Cameron Test Bootstrap: May 2015

Understanding How People Watch NCAA Sports (It's a Marketing Post)

One of the responses to my quick couple of questions last Friday (you can still answer them - I'll still read your responses) on what I could help with was: "Understanding how people actually watch and follow NCAA sports." Now, the survey was anonymous, but I figured out who posed this question since it was a friend of mine and we have had conversations on the topic before. Since sports in general are not really the primary topic of this blog, I'll work in something else, but I'll give you the answer I gave my friend as well (since I do like some collegiate sporting events).

So, why do people follow NCAA sports? Here are some of the reasons:

Connection to a particular school or team, either as a student, alumnus, or relative of an alumnus.
Connection to players (either directly or from connections to their high school or hometown).
Belief that those performing in the hopes of getting a career are at times more exciting than those protecting a career.
The different experience that lopsided mismatches in teams could make, as opposed to relative parity in professional sports.
The greater potential for "big plays" that college sports can bring by capitalizing on mistakes not often seen in the pros.

So why is that relevant in business? Well, if you are in marketing, this helps define the profile of someone that watches these events, and you can tailor your message to that audience. If the above reasons are true, then you might assume that the following messages could be conveyed in your marketing message:

Loyalty to team (and brand) ranks above all else.
Ideas of home and identity with hometowns and hometown values are important.
The audience identifies with hard work and trying to make a name for one's self.
The viewers identify with a secret desire to dominate the competition.
Excitement and edge-of-the-seat action is an experience that is highly valued.

Do any of those messages resonate with the product you are putting in the market? Is this your audience? Or better yet, what audience are you trying to reach and what messages resonate with them? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Photo credit: skitterphoto on Pixabay

Time to Think Retirement

One of the questions I got from last week's quick questions (click if you haven't answered, I'm still reading responses) was to talk about how early to start saving for retirement. There is a very simple answer: as early as possible. That said, I thought it would be much much easier to give you a nice visual and some numbers.

So I decided to profile three investors. But to level the playing field, I gave them all the same income levels: $51,939, which was the median household income (note: household, not salary) from 2013. I gave them all the same investment strategy as well - invest 15% of your total household income into stock-based mutual funds over a long-term investment target. Finally, I gave them all a 9.3% annual return, which is the fifty year average on the stock market. The only variable in their investment strategies was when they started investing.

If you see the graph above, you can tell that Investor 1 (we'll call her Jane) ended up better off than Investor 2 (Bob) or Investor 3 (Sam). You might not be able to tell from the graph, though, how much better off she ended up, so here are the hard numbers.

Remember, all three invested 15% of their income and never got a raise their entire lives. That's a stupid assumption, but again, just leveling the playing field for time.

Jane started investing 15% right out of college at 23 and at 67, had $4,359,743.49. Take a hard look at that number, and think about the fact that even if the assumptions are WAY off, Jane is still a millionaire. No question about it.

Bob waited a little bit to get started and did not bother with his investment strategy until he was 35. Still, at 67, he retired with $1,461,084.03. Still a millionaire in his own right, assuming that all of my financial assumptions are perfect. Though, if I were the investor, I am not sure I would bank on my math and assumptions being spot on.

Poor Sam did not start investing until 45, though I will let you and the tabloids surmise the reasons why. Regardless, Sam ended up clearing just over half a million dollars (with my assumptions intact), with $556,404.92 at 67. While not so far behind Bob as to cry tremendously, when Jane's yacht goes sailing by, Sam may have second thoughts about how the money was spent forty years prior.

These numbers are not your numbers. But the variable of time is constant, and you will find that no matter what your rate of return or your salary or investment percentage, the retirement key is: The earlier that you can get investing, the bigger the return. How is your investment strategy panning out? Do you have one

We're Talking About Practice

I saw a mention the other day in USA Today that we had just passed thirteen years since Allen Iverson's rant on practice (embedded video above from YouTube). If you've never seen it, go ahead and watch. I'll wait. The background is that some reporters questioned Iverson on missing some practices to which he responded in such a way that every time someone mentions the word "practice" this press conference comes into my mind.

