s equally difficult to be on the receiving end of that criticism. But disappointment, even frustration, can teach and can help motivate change. So be brave and know that, at least evaluations, unlike a trip to the dentist, should not leave you with fear of leaving with a fat lip!

In a fast changing business environment do “I remember when” or “when I was your age” stories have value?  My twenty something year old children listen to my stories – sometimes.  My twenty something year old direct reports listen.  Of course I also do their performance reviews, so they might feel compelled to do so.  Do you think these less senior people are occasionally tempted to roll their eyes during some of those business fables?  Actually, I’d be surprised if they weren’t because I know I was when I was their age.

I’m not put off by an occasional eye roll.  For me it signals that the message has been received, and in truth I probably told that story knowing that would be the reaction.  Besides, time goes by fast, meaning it won’t be long before today’s less senior people have eyes rolling at them.  That’s the way it’s supposed to work when you’re mentoring the next in line.  If you have direct reports what are you doing to mentor them?  Mentoring is one of the oldest and most powerful training methods, and is an essential leadership skill.  In addition to managing and coaching people, it’s important that you can help others learn, grow and become more effective during their professional development.  Here’s what I loved about some of my past mentors:

1. They didn’t provide all the answers.  They listened first, and then asked questions while weaving in stories to help me see options without choosing one for me.  Yes, sometimes I was tempted to roll my eyes because I just wanted the right answers now and didn’t want to figure out the moral of the story.
2. They weren’t afraid to let me learn through failure.  I can still remember hearing “Alan, sometimes you just have to let people do stupid stuff.”  Now don’t get me wrong.  I know for a fact that my mentor carefully examined the pros and cons of certain failure.  And he wasn’t really calling me stupid.  He took stock of the risk and was OK with letting me learn through failure.  And learn I did.
3. Coach + Mentor equal an added bonus.  Work often has two dimensions.  The task at hand (how the job should be performed) for which coaching was just fine.  But there can be political elements (how to work with people and functional areas associated with or impacted by an assignment) as well.  My coach/mentor’s insight on interpersonal dimensions was extra valuable.
4. They were lifelong learners and inspirational individuals because they led by example.  They had a passion for learning and sharing knowledge and their attitude of “the more you give the more you get” was infectious.

My hat is off to our next leaders, and to their mentors.  Now, let the story telling and eye rolling begin.

Former Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams’ keen ability to watch a baseball and react with a precise and powerful swing led him to the Hall of Fame. But he had a difficult time trying to pass on that skill. When he retired as a player and became a hitting coach, he was known to admonish his players repeatedly with: “Keep your eye on the ball,” likely not understanding that few players could follow a baseball as closely as he could.  A talented athlete isn’t always an effective coach.

The same is true in business. A salesperson with an exceptional record for consistently surpassing quotas may not necessarily be a good fit as a manager of a sales team. Managing takes different skills. His or her sales experience over the years may not be enough to propel him or her into a leadership role. Perhaps that tenacious salesperson could become an effective manager, but not without training on how to guide and motivate his employees.

Company leaders need to know not only how to best use the talents of their employees, but also how to strike a balance with the needs of their employees.  But it’s easy for leaders to become myopic, to think only of what needs to get accomplished that day or that week or month. And already pressed for time, managers understandably may be reluctant to take the additional time needed to think about each of his or her employees’ talents and interests and envision what role he or she might have in a year or two or ten. A manager who’s pleased with an employee’s work might not want to consider, let alone plan for that employee’s move to a different position.

The problem is that people tend to get bored in the same job after a certain number of years. They thrive on variety. If they’re not going to get it with their current company, they may start looking outside the organization. Planning for an employees’ future can be motivating for them, giving them something to aim for. At the same time, it can better prepare and position the company when job openings come up. More often than not, organizations focus on hiring and training new staff members for their current jobs rather than planning for what roles they might have in the future.

Managers typically have a good idea which employees have the potential to take on greater responsibilities. The tough part – and the part that’s often overlooked – is creating the development plan. That entails considering what conferences, work experience and training those employees need to prepare them to move into different jobs a few years down the road. If that manager isn’t looking ahead to where his or her employees might best serve the company in the future, the organization may not be prepared when positions come open. Turnover is inevitable. People move. They accept jobs with other companies. They retire or are laid off. For those transitions to be smooth, a company’s leaders need to look beyond what their employees are doing today. Today’s managers are called to recognize and train their future leaders to ensure the well-being of the employee and the company.

