Entries Tagged 'Influence Without Authority' ↓

What it makes the job to be a dream one? How can I find out the gap between what I have and the dream job?

I found the answers in the book by Marcus Buckinghamand  Curt Coffman - First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.

by Duke LeNoir

The book is “Based on in-depth interviews by the Gallup organization of over 80,000 managers in over 400 companies – the largest study of its kind ever undertaken”.

In the book the authors share 12 questions that in my opinion should provide very sharp answers to the questions – “Do I have The Dream Job?” or “What must be done to make it one?”. They group the questions according to the employees “maturity” – new on the job role, on track, up-and-running, thirsty for growth [my interpretation]. The authors compare this journey of career development to mountain climbing thus dividing it into 4 camps. 4 camps toward the summit – the dream job.

Below are the questions.

Base camp – “What do I get?”

• Do I know what is expected of me at work?
• Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

Camp 1 – “What do I give?”

• At work, do I have the opportunity to do my work best every day?
• In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
• Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care of me as a person?
• Is the someone who encourages my development?

Camp 2 – “Do I belong here?”

• At work, do my opinions seem to count?
• Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
• Are my co-workers committed to do quality work?
• Do I have a best friend at work?

Camp 3 – “How can we all grow?”

• In the last 6 months have I talked w/someone about my progress?
• This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Ask yourself. Ask your employees. Most of the answers you already know. If the answers are YES – you or the employee being asked have reached the summit, the dream job. Those questions that answered NO are the gaps. Take a look at the gaps? The most important question to ask is – “Can these gaps be closed?”. If the answer is YES, you have exciting times to come. If the answer is NO here is what happens next:

• If you are the employee… my advice to you – find another job.
• If you are the manager, it should explain this turnover thing you have. You may want to read The Dream Manager book right away.

Did you send a flame email lately? Regret? Sure you do. I did it few times and I wish it never happened. But why you were sending this flame email anyway? Tried to influence the other guy? The result – you just make one more enemy instead making friends.

Emotional Intelligence and Influence Without Authority are a broad topics that are out of scope for this post. Nevertheless, here is a simple technique to craft emails that help avoiding Emotional Intelligence pitfalls. It also helps building rapport which is the basis of Influence Without Authority.

by Evan•L

I use MS Outlook 2007 to craft my emails. I’ve created email template that guides me how to write the rapport emails (vs flame emails). I’ve also set a rule to delay each email for a minute – it gives me a chance to change my mind and delete it while it is still in Outbox just before it hits the wire.

Creating email template

While there is an option to build templated emails, using it involves multiple clicks which is productivity killer. I do not use templates and email forms. I’ve created signature that looks as follows:

[DO YOU REALLY NEED TO SEND THIS MESSAGE?]

[RAPPORT - MAKE THE OTHER PARTY LOVE YOU]

[UPFRONT ASK]

[EXPLAIN THE NEED, USE BULLETS]

[MORE INFO]

Alik Levin

When I fire up a new email with Ctrl + Shift + M I am immediately reminded that this email may be not necessary at all. But if it is, then I need to write it the way so that it builds a rapport. Once the email complete I delete the guidance part. To set up your email signature in Outlook 2007 follow this procedure:

Click on Tools menu in Outlook 2007 Click on Options… Click on Mail Format tab Click on Signatures… button You should see something similar as depicted in the picture only with your own signature - of course, you may adopt mine

You’ve just created email template that guides you to write emails that builds rapport. That should increase your chance to make an impact/influence without authority.

Creating email delivery delay rule

This one helps implementing “Park” method – Emotional Intelligence Core Skills.

1. Click on Tools menu.
2. Click on Rules and Alerts… option.
3. Click on New Rule…
4. Under Start from a blank rule choose Check messages after sending option.
5. Click Next button.
6. Click Next button again.
7. Confirm that this rule is to be applied to every message you send by Clicking on the Yes button (you should get this alert after step 6).
8. Check defer delivery by a number of minutes.
9. Under Step 2:… click on a number of and specify number of minutes you desire your message to wait in the Outbox.
10. Click Finish.