While I can understand Iverson's core concept that performance in the game and the results achieved there are more important than what happens outside of the game, there are at least two flaws in that logic. First, that missing practice does not impact the other players on the team. Not practicing meant that all the team formations, drills, and collaborative sessions were less productive since Iverson wasn't there to contribute. But I'm not here to criticize a man nearly a decade and a half later. The independent flaw that I found applies today to anyone that refuses to practice. The idea that you are already great.

Malcolm Gladwell introduced his idea of the 10,000 hour rule in his book Outliers, claiming that in order to achieve mastery, an individual must first exercise 10,000 hours of practice. It's a modern twist on the old adage of "practice makes perfect." Even if you don't believe in concepts like mastery or perfection, I have a slightly different take. Practice is the only way to improve, and people can always improve. (Tweet that if you like)

To be transparent, this blog is my form of practice. My original goal was to write 250 posts, hitting Monday through Friday for nearly a year. In the process, I'm learning to write better, but also learning how we interact and how we can develop a conversation through this. After 250, we'll see where we go. I can only imagine at this point I'll continue, though the schedule might change. And who knows, maybe I will have a book or some other stuff for you to read at that point.

So what are you practicing? And how are you getting better at what you do and what you want to do? Leave me a comment or drop me a line and let me know.

No Job Too Small

Photo by manuelwagner0 on Pixabay

Hey everybody, first I want to say thanks to everyone who answered my three questions from last week. Truly appreciate the feedback and ideas, and if you haven't had a chance, I would really appreciate if you could spend a minute answering the three quick questions.

Have you ever met someone who honestly thought that certain jobs at work were "beneath" him or her? Maybe it is making copies, answering phones, scheduling meetings, or other tasks that they refuse to do for some reason. That thought process does not make much sense to me and seems a bit too arrogant to have a place in a good collaborative environment.

That's not to say that in a broad team environment, some individuals should prioritize their time around activities that they do have the skills to perform that others do not have. As a highly functioning team, other team members should also recognize what skills their team members do and do not possess and orchestrate tasks around those specialized skills. Such prioritization ensures that all the work gets done. But that recognition should be the organization's, either hierarchically (the boss can always delegate) or by consensus (we all agree you should spend today working on this instead of that). It should never be an individual's broad claim against equals.

For entrepreneurs, this is natural. Many entrepreneurs start with no employees. They wear every hat in the business, and learn the ins and outs of their business at every single level. Adding employees just adds tasks that also need to get done, whether payroll, human resources, coaching, or management. The entrepreneur knows that if she does not do the task, no one will. If some jobs are beneath her, the business will fail. (Tweet that)

"The entrepreneur knows that if she does not do the task, no one will. If some jobs are beneath her, the business will fail."

For those that hail from a more corporate environment, I'd challenge the theory as well. Again, the structure of the team and nature of the work may dictate a set of priorities of which some tasks may fall to certain team members. But if copies need to be made, no one should declare themselves better than the copy duties. As a business, it may be prudent to decide someone making $200,000 a year should not spend much time at the copier. But the person making that money is getting paid to drive the business, and that $100 per hour covers determining business strategy, making extremely difficult decisions, or clicking that copy button.

So the next time you encounter someone who won't do a certain type of work, or you think to yourself that something is beneath you, ask yourself where those feelings come from: what the business needs or what you want?

Happy Memorial Day

No post today, but I hope that you enjoy yourself, particularly if you have today off of work.

Take a moment today as well to remember those who have died in service to our country and to honor and respect those that currently serve. Their job is incredibly difficult, and our lives would not be the same without them.

3 Quick Questions

I've got something a little different for you today: a favor. I'm working to make this site useful to you, as well as determine how to best get content for you that is relevant. Could you take one minute or less and answer three questions? And if you haven't already, subscribe to the blog feed so you can keep getting updates from me and we can work together on keeping this going!

Thanks in advance if you take the quick minute or so and click through these three. I really appreciate it!

