Category

Results

Dec 13
4

Too busy to be the tooth fairy….a lesson in prioritisation

By | Productivity, Results

Today I got a reality check when my daughter came into the bedroom crying that the tooth fairy hadn’t visited her in the night. This was a BIG deal and I felt terrible.  I had forgotten. No excuses.

How do important things get lost in the haze of busyness? How is it that there was something more important than delivering a gold coin under her pillow? Well the truth is, there wasn’t anything more important and I can list 100 reasons why I forgot, but I’m not into excuses, only solutions.

Have you ever missed a deadline? Forgotten to return a call? Let it slip your mind that something had to be done by a certain time? We all have.  We all make mistakes.  Just this week I was speaking to a client who was given an opportunity by the Managing Director of her company to deliver a report on a special project.  2 days after it was due, she remembered. Gulp! We discussed how to avoid this in future:

  1. Daily ‘to do list’ – yes I have spoken about this before here. I can’t emphasize this tool enough. Now, I must tell you at this point she argued with me that she does in fact use a ‘to do list’. On further investigation it was a random set of notes on a page that were in no logical order and did not provide any direction or motivation.
  2. Be specific – tasks on a page need to be very specific.  Ring Henry Jones re: credit card payment or email Heather the ABC report by 5pm.  Anything that says, “do reports” or “make calls” is not going to happen or if it does, you will still miss tasks due to its generic nature.
  3. Projects – this is where it goes pear-shaped for most people in my experience.  You have things you would like to do or a project in the distance that you have to start at some point.  So on the to do list goes “Project XYZ”. And then it gets re-written and moved to the next day and the next day….and so on.  The idea is to break it down so the only thing that goes on the do list is something specific to do with the project eg: “Research competitor products”. Once this is done, part 2 of the project can go on the list. Before you know it, your project is well under way and there is no chance of missing the deadline.
  4. One location – it turns out my client was using her task book, in-tray, outlook calendar and inbox to keep and track her workload.  When I asked her how she missed this important deadline, it turned out that she had printed the email, highlighted it and then put it in her in-tray. It had been lost in the pile. One location and one list is the key.
  5. Human contact first – so when your list is 2 pages long and it is 2 o’clock in the afternoon, how do you decide what to do and what gets moved to the next day? People first! Anything that involves human contact gets done before close of business.  Verbal contact is the most important thing! This is where you build relationships and your own reputation as someone who does what they say they will do.

On reflection, this high achiever sees that she missed a moment to shine and deliver – but just as importantly she has learnt a valuable lesson in responsibility and prioritisation. I feel quietly confident that she won’t let a deadline slide again – with a new system in place and a big picture view of her own reputation and values.

By the way, the Tooth Fairy did deliver and there was some guilt money involved! She delivered her first bank-note, instead of the standard gold coin! I’m quite sure she has learnt her lesson too of important vs urgent.

Nov 14
4

How is your work/life pie? 6 essential ingredients for your recipe

By | Results, Work Life Balance

Over half of my coaching clients claim they need more time and struggle to find the ‘balance’ to do the things that are important to them.  When I ask the reasons behind their struggle, I hear “I don’t have time”, “I’m exhausted – I don’t have anything left” and “my workload is too much”. I also hear “next year it will be better” and “once this project finishes” and “we’re talking about hiring another staff member to help”.  Guess what? I’ve heard it all before and actually I think I might have used one or two of these lines in the past.  Here are the facts – it won’t change, unless you do.

The first time I really felt my priorities were out of whack, to a point where it wasn’t healthy, was in the first few years of building a business.  The effort, time, brain space, heart and soul that goes in to getting something like that off the ground is significant.  The ironic part is that the wheels can fall off when you take your eyes off the big picture – the whole point of creating something and working so hard in the first place.

There are signs. There always are. Skipping meals, not exercising, declining one too many invitations from friends to catch up, not sleeping (or in my case not being able to go back to sleep once awake), family making comments about your time away or not being ‘present’.  Sometimes it goes beyond this and you see physical symptoms – I had a consultant  who got so worked up before meetings, that she was suffering from anxiety and IBS.

Small steps are the key to turning it around.

1. Perspective – why are you doing this again? What’s the point? Where are you going? What’s the long-term vision? What are you trying to achieve? This is usually always a combination of career goals and life goals.  Yet, when you look at the effort you are putting into those areas it can be very skewed.

