Posts Tagged ‘goals and achievements’

Employees, and indeed all of us, thrive on feedback. Giving feedback is sometimes seen as difficult but in reality there are some simple things you can do to improve how you give feedback.

Be specific with your feedback rather than generic. While any feedback is better than none, the more specific it is the better.

Give specific examples of what you noticed, especially when giving praise and positive feedback. Examples really re-enforce the fact that you really noticed something good that someone did.

Do it as a matter of routine rather than relying on formal appraisal or performance meetings to give feedback.

Ask for others’ perspectives as they may well see things that you don’t.

Prepare in advance of giving feedback. This is particularly important when you have to give what might be perceived as difficult feedback.

Step into the shoes of the recipient and look at things from their perspective. It might just influence the way you deliver your message.

Try to match the style or preferences of the recipient. Some will want a very simple “thank you” while others may want more detailed feedback.

Avoid making it personal by focusing on behaviours or impact of doing or not doing something.

Accept you will sometimes make a hash if it. You are human and cannot deliver perfect feedback all of the time.

Never underestimate how much people value feedback and a simple bit of praise. “Thank you” or “well done” takes seconds to say but can yield huge benefits in terms of motivation.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective managers. He invites you to sign up for his free e-course, Management Mastery, at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Being in a leadership role in an organisation, whether small or large, is demanding. Faced with these demands it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and what is key to achieving long term organisational success.

So what in my experience are the keys to achieving long term organisational success?

Key 1: Clarity Of Direction

You need to be clear about where you are heading. While you will need to be flexible from time to time, it is important to keep focus on the end game.

Key 2: Products Or Services Someone Wants To Buy

Ultimately, unless you have sufficient demand for what you offer, you can never achieve long-term success.

Key 3: The Ability To Market What You Have To Offer

There is little use in having a product or service that is world-class but the best kept secret.

Key 4: The Ability To Convert Interested Parties Into Buyers

A lot of interest in what you have to offer is great but the real acid test is whether you can convert the interested into buyers.

Key 5: Good Back Office Processes

Some businesses do a great job at making the sale but struggle with delivering the product or service because they don’t pay enough attention to the back office stuff.

Key 6: A Range Of Products And Services

Successful organisations know that products and services have a period when they are at their peak so spread the risk by having products and services at different stages in the life cycle.

Key 7: Employees Who Are Engaged

A lack of engagement hurts organisations in terms of productivity, sales, customer satisfaction and profits.

Key 8: People Who Can Do The Job Well

Successful organisations have people who are appropriately skilled and developed to do the job to the highest standard.

Key 9: A Willingness To Innovate

People have a thirst for new things or things that improve what is already on offer and good organisations respond to this demand through innovating.

Key 10: A Willingness To Take Balanced Risks

No organisation can get beyond a certain point without taking some sort of risk.

The Bottom Line:

In a fast moving world where there is a demand for instant results it is easy to lose sight of the key things that contribute to organisational success. I wonder what else you would add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

When people go for a job interview it is pretty commonplace to be asked how others would describe you. In the interview you probably trot out a good answer that ticks the boxes in the mind of the interviewer.

The trouble is, beyond the interview situation few people ever really give much thought to this question and this is a lost opportunity.

The question is great in many ways:

1. It gets to the heart of the type of leader that you want to be.
2. It shapes how you interact with others, behave, set an example and go about undertaking your role as a leader.
3. It keeps you constantly conscious of what it is that makes you perform at your best.
4. It gives you a marker or frame of reference against which you can check before getting into a difficult conversation or making a difficult decision.

When your team is asked this question I guess that you and most leaders and managers would like to hear things like:

1. They are highly supportive of me and the team.
2. They encourage us to try new things and provide the safety net to allow us to do this.
3. They are approachable and I can go to them if I have a struggle.
4. They are honest with me.
5. I trust them completely.
6. They are a great role model and someone from whom I can learn.

