Help.

Help. A small word, but so powerful.

It means you’re doing something for someone else. You’re trying to get someone to a better place. You are stepping in to turn around a bad situation. It’s about someone else.

Here are a couple of ways to incorporate “help” at work that I like.

1. When someone asks me to do something, I always say “I’m happy to help.”  I don’t say “fine”, “sure”, “ok”. When I say it, I mean: “I am on your side and will work to make you/this successful”.  I saw this happen at a management meeting where a CEO asked one of his directs to do something, and that was the person’s response. It always struck me as a gracious answer.

2. A junior person asked me for advice. She had down time during the day and wanted to do more. She spoke to her manager, but nothing had come out of it. She was wary about constantly asking her manager for more things to do, to own…she didn’t want to seem like a nag.  My suggestion to her was to ask him periodically, “How can I help?” It’s hard to get annoyed when someone’s offering to help.

3. Whenever I finish up my meeting with my manager, I always ask “Is there anything you need help with?” I just find it’s a good way to make sure there isn’t something that needs attention, and he knows that I care.

Here’s what I’ve learned about being my best self: being confident that I could help made it easier to put my fear of failing to the side. So when you find yourself fearful of taking the risk, ask yourself “Can you help?”

A quote I love….”Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Clear eyes, full heart.”

For those of you who have watched Friday Night Lights….you know what this means.

This was a show that got a lot of critical acclaim, but didn’t get the attention of the masses.

It’s available on Netflix: the hero of the show is the coach: he  is an amazing example of leadership. He’s tough, he’s demanding, and he’s loved. He’s noble. This was his motto.

Watch here on youtube a tribute of the show. Take a moment and give yourself a shot of inspiration. Can’t lose.

“You’re too detail oriented.”

So when someone tells me they got feedback that they’re too detail oriented, it has a couple of possibilities:

1. It could mean that you are so focused on the details, you can’t tell the story or set the context.  So you might know the data, but you can’t explain to people what the data means, or you don’t correlate different pieces of data into an overall conclusion. Force yourself to write a conclusions page: what are the conclusions? What is the decision which needs to be made? What’s the “net net”?

2. It could mean that you’re the law of diminishing returns. Meaning you’re so focused on chasing down the details, that big stuff is going wrong: like missing deadlines, or budgets. The effort you’re spending on the details might not be worth it. Ask yourself “Will it materially change the outcome?”

3. It could mean that they don’t think you know how to be strategic. Yes, details matter. But step back, and ask yourself “Why is this information important? What is it telling us?” My rule of thumb about presenting numbers: the reader should have an immediate reaction of “good” or “bad”.  If they don’t, chances are the data has no context, so they can’t tell if the number is a good one or a bad one. You want it to be clear to your reader. Data does not always equal information.

4. You might be obsessing about stuff no one cares about. Are you one of those folks who continually send presentations back with lots of little corrections at the last minute which don’t change the content of the presentation? Or you bring up questions and make your team chase down issues which aren’t relevant to the overall decision, so it wastes people’s time?  Take a step back: you might be driving everyone crazy.

Details are important for credibility, but too many details without context don’t have much meaning. Make sure you can see the forest for the trees.

6. No substitute for in person talking.

There are times when nothing can substitute for in person talking. There are two situations where I have seen communications go awry.

1. You offend someone. People are sensitive. And while email and texts are efficient, they can lack context and end up miscommunicating intent. And though you didn’t intend to do it, now you’ve got to go mend fences.  I have seen two very senior people not speak to each other for months because of a miscommunication. It can happen because someone got blindsided in a presentation, because an inappropriate response was sent to many people on email, because something got repeated out of context…you get the drift.

When this happens, you need to go see the person and have the conversation. It doesn’t have to be confrontational…often a “Hey, got a minute? I wanted to talk to you about something …” works. Then have the conversation you probably should have had in person versus email/powerpoint/text or whatever form it came in instead.  You don’t need to apologize for your point of view, but you do need to apologize for how you made the other person feel.  I have said things like ” I didn’t mean to make you feel I was unsupportive. I didn’t mean to make you feel blindsided.” Then move on.