2. The “perfect week plan” – if you could create the perfect week, what would it look like? What are the most important tasks that contribute the most to your weekly outcomes? Put them in your diary first.  For example, I had all staff meetings on a Monday, Tuesday was planning, Wednesday and Thursday were client appointments and Friday was staff observation and coaching.  Of course, things come up and you need to shuffle, but having a ‘pre-planned’ plan of attack can ensure that you are focusing on the important things first. Schedule exercise, put in the calendar dinner with parents – whatever it is, if it’s important, you need to make the time and not wait for it ‘to happen’. It won’t.

3. Empowerment – one client was telling me at the start of the meeting how he has no time and is so over-worked and then 30 minutes later he was telling me how he had to re-write an entire email his staff member wrote. Therein lies the problem.  To get more time and reduce the volume of work – you need to delegate, train, coach and support those who work with you. I’ll let you in on a little secret – they actually do want to learn, they do want to do a good job and it might just be you holding them back from being brilliant.

4. Learn to say no – are you a people pleaser? A good friend of mine, has a terrible problem of saying yes to everything. She gets involved in every committee, school project, volunteering gig – you ask her, she just can’t say no. She likes to please.  There’s nothing left – no time for the things she would really like to do because now she has a full calendar of doing things others want her do.  Saying no is a great way to give yourself more time for the important things.

5. Control – one of my Consultants was always tired and complained about all the after hours calls and work she was doing.  No one else seemed to have this problem and I couldn’t work out how she was in this situation – clearly very demanding clients!  After listening and observing her conversations and interactions, I learnt pretty quickly that she was creating the expectation of always being available.  She wasn’t setting boundaries in regards to the process, how she would communicate and when she would communicate.  Creating expectations upfront in any relationship is a powerful way to ensure mutually satisfying behaviours for all involved.

6. Time for yourself – with 2 children under 6, running a business, clients, candidates, committees, speaking gigs, volunteering opportunities, a spouse, wider family and friends – I get it. It’s hard. If it were easy – we’d all be doing it. What do you do just for you? What makes you feel good? Hobbies – remember those things we used to do just for fun? If you’ve forgotten it might be time to sign up for that pottery class!

At a recent function, Professor Barbara Pocock told us that of 1,000 Australians surveyed over 7 years, showed that the work/life strain is very much alive and here to stay. It requires awareness, support, planning and leadership to help resolve these issues. Some of the survey results were alarming with more of us seeing our identity through our occupations than ever before and some people surveyed love their work so much that they said that their boss could “do anything” and they wouldn’t leave! Let’s leave that for another blog topic shall we……

Tell me – how do you achieve a healthy work/life blend? What strategies have been most successful for you?

 

 

 

 

Oct 03
5

Someone not playing by the rules? How consistency governs success

By | Results, Strategy

In my blog post “People leave leaders – the uncomfortable truth” I discussed how changing business culture and my leadership style were two contributing factors to increased business results and overall success.  In this journey, there was another significant milestone that made business easier, more enjoyable and more profitable – consistency of service.

Our company had a large banking client who had high expectations, rarely used recruiters and was quite vocal about his frustration with the turnover of Consultants in the recruitment industry.  When we finally won an opportunity to recruit, he developed a relationship with one of the more experienced Consultants on my team.

When she got pregnant and was preparing for maternity leave, I knew her replacement on this account was critical to get right or I would risk losing them.  The new account manager was introduced and not long after, there was another new assignment for her to work on.  At the same time, this client was on the board of another organisation and was dealing with another one of our Consultants on that opportunity.  In the space of several months, he had exposure to three Consultants, plus his existing relationship with me.  I’ll never forget the day he called me to give me some feedback.  I remember thinking “oh no, what’s gone wrong, he doesn’t like that he is dealing with so many different Consultants”.  It was the opposite. He was ringing to tell me how impressed he was with the consistency of our process, our approach, our service and methodology. He said regardless of whether he was dealing with Tom, Dick, Harry or myself it was the same. We had the same vision, the same way of doing things and a real consistency of service delivery.

This was no accident. We filtered this “sameness” through the organisation from the vision and values, to dress code, to being on time, how we answered our phone, our report writing and how we presented at meetings. We wanted every interaction with our company  to represent and reinforce what we stood for. It was a highlight for me to see this being recognised by an external customer who had noticed and was experiencing the benefits.

It wasn’t a walk in the park to get to this point.  It took discipline, persistence and holding people accountable to uphold these standards. Often new Consultants who joined us from other firms didn’t like ‘our way’ and would try to “buck the system”, take a short cut or revert to their old habits.  As a leader, it was tempting to let these behaviours go, especially when they were producing results. Ignoring it never worked. It always backfired. It always turned ugly and became more difficult for me, the team and the Consultant in question.

