Archive for June, 2009

If you are a leader, your the ultimate measure of your success is what you deliver.  Yes there are other factors that contribute to how you are rated as a leader but at the end of the day it is results that count.  If you are in any doubt about this, just pick up the business section of any good quality newspaper or sector publication and chances are you will come across:

1. Some leader who is under pressure to deliver a certain result.

2. Some leader who has been removed because the results delivered were not good enough.

With all of this focus on results, it is important that as a leader you use your biggest limiting factor wisely.  So what is the biggest limiting factor?  In my experience it is time.  There are always many options open to you on how you could use the time available but the amount you are allocated in a day, week, month or year is fixed.  Contrast with a constraint like the amount of budget you have available.  You can make a case for more financial resource and if your case is compelling enough, you have a good chance of securing additional resource.

So if time is a major constraint, you need to know when your own personal prime time is.  It will be different for different people.  Some people are at their best first thing in the morning, while for others burning the midnight oil is best.  When you know your personal prime time you:

1. Can schedule the most important tasks for the times when your performance is optimal.

2. Avoid wasting optimal performance time on anytime tasks.  You know things like e-mails, routine phone calls or texts.

3. Deliver better results, because you focus your attention on the things that have greatest impact on the results you deliver.

Bottom Line – Your personal productivity greatly influences your results.  So what steps are you going to take to do the most important things in your personal prime performance time?

Your CV or resume is in effect your personal selling document.  So what are my 5 key tips for refreshing your CV?

1. Start with a personal profile that pulls out the 5-6 bullet points that gets a potential employer interested

2. Focus on what you have achieved in each job that you have had rather than your responsibilities

3. Put your education towards the end of the CV.  Employers are interested in what you have done.  If you are applying for a job that requires a professional qualification and you hold that qualification, put your designatory letters after your name

4. Keep hobbies and interests brief

5. Exclude references as these are for later in the process

People rarely go out to work each morning with the intention of doing a bad job.  The vast majority want to do the best job they can, secure a good pay rise and progress.  So what is it that makes the high performers stand out?

Drive

The first key quality that high performers have is that they are highly driven to achieve.  They are not happy with mediocrity and are always looking to improve things or achieve a standard of excellence.  They thrive on moving beyond their current level of performance and testing themselves on new challenges.  How driven are you to achieving excellence?

Commitment

High performers are committed to their own personal goals and to the common goals of their organisations.  They are ready to make sacrifices to meet larger organisational goals and are actively seeking out ways of achieving a group mission.

How would you rate your commitment level?

Initiative

Initiative is grabbing the bull by the horns and making things happen.  It might be spotting and seizing a new opportunity.  Alternatively it might be cutting through red tape and getting things done.  It might be mobilising others to get results.  The common thing that they have is that they are not standing back waiting for others to tell them what to do.  They are getting on and making things happen.

Optimism

You may have heard people being described as glass half full or glass half empty people.  People who are glass half full are generally optimistic.  They expend their energies on overcoming the obstacles and achieving the result.  The glass half empty people focus all of their energy on what is not working and what is stopping them achieving.  Some of this is to do with background and training.  Many of the most successful people are not those that are academically gifted but have the positive outlook, mindset and self belief.

At the end of the day, the high performers share one overarching quality which is motivation.  So what could you start working on to move your career, life or business towards high performance?

What else would you add?

Management is what creates and sustains an organisation.  Without good management any business will struggle.  The trouble is that there is much to learn.  While continued learning is essential there are 10 skills that every manager needs if they are to succeed.

1. Planning

Without a plan, nothing is achieved.  As a manager you need to be competent in business planning, project planning, workload planning and contingency planning.

2. Communication

Communication covers writing, speaking and listening.  You must be competent in all 3 areas.  Many managers excel when it comes to speaking or writing.  I wonder how many managers you know who have mastered listening.

3. Decision Making

You might get a good view sitting on the fence.  Your job as a manager is to get results.  If you procrastinate and avoid taking decisions, nothing moves forward.  Be willing to take decisions and recognise that you will get a fair share of them wrong.

4. Delegation

We all love doing certain things.  Unfortunately as managers it is all too easy to hold on to tasks that they know they should no longer be doing.  We like things that we know how to do and there is little risk of problems.  If you don’t start to delegate, you are likely to end up failing as a manager.

5. Problem Solving

You and your team will encounter problems.  Others will look to you as the manager to come up with solutions.  Mastering problem solving will differentiate you from the team and show your boss that you can sort things out.

6. Interviewing

Recruitment of staff is probably one of the single biggest financial investments that any business makes.  Yet many managers have never been trained in interviewing potential hires.  Take the time to ensure that you develop these skills.  Interviewing with someone very experienced and competent at the start is a great way of developing your skills as you have back up and can get feedback.