2. There’s a crisis brewing, but you rely on email or voicemail to tell people.

This is the “bad news does not age well.” When you have a problem or issue, here are the steps I’ve taken to make sure people are aware.

1. I stick my head in the office with the “heads up” message. Yes, I interrupt if it’s important enough. It usually goes like this:

“Just wanted to make you aware, we just found out that x happened. We’re still chasing down all the facts, but it looks like y, but we won’t know until probably end of day today. I’ve got Joe and Nancy working on it, and we’ll come back to you when we have more data.”

In that 15 second sentence, the following happened 1) I let my boss know, 2) my boss knows it just happened, 3) he knows I’m looking into the details, 4) he knows when I’ll get back to him, and 5) he knows who I have assigned the problem to.

Now, my boss might have more questions, but in 15 seconds, I covered the most likely set of questions which he would ask. the most important thing: I got to him before anyone else did.

2. More time has passed, and now I have more information. So I’m back in my boss’s office, telling him 1) chronology of what happened, 2) what we need to do now, 3) what we still don’t know, 4) who’s been notified or needs to be told, 5) if I need resources/take action to resolve.

3. After the crisis is resolved, I always go back with the team with the question: “What do we need to change to make sure this doesn’t happen again?”. Nothing is worse than a problem that repeats itself.

And those two senior people who stopped talking? I advised one to go and buy the other person a cup of coffee and go visit him in his office. Just a casual “stop by”. They chatted, and started talking again.

 

 

 

Happy New Year and Thank you

As we close out 2014 (where did it go?) and get ready to dive into 2015, I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year…health, happiness, and success in 2015.

I also wanted to thank all of you: this blog started as a hobby this spring, and it’s been great to know in my small way, there are those of you who find it helpful and valuable. I’ve gotten notes and emails which have been so heartwarming…definitely keeps me motivated to keep writing.

See you next year!

The First Most Important Lesson I Learned About Money

There are many books about how to obtain financial independence. This one book, “Your Money or Your Life” changed my life. No exaggeration.

Why? Because it introduced the concept of being able to pay your expenses through income derived from savings, not just salary.  I always thought the only way to live was to earn wages.  But I knew I wanted more flexibility, independence, and freedom in my life. I wanted choices. So I was willing to save to do it.

It’s not easy to do, but everything starts with one step. You have to become an HCS (Highly Committed Saver).

The step is to decide how much money you will commit to saving for you. You’ve probably heard this in the form of “Pay yourself first.” It can be any amount you choose, but it has to be something you will commit to and do with every paycheck.  Like everything in life worth having, it depends on consistency.  Most people look at what they have leftover AFTER they’ve paid all their bills…..and a lot of times, there isn’t much.  This step requires you to commit to a number ahead of time.

By making this commitment to yourself, you’re more likely to make the decisions that you need to make during the month to ensure you’ve got the ability to cover your promise. You’ll pass on the spur of the moment purchase, the sweater on sale that you don’t really love,  the brunch with the huge group of people which isn’t a lot of fun, but costs you $75 by the time the bill is split. And little by little, it will start accumulating.

Here’s why this is so important. It’s because of compounding. The power of time. So here’s how it works based on a study which was done by Market logic:

Joe opens an IRA at 19 years old. For 7 years in a row, he puts $2,000 into his IRA, avg growth of 10%. Then he stops. No more contributions. He’s done.

Tom doesn’t contribute until 26. Then he puts $2,000 a year until he’s 65. Avg growth of 10% again.

Joe ends up with $930,641. Tom ends up with $893,704.

Now it takes more than just this to obtain financial independence. And yes, 10% returns are high and won’t happen every year. But no matter what the rates are, you get the point. New Year’s Eve is around the corner: doesn’t this seem like a great resolution? What are you waiting for?