Create your own user feedback survey

If You Build It

Nebraska Furniture Mart - Texas

This past weekend, we took our first trip to the Texas Nebraska Furniture Mart, located just outside of Dallas in The Colony, Texas. As you can see from the above picture, it is a massive store, located in a massive parking lot with its own parking garage (off to the right there), and a huge warehouse attached. As we drove up (after coming up behind the warehouse and searching for the entrance, which is, of course, on Nebraska Furniture Mart Drive or some such appropriately named street), I was impressed by the sheer magnitude of the place.

The interior is no less impressive. It is reminiscent of a football field stacked upon a football field, filled with everything from flooring options, to countertops, to electronics, to appliances, to decor items, to its namesake, furniture. The products were of good quality, and the Grand Opening prices were pretty good (but the "normal" pricing was good, too).

But this post isn't an advertisement for Nebraska Furniture Mart. Rather, it's about what intrigued me about the store. This monstrosity seemed like an overbuilt store that has expectations far beyond whatever reality the store might actually perform towards (what, 1500 cars in the parking garage, seriously?). But when we got there, relatively early, we parked halfway back in the parking lot, and when we left it was even more full. People were in the store and more coming to the store.

So what I wondered about was how this store might manage to meet these enormous expectations. Two things came to mind: scarcity and mystique.

In the United States, there are four Nebraska Furniture Mart stores. Four. For a company that has existed in retail for almost a century, to have expanded to a whopping four stores is a bizarre growth statistic. And yet it works. The scarcity creates a shopping destination rather than just another location. I would not be surprised if savvy marketing may drive all of Texas to make a pilgrimage to The Colony to visit the store, if not at least once. The idea that there are so few stores means there are few opportunities to visit one of these stores. When the opportunity is there, you feel compelled to take it.

But that scarcity goes hand in hand with the mystique, the magic that surrounds the store. The idea that it was founded by a woman who worked there until she was 103. The idea that Warren Buffett bought an interest with a handshake. The rumor of how giant it was with how many great deals. All of these facts and many more rumors form a sort of magic over the store that draws people to it.

Scarcity and mystique feed off of one another. If people feel something is rare, they will go out of their way to see it. They feel the same about things with extraordinary qualities. When those two are combined, a future can be seen where 1500 or more cars fill the parking decks and lots of a giant Nebraska Furniture Mart in a suburb of Dallas on a semi-regular basis.

What other triggers do you think attract people to this store? And how can that apply to other business models? I'm interested in your opinion. Tweet me and let me know what you think.

The Worst Kind of Meeting

By JanDix on Pixabay

Individuals in corporate settings spend somewhere between 25 and 80% of their time in meetings. As one of those individuals, I can say that there are several differentiating factors between highly productive meetings and those meetings that are a complete waste of time, but I will save many of those observations for a future post.

This post is about what I consider to be the worst type of meeting that I have ever attended. I call it "The Public Reading."

If you've ever attended an actual public reading, it is generally an event made up of several fans of an author who are eager to hear an excerpt of the author's newest work before buying a copy and asking for an autograph.

In a business meeting, few people are looking for your autograph. So it is unlikely that anyone is interested in listening to you read an excerpt (or worse, the entirety) of your latest document or Powerpoint deck.

This type of meeting starts innocently enough, in my opinion. Someone has worked on content and has been asked to present that content to a larger group. Then, often through no fault of their own, they either get flustered or worried about their presentation skills and end up reading the document or presentation verbatim to a large crowd.

What's the problem with this approach? It's simple. You don't need a meeting to do this. If you are reading a document to people, the chances are that the audience could have read it all on their own. In that instance, they could take the appropriate time out of their day, rather than the time scheduled for the meeting, to read through the document and utilized the meeting time for more productive activities.

So how do you avoid the "Public Reading?" First and foremost, send out documents ahead of time. Encourage attendees to read the documents ahead of time and bring questions. Then avoid going through the document directly during the meeting.

If you get stuck in a situation where no one has proactively read the materials and you feel almost compelled to read it, try to avoid it. Summarize. Add more content not written on the page. And if everything is on the page? Perhaps you should revisit your document to reduce the content to allow for more talking room around the words. Bottom line, if you are presenting material to an audience, your presentation needs to have merit above and beyond the words digitally documented in a file. And to make it more productive, the meeting needs an objective beyond just listening to your words. So, what other tips do you have to getting past the "Public Reading?"