7. Appraisal

Staff appraisal done well is a source of motivation.  Make sure that you understand your organisation’s process, are thoroughly prepared and conduct appraisal meetings professionally.

8. Poor Performance Management

Sooner or later you will have an employee who is not performing.  Many managers choose to ignore the warning signals.  By doing so they are building up future problems.  Deal with it early on, stating clearly the standards expected, where the employee is falling short and the improvements required.  Make sure everything is written down and agreed with the employee.  In tricky or complex cases seek advice from the Human Resources Department.

9. Motivating

You are responsible for getting results through others.  Keeping the team motivated, even when things are tough is essential.  Simple things like saying thank you, praising and being positive can make a huge difference.

10.  Finance

While many managers wish that the Finance Department will take care of everything, this is not reality.  As a manager you spend lots of company money and may generate some of it.  Start by thinking about how your actions and decisions impact on the finances of the business and you will be a step ahead of most.

There are a host of skills to master as a manager.  These, in my experience are 10 that you must have to prosper and realise your true potential.  What slse would you add to the list?

1.  Be actively involved in setting a budget

2.  Be clear on your assumptions

3.  Work with your accountant 

4.  Share the budget with your team

5.  Take responsibility

6.  Monitor performance and take action

7.  Focus on the most important numbers

Whatever point you are at in your career, chances are that you want to achieve success.  The reasons why people want career success are varied and include:

• Financial rewards and benefits

• The status and standing of being in a senior role

• The challenge of climbing the career ladder and overcoming the obstacles that arise

• Sense of personal achievement

While there are a whole host of reasons why people want to achieve career success, there is in my experience one key question that you need to be able to answer.  So what is that question?

WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL CAREER GOAL?

There are a number of reasons why it is essential that you answer this question and they include:

Reason 1: Helps you make choices

If you want to climb the career ladder and get a senior level post, you will need to gain a wide of skills, knowledge and experience.  In addition, you will have to develop a broad range of personal attributes.  Chances are there will be many opportunities that will arise which might appear attractive financially but might not be beneficial in achieving your overall career goal.  By being clear on your overall career goal you can make informed career move choices.

Reason 2: Helps you decide priorities

Every time you make a choice around your career, for example, stepping up to the next level, chances are you will be required to commit more to work.  If this fits in with your priorities around lifestyle then there is no problem.  The reality is that most people don’t take the time to consider where career fits into there overall lifestyle priorities.  We sometimes forget that the majority of people work to live not live to work.

Reason 3: Helps you determine how much you want it

Climbing the career ladder and holding down a job at a senior level is not easy.  A question you need to be able to answer is how much do you want it?  You will need to consider how determined you are, how much sacrifice you are ready to make, how much pressure you are comfortable dealing with to name just a few.  I suggest you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 means that you want it 100% and are willing to do what it takes to get there.

Bottom Line- Achieving career success requires determination, drive and a whole range of other personal attributes.  At the end of the day you need to be clear on your overall career goal if you are to maximise your chances of career success.

If you are honest, delegating effectively is one of the toughest challenges you face.  People avoid delegating for a number of reasons:

• Don’t understand the need to delegate
 
• Lack confidence in team to do what they require
 
• Don’t know how to delegate
 
• Tried and failed in the past so have a built in resistance
 
• Like doing a particular job so don’t want to let go of it
 
• Don’t understand their role as a manager
 
• Frightened of making themselves seem easily replaced
 
• Think they have no time to delegate
 
• Have nobody to delegate to

So how can you be more effective at delegating?

• Plan it in advance
 
• Think exactly what you want done

• Consider guidance needed
 
• Brief appropriately and check understanding
 
• Establish review dates and check understanding

• Create a buffer period so that there is time for revisions as required

• Delegate whole jobs, where possible
 
• Inform others who are involved

• Stand back, don’t hover
 
• Recognise work may not be done exactly the way you would do it

• Delegate responsibility as well as task

As a manager or leader you will no doubt have responsibility for undertaking staff appraisals.  If you have been appraised in the past by your manager it can appear easy and it should be.  So how can you make appraisals effective and powerful sources of staff motivation?