By contrast, few leaders or managers would like to hear the following:

1. They are totally autocratic and never involve us. They might best be described as the Nike boss who says “Just Do It”.
2. They put excessive demands on the team and we feel like we are collapsing under the weight.
3. The only person that matters to them is themselves.
4. They take all the glory when things go well and never acknowledge the contribution of others.
5. They blame and try to pass the buck when things go wrong.

And here is the good news. You get to determine for what you have a reputation as a leader or manager. So what choices will you make?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Moving into a leadership role for the first time should be a time of celebration. Yet often, once the initial excitement dies, it can feel like a real struggle.

So what would I highlight as 10 struggles facing new leaders?

Struggle 1: Making The Mindset Shift

Up until the point where you are in a leadership role, you are probably doing a lot. You measure your success on what you get done. As a leader, you are often spending a lot of time looking long-term and not seeing immediate returns from your efforts. This takes a time to adjust to.

Struggle 2: Accepting You Are At The Bottom Rung Of The Ladder

Just before you became a leader you probably were at the top of your peer group. When you move into the leadership role, you are at the bottom rung of the ladder once again.

Struggle 3: Adjusting To Your New Role

One of the things I found when I first stepped into a leadership role was accepting that I could not physically deliver the same volume when I was spending a lot more time in meetings.

Struggle 4: Feeling Under Pressure

New leaders often feel under real pressure to deliver something of significance quickly because you are under scrutiny. If you doubt this, just tale a look at the business section of a good quality newspaper. Keep in mind though that leading is a marathon, not a sprint.

Struggle 5: Feeling Isolated

Being a leader is very often a lonely existence. You might not have someone who you can speak to and discuss concerns with confidentially. This isolation can be tough and is not always something you appreciate before you become a leader.

Struggle 6: Doing What You Always Did

Being a leader is different to anything else you have done in your career so far, so you need to be willing to work differently.

Struggle 7: Making An Impact

The chances are you are joining an already established leadership team. The challenge is to make an impact without upsetting the balance in the existing team.

Struggle 8: Speaking Up

It is easy to think that, because you are the new kid on the block, your point of view is not valid. You have to speak up and offer your point of view with confidence and the realisation that you might get shot down.

Struggle 9: Getting Out Of The Way

You probably have a highly capable deputy who can pretty much do all of the things you can do but perhaps has chosen not to step up to the next level. Your challenge is to acknowledge this, focus on your role and let your deputy do what they do well.

Struggle 10: Continuing To Develop

You will more than likely find that the biggest constraint you face is time, or the lack of it. When this happens, it is easy to put your development on the back burner even though the need to develop is never greater.

The Bottom Line:

Success as a new leader is never guaranteed but changing your behaviour and getting the right support can really make a difference.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

If you are good at what you do, the chances are you will find yourself in a position where you have to manage a team sooner than you expected.

One would think that managing a team should not be that difficult, yet in reality there are many challenges. Here are 10 of the challenges I notice and have experience from managing teams.

1. Collaborating is not the norm. If you think about it, education, applying for a job and getting picked to represent your country in sports are all competitive. There are winners and losers.
2. Everyone has a view but not everyone is willing to take action or put in the effort to make the great idea a reality. It’s easier for some people to stand on the sidelines and criticise.
3. Trust is really difficult to earn and even tougher to maintain.
4. Hindsight is a great thing and people and the media are often always wise after the event.
5. People tend to remember the few times you messed up rather than the 99% of the time you did well.
6. People want to have influence but are not always willing to take responsibility for the consequences.
7. You rarely get the opportunity to hand pick your own team and more often than not you have to get by with what you inherit.
8. You have to be willing to delegate, which brings with it risk and insecurity.
9. People have short term memories and sometimes quickly forget what you have done for the team in the past.
10. You are piggy in the middle. By that I mean you have subordinates who have expectations of you as well as superiors. It can feel like a no-win situation at times.

The Bottom Line: Managing a team is both hugely rewarding and hugely demanding.

If you have enjoyed this blog post check out my Management Mastery For Professionals e-course at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk

Most people start their career with huge expectations and perhaps even bigger things they want to achieve.