The Good Kind of Attrition

By tedgresham997 on Pixabay

Many companies struggle with attrition, where good employees are leaving to find other positions with other companies. Lose key resources, and your organization suffers. Lose too many in a single departure, and your business may be dead in the water in a certain function.

The negative perception of attrition, though, may be extremely one-sided. When managed appropriately, attrition is just like trimming a shrubbery that is grown out of control. It's not a huge negative impact overall to the operations of the company (unless you are in a very small company where losing one or two people is a huge percentage).

But there is a good side to attrition that people rarely notice. People's choices to leave the company also provide for the following opportunities to make the team grow stronger:

Promotions - Attrition naturally opens up promotion opportunities as leaders look to fill vacant roles. Hiring from within can offer ability to reward those employees who most deserve it.
New Ideas - Hiring externally to fill open spots offers a different opportunity - the opportunity to inject fresh ideas into the team and bring in external history and experiences that add to the collective knowledge.
Career Pathing - Often when top performers are locked in a role where there is limited upward mobility, allowing them to jump ship offers a career path that might encourage others. While a college football program is sad to see its players move on as they graduate, the program that that has more players move to a professional level after some time in development are likely to attract stronger players in the coming years.
Enthusiasm Injection - New employees on a job bring a fire and enthusiasm which, when nurtured, can continue and inspire others. If more tenured employees leave, it offers the opportunity to allow your team to benefit from some fired-up coworkers.

This is not to say all attrition is good. When you are hit with a huge percentage of a team leaving or a key linchpin moving on without a solid transition, that can cause a ripple in the organization that may take a long time to recover from. But the normal, one at a time movement of people between careers is a natural and perfectly acceptable reality in the workplace. Embrace the change and look at the benefits that it can offer the team, rather than focusing on the work that new employees will bring.

Happy New Year

By cbaquiran on Pixabay

It's not New Year's Eve, and I did not get the scheduler off on this post. Sunday was my birthday (and a good one at that).

Having a birthday, though, always makes me just a little introspective (in between deciding where to go for dinner and reading all of the people that were kind enough to wish me happy birthday on Facebook). It is a unique time to think about goals for the next year and how to achieve them.

For a goal to be reasonable it needs to be achievable. The goal has to be something that you have the control to make happen, regardless of all others. Sure, we all set goals or resolutions on December 31. How many other times throughout the year do you review those goals, and/or set new goals for ourselves?

In order to accomplish what you desire, you must set goals that are achievable, and then put into action a plan to accomplish the goal. Otherwise, you are staring at dreams instead of goals. Dreams have a place in our lives to inspire. Goals have a place to make us achieve.

So when do you set new goals?

Are you winning or losing?

By Wokandapix on Pixabay

Have you been winning or losing this week? Crushing every goal you had for yourself or letting the week get the best of you, hoping to make some valiant efforts at the end of the week to finish something?

You're in luck.

Friday is like the fourth quarter of a game. Still time to turn it around if you're losing, time to seal victory if you are winning. (Tweet this)

You can take advantage of the last day in the business week to knock it out of the park. Complete anything you thought you were not going to get to this week. Use it to exceed the goals you have already made happen.

So the question really isn't whether you are winning or losing the week. It's how are you going to finish?

7 Tips for Dealing with Squeaky Wheels

By PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay

We've all met someone who we would classify as "the squeaky wheel." Squeaky wheels thrive on the ability to make noise about their situation as if it is so much worse than any other situation that exists, so that they can get the appropriate attention.

The old adage says, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." There is a huge problem with that statement, though. It purports the squeaky wheel to be a good thing. It encourages people to become squeaky.