Planning

Planning is the key to effective appraisal.  Make sure that:

1. You schedule appraisal meetings at least two weeks before the appraisal date

2. You book a room for the appraisal

3. All of the pre-appraisal documentation goes out to the employee at least two weeks before the appraisal with clear instructions on how to complete it.  Within this documentation include a draft agenda

4. You set time in your diary to carry out the pre-meeting work

5. You block out sufficient time for the appraisal in your diary.  Ideally, I suggest that you block out a minimum of 2 hours for the meeting and have a gap of at least 30 minutes before the start time and your previous meeting

6. Re-familiarise with any company guidelines and training materials that might exist

Appraisal Meeting

The key to an effective appraisal meeting is to put the appraisee at ease.  One of the easiest ways of doing this is to spend a few minutes at the start chatting more generally about how things are going in life.  As the appraiser is important that:

1. You set the scene including being clear what the meeting is about and what it is not about

2. At least 70% of the talking should be done by the appraisee not you

3. You give the appraisee the opportunity to give their own self assessment of their performance before you

4. You don’t interrupt them even if you don’t agree with something they are saying

5. When you are giving your feedback, you are as specific as possible and ideally include examples to illustrate.  For example, I notice that you are always really well prepared with all the key information for your meetings with the divisional managers

6. You ensure that the appraisee is fully committed to and in agreement with objectives for the next period

7. You spend time looking at the development needs and career plans

8. Make sure the appraissee is clear on the next steps and timescales
After The Appraisal Meeting

1. Produce a meeting note or completed summary

2. Provide two copies of the meeting note or completed summary and ask the appraisee to sign and return one copy to you if they are in agreement that it accurately reflects what was discussed and agreed

3. Make yourself available to discuss concerns that the appraisee might have about the meeting note.  It could be that you have misinterpreted something or incorrectly recorded it

4. Set up a time to review progress on objectives

At the end of the day, a well planned and run appraisal meeting can have a powerful motivational impact on your staff, so don’t miss out on this opportunity.

In many professions, people who are highly capable individuals never realise their true career potential.  I know that during my 25 year career in accountancy it was not always the best accountants who made it to the more senior levels.

As someone who climbed the career ladder starting as a 16 year old with minimum qualifications and progressing through the ranks to Finance Director before deciding to set up my own business, I noticed a number of things that seemed to get in the way of success.

I recently did a free teleseminar where I spoke about some of the reasons why people might be stopping themselves even getting to the starting gate.  I shared my view on the biggest mistake that people make in their CV and offered some tips on interview success.

A link to the audio of that event is available below

If you find it valuable, I invite you to check out the Career Accelerator Self Coaching Workbook that I refer to towards the end of the recording.

As always, please leve any comments, observations or tips that you would add from your own experience.

In many organisations, once you have proven your abilities, the next logical step is to move into management.  While on the face of it this might appear sensible, it is worth consciously deciding if it is right for you.  So what are the key questions to ask yourself?

1. What Do You Want?

The obvious reply is more money.  The reality is that money is rarely a huge motivator in the longer term.  You might want challenging work, to make a contribution, to continually grow, to become the technical expert in your field.  Will a move into management take you closer to what you want?  Take the time to find out what really matters to you.

2. What Is Life Really Like As A Manager?

You can read books, articles, listen to podcasts or speakers that will tell you about management.  What you need to know is what it is really like.  Speak to those in management roles.  See if you can shadow some managers for a few days to see what the job is like.

3. What Skills, Knowledge and Personal Attributes Do You Need To Succeed?

Managing is very different to doing.  There are a whole set of skills, knowledge and attributes you need to succeed.  For example:

• Influencing

• Directing

• Taking responsibility

• Motivating

• Delegating

• Problem solving

• Project Management

Take the time to find out about the skills, knowledge and personal attributes you will need in your organisation, industry or specialism.

4. What Are You Really Great At?

Find out about yourself.  Assess your own strengths and get feedback from others.  The idea is to get an idea of where you excel.  Once you know this you can start to consider if management and you are a good fit.

5. Where Do You Struggle?

Knowing your strengths is vital.  Of equal importance is understanding where you struggle.  Assess yourself and get feedback from others.  Use this as a basis of personal development planning.

6. Do Your Strengths Greatly Exceed Your Weaknesses?

Having strong foundations to build on is essential.  If you find that your strengths far outweigh your weaknesses you have excellent foundations to build on.

7. Is The Time Right?

It can be tempting to be lured by the salary increase but ask yourself is the time right to move to management.  Indicators that it might be include:

• Possessing the right qualities

• Having positive feedback

• A desire for a new challenge

• Feeling that you have achieved all that you can in a task based role

• A readiness for change

8. What Do I Need To Focus On If The Time Is Not Right?

If you decide that you want to move into management eventually but not at the current time, start to put a development plan in place to:

• Build your strengths

• Work on your weaker areas

• Get you into a state of readiness

Ask for the help you need to achieve your plan and ultimate goal.

Moving into management is a major decision.  Treat it as such and you will move into it ready to embrace the challenges and opportunities.