I remember going out on a client visit with a new, but industry experienced Consultant to observe our service in action.  We got in the car and I asked about the organisation, who we were seeing, what the history was etc. She knew nothing. There was no preparation, no research or knowledge. Gulp! It pretty much went down hill from there including no street directory or directions to get there, making us late, no apology to the client, no setting of the agenda, no use of our presentation folder and no closure or follow-up.  Everything from her training and induction had been thrown out the window. She liked to do it her way and couldn’t see the problem. Doing it her own way wasn’t going to work in our culture. There were two choices – embrace the proven strategies that deliver results and consistency of client service or conclude we weren’t right for each other.

Harsh? Too blunt? Not flexible enough? You could certainly argue that revenue and results from an experienced recruiter is not something to walk away from so quickly.  But what’s the long-term impact? What are the consequences for the brand, culture, team approach, reputation and ultimately the client experience? It was a risk I wasn’t prepared to take. We parted ways and I learnt a very important lesson to stick to what you know works, be consistent in every detail and don’t apologise for reinforcing processes that deliver. Your team members are either on the bus, or they’re not.

Deliver consistently to your customers and you will enjoy consistent success.

May 28
4

How to reduce staff turnover with a flexible culture

By | Culture, Results

Staff turnover is an ongoing headache for most businesses.  Even booming industries like mining & resources are experiencing their fair share of hurt with 18% of workers leaving within the first 12 months and total turnover costing over $140 million per year.  The recruitment industry is certainly up there with rates ranging up to 45%.  Factors contributing to this include long hours, demanding client expectations, cultures that don’t support work/life balance initiatives as well as poor leadership and performance driven by deadlines and commissions.

Certainly in my first few years of managing a recruitment business, I was a culprit for churning through staff.  I made all the classic mistakes of hiring on experience, rather than culture, ‘hoping’ they would make it and leaving performance issues to fester.  The results were certainly consistent with the industry averages and left me tearing my hair out.

One of the instrumental factors in turning it around was creating, supporting and encouraging a flexible workplace culture.  Let me just start by saying it wasn’t easy.  There was no quick fix or magic cure to move from the traditional 8am – 6pm workday with “nazi style” metrics and expectations of ‘being in the office’.  It was a gradual process that required ongoing communication, buy-in from all employees and a commitment to leading by example.  Trust me the first time I left the office before 6pm it felt very strange!

In the end, I had nearly half my workforce on part-time flexible arrangements and a 100% voluntary staff retention rate.  I also experienced the highest levels of revenue and profit in our history.  It taught me that a flexible approach and creating a culture where part-time is possible, creates loyalty, increases performance and reduces staff turnover.  Tips to making it work include:

1.    Be realistic – I learnt that high performing Consultants moving from full-time to part-time need to manage their own expectations of what they can achieve.  Being able to step back and say perhaps I can’t take on as many clients as I used to, or being able to ask for help is okay.  You can only do what you can do after all.

2.    Prioritisation – the key to finding the balance is to make sure that you are doing the important rather than the urgent.  In recruitment there always seems to be something urgent, but it is critical to be clear on what makes the difference and doing those important things first is essential. As General Manager, I worked 3 days a week and ensured that I divided my time between coaching consultants, seeing clients, performance management and planning.

3.    Productivity – in my experience part-time employees work fewer hours in the office, but are capable of being just as productive as full-timers.  When those Consultants were in the office, they didn’t have time to waste and they were extremely good at juggling a range of tasks. I had one Consultant who billed 80% of her full-time billings in the year that she reduced to 3 days per week.

4.    Strategic approach – Recruiters and leaders taking on flexibility requests, need to have a big picture view of how it will work.  This involves planning and being more structured with tasks and time management. Just saying we are going to be flexible and family friendly doesn’t work unless there are real strategies in place on how this will work in a practical day-to-day sense.

5.    Support – I learnt very quickly that part-time Consultants need the full support of their leader, their teammates and family for it to successfully work for everyone.   This ranges from having tools of the trade such as remote access; Ipads and iPhones through to open communication, disciplined notes in the database and having the right attitude.  Once part-timers feel they have this support plus your trust, they will always (in my experience) put in more hours and effort.  Funnily enough this commitment by high achievers will always deliver greater results than what you pay them. Wouldn’t any boss want to increase billable hours with no increase in fixed costs?

All in all, I found creating a flexible work culture to be nothing but a positive and productive experience.  I truly believe it creates a strong competitive advantage and goes a long way to attracting and retaining top talent.

