Posts in Meandering Genius

Moments of Truth in Business

Meandering Genius

All it really takes is once.

One time to screw up in business to lose a customer. But really, the first time interaction is the most critical.

Toastmasters International has a Club Success Series training presentation that talks about Moments of Truth for Toastmasters Clubs. Basically, the presentation highlights the opportunity for the club to shine and keep a member or fall on their face and lose that member.

The most crucial moment is the first time a guest visits a club. If they aren’t properly welcomed, if no one explains what is happening during the meeting, and/or if the meeting is run poorly, then there is a good chance that visitor will not be back and thus, not become a member.

There are other moments where you could lose a new member, but the most crucial is the first meeting…this is their first impression. If it’s bad here, one might assume that it’s all downhill from here.

I think in business we have the same type of Moments of Truth. The first time customer is always the most vulnerable to never come back. If they have been a customer for a while and you make some mistakes along the way, they are generally more forgiving–they have time vested in the relationship and don’t really want to throw it away.

So, what are the Moments of Truth for your company. What are the few things that you can focus on doing perfect all the time because these are the things that a new customer will see and, if done poorly, could turn them away.

You heard the three things a new visitor might notice. Not being welcomed, not understanding what is going on, and the meeting is run poorly. Let’s examine their three and see how they fix that and you consider what are your big rocks that you can work on.

The emphasis is that these are the things that every club must do well all the time and they have proven methods to make this happen in every club.

The Greeting. Every club is encouraged to have a person that is dedicated to greeting every single person as they arrive at the meeting. Toastmasters has this “thing” about shaking hands and it’s a rule that every member should shake every person’s hand when they arrive. Think about the impact that would have on a new visitor that every single person at the meeting made a point of coming up, shaking their hand, and welcoming them to the meeting. So, pretty simple–always have a greeter (it’s the Sergeant At Arms job) and everyone greets everyone at every meeting. Moment one solved.

Understanding. Now that you know someone is new to the meeting, because everyone greeted that person, you have the opportunity to sit that person next to someone who can explain what is going on during the meeting. Between knocking on the table when the word of the day is used to the general flow and purpose of meeting activities, a Toastmasters meeting can be rather confusing. Once you understand why the meeting runs the way it does, a visitor will feel more comfortable. Moment two solved.

The Meeting. Part of Toastmasters effectiveness is teaching people how to run effective meetings. Thus, every single meeting has an evaluator. This means that every meeting should be run well. They start and end on time, the agenda is set and followed, and the meeting runs smoothly. By following the standard club approach, fully training Toastmasters of the Day, and having good evaluations, every meeting should run well and everyone attending should enjoy them. Moment number three solved.

As you were reading these moments, can you think of similar situations where you have a new customer and that one thing or those few things could turn me off and they simply never come back. These are the things you need to do well every time.

Of course, there are other times in a new member’s experience that could sour them to a club…like their first speech, the first time they run a meeting, etc., but now that they are a member, they generally are more accepting.

So, in your business, you have that opportunity to make a first impression…one that is positive…if you focus on the few things that are your Moments of Truth and do them exceptionally well.

Building a rapport, a key to business

Meandering Genius

Have you been out to eat and you see the manager out trolling tables asking surface questions, like how’s your food, everything ok, etc?

At some point, this person was told that they should interact with the customers. Being a diligent manager, they make sure about every hour or so, they make the rounds and basically follow up on the wait staff, by asking the same questions that their staff does.

Have you ever been out to eat and the manager brings out some water, your food order, or a bottle of wine and strikes up a conversation?

This is the manager that gets it.

People like restaurants for the food, but love them for the atmosphere. When I lived in Germany for six years, almost every place to eat served almost the exact same food–schitzel. How does one differentiate between one place and another when they all served the same thing?

Rapport…

I would go back to the same place to eat because of the people that worked there. They took the time to know me…know what I ate and drank and what I did. They established a rapport.

Last night, I took my parents and wife out for a birthday dinner (wife and mom have birthdays one day apart) to Myron’s Steakhouse at Wurzbach and Northwest Military in San Antonio. If anyone has been to both this one and the original one in New Braunfels, the original has a better ambiance.

The food was great. The service was great. But, the tables are small and it’s not the same as eating at the original one. Get a booth if you go.