Peter Gibbons (employee):  The
thing is, Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy; it’s that I just don’t care.
Bob Porter (consultant):  Don’t…don’t
care?
Peter Gibbons:  It’s a problem of
motivation, all right?  Now if I work my
ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime, so
where’s the motivation?  And here’s
something else, Bob. I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Slydell:  I beg your pardon?
Peter Gibbons:  Eight bosses.
Bob Slydell:  Eight?
Peter Gibbons:  Eight, Bob.  So that means that when I make a mistake, I
have eight different people coming by to tell me about it.  That’s my only real motivation is not to be
hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. 
But you know, Bob that will only make someone work just hard enough not
to get fired.

Remember the film Office Space (1999), the satire on corporate culture that had us
laughing at the many ways a company’s managers humiliated its employees and how
its employees exacted revenge.  Did the
movie exaggerate corporate culture?  OK,
perhaps a little bit.  But too often,
company executives pay lip service to the idea that their employees are their
greatest asset and don’t carry that idea beyond the PowerPoint
presentation.  If a company really does
value its employees, it needs to consider the following:

1. 
Aligning goals: It’s not unusual for the various divisions of a company to get out of
sync because their goals are different. If employees feel as if they’re simply
following dictates they have little input in creating, they may not buy into
the goals or work toward them. And that could – and often does – hurt the
quality of the service or product being produced.  An employee who is heard feels more of a
partnership and takes pride in his or her daily work and how he or she represents
the company. Companies can overlook the importance of having companywide goals
set at an employee level, having only department wide goals. This leaves only
some managers and above with a vision of what the company is striving for.  Companies managing in this manner fail to see
the cost savings in sharing a high level view of company direction with their
employees, causing a lack of urgency, understanding, motivation and possibly a
sense of job security at the employee level.   

2. 
Developing Skills:  In a lagging economy, it’s easy for
company managers to say: We can’t afford training right now.  What they fail to see is that although
training can be an added expense, turnover can be even more costly.  Employees who don’t feel a sense of growth
are apt to leave for challenges elsewhere. 
So why not focus more on investing in the initial expense of training
employees than the later expense of having staff leave all too soon for jobs
outside the company.  

3. 
Mobilizing Talent:  Part of enabling staff at all levels to
feel empowered is to not let them stagnate in the same position if they aspire
to another job and have the talent to take it on. Thinking ahead means helping
an employee move up or over within the company if the employee proves he or she
has the skill and ambition to do that. 
While it may be challenging at first for that employee’s boss to have
him or her transfer out of a division, in the long run, the company will gain.

The
investment in a company’s workforce is well worth the return. The resulting
value that employees feel gives value back to the company by cultivating a
loyal and engaged staff and attracting new talent.

Beloit College recently released their Mindset List for the class of 2015.  This year’s list contains 75 items that provide a look at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of this fall’s entering class.  Most of this year’s freshmen were born in 1993, just for fun; take a look at the world through their eyes:

·         There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.

·         States and Velcro parents have always been requiring that they wear their bike helmets.

·         The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.

·         There have nearly always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S. Navy ships.

·         They “swipe” cards, not merchandise.

·         As they’ve grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.

·         Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter.

·         “Don’t touch that dial!”….what dials?

·         Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!

·         Amazon has never been just a river in South America.

·         Sears has never sold anything out of a Big Book that could also serve as a doorstop.

·         They’ve often broken up with their significant others via texting, Facebook, or MySpace.

·         They won’t go near a retailer that lacks a website.

·         Frasier, Sam, Woody and Rebecca have never Cheerfully frequented a bar in Boston during primetime.

·         Their parents have always been able to create a will and other legal documents online.

In general, the Mindset List is a statement of experiences and events that shape the views of this year’s freshmen.  And since most people believe their views are accurate it must also represent their understanding of the truth.  The perception is the reality.