 

Nicole will be speaking at the 2012 RCSA International Conference in Fiji on: How creating a culture of flexibility will win the race in attracting and retaining top talent

May 15
5

Beauty vs brains……does it have to be a competition?

By | Results, Success

The Adelaide Advertiser ran an article on Saturday titled “The Ugly Side of Being Beautiful”.  It revealed research stating that 47% of US Recruiters believe women can be penalised for ‘being too good looking’ and attractive women who attach a photo to their resume were less likely to secure an interview than their ‘plainer rivals’.  On the flip side, Chief Economist Darryl Gobbett said, “the aesthetically gifted will always reign supreme”. So is beauty a help or hindrance in getting ahead?

Just last week I spent a coaching session with a female recruiter who is both young and attractive – a combination that she perceives is proving a little tricky in securing more senior work.  The assumption is that she doesn’t know what she is talking about, doesn’t have as much as experience and couldn’t possibly do as good a job as the more ‘seasoned’ recruiters in the market.

A CEO (a man in his mid 60’s) told her that she would have a tough time ‘making it’ in the market. When she enquired why, he said being young and good looking would mean that a lot of people would automatically think she lacked substance! Really? Isn’t that a little old fashioned? Aren’t we past that day and age of outdated thinking? Perhaps not and truthfully people generally won’t admit to making these assumptions or give you the time to prove them otherwise.

I decided to play devils advocate.  How can you prove to me that you are capable of doing this type of recruitment I asked her? What confidence can you give me that you will do a good job and deliver results? After our 90-minute session, here is what we uncovered:

  1. Mind set & belief – you can’t buy into someone else’s incorrect perceptions of what you might or might not be capable of.  If you belief you can, then you can.  If you wavier, doubt or demonstrate insecurities, you will never convince a third party of your abilities.  Be clear on your knowledge, ability and results.
  2. Walk the talk – I had a consultant who worked for me many years ago who was beautiful, young and had a high-pitched voice.  She was convinced that clients didn’t take her seriously once they saw and heard her.  To combat this, she wanted her physical presentation to represent her ability (she was extremely capable and delivered top performance results).  Small things like tying her hair back, wearing glasses, dark coloured suits etc all helped her own confidence in walking the talk – portraying the image she felt was more representative of her abilities.  There is nothing wrong with a “fake it until you make it” approach which involves exuding confidence, remaining calm and delivering an educated response.
  3.  Tell them – having your elevator pitch ready is critical to answer “…and why should we use you?” What makes you different from the last Consultant? This pitch should describe your offering, differentiator, benefits and the results you deliver.  However, let’s face it, most Consultants’ say similar things, which is why you need to be able to communicate this with passion and conviction to then back it up with real examples.
  4. Show them – actions speak louder than words! Using visuals in a pitch is very convincing.  Get really specific – show an example of a campaign, search methods used, how many candidates you had, where you found the successful applicant, timeframes etc.  Any piece of data (think facts & figures) is going to help build your pitch and show the client you have done this before and the results speak for themselves.
  5. Risk-free – giving the client a “what have you got to lose” enticement is helpful in getting them over the line.  What can you offer that your competitors won’t? Is it a longer guarantee, testimonials from a similar campaign or client? Less financial commitment upfront or a timeframe deadline? Entice them to take a risk and give you the opportunity.

Regardless of industry, role or level of experience, we all have to prove our capabilities, demonstrate our experience and be able to articulate our offerings in a compelling and convincing way that brings long term opportunities and results – regardless of looks.

I don’t know about you, but with any service offering, I would much prefer to deal with someone who is enthusiastic, shows commitment, has the ability to do the job and will bend over backwards to deliver the results.  Of course, having beauty and a brain appears like the ultimate combination –but this is business, not speed dating!

Perhaps being genetically gifted gets you in the door, but brains may ultimately win you a place at the table?

 

Nicole is a Fellow of the RCSA and a current RCSA council member in South Australia. Nicole combines her recruitment, leadership and coaching expertise to work with other recruiters and organisations to achieve their own success through increased performance.  

May 09
6

South Australia – the market, the future & the opportunity

By | Change, Results, Success

I attended the AMCHAM luncheon last week featuring Raymond Spencer, the Chair of the Economic Development Board in South Australia. I was curious to hear his view and outlook as clients and candidates have consistently been telling me over the past few months – it’s tough.  In 24 hours I had a job offer recalled due to ‘cash flow’ and ‘revenue concerns’ and another candidate told me he had his interview cancelled due to the company deciding to “not proceed for now”.  Let me just mention – both of these examples are in the apparently ‘booming’ resources sector. It demonstrates the current feeling of caution by businesses in Adelaide and this mentality of “let’s wait and see”.