Then the manager brought out our wine…that changed everything. She never introduced herself as the manager and asked how things were ( we thought she was the wine steward at first). She simply struck up a conversation and continued that conversation throughout the meal at key times and even talked to us before we left. She made up for the little things.

Lesson Learned here: In business, building a rapport makes up for the little things.

I’m sure you’ve heard that you can’t make all of the people happy all of the time. No matter how hard you try to please everyone, there are those at some point that want something different. Your job, as a manager, is to make up for the little things.

Establish a rapport by being honest and interested in your customers as people. Do this early in the relationship. There are many ways that you can insert you early into a business relationship to deliver something.

Think about the manager at Myron’s. She brought out the wine–the wine is something you order early in a meal (if you get it by the bottle), so she owns a process that inserts herself in the relationship early in the night and then it allows her to comfortably check in on us without seeming like she is usurping her staff’s role as our server.

This might also allow her to prioritize the customers that she wants to build a rapport with. Let’s face it…everyone should focus on their key customers (Pareto Principle, right?). She delivers a bottle of wine because these people are easily spending $50 to $100 or more on their meal than others. It’s a simple consideration…these guests are spending more money, so I’ll focus most of my attention on them, because I want them to come back.

These are tricks that you could use as well. There could be something that is a bit higher level that you provide to more discerning, higher paying, or power customers that sets them apart from the other 80%. Maybe you could provide that service to establish that key rapport as the manager of the work?

Now I’m not saying that anything the manager did was by design…that just might be her thing or the way Myron’s operates; however, it worked. The waiter certainly could have opened and served the wine…they do at many restaurants. They could of had a wine steward that brought out the wine, like many high end places do. However, that isn’t what happened and it seemed perfectly normal.

I would say that my wife and I probably would not have ever gone back because we were sitting at a small table and it just didn’t feel the same as the other store. Now though, there is a good chance we will go back (and ask for a booth) and would hope that the same manager is working.

All because of rapport.

With all this information, why are we so out of touch?

Meandering Genius

I stopped watching television several years ago. I have several TVs in the house, but they are mainly used to watch movies or key sporting events. Television for me became a distraction that pulled me away from work, school, and my hobbies, so I simply cut it out.

Because of this, I don’t watch the news, which I never really enjoyed anyway.

My folks; however, have the television on all the time. Last year, when we moved into our new house and my folks sold their house and moved here, they lived with us for a few weeks as their house was closing and their belongings were being delivered. That had to be the longest few weeks for my dad, because we didn’t even hook up our satellite for a month after moving in.

Needless, he watches the news all the time.

We both get the Boerne Star newspaper…my parents read theirs front to back and I make nice stacks with mine that eventually are used to start fires in the fireplaces. Even then, the Star really isn’t a very worldly news source.

So, my news comes mainly from the Internet…through social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) and news sites (primarily Yahoo News). I’m looking for a more complete and effective news app for my phone and iPad, but I’m not totally disconnected.

As you can see, the information I get and what my parents get is from totally different streams.

Last night, I went to dinner with my parents and I was talking all about this Nevada Cattle Ranch issue and how I see it blowing up and becoming a major national issue. What surprised me was that my parents had heard very little about it…and I do mean very little. We started discussing news that I knew versus news that they knew (the news we knew) and it became very apparent that what national media and social media were saying were two entirely different messages.

Now, I clearly feel that my folks watch too much Fox News and television as a whole. But, I also feel that I get information overload from my news sources as well and try to limit my time surfing for current events and news. The thing is, we could easily be overloaded with information if we let it. However, are we really getting enough information even when we’re overloaded with it? Is it the right information?

I don’t get political on my blogs–I leave that for Facebook (smile). However, I know I need to do a better job of making sure that I get a fuller picture of what is going on in the world. This Nevada Cattle Ranch issue, if you are not aware, has the potential to become a defining moment in our history as a nation. It has the potential of proving out the second amendment of the Constitution and of throwing the United States into total chaos.

This single issue isn’t the reason…it’s just the opportunity to demonstrate that Americans–at least 50% of them–are fed up with our government today. From the current Administration, to our Congressional “leadership,” to government organizations like IRS, Health and Human Services (responsible for the failed Affordable Care Act program failures), Bureau of Land Management (what this current powder keg is about), and the EPA. The scene is being played out in Nevada and has the potential of coalescing at least half the nation into a militia frenzy.