Let's clear one thing up: If you have valid problems, then it is extremely important that you speak up. In that manner, this old adage holds true. You have to acknowledge and talk about your issues in order to have them addressed. Sitting in a corner speaking to no one about your issues is an extremely ineffective way to get them dealt with. That said, often those that speak up about their issues do so with a different intent that quiets the voices of the needy. Here are a few recommendations to separate these different wheels out (spoiler alert - some of these recommendations break the wheel analogy):

Request Data - Anyone with a severe problem should be able to easily provide examples of that problem. Ask them how frequently the problem occurs and if you can see some samples. You should quickly be able to identify the real problems from noisemakers.
Provide Data - Sometimes the individual sounding the alarm is doing so on anecdotes. Provide them some data to put their alarms in perspective and see if that helps change their tune.
Force a Choice - Making excessive noise about problems is often a way of masking an inability or lack of desire to effectively prioritize. Be blunt. Ask them directly, "Would you rather me work on this problem that you are describing, or this other problem that you previously described as worse?" At a minimum you will only end up giving one of their wheels the grease.
Cut Off The Wheel - The analogy breaks down on this one, but if you have evidence time and time again that the squeaky wheel is not the wheel with actual problems, shut it down. Ignore requests, directly address with lack of priority, or provide data to make work more objective. Stop letting yourself be influenced by noise and recognize what it is. If a squeaky wheel is distracting you from accomplishing your normal tasks, utilize whatever methods you have to shut out the negative influence. This tip comes with a big warning, however. You have to do this appropriately, carefully, and tactfully. If you don't, you might have a new problem: A squeaky wheel that informs everyone how unhelpful, counterproductive, or rude you are. Those conversations could lead to someone thinking that you are the root cause of the squeak.
Make The Wheel Fix Itself - If only tires could do this in real life, I'd save hundreds of dollars that are currently sitting in Discount Tire's bottom line (great company - for another post). But when dealing with personalities that are bringing endless streams of problems your way, you can always give them the throwback - "What can you do to fix it?" Asking a question that puts it back on them is a freeing experience. Still requires discipline to deflect the inevitable response of "I want you to fix it for me," but it is a step in the right direction.
Set a Timeline - This one is perhaps the most effective, depending on the situation. When someone brings a new problem to you, indicate that you will address it, but after you have completed your current tasks. It might even be beneficial, depending on the situation, to evaluate the other "wheels of the wagon" before you come back to the squeaky one. "Totally understand your issue, and we will get to that after we discuss the overall needs of the other two branches of the department" is a valid answer to anyone.
Acknowledge Reality - Sometimes, the squeaky wheel looks for validation. Acknowledgement that someone else recognizes that there is a problem. The truth is that you can't fix everyone's problems just because they raise a flag. You can, however, acknowledge truth in that you recognize that their concern or problem is valid. You can use that same truth as well to acknowledge your ability or inability to assist them in solving that problem with the resources you have available.

Squeaky wheels are squeaky. That is the only predetermined fact. It is up to you to determine whether or not the complaints are valid, how much priority to apply, and why you should be working on that issue. Filter the real issues from the noise, and try not to squeak unnecessarily yourself.

Nobody's Perfect

By Lindsay Jayne on Pixabay

Nobody hits the bullseye every time they throw the dart. Nobody gets a hole-in-one on every golf swing. Nobody writes a million words without a typo. Nobody gets everything right the first time.

That's OK.

In the end, we're all human. To me, this blog is even as much about things I would like to do consistently as it is things I know and have experienced. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess there are a few things you've gotten wrong yourself.

Again, that's OK.

What's important is not that we are all striving to be some model of perfection, some unattainable ideal. Instead, we should all try to be better than we are.

You may not be perfect. You may not be the best at what you do, but you can do your best at what you do (Tweet This!). Once you realize that we are all limited humans, that is truly the most you can hope for. To be the best that we can possibly be. To give everything that we can give.

What is the best you can be? And are you giving it everything you have? Where would you like to be more perfect?

Which Way Are You Running?

By skeeze via Pixabay

Businesses and careers often come to a tough decision point, sometimes with huge implications for the direction of operations or an individual's job.

Whenever those types of decisions come up, I always like to make sure I evaluate whether I am running from something or running to something.

The distinction is pretty simple: Either you are trying to flee a situation that you are unhappy with, or you are trying to go to something that is a great opportunity.