Raymond certainly wasn’t backward in coming forward and was quite open in his observations and thoughts of the Adelaide business community.  I found his opinions to be refreshingly honest. In short, some of his comments included:

  • SA businesses aren’t aggressive enough – it’s just not part of our DNA and in general we have a glass half empty approach – being too quick to see what’s wrong vs. what’s right
  • We are very very lucky, there is a real opportunity here in SA right now – we just don’t realise how good we have it
  • Not enough attention is paid to organisational culture and embedding the right values and behaviours that deliver successful outcomes
  • We don’t support risk with the possibility of failure here vs. the US where innovation and risk are supported and expected
  • “People are our most important asset” – everyone says this, but how do you transfer this to your bottom line? It must come back to your culture and be entrenched in everything you do

I certainly felt he illustrated the conservatism in the Adelaide business community that “newbies” to our city usually describe and perhaps our definite lean towards pessimism not optimism. What they really mean is that we generally don’t like change and there is a fear factor about doing something different, taking a risk, considering alternatives or developing new relationships.  Doing things the way we have always done them tends to be our auto pilot strategy.

The bigger picture here of course is what Raymond highlighted  – that we are potentially missing a much larger opportunity.  This could pass us all by if we don’t come together as a business community and support each other, consider new alternatives such as joint ventures to win bigger business and be open to change.

His over-riding theme and certainly based on his own business success, was clear and not linked to the economy, market conditions or political landscape – it was this: business success still comes back to people, culture and leadership. Without these key elements at your business core, the rest is pointless.

Let’s agree – Adelaide is a great place to do business. We have growth industries, we have talented people, we have the lifestyle and the cost of living, so we should all be open to new ideas and ways of doing things and embrace the opportunities before us by taking action with an attitude of positivity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 02
5

Are you busy or just ineffective? 5 ways to create more hours in your week

By | Productivity, Results

I need more time with no extra hours,” a friend recently told me. She consistently feels anxious going to work, gets to the end of the day and feels like she hasn’t stopped to take a breath. Her regular rants include “I don’t have enough time”! She feels scattered, unfocussed and disorganised.  The stress is building as she runs around reacting to what is happening around her.

I think at some stage in our careers, we all have experienced moments like this when we feel like a headless chook and seem unable to get in front and on top of our workload and this often spills into other aspects of our lives.  For me, it was in early 2003 – a couple of years after establishing a new business and giving it my everything to get it off the ground.  The passion, excitement and determination to create something successful was a driving force that also pushed me closer to the burnout zone.

I learnt that feeling like I had a lack of time, meant that I had to prioritise to gain control over my day.  Several things needed to change, some were relatively small in concept and simple in application, but they made a significant difference immediately.

  1. Role definition – get a blank piece of paper and write at the top what is my job? What are the 5 major tasks to achieve this? What 5 things am I doing that I can delegate? And finally what steps can I take to delegate them?  For me, such a simple exercise clearly showed me that I was spending nearly half my time on tasks that I could easily get someone else to do and I was too “hands-on” in the business managing rather than leading.
  2. Urgent vs important – any time management guru or text will explain that we spend too much of our day reacting to what appears urgent rather than on those activities that have a direct impact on outcomes.  This became very clear to me as I proof read documents, approved invoices, accepted interruptions from other internal departments and got distracted by administrative processes.
  3. The “to do list” – a non-negotiable, essential tool that I have used every day for the past 15 years. It has become legendary with every person who has worked for me and they will tell you that I live and die by it.  It numbers and lists every task specifically that needs to be completed for the day.  It has to be specific eg: call Tony Jones re: ad approval or complete reference check on Mandy Smith.  Grouping tasks or being generic such as do reference checking or ring clients doesn’t get done because it isn’t exact or measureable.  Once completed, ticked off, it becomes a single document that lists all tasks – not using different systems such as outlook, sticky notes and a notebook – one system, one list.
  4. “Big rocks” – becoming clear on the “big rocks” – that is typically between 3 – 5 of the most important priorities that you do that deliver the outcomes you want to achieve.  Figure out what they are and spend at least 70% of your week doing them. For me these highest payoff activities were performance management, business development, coaching and sales training.
  5. Empowering others to take responsibility – when it’s your own business or where you have direct accountability for specific outcomes for a division, it can be hard to let go.  The moment I delegated authority, allowed people to make decisions and learn for themselves, the confidence and trust grew.  The result for me was more time and less stress, as I wasn’t holding sole responsibility for everything that happened. A weight was lifted off my shoulders.