So, I ask you…are you aware of what’s going on in the country and world today? If you saw on the news tonight that 200 armed Federal Agents killed hundreds of equally armed Americas in Nevada over cattle, turtles, and solar power, would you know the whole story?

If this would be the first you’ve heard about it, then, like me, you should probably consider your news sources and ask yourself if you are getting enough information and if that information you are getting covers everything?

Volunteering gives you skills you might not get

Meandering Genius

Here in San Antonio, Texas, Fiesta is in full bloom. For those of you not from San Antonio, it’s not a flower. Fiesta is a ten-day celebration that is much like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The only difference is everyone knows about Mardi Gras, but few know about Fiesta. Over the ten days, there are over fifty different events being held. Every single event must be philanthropic in nature and that means they are pretty much all run by volunteers.

For many people, volunteering at something like Fiesta, or other activities is an opportunity to stretch your skills in such a way that you might not be able at work. Specifically in regards to skills around leading events and organizations.

If you are not in a leadership or management role, but have had some education and training in that role, how do you put that training to use? Everyone knows if you get trained, but don’t immediately use the training, it goes away.

Taking on a managing role for major volunteer projects or stepping up into a volunteer organization leadership role allows you to flex your education and training.

What’s best is that volunteer activities are generally a lot safer than activities at work. If you take on a leadership role for a non profit and are not extremely successful right off the bat, people are generally accepting of that. Fail at work in the same type role and the consequences are generally different. So, volunteer leadership is a pretty safe way to test your skills.

Also, I have always believed that leading volunteers is significantly harder than leading people at work. At work, those that work for you, either all the time or on a project, are more compelled to follow your direction even if they don’t agree. In a sense, it is pretty easy to get people to do things at work, as compared to a volunteer who can tell you where to stick it and walk away. So, when leading volunteers, you really need to think through how you lead and influence, versus simply telling someone to do something.

Lastly, volunteer leadership opportunities normally build a lot of ancillary skill sets that you might never use on the job. Things like managing money, working contracts, setting strategies, etc. Think about something apparently simple as the President of your Home Owners Association. They have to ensure the organization is following the by laws and incorporation guidance. They have to run meetings and fill a meeting leadership role following a set guidance–Robert’s Rules. They have to perform public speaking at formal meetings. They have to set strategy, create and manage budgets, and establish and manage contracts. They have to interface and network with law enforcement, fire department, and politicians. This is a full-time role and stretches your capabilities to the fullest measure.

So, spread your wings and stretch your skills by volunteering. I’m not talking about making cookies for a bake sale…really take a chance and fill major leadership roles with volunteer opportunities at work, in the church, with your community, for something like Fiesta, with a professional organization, etc.

Good luck and most of all, have fun at it.

Do you have a personal coach?

Business Consulting Leadership Meandering Genius Strategic Planning

Have you ever heard of top executives having executive coaches? Heard of people doing life coaching? What were your thoughts around people that have personal coaches…do you wish you had one?

Aren’t you worth it?

Why don’t you have a coach…I’m not talking about a mentor, I’m talking about a full-blown coach that you pay to provide you direction and advice, that helps you build personal and professional plans, and who holds you to standards and tells you like it is?

I can imagine that you think it’s too expensive to have your own coach…well, aren’t you worth it? We pay hundreds of dollars for gym memberships and sometimes personal trainers that a large percentage of people don’t use. We buy business books by the droves that generally sit on shelves and collect dust.

Why not consider hiring someone who is going to develop you so that you can do better at work, which could result in more pay and responsibility?

Are you already so good that you don’t need someone to coach you? Why are very effective executives turning to coaches? Aren’t they already very effective?

Why would you want a personal coach and what would you expect from them?

If you want to be more successful at work and at home…period…then hire a personal coach.

This is a paid consulting position…you are literally paying them to help you get better at everything you do. They aren’t going to do it for you, but they are going to point out your blind spots and guide you in fixing them.

Recently, I was sitting next to a senior executive that I’ve been working with during a meeting. He had a part where he got up and spoke. When he sat back down, he leaned over and asked, ” How did I do?” I looked him dead in the face and said, “We need to work on your ‘ums’.” His response back was, “Did I cover everything?”