Some go on to achieve great success but others, particularly those from professional backgrounds, often struggle. So what are some of the barriers that stop people getting ahead in their career?

1. Failing to get clear about what they want to achieve short term and long term. Being clear about where you are going helps you make informed choices.
2. Being unwilling to put in the effort. In many professions there is a level you cannot get beyond without a professional qualification. I am not saying this is fair but it is reality. We all know that getting any type of professional qualification requires effort.
3. Being a minimalist. By that I mean never going beyond the boundaries of what they are paid to do.
4. Lack of confidence. It amazes me when I come across highly competent people who are lacking self-confidence. Don’t confuse confidence with never worrying. Confidence is what pushes you forward even when there are some big obstacles.
5. Failing to get noticed by the decision makers or those who have the ear or can influence the decision makers.
6. Underselling what you have to offer. It is easy to think that all the organisation is interested in is the people who sell or are in the creative functions. Every organisation needs good people in every discipline so make sure you sell what you have to offer.
7. Never learning how to manage and in some cases resisting any suggestion to learn the oddly named softer skills.
8. Failing to continuously develop yourself and finding that what you thought were assets are actually obsolete skills.
9. Making career moves that look great in the short term but are really bad news long term.
10. Never mastering how to be successful in interviews and handle the pressure of the interview situation.

The Bottom Line: We all start with the same opportunity and to a large extent influence how far we go.

If you have found this blog post valuable I invite you to check out my audio masterclass on climbing the career ladder.

As candidates become more and more skilled at handling traditional job interviews, more employers are looking for additional ways of supplementing interviews. One of the ways they do this is by asking candidates to do a 10-15 minute presentation.

For many professional people this can be a challenge. Yet in truth there are some really good reasons why employers ask candidates to job interview presentations.

Reason 1: Test Knowledge

Sometimes employers will just want to know what level of knowledge you have on a specific area of the job and the presentation allows them to assess this.

Reason 2: Cover One Of The Big Areas Of The Job

Perhaps there is an element of the job into which employers want to go in much more detail.

Reason 3: To Get A Candidate’s Perspective On An Issue

There may be something out to consultation from say government which will impact on the organisation if they become law. Asking the candidate to present will elicit their thoughts.

Reason 4: To See How They Respond To A Brief

Think about it; you will be getting briefed on things and asked to respond all of the time if you get the job.

Reason 5: To See If You Can Clearly Communicate Your Thoughts

Professional people are often trying to make the complex simple. Getting someone to explain something technically complex to a lay person is a great way of seeing if they can communicate.

Reason 6: To See How Thoroughly They Prepare

Employers can determine pretty quickly how thorough someone has been from what they present.

Reason 7: To See How They Perform Under Pressure

The chances are, giving the interview presentation will be a walk in the park compared to doing the job but it still gives a sense of how people will perform under pressure.

Reason 8: To See How They Deal With Being Put On The Spot

You might be asked to turn up 30 minutes ahead of the interview and be asked to do a short presentation or analysis on something you have just been given to see how you handle being put on the spot.

Reason 9: To See How Persuasive You Are

In a job that requires you to get the support of others, your ability to persuade others will matter a lot.

Reason 10: To See How You Interact

In other words, how you connect with others.

The Bottom Line: Interview presentations are becoming more and more common. Key to your success is not just focusing on the presentation but also understanding why you are being asked to do it.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people to fulfil their career potential so that they get the rewards and recognition they desire. Sign up for his free audio masterclass at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

If we think about it, job interviews are really strange. The employer is making a major investment decision, often on the basis of a few hours interaction with candidates.

As the candidate, you want to go into the interview giving yourself the best chance of success and key to that is knowing what employers want. So what is it employers want from candidates in job interviews?

Evidence That You Have Prepared

You can learn an awful lot, both positive and negative, by the way a candidate prepares for an interview. Employers will want to know that you have done your homework. How they test this is by asking you what you know about the company, the industry or sector.