The secret to gaining more time is through priortisation and focusing on those things that actually make a difference to what you are trying to achieve.  In the words of productivity guru Timothy Ferriss, “being busy is used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions”.  I couldn’t agree more.  It is so easy to fill our days with unimportant, seemingly urgent but irrelevant ‘busyness’.  To my friend I say, “stop, revisit your purpose, get clear on what tasks actually contribute to achieving your results and don’t procrastinate by being ‘busy’”. You will never get more hours in the day, but you can certainly control what you put into the hours that you have.

So does my friend need more time? No! If that were a possibility, she would just fill it doing more of the same unproductive stuff she is doing now and in essence be no more effective.  Having more time doesn’t equate to greater effectiveness…but being effective will create you more time.

 

Nicole Underwood provides business coaching to leaders and owners who are seeking to improve their results through more effective leadership and communication.  A recent client has said “Her effervescent style coupled her with extensive experience in her field is a joy to work with. She is non-judgemental and not controlling in her style. I would highly recommend Nicole to any emerging leader who needs tips and support in growing a team. She is a first class consultant.” Business Owner, March 2012.

*This article was originally written and published for Training Point in January 2012

Mar 27
6

The Fortunetellers wheel of fortune…..what does success mean to you?

By | Change, Results, Success

Last week I was flying to Brisbane to run a workshop with an up and coming HR Consultancy. To kick start the first session I opened with the topic of success and what it means to their business and the individuals within it.  Before getting into the nitty gritty of achieving top performance and putting action steps in place, I felt it was a pre-requisite to know what success means to those making the contribution.

I find through my coaching that success ultimately is very different for everyone and it can be quite a personal definition.  Mainstream success usually equates to financial wealth, asset generation, career climbing and social status. But is that your definition?  I like Christopher Morley’s “there is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way”.  That is, what you want it to be and what you’re striving for.

It has propelled me to reflect on my own journey as it has been 8 months since I decided to leave my executive role to start my own business (Quit while your ahead….10 tips for going out on top).  I know from the outside, it appeared like I had ‘everything’, but on the inside I wanted to contribute more in my own way and create something unique, that not only I could call my own, but live and breathe my offering that genuinely makes a difference to others.

Chris Savage’s blog post got me thinking last week (you can read it here) about success and living life authentically with no regrets.  He talks about ‘people on their deathbed living with no regrets’. I can honestly say I haven’t been that in touch my ‘spiritual’ side – always choosing to invest in my health, family, career and personal development as a priority.  However, I have to admit that a month before I actually made the decision to go it alone, I was at a corporate function – a fundraiser for the Julian Burton Burns Trust when I experienced something quite unusual.  There was a tarot card reader there and my team thought it would be fun to have our ‘futures told’.  I didn’t think twice – a bit of fun!

My cards read that I had an amazing opportunity, something that I had wanted to try for some time and that I should trust it.  This spinning wheel of opportunity was going to affect other areas of my life (family, finances etc) initially, but it would ultimately be successful.  Now, for you skeptics, yes this could have been referring to anything and been a “generic” reading, but does it matter? Sometimes we need a push and even if it comes from an unusual source, perhaps we should be more in tune with the messages the universe sends us! Of course I didn’t make my decision based on a fortuneteller, but it certainly gave me some added inspiration to propel me into action.

I realised I was in my comfort zone and it was a nice place to be (Are you green and growing or ripe and rotten?) but someone once said to me “sometimes being safe just means we live in the shadows of how great we can actually be”.  That being said, success to me means driving forward for my own purpose, living authentically with the intention of positively contributing to others.

It took some time, but I feel immense satisfaction that I took the plunge and like Chris Savage says, I have no regrets!  Sometimes we spend so much time focused on building the success of what others want or the image of what others think success is, that we forget about actually doing and achieving those the things that are important to us and actually make us happy.

Set your own agenda, define your own success and then enjoy the journey of making it happen!

Feb 28
4

“It’s the vibe of the thing”……can you explain your culture?

By | Culture, Leadership, Results

 

Last week I spoke at a boardroom breakfast to a group of leaders from infrastructure, mining, legal and local government.  The topic was on my blog “technical competence without people skills –  what is it costing you”? I was a little apprehensive prior to the presentation knowing that most of the people in the room were technical experts and here I was about to tell them that they needed to develop their leadership skills!  I shouldn’t have been concerned.  The input, debate and discussion was encouraging.