The coach in me was screaming that it really didn’t matter…his message was lost because of his delivery approach. I told him, “Yes.”

A coach is not only someone who will tell you what you need to work on, but will show you why you need to work on it, will help you develop a plan to overcome your blind spot, and will hold you to your plan. Just when you think you are there, your coach shows you to the next step.

Recently, my boss was promoted in the position he’s been in–an in place promotion. Within a couple of weeks, we sat down over lunch and I asked him, “What’s next?” Clearly they didn’t promote him to continue to do what he’s been doing…now is the time to take things to the next level. The next morning we laid out a plan for the rest of the year and every other week we discuss his progress on that plan.

This is what you should expect from a coach.

In reality, coaches, are not as expensive as you might think. Sure you can hire extremely expensive coaches, but in reality, a personal coach should cost about as much an hour as a really good fitness coach. However, you’ll be paying every few days for that fitness coach because you’re going to need to work out at least three days a week and sometimes even more. A personal coach really only needs to meet with you occasionally, I mean you don’t want this person hanging around you all day…that would get creepy and probably a bit annoying. So, you really only need to meet with this person for a couple hours every other week at most.

What would you–what should you expect from a coach:

If you are paying someone to help you grow, then you should expect them to be honest and forthright. If you cannot accept constructive criticism, don’t bother hiring a coach. If your coach isn’t making you feel a little uncomfortable, then they probably are not helping you.

They should be able to align themselves to your needs…not your wants. If you hired me as a coach, and told me you wanted to become a better public speaker, I’d simply tell you to go to Toastmasters and you don’t need to hire me. What I would tell you, for the cost of nothing, is that you need to stop hiring people and telling them what you want. You need to tell me where you are going and ask how can I help you get there–better yet, you know you want to go somewhere, but you need help figuring out where you need to go. A good coach helps you understand what you really need and then helps you get there. Wants are immaterial.

Your coach should point out the barriers that you need to overcome to get where you need and then help you build you a plan to overcome those barriers. Those barriers might be you, your family, your boss, your coworkers, your job…it doesn’t matter. The coach should help you plan to overcome the barrier. When I say “help you plan,” I mean “help.” If your coach builds you a plan, throw the coach out of your office. If the coach isn’t showing you how to identify your obstacles and showing you how to plan to overcome them, then they just want to be your crutch not your coach.

Once you have a plan, your coach should be holding you to task. If they don’t know how to implement plans…you have the wrong coach. Having a plan is great, but not knowing how to implement the plan is like not having the plan at all. As a matter of fact, you’ll be even more frustrated because you have a plan. This is not to say that because you have a plan, suddenly everything starts falling into place. Plans take hard work to implement and the results of strategy are never really visible.

I have been working with an organization as a strategic business advisor–essentially a business coach to an entire organization–for a little over two years. Soon after I started, I laid out a long-term vision for that organization, which I’ve been slowly revealing to them. A good coach should know where you are going even if you don’t. About six to eight months ago, the person this team reports to, commented that all the things in the organization that were occurring were happenstance. I quickly corrected him…I laid out every strategic action the organization and it’s leadership had done in the last year and a half that led them to being in the right position strategically to seize the opportunity when it appeared.

The best coaches help you strategically position yourself to seize opportunities and then they can rewind the film over the actions that got you there. This is because you seldom see the fruits of strategy…strategy activities are normally too high level. You need someone who can tic and tie the actions to the results, which can almost seem random.

So, do you have a personal coach? If not, aren’t you worth it? Perhaps today you should take your first strategic step for the rest of your life…

The importance of a network

Meandering Genius

Would you say that you have a strong network?

Do you realize the power of a strong network?

Do you even realize that networks exist?

Some people try to solve everything themselves. If they don’t know how to do it, they may try and do it partially well, or miserably fail.

However, having a strong network can make all the difference in the world.

To some, building a network might seem like an admission of failure on their part–like they can’t do something themselves. This is far from the truth. Think of a network as part of your skill set.

It’s through a network that you truly can solve problems and get things done.

There is a guy I work with that is extremely skilled at building a network. Not just any network though, this network is of people who get things done around the building. He always knows who to call. He is literally known for his network.