Marketing is involved in the process of dealing with perceptions.  What makes the process even more challenging is that consumers frequently make purchasing decisions based on second-hand perceptions (friends, family and other social connections).  In short, they make purchasing decisions based on someone else’s perception of reality.  If your organization views the world through a product-centric position you may be inclined to dismiss the perception challenge.  Market research facts and figures convince you that the real truth is on your side and that the best product – your product, will win.  Do you believe that all you need is to have the truth on your side?  If so, you may need to modify your perceptions and embrace the phrase “through the eyes of the customer.”

Think about what first attracted you to your home. Your initial impression as you pulled up and viewed the unique landscape and exterior architecture. Realtor’s call it “curb appeal.” First impressions are important, as we all remember this warning: “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” In fact, psychologists, writers, and seminar leaders caution that we only have from seven to seventeen seconds of interacting with strangers before they form an opinion of us. With so much at stake have you considered your Twitter curb appeal? What I’m talking about are the elements of your Twitter page that can be personalized in a way to make your personal brand quickly stand out. Just consider these Twitter factoids from the folks at HubSpot:

• 59% of users fail to provide a web address in their profile
• 47% have not entered a bio in their profile
• Accounts with profile pictures have 10 times more followers than those without

Why are these points important? Because, when people are deciding whether to follow you they quickly look at your bio information, web address, picture icon, page background, location and recent updates to get a sense of who you really are. In short, your Twitter page is an extension of your personal brand. For that reason you should make sure your Twitter profile supports your personal branding goals and objectives. There are five areas of your page that you should focus on:

1. Profile picture. Pick something that fits the personal brand you want to project. In short, if you want people to take you seriously, don’t use an unprofessional picture. Also, consider how you may want to extend your personal brand across other social media platforms. In my case, I use the same profile picture for both Twitter and Facebook. I use a more formal picture for LinkedIn.

2. Bio information. Twitter only gives you 160 characters in this space so think about your personal elevator pitch. Say what you need to say, but don’t be afraid to let some of your personality show through. In addition, think about key word searches that might be run on the bio section through applications like Tweet Adder or Refollow to make sure your profile would surface.

3. Web site URL. Think about where you would want to redirect viewers for additional information. I use LinkedIn because it is a trusted source and recognized by most business professionals. I would not recommend using a URL shortener for this space. Your potential followers may not feel comfortable clicking on a link they don’t recognize, and at this point you don’t want to do anything that would discourage engagement.

4. Location. Some people feel uncomfortable disclosing their location. I believe the risk is worth the reward and that you’ll increase your chances of being found during relevant searches if you display both your city and state. Again, key applications like Tweet Adder and Refollow can leverage location information.

5. Background. Twitter offers several of their own backgrounds. However; if you’re looking to make your personal brand stand out I would recommend a customized background.

There are no mulligans or do-over’s when it comes to first impressions; so take the time to personalize your Twitter page. The extra effort shows your followers that you’re serious about your personal brand, and that encourages them to take you seriously, too.

“Give it to me in plain English.”  My children are grown now; but when they were teenagers I can still remember a few conversations that started with that phrase.  As a parent, I just wanted a straight explanation.  Come to think of it, as a public citizen and consumer I welcome communications that are clear, simple and jargon-free.  That’s why I find it interesting that the federal government is rolling out the Plain Writing Act.  The term ‘plain writing’ means writing that the intended audience can readily understand and use because that writing is clear, concise and well-organized.  It takes full effect in October, when federal agencies must start writing plainly in all new or substantially revised documents produced for the public.

“Federal writers are not supposed to be creating great literature,” the guidelines say. “You are communicating requirements, how to get benefits, how to stay safe and healthy, and other information to help people in their lives.”

What do you think?  Can clarity be legislated?  Can an organization that turns out boxcars of confusing benefit forms, tangled rules and foggy pronouncements change its culture?  It’ll be tough because federal employees tend to write with their bosses and agency lawyers in mind, not the public.

Does your marketing organization deliver in plain English?  Review your content and ask yourself … does this copy resonate with its intended audience?  It’s something to think about.

Maybe it’s just me and my Midwestern roots. But when you come at me full forces with “fanatical support” speak I feel a bit uncomfortable. Should I tell you my true feelings when you end our conversation with this question?

“Have I answered all your questions and delighted you?”