There was one question that came up about three quarters through my presentation “you’ve spoken a lot about culture today…. what is culture anyway?”.  As a public speaker, there is always a small sense of dread getting a question that you may not have an immediate answer to…. but this one, this one I could talk about for a whole other session!

My immediate response was that culture is the values that guide internal behavior and action within an organisation.  Someone else in the room quoted the movie The Castle saying, “it’s the vibe of the place”, another said, “It is the unspoken expectations of how things are”; another said, “It determines whether you fit it in or not”.  It is such an intangible element, yet the most important aspect of an organisation.  A cohesive work culture is a powerful retention advantage and an organisation that stands by its values in everything it does – action, behavior and consequence is important to staff.

It is the number one question I get asked at interviews about a potential new employer “what’s the culture like?”. This can sometimes be hard to articulate and to describe to a third party – but it is an essential step in winning over a prospective employee.  Why should they leave their current role to join your company? In this day age, it has to be more than the job description and the pay because you can be assured there is a comparable job down the road. Culture is the differentiator – it is the intangible ‘something’ that can get a star candidate across the line.

I had a marketing executive call from Melbourne this week wanting to discuss the Adelaide market and potential opportunities.  He understands that finding a similar level role and remuneration may be difficult, but he is more interested in the right ‘cultural fit’ and returning to his home state.  He will only move if this match is right.  He is representative of a large proportion of the ‘passive’ market that is open to change and opportunities, but still need to be ‘sold’ on culture and an employer’s value proposition.  The problem is that so many companies still can’t successfully articulate this offer.

I know recruiting for myself; it was only when I could confidently communicate the culture at interview stage that my rate of hiring the right people and keeping them skyrocketed.  I didn’t do the big sales pitch – just here it is, warts and all. I learnt what were the two things about our culture that made people thrive and stay and they were also the two things that made people leave. It was not uncommon to get to the end of the interview and agree that it wasn’t the right match for either of us. Better now than later I say.

The same with clients. I was recruiting for the mining industry last year and I had a technically competent candidate who ticked all the boxes in terms of skills and experience.  After an hour and a half, I knew that there wasn’t a cultural match – he was motivated by flexibility and being able to blend his work life with family life.  For this particular organisation and role, the culture required strong achievement drive and a commitment to long hours and travel.  That’s okay of course; it just wasn’t the right fit.

The hardest part for recruiters as well as companies recruiting themselves is to be able to articulate the internal workings and behaviors of the company without being apologetic about it, in an honest and compelling way. Then sticking to it – even when you know it’s a great candidate in front of you, being able to walk away because ultimately you have different values and ways of operating is critical to long term retention.

Not sure how do you articulate your culture? Ask your staff!  They will tell you and usually come up with better descriptions and examples – especially about the unspoken culture.  My first week at Recruitment Solutions back in the late 90’s, I went to head office wearing a pantsuit.  The girls in the Sydney office looked me up and down, took me to lunch and told me that women weren’t allowed to wear pants! What? That wasn’t in the manual! I had been through induction that covered values, behaviours, standards etc, there was nothing about not being able to wear pants! Internal culture – you won’t always find the answers in the training manual.

Remember that in the race to recruit and retain the best and brightest means being able to convey your culture – what is so great about working here? Include this in your recruitment process – at the end of the interview have a 5-minute spiel about culture, expectations and values. Save yourself and the individual a lot of time, money and emotion by getting the culture fit right upfront.

Culture is everything. It is still one of the most important elements to attract (and keep) the best people to your organisation. Get a jump-start on your competition and recognise that at the core of what makes good companies great is a strong organisational culture.

Of course for those that don’t have a great culture…don’t worry about trying to articulate it….perhaps we should get together and discuss how to improve it?

Feb 06
5

Don’t sweat the cold call….how to get your Consultants on the phone & winning business

By | Recruitment, Results

In my recent blog “head in the sand vs action junkie ….what’s your mantra?” I wrote about a Consultant who worked for me who didn’t enjoy prospecting new business as she felt that she was annoying clients when she rang. This generated a range of comments and questions asking how I helped her overcome this.

The recruitment industry is notorious for its continuous flow of calls to clients asking for appointments.  This in itself gives us a bad name.  Now, I agree, don’t get me a wrong, a cold call with no purpose, interrupting my day for what seems like only their benefit, is completely annoying.  I tap my foot thinking yes? So what? What’s in it for me? I assume that many clients feel the same way when Recruiters ring.