Networks can help you in other ways too. They can open doors to new opportunities at work or in other places. The type, level, and caliber of that network defines the type of opportunities that might become available.

Some networks are designed to help you better understand your customer because the network is with your customers themselves. Networking with the people that you work with and for can be very helpful for gathering information regarding their needs and allows you to better understand what is happening before it happens.

Some networks are of a professional development nature. These are the type of networks of professionals in your chosen line of work. Building connections in these areas helps you open up your understanding of new concepts and ideas.

The last important network is a social network. I’m not specifically talking about social media like Facebook, although that is a type, but more of a network around your personal interests, like horses, golf, church, quilting, etc. Having a strong and broad network in these interest areas provides greater opportunities for you to enjoy the things you love.

Simply understanding that these networks exist is important for you to cultivate them. I think that some of us have one or more of these networks, but fail to realize that they even exist.

When I was in the Air Force, as I moved from base to base, I would quickly build a professional network through professional military organizations. This network was fraternal in nature and these connections last still today. However, this network also led to the type of network that allowed me to get things done on base that others couldn’t because of red tape. Generally a solution was simply a phone call or email away. This network also opened up professional opportunities that weren’t overly obvious to me at first.

For a while I simply took these things for granted, like everyone had these opportunities, but I eventually learned that what I was doing resulted in building these networks and they were not by happenstance. By understanding this, I realized the potential of these types of networks and increased by personal investment in building and maintaining them.

Today you have networks that you operate within. The question is do you realize that they even exist and are you focused on investing in them?

Downside of blogging daily

Blogging Meandering Genius

If you were looking for my blog yesterday, I missed it too. I was a bit under the weather Monday and not able to muster up the posting strength yesterday morning…sorry. That’s what happens when you blog daily versus writing several blogs ahead of time and scheduling them.

If you blog every day, even if you have a set time that you blog, sometimes it can get to be a bit challenging to write every day.

Sunday, I normally have a leadership blog that I post, but this weekend was so busy that I never found the time to make it a reality. On Saturday; however, I did write a blog that I scheduled on Monday.

That was good because Monday I was pretty run down and stayed home and caught up on rest. I wasn’t feeling up to blogging, but I had already scheduled a blog for the morning, so I was good.

Tuesday rolled around, and even though I felt better, I was still pretty tired in the morning. I didn’t have anything scheduled and found myself out of time in the morning when I normally bog.

Thus, I wasn’t able to put something together yesterday. For someone that blogs daily, this is an issue, because I feel as if I let readers down. I’m sure no one noticed, but these little misses can quickly fall into routine if not brought into check.

A potential way for a daily blogger to deal with issues like this is to not schedule blogs, but write some blogs that sit in draft and wait for the day when you just don’t have it in you.

Consider the morning several weeks ago when I was being attacked by the allergy monster and I really couldn’t think straight. That would have been a perfect time to pull out a draft blog, brush it off, and post it as if it was written that day.

I think that daily blogging is a great way to engage the brain every day, but there are always going to be those days when you just can’t get to it or don’t have it in you. Preparing for these situations prevents little slips that no one but you notice, but are important just the same.

How the mighty fall

Meandering Genius

Regardless of what your mission and vision statements says, if you focus only on making money, you will fail.

There have been instance after instance of organizations, especially the leadership, that focused on making money over doing what they were organized to do and then failed.

A lot of it boils down to corporate greed, but that isn’t always the reason.

I was just meeting with my country club’s manager and he experienced the result of the club focusing on the bottom line versus delivering great service and building relationships–their mission. For several years, club amenities were in serious neglect because everyone was focused on keeping their costs low instead of making the club a great place to be a member and thus making more money because people flock to the club. Two years ago, he came in and got rid of the bonuses to everyone for saving money and reinvested that money back into the club itself. This past year, they have made more money then they ever did.

Booz | Allen | Hamilton is one of the most recent mighty that have fallen to this focus on money over mission.

Several years ago, Booz Allen split their commercial and government lines. Commercial associates in Booz Allen made considerably more money because commercial accounts paid much higher rates. Government contracts required Booz Allen to hire lower paid employees doing the same work as commercial to remain competitive. The problem was that the government work was expanding at an alarming rate. This was the start of their demise actually…they just had no idea back then.