All too often, I find people running from their situations. While that type of running can serve as quite the motivation in nature, say, when a rabbit is running from a coyote, in business, few situations are actually life and death requiring that kind of flight. What's worse, I frequently see people fleeing situations that haven't actually happened yet. That's right, I've seen people quitting jobs because they think that something is going to happen in the future, or companies cancelling projects because they don't think that it will work out. Unless you have a working crystal ball (and if you do, we need to watch the Kentucky Derby together next year or pick out our stock portfolios together), taking action based on potential future events does not make a ton of sense. At a minimum, you are not running from something, you are running from the threat of something, which is worse.

So instead of running from something, make sure you or your business are running towards something. You don't have to take the first job that comes along. Your organization can see that project along another two months. There is probably opportunity in what you are currently doing to change course and correct what has gone wrong. And if you have already failed, remember to learn from it.

Set goals. Create plans. Then when opportunities come up to change direction, make sure that they align with those goals and plans. Don't just give up on things without thinking it all through. So what are you running towards?

Mockingbird Chasing A Hawk

By skeeze on Pixabay

Have you ever seen a mockingbird chasing a hawk? If you haven't, you can find quite a few YouTube videos of such an event. We have a couple of sets of overly protective mockingbirds nesting in our yard this year, and while I haven't seen a hawk lately, I did see one of them running a pair of crows out of town.

The mockingbird is, of course, just protecting the nest, harassing these larger potential predators to keep them away from little mockingbird offspring. But if you have watched the mockingbirds go at it, you have to admire the tenacity and passion by which they go about their protective duties.

To draw a parallel, we all have hawks that come into our daily lives, whether giant projects, stress, co-workers, or something else. It's up to us to fight them off. But in order to succeed, you have to identify what you are passionate about to the point that you will take on the larger foe, no matter what the cost, and you will stick with it until you have emerged victorious. Sometimes you may look like a silly tiny bird bouncing off the back of a giant and getting nowhere. That's OK. Just find your driver, your passion, and focus on that to motivate you to keep going. Eventually, the mockingbirds win.

What's your hawk? And what's your passion?

A Book: Start.

Instead of my normal Friday post, I thought I would try something different. I read a few business books or motivational books every now and then, and thought I might share.

In transparency, the links I post here to the books are, in fact, affiliate links with Amazon, and I will get some small chunk of change if you buy a book I am sharing here through this link. If you don't like that, you can always go directly to Amazon and search for it, or hit up a bookstore without using my links. I won't be upset. Mostly because I won't know you made that choice, but also because $0.11 a book or whatever is not a steady stream of income that I would depend on for anything.

I'm not going to review the books, per se, but if I found them worth reading, I'll share and you can choose to ignore or buy the book and read it or not.

Anyway, I just finished this book last month: Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters by Jon Acuff.

The book is an attempt to look through the lives of successful people and break it down into phases. Jon tries to explain how you can accelerate some of the phases and what steps awesome people take on that road. I've found I enjoy Jon's style of writing and find it pretty accessible. You can also check his blog out if you want to read more of his stuff.

Anyway, drop me a line and let me know if you are interested in this kind of stuff. I am currently in the middle of a book on product launches that I will share once I've finished it as well. Happy Friday!

Uh Oh, Time to Get More Stuff Done

By bohed via Pixabay

So, if you've been playing along with my "how to be more productive" posts here, you are already getting two things done every day, right?

If you don't know what I am talking about, start here (wherein you'll get something done every day for two weeks).

After two weeks, then move on to this post. Don't rush it. You really need to establish the habit of completing something every day before you start getting particularly ambitious about it. And once you've gotten in that habit of completing two things a day for a month, come back and pick up here.

OK, you've caught up? The good news? We'll give you just a little more time to get used to this upped ante. The bad news? There's one more rung in the ladder to climb and it will come in three months.

But hey, look what you've accomplished! If you've been playing along so far, that's:

1 task a day for 14 days
2 tasks a day for 30 days

And now you'll pull 3 tasks a day for the next 3 months (92 days if you are counting).

So by August 7, you will have completed 350 tasks off of your to-do list. Sounds huge, doesn't it? OK, forget I ever said that number and focus on this number instead. THREE. That's how many tasks you need to knock out today. And tomorrow.