Clarity About The Contribution You Can Make

Other than for the most basic level jobs, employers will want to know what you will contribute if appointed. It could be skills, attributes, experience or knowledge. What ever it is, you need to be able to articulate your contribution.

Transferable Skills

You might be doing a brilliant job where you are at the moment but if you have been in your current post for a period of time, employers will want re-assurance that your skills are transferable.

Enthusiasm

Let’s face it, if you cannot get yourself enthused about the interview you are unlikely to create the right impression. Enthusiasm demonstrates to a potential employer that this job really interests you.

Confidence That You Will Fit In

In 99.9% of cases you are going to be joining a team that already exists. As you progress to more senior levels the extent to which you are going to fit in to an existing team becomes hugely important.

Adaptability And Flexibility

Just about every sector needs people who can adapt and be flexible. Change might not be something you get enthusiastic about but it is part and parcel of successful organisations these days.

The Bottom Line: Interviews are tough for both employers and candidates so give yourself the best chance of success by following these simple but important tips.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people to fulfil their career potential so that they get the rewards and recognition they desire. Sign up for his free audio masterclass at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

As a highly qualified and highly capable professional, you know that you are good at what you do. Over the years I have seen many great professionals getting stuck in their quest to climb the career ladder.

So what can you do to get yourself unstuck and to get ahead in your career?

Key 1: Know Your Personal Strengths

Just like any expert or successful person in any field, you need to play to your strengths. Before you can play to your strengths you need to know what they are.

Key 2: Present What You Have To Offer Effectively

So often I see people with a CV that does nothing to entice a potential employer. Remember that, as you climb the career ladder, the number of opportunities decline so what you have to offer needs to catch the eye and stand out.

Key 3: Be Willing To Operate Outside The Boundaries Of Your Job Description

Your job description is a framework or a list of general things expected from you. If you just stick within the boundaries of your job description you are unlikely to ever grow or develop.

Key 4: Know What The End Game Is

For some it will be a top job in their profession; for others it will just be having some influence. You need to be clear where you are heading in your career in the long term.

Key 5: Get A Reputation For Reliability

There is only one thing worse than not volunteering and that is offering to do something and then not delivering.

Key 6: Find Out Who The Key Decision Makers And Influencers Are

They are the people who can make things happen for you in your organisation if you show them what you can do.

Key 7: Don’t Be Afraid To Speak Up

People can worry about speaking up because when the subject is not their area of expertise. Occasionally the most obvious questions can really move things forward as sometimes those with the expertise are too close to the issue.

The Bottom Line: Achieving career success requires work but doing some simple things well can make a big difference.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people to fulfil their career potential so that they get the rewards and recognition they desire. Sign up for his free audio masterclass at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Reviewing the content on a group that I belong to on one of the major social media sites recently, I came across an interesting job advert. In a nutshell the recruiter was looking for someone who stood out from the crowd, was a self-starter and a good communicator.

Now it might have raised a bit of a chuckle and ideas in my mind as to what it meant in practice and it got me thinking about the whole way we communicate.

As a leader one of the keys to success is getting results through others. However before you can get results through others you need to specify what is required.

Perhaps you are thinking that it can’t be that difficult to do. You might well be right but how often do you see:

• Job descriptions that are so vague they are almost meaningless
• Employee objectives merely being a list of actions rather than measurable results
• Two people leaving a meeting with a completely different understanding of the next steps
• People reporting back and assuming that someone else was dealing with this or that aspect of a project.

We all know that vaguely specified requirements can lead to:

• Things not being achieved
• Resources being wasted
• Additional costs being incurred when adjustments need to be made to what already has been done.

So as a leader, if you want to get even better results and achieve more success, start:

• Specifying what is to be achieved in terms of results or outcomes
• Making it crystal clear who is responsible for what
• Setting clear and unambiguous deadlines.

The Bottom Line: Sometimes it is the simple changes that yield the biggest benefits. To be more successful, start by being specific when giving direction and setting expectations.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.