Booz and Company split off and became the commercial consulting firm and Booz | Allen | Hamilton continued as the government consulting firm. Their mission and vision was to “Solve their client’s toughest problems and deliver results that endured.” In a nut shell, Booz was a very high paid and effective solution provider and trusted advisor that put solutions in place that did not require the consultant to come back constantly, to have people in place implementing the solution, or require significant software warranties to keep the system running. You went in, fixed the problem, and left with it running without you.

You might imagine that, given how most contractors operate, many clients loved this model and would continue to call you back to help them solve your problems. In 2008, when I joined them, this was a great way to work.

However, the model was already changing. Even then I remember them telling us at Intro how they were different and that we were not a “butts in seats” contractor. The reason they were saying that then was because that is what we were becoming very quickly.

Over the next three years, their model evolved to building new work, building a team to support that work, maintaining the team, and then building more work. Basically, Booz wanted more and more steady income. This could have come from continuing to deliver the best work–what they were known for, but it was easier to hire people and put them in place as lasting solutions. This created quicker growth.

The problem with this model is it is just like everyone else’s out there. Unfortunately, when you compete with that type of model, the next time the contract is up for renewal, someone will always come in cheaper to win that work. Competing in this environment with this model is a downward spiral for the contracting companies, the employees, and the government…no one wins.

As you can imagine, people start fighting over work, cheaper employees are brought in with limited skills, they stop investing in employee talent development, and talented employees are pushed out the door.

You can only solve the toughest problems with really smart people and when you stop hiring, developing, and paying them, you fail to be able to deliver on your mission.

Regardless, the executives want to continue to make the same amount of money they always have, so they start cutting people from the bottom of the tier…the ones costing them money. Fancy layoffs, what they called furlough letters, started going out. The company stopped training. People got rid of others so they could rape and pillage their existing clients.

Out of the 60+ people I worked with on the Strategy and Organization team, about four still exist. Just this week, they made another drastic manpower cut and forced many people to take pay cuts and work longer hours. The mass exodus continuos.

Now there are those that will blame the economy, or government spending. I don’t buy that. When all other contractors were suffering in 2008/2009, Booz was growing at a double digit rate. They were growing because many people still focused on the mission and vision then. However, as the new model really took hold because it was how everyone was rated and promoted, their growth quickly came to a halt. This drove poor decisions and even some illegal activities, which they were caught doing. If they stuck to their mission and vision and their original model, they would still be very strong today.

This is the same old story played out over and over. What will actually happen is one of two things…

1. They will continue to thrash about like and tree trying to save the dying heart, cutting off limbs in spite of itself, until they simply go bankrupt and this 100 years old company dies.

2. Or, the CEO is replaced with an outsider who gets rid of all the crap executives, cuts everyone’s pay, and reduces the organization to a manageable amount so it can refocus on the original mission and vision.

Either way, people on all sides will lose because several years ago greed overcame mission and vision and the poison slowly took hold.

And this boys and girls is how the mighty fall.

Job Seekers — Prepare

Meandering Genius

Are you looking for a new job…whether you have one now or don’t?

When you are looking for a new job, the act of looking for a new job should be your full time job. If you are already working, then that means you’re now working two jobs.

Just firing off your resume to position openings on Monster isn’t looking for a job. You need to take time to research, investigate, prepare, and repond.

Research. Monster, Indeed, Career Builder, etc., are great for leads, but they don’t show you everything. I personally find Indeed.com as one of the best sites, but you literally need to start your research in finding out all the job boards and then setting up your daily search engines. Then research the market and look for all the major employers that you might be interested in working with for a new job. Many times they will list positions on their own websites and if they don’t get sufficient interest, then they release them to the search engines. So, you need to make a list of them and set up profiles and search engines for them too. As you can imagine, this is a lot of up front work. Just filling out Monster.com can be a chore. A couple other things to think about at this point would be your social presence. How up to date is your Linkedin profile, is your Facebook profile private, if you have any personal websites or blogs, are they up-to-date? You don’t want to be looking for that perfect job and not have your best social brand showing.