One of the problems is that many Consultants start their week, look in their calendars and realise that they don’t have any appointments for the next 5 days. Their weekly meeting with their manager is that day and they will be asked, drilled, coached, questioned or in some consultancies have strips torn off them for not meeting their KPI’s.  I’ve heard of these experiences from many Recruiters over the years…including one boss who waves $20 in the air for the next consultant who jumps on the phone and wins a client visit.   There’s another manager who stands directly behind her Consultants until she is satisfied that they are actually doing their marketing.  Hmmmm and we wonder where our bad rep comes from?

Picking up the phone will the sole intention of winning a marketing visit is a recipe for disaster.  The client can hear the desperation in your voice, they will detect that you need to meet your quota and that you’re just another ‘sales person’ trying to fill the week with appointments.  I’m sure with this approach most consultants don’t have a very high hit rate nor a very high job satisfaction level.

Tip 1 – Mindset

Changing a Consultant’s mindset from “I’m annoying”, “they don’t want to hear from me”, “I’m the 100th recruiter who has called them today”, can be a challenge to overcome!  Especially when you have a Recruiter who is a top performer and is streets ahead of the competition in terms of knowledge, results and ability. The shift occurred when I could get them to move away from thinking ‘get the appointment’ to ‘what’s in it for them’.  This successfully moved the mindset from annoying sales person to helpful expert. Approaching the conversation in terms of offering, differentiator, benefits and helpfulness broke down a lot of barriers and stereotypes.

Tip 2 – Strategy

This is where a lot of Consultants go wrong – they simply don’t have a targeted approach as to whom they will call.  Yesterday I was in a client’s office who was using the yellow pages for a screen monitor boost and that’s about all it is good for these days.  You can’t build a profitable client base from random lists or with a scattergun approach.   When starting a desk from scratch, I would recommend Consultants start with something familiar – perhaps an industry they have worked in previously to give them the confidence to start.  With no strategy, there will be no success.

Tip 3 – Always have a real reason to call

Don’t pick up the phone without having thought about what you are going to say first and please don’t ever ring to ‘touch base’ (a pet hate of mine)! . When I coached Consultants on this particular issue we would brainstorm all the reasons why you could ring to speak to a client and then what were the benefits for them in taking your call.  It is amazing how many reasons there are to call a new potential client – to tell them about a star candidate you have recently interviewed, to ask for their help/advice, congratulate them on a recent piece of news in the media, to follow up a previous conversation, to invite them to a function, to ask for an introduction to another person in the business etc etc. The list is endless. Just make sure you have prepared your plan of attack before picking up that handset.

Tip 4 – Technique

Do your Consultants know how to prospect new business? Might sound like a silly and very basic question, but have they been taught and shown how to make these calls? A client of mine recently instructed her team to make 5 calls to existing clients to generate referral business.  The instruction was clear – make 5 calls by the end of the week.  By Friday morning, no one had even started their calls.  They were petrified! After a further conversation, I uncovered that there was no strategy, training or instructions about how to go about making the calls and what could be said.  As soon as she ran through some scenarios, techniques and quick role-plays, the team was off and running. Never assume people know how to make effective calls.

Tip 5 – Big picture outlook

The amount of procrastination, excuses and palaver that goes on in consultancies in order to avoid ringing clients is amazing.  Two techniques I would use to help overcome this with Consultants were to get them to focus on the bigger picture – what is the goal? What are the benefits they receive in achieving them (see staff mojo….planting the seeds of motivation)? In the scheme of things, picking up the phone and having a conversation is pretty insignificant right? The other technique is to do your hard tasks first – speak to 3 clients, make 2 appointments etc before doing anything else.  This focus on taking action and “do it until it’s done” was another successful strategy.

Tip 6 – Referrals & common links

To ensure you never make a cold call again, use your existing networks as well as common links to make new connections.  This can be as simple as “I’m in the area visiting client ABC”, through to industry associations to suppliers to direct referrals.  People are always going to feel more comfortable doing business with people they know and trust or if their connections are already working with you.  The power of connections is proven with Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.  Every interaction is an opportunity to ask for new business or to ask for a new introduction or referral.  It takes discipline to form the habit of asking – but remember the benefit is no more cold calling.

Prospecting new business is a means to an end. It is a necessary ‘evil’ to get in front of new clients and to be given the opportunity to then develop relationships.  We all want the easy road to a full list of clients we love working with, but it takes discipline and action to achieve this end outcome. A shift in mindset is essential to move cold calling to a conversation and being clear on what’s in it for them to see you.

Get on the phone, get out of the office and remember being face to face is where relationships are built, opportunities are discovered and results are made.