Need some more tips? Here goes:

Write them down. If you haven't been writing your tasks down, you will certainly need to start. There's also a neat satisfaction of scratching them off a list.
Keep a backlog, but keep it separate. You likely will continue to have new things flooding in that you need to do. Keep that list, and keep it handy for reviewing, but separate it from your daily list. You don't want to feel overwhelmed by what you are not doing, you want to feel success over the things that you are doing.
Do at least one of the tasks on your list as soon as possible and complete two before noon. Your afternoon will get bogged down.
Stay away from time wasters until you have completed your three things. That includes TV, Twitter, Facebook, etc. In fact, you can avoid those while you complete a few other things, too.
Reward yourself with some small break for completing your tasks. Give yourself five minutes of Twitter. Read a few of my blog posts to entertain yourself. Stand up and take a quick walk.
If you finish early, pick the important tasks for the next day before seeing what else you can accomplish that day.
Remember, it's only three things.

Hopefully this helps, and August 7, I'll check back in with the last "upgrade." Has it worked for you so far?

Breaking the WIIFM barrier

By StartupStockPhotos on Pixabay

I was in a discussion the other day about trying to persuade a group of people to adopt a new behavior. It was something that made total business sense, but would have caused the group additional work.

It was pretty obvious that the group felt that additional work was being forced on them and they would not reap the benefits.

I think what was happening was a devolution to a general question that plagues all of us, even when we are trying to do our best for the organization: "What's in it for me?" or WIIFM (pronounced "whiff-em" in some circles - not mine) for short.

The key to persuading someone to change behavior and take action in a certain way often runs up against this WIIFM barrier, as I call it. The way around this barrier is to embrace it and break it down. Warning - it doesn't always work.

There is a level of empathy required to be able to truly perceive the exchange from the other party's point of view. And if you are asking a person or group to accept additional work, the most important thing is to think from their perspective and understand why that additional work would be good for them. If they don't agree with it, your adoption will be low.

Sometimes it is an uphill battle to think from another perspective.

But let's take a live example. Right now, why should you change your behavior to think about other perspectives?

You aren't having success at persuading others
The right thing to do seems obvious to you, but requires too much explaining
Any way you pursue it is perceived as "shoving things down others' throats"

Any of these sound familiar? If any of this sounds like something you are running up against, perhaps you are hitting the WIIFM barrier.

Now, let me give you a tip - you are frustrated because you are only thinking about it from your own perspective - what's in it for you if they help you out. Time to start thinking what's in it for them as well. Be a team.

The Power of a Question

By geralt on Pixabay

Often the best answer to a question is a question. Of course, there's no need to devolve into a Rosencrantz and Gildenstern game of back and forth.

People may come to you all the time with problems, questions, or just generally seeking wisdom or advice. Your inclination, like mine, may be to blurt out the first thing that pops into your head, taking the (slightly arrogant) route in believing, "They asked me for my opinion, therefore they know that I am capable of solving their problem."

I'd encourage you to take a separate route the next time. Ask a question. Here are some you could try:

The Clarifier - Ask them for additional details. Whatever the situation, try to get a little more information before you answer.
The Deadline - Buy some time, not just to procrastinate or stall, but to actually put together a thoughtful response, then do it. Understand what the true deadline of the ask is.
The Throwback - If someone asks you for a solution to a problem, often the most effective question is, "What do you think we should do?" (Tweet This)
The Repeater - Make sure you understand by restating the problem in the form of a confirmation question. "So you are basically saying...?"
The History Lesson - Ask "What have you done about this?"
The Call - The opposite of a history lesson. "What do you plan to do?"

Often one or more of these questions will either drive you to a better solution to their problem, or it will drive them and empower them to work it for themselves.

So what other questions could you ask? Let me know.

You Are Not A Luggage Rack

Easy to remember, right? You are not a luggage rack. So don't let people come and drop their baggage with you, unless, of course, you are a valet or concierge or skycap or someone who has literal baggage receipt as part of the job description. I'm not talking about real luggage or baggage, though. I am talking about emotional baggage or work stress or problems or interdepartmental relationships.