Investigate. Using the job boards through companies and search engines, look at the type of jobs that you are interested in. Check out the minimum and preferred requirements for these positions. If they typically have a requirement that you don’t have, then you need to get that requirement. If you want to move into a Project Management position, you better get a PMP certification, if the positions you are interested in required an advanced degree, then you have work to do. If you are currently in a position, then you have time to work on your background. I’m not saying that you can’t apply to these positions, but there is a good chance that your resume won’t be looked at. Build your skill set to meet at least the minimum requirements and if possible the preferred requirements.

Prepare. Aside from building your skills, now you need to build your resume and what I will call your portfolio. You need to write your basic resume…the one you post on profiles and take to job fairs. This resume needs to respond to the majority of posts you have researched and investigated, but needs to be no more than two pages. This way you can easily hand them out at events and job fairs. But, you also need to develop a resume bank of talent areas that allow you to respond to different job requests with the specific skill areas they are looking for and little more. You also should have a basic cover letter already written so that you can adjust and send it for every position.

Respond. All to often, we simply fire off the same resume to 10 to 15 new position openings every day through Monster or the like. Someone once told us that cover letters don’t matter so we don’t take the time to write one. Good luck with that. Every job must have a specific resume and cover letter that speaks to the position requirements and qualifications. Right below your name, there should be a block on your resume that lists the exact qualifications, word for word, that the position request asks for. Companies, especially big ones, use Boolean search engines to look for key words–words they require. If you can’t get past the engine, your resume will never get looked at. The next section should be built off your talent bank. You provide specific examples of how you have already done what they are looking for with this position–the job requirements. Again, the key words are critical, so be prepared to adjust your resume to their request. Additionally, adjust your cover letter the same way. Now you are ready to send in this resume that you hope will get you an interview.

Coming out of the Air Force, I put my resume in the Booz Allen Hamilton system (actually I had a friend put it in the system as a referral, which is always better. They were looking for someone with a very specific background and HR ran a key word search on their resume database first before posting the position. My resume came up with a 100% hit on the key words. They contacted me and my job interview pretty much was an hour of them telling me what I would be doing and asking me when I would like to start.

If you aren’t treating your job search as a full time job, then you aren’t doing it right. You might still get a job, but it will be more luck then effort that made that happen. Give yourself every leg up possible. There are other things you can do that I will talk about next week, but these are the key items that set you up on the right foot.

Persistence and multi modal in change pays off

Change Management Meandering Genius

Noise…that is the biggest problem in change…noise.

Many people who are concerned about the change, for whatever reason, tend to make a lot of noise.

This noise is something that we tend to react to and that causes us to slow down.

My advice in change is this…

1. Be persistent. Set a standard in meetings to have very complete minutes so those that don’t attend can only complain that they didn’t read the minutes’ not that you are moving forward without them. Have milestones and stick to them. Drive to decisions in meetings that feed the milestones and make sure that everyone knows what the milestone roadmap looks like. Don’t be pressured to deliver more or less than plan unless it completely fits…if you will hit your milestones, there is nothing you need to prove.

2. Operate in a multi modal structure. Identify all the change impacts and then develop plans in an agile function to address the risks of those impacts. Use various ways…meetings, leaders, communications, and special events to overcome the risks.

People will challenge you that you are not prepared for or you don’t have a plan to deal with something down the road, but having the plan to address it and addressing the current impact is a plan. Don’t let them stall your current effort in order to boil the ocean.

Don’t let them convince you to communicate to more people than you need to at this moment. There is a time and a place…releasing a lot of information at once to people not currently impacted by change decisions just produces more noise and now you are responding to it.

Keep moving. Those against change don’t want you to move forward so they win when the process is stalled and you start missing milestones. Essentially it’s like proof to them that this was a bad idea all along. The only reason milestones should be slipped is when external factors, not people slow them down.

Never say, “If this doesn’t work, we can always go back.” This is like throwing gasoline on a smoldering fire. You have just added significant fuel to give those against the change a glimmer of hope that if they derail this just enough, life will return to their expected normal. Out with the old and in with the new. Good ideas that are properly researched are good ideas…but good ideas fail when enough people significantly stall the ideas. Don’t give them this kind of rope.

Being persistent and having an agile multi modal approach to change will succeed. You will be frustrated and start to question–believe in the change and press forward. Not blindly, but with persistence.