In truth you were not empowered to resolve my situation. So at the end of the day, I still have questions, and I’m really not delighted. Let me put it this way …

“You were very polite and I thank you for your time. It’s my sincere hope that some day your management will actually trust you enough to empower you to fix these situations in one simple call.”

Other than that, everything is just fine. I hope you have a great day!

It’s springtime and that means my weather alert radio will soon be broadcasting storm warnings:

 “The National Doppler Radar System has indicated that local conditions are right to produce severe weather.  High winds, damaging hail, and flash floods are likely products of this storm.  Seek immediate shelter moving away from doors and windows.”

Why do I often reject the alert advice by running to the front door to see what’s happening instead of heading directly to the basement?  Do I have a bit of storm chaser blood coursing through my veins?  Curiosity, adventure and scientific exploration motivate storm chasers and that can be helpful because when the social media lightning bolts fly the corporate climate can feel both scary-stressful and crazy-fun at the same time!  Social media has a way of generating the perfect corporate storm and the CMO is the natural lightning rod.  In fact, in today’s climate a CMO alert system might broadcast the following:

“The CMO Alert System has indicated that conditions are right to produce severe C-Suite turbulence.  High stress, damaging assumptions, and flash flood buzz words are likely elements of your next meeting.  Seek cross-functional support immediately.”

If you lead a marketing organization and are determined to keep your social media strategy on track you should consider the following:

1.   Face the storm.  You must face the storm, not your interns or even your direct reports.  If you hand off your social media strategy the chances of it surviving are about the same as a trailer park in the path of a F5 tornado.  Social media requires top level support and involvement.  You must stay personally engaged with the strategy.

2.   Look for the eye.  The eye of a tropical storm is a region of mostly calm weather.  Make no mistake though; the eye is not without risks.  After all, it’s surrounded by the eyewall where the most severe weather occurs.  Even so, quickly look for internal support from functional areas that are relatively calm in relation to social media initiatives.  Social media often requires major change efforts around corporate strategy, technology and processes.  And when it comes to change efforts, it’s a race to create a critical mass of support before resistance mounts. The longer it takes to create critical mass, the less likely that your effort will ever achieve it.

3.   Repair, rebuild and keep moving.  Unfortunately some storms produce damage.  If you’ve taken time upfront to create a strategic social media marketing plan and have social media standards and procedures in place you’ll be able to quickly address set backs and continue moving your strategy forward.

Storm warnings and lightning bolts may not sound fun.  But think about it, marketers have never been “dog days of summer” (stagnation and inactivity) type of leaders.

You weren’t expecting that title to kick-off my first post for 2011 were you?  Funny thing, it’s the title of chapter seven in Frederick Reichheld’s book The Loyalty Effect (©1996).  In that chapter Reichheld points out that an investor who built a stock portfolio out of the companies profiled in the book In Search of Excellence (Peters and Waterman ©1982) would have seen their returns trounced by the mediocre performance of the S&P index during the ten year period following the books 1982 publication.  In fact, by time Reichheld’s book came out in 1996 only one-fifth of the original companies profiled as “excellent” had remained excellent.

If success breeds success, how in the world did those companies lose their lofty status?  In Reichheld’s opinion what really helps us to achieve excellence is actually the study of failure.  It’s not exactly in our nature to seek out failure though; in fact, your career is probably linked to success, which means that getting too close to failure may feel threatening.  However, most people will admit that mistakes are often better teachers than success.  In fact, quality assurance experts will attest that when one component fails, it can cast a spotlight on the workings of an entire program.

Berry Network did many things really well last year.  In fact, as you might guess, I’m extremely proud of my marketing organization for the all the work they do.  From developing detailed media plans to designing testing programs, from creating new ads to managing thousands of production ads, from analyzing call data to developing detailed custom reports, from writing client newsletters to managing RFP’s; our marketing organization impacts all areas of our business.  Simply put, it would be difficult for BNI to function without them.  So, does that mean there is no room for improvement?  Hardly, we’ll keep pressing forward with our brand transformation and look for ways to help our sales teams profitably grow our revenue.  As we kick-off 2011 we’ll celebrate our successes.  But we won’t be afraid to examine opportunities for improvement.