It is perfectly fine to vent. It is actually healthy and stress-relieving to blow off steam and unload on a close friend. But before you do, you should make it clear that you are just venting and not looking for them to assist with solving your problems. Because they are your problems, and no one else's. It would be unfair of you to demand that someone else solve all of your problems for you, and frankly would call into question your ability to solve your own issues.

Likewise, when someone brings problems to you, it is unfair of them to dump those problems on you like the lost luggage at the airport. Instead of just accepting their problems and thinking it is your place to solve that for them, try to push them to clarify. Ask "Do you need me to help, or are you just venting?" Make it clear that the latter is perfectly OK to you.

If someone is trying to get you to solve all of their problems, then I recommend two things. First, place their problems back on them. Ask leading questions like, "Well, what do you think you should do about this?" or "How can you help solve that problem?" Often, the person knows what action they want to take but just want some affirmation. Second, start to think of it as physical luggage. If you were at an airport (where you are not supposed to leave your bags with others), and random people left their suitcases with you at their leisure, you would not take it, but you would deal with it in a respectful way.

I met a guy on an airplane one time who said that on his return flights, he never picked up his luggage. He would let the airport sort it out. His philosophy was that it was so annoying to deal with waiting on his luggage that he would just call and report his had not yet been delivered, and they would drive it to his house. He would basically dump the whole waiting game and expect someone else to clean up his mess.

Who's mess are you cleaning up? Who's baggage are you storing? Let them start taking care of their own emotional luggage today.

What You Can Learn From A Boss

Love this picture. Who's the boss in this one?
By ChadoNihi on Pixabay

I've had a few bosses over the years. In fact, I've had about fifteen or so. Some were great, some were difficult, but all of them have helped me become a better manager myself. The truth is, you can learn something from everyone you work with, but you learn best by trying to replicate good experiences.

So here's a little list of lessons I learned from various bosses. I can't say I always execute perfectly on these lessons, but they do stick around in my mind. See if you agree with any of these nuggets (not in chronological order to provide some anonymity, I suppose):

Trust your employees to get the work done - Make sure they have a plan, but if they want to take a break in the middle of the day and then work six more hours that night to complete the task, and they have proven to you that they can and will do it? Why would you stop them?
Be careful what you wish for - Pointing out the flaws in what other people are doing can lead to getting a chance to own it and fix those flaws. Just be ready to accept that challenge.
It's easy to fire people - laying people off who have been doing a good job is difficult and painful for everyone involved. But firing someone who has been given every opportunity and has brought the result on themselves through their own actions? Easy.
Be careful not to stab people in the back - Those that recognize what you have done may do the same to you.
Never let yourself be pigeonholed - You can do many jobs that you have never done before.
Drive is sometimes more important than skills - If someone really wants to work on your team, and has a true interest in learning what it is that you do and do it well, that may work better in the long run than someone who just has the right skills.
Get organized - I had a boss that would be able to recall verbal statements made six months prior in a meeting from the organizational system she had in place. Amazing.
Your people are not human resources - OK, this is a George Carlin bit, but important to remember that people are people. Treat them as such. One boss I had was always concerned with making sure all the employees were happy or heading that way. Job satisfaction is great.
Always follow through - Build a plan. Execute the plan. Set checkpoints for yourself to make sure you are executing the plan. (Ties in with my overall belief on the power of deadlines).
Reward hard work - I had a boss that bought Mont Blanc pens and pencils for the entire team after a large project completed. I am certain he made more on the deal than the pens set him back, but that small luxury item to a young employee meant a whole lot.
Whatever you do, do it with passion - Doing work without passion is guaranteed to yield mediocre results, if any. Fail if you must. But do it all with passion and gusto for what you are doing. Try to be the best at what you do.
Find ways to keep good people - Good people are not necessarily 100% coin-operated. Find a way to engage people and understand what drives them, then coach them to that end, even if it means finding them a better job in the company.

So there's twelve lessons I've learned from various bosses I have had. What lessons have you learned from bosses? What have you learned not to do? I'd be interested, so let me know.

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