“It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you keep.”

 

Feedback Decoded: “People don’t know if you can make the hard decisions”

This is another way of saying you’re too nice. When someone says this to me, it almost always is in reference to someone who is very nice, easy to get along with, non-confrontational, goes with the flow.

Those would seem like positive attributes. Here’s what they’re worried about: every person will be faced with making a hard decision in their career: one that’s unpopular, difficult, emotionally draining, but still the absolute right thing to do. The question in their mind is “will you still be able to do the right thing, even if it’s difficult?”  You can’t be maniacal about doing the right thing if you’re afraid of the hard decisions.

If you get this feedback, you want to make sure it’s clear to people around you that while your style may be balanced and calm, you can still make the hard decisions. When’s the last time you put a contrary position on the table for discussion? When’s the last time you productively pushed back?  People look for examples of past behavior to confirm that you have the ability to do so in the future.

If you’re not able to do it, try to understand what holds you back. Are you afraid of being wrong? Have you always been the peacemaker in your family? Are you afraid of confrontation?

What helps me push through my fears is if I believe it’s the right decision. When it’s about the decision, it gets easier because it’s not about you. Try not to focus on what it means for you….instead, focus on why you believe. Then make your case.

 

It’s OK not to know what you want to be when you grow up

I can’t tell you how many people are relieved when I tell them this.

The impression I get is that people think senior people always knew what they wanted and how they were going to get there. That there was a plan.

Speaking for myself, there was NEVER a plan. I was a history major undergrad, and I thought I was going to be a lawyer. But I ended up working in banking, and decided to stay in financial services. I have held positions in marketing, operations, pricing, new product development, reengineering. I’ve worked in credit cards, private banking, corporate banking, retail brokerage, and high net worth asset management.

My point is that clearly I didn’t have a plan. But I did have two requirements: that my next job was always going to be challenging in some way because there were new things to learn, but I would also be able to contribute to the role immediately because of what I already knew.  That way, I wasn’t walking into a job where everything was new.

When you’re starting out in your career, it’s perfectly ok not to know what you want to be. Here’s the analogy I gave to someone recently:

Imagine a huge buffet with 300 different dishes. Knowing what you want to be when you grow up is like me asking you “What is the one dish you want to eat for the rest of your life?”  It’s reasonable for you to look at me and say “But I’ve only tasted this one dish!”

As you progress in your career, you’re going to try lots of different things. You’ll figure out what you like and what you don’t like, and hopefully, you find the dish you’ll want to eat for the rest of your life.

But in the meantime, relax. It’s ok not to know. Just make sure you’re doing what you need to do to eventually figure it out.

How to Help Your Boss Help You

One of my favorite movies is Jerry Maguire. I mean, how could you not love that movie? I love it because it’s about standing up for what you believe in, figuring out what’s important, living a life that’s authentic to you.

The greatest line is when Jerry is telling Rod “Help me help you.” My favorite scene is here.

Many of you are starting to think about your next role…but you don’t know quite how to figure out what that next role is. After all, all you know is your role.  So you have a conversation with your manager….and he/she is equally perplexed how to help you find that next role too because they are also limited to what they know.

So here’s the question I would ask your manager:

“Who are the three people you think I should meet with who could help me figure out what my next role might be?”

Every manager knows three people who can be helpful in this capacity: either because the person has been at the firm a long time (the Guide), or because the individual has had lots of mobility moves themselves (the Mobility Whisperer), or because the person is trusted and respected (the Sage).  Once you get the names, send an email to each of them separately that says something like “Hello G, my name is Sue, and I’m currently working for Joe in x department in Marketing. I’ve been thinking about what my next step might be, and he suggested that you would be a good person to talk to. Can I set some time up on your calendar at your convenience?”  It might take some time to set up, but most people love to share their experiences and help someone else.

This way you can move the ball forward, expand your network, and figure out what your next move might be.