Done.

You’ve just implemented “Park” method – Emotional Intelligence Core Skill - using Outlook 2007. Each email will be waiting for 1 minute allowing you to regret and just delete before it hits the wire.

Emotions are unavoidable and can be both friends and enemies as Mike points out in his Emotions Are Your Best Friend and Enemy. Make friends not enemies. John Wooden’s take is that Emotion Is Your Enemy though.

Self Test

• Think impact first. Do you reply to email first then think what potential impact might have or first think if the impact you would like to make and then craft the email?
• Clear ideas - clear writing. Is your email just a rundown or well formed, easy to read, easy to act upon?
• Build rapport. Are your emails emotional or to the point backed with relevant materials?

Are you a manager? Looking for the ways to make your business better? Looking for the ways to grow? Want to improve both employees and customer satisfaction?

The best advice I’ve got from The Dream Manager book by Matthew Kelly – ask your employees “what’s their dream?”. Have you tried that?

by Cia de Foto

Ask your employees

What are you asking your employees? “Are you on track?” “Are you going to hit that goal?” ”How do you plan to cover that deficit?”, etc. These are all good questions. But there is more. Just ask “what’s your dream?”. As simple as that. “What’s your personal dream?”,  “What’s your career dream?”. What drives you every morning to get out of bed and come to work?

“You’ll be amazed at what they’ll tell us. Nobody knows the business like those who work in the trenches of it every day. Ask your employees. They know more than you think.” - Matthew Kelly, the author of The Dream Manager book.

I have managers too

Now let’s switch roles. How often you are asked by your managers that question “What’s your dream?”. I mean sincerely, with genuine desire to really know? I do not expect neither your nor my manager to be a shrink, but who would like to be just a tool to hit the goal. I would not. I’d rather like to be a passionate team member with shared goals, pardon, *dreams*.

The temptation is to convince yourself that your employees’ dreams are not relevant to your business. That is only true of your employees are not relevant to your business – and if that were true, why would your employ them?- Matthew Kelly, the author of The Dream Manager book.

What’s your dream?

I am selling the Most Valuable Product, the Experience. What are you selling (stop denying, we all sell something)? Does your customer get engaged easily? No? Neither mine. Then how do you engage with your customer?

You create a brand that is credible, compelling, and personally connected with the potential customer. 

by myuibe

This simple formula is expressed in William J. McEwen’s book Married to the Brand: Why Consumers Bond with Some Brands for Life. How do you check your brand for credibility, compelling, and connecting? This is what the author suggest:

Credibility

• [Brand] is a name I can always trust.
• [Brand] always delivers on what they promise.
• [Brand] is a highly respected brand name.
• I know what [Brand] stands for and what makes them different

Compelling

• [Brand] sets the standard for all other brands to follow
• There is no other [product/service category] quite like [Brand]
• I can’t imaging a world without [Brand]
• [Owners/Buyers/Shoppers/Customers] rave about how great [Brand] is.

Connecting

• [Brand] is the perfect [product/service category] for people like me.
• I can easily imaging myself as a [Brand] [owner/shopper/buyer/customer]

“Brand promises that are Credible, present a Compelling offer, and manage to personally Connect will attract first dates. But far more than that, they will generate a special type of first date – one that set the stage for a continuing brand relationship” - William J. McEwen, the author.

Self check

Are *you* Credible, Compelling, and Connecting brand? Check yourself. Replace [Brand] with [My dad/mom] or [My husband/wife]. Is it still Credible, Compelling, Connected? Are you world greatest for your customer?

How do you convince your boss to buy in with new idea? How do you carry out the main message of your presentation? How do you make your blog readers read your blog?

You make your messages sticky.

by Or Hiltch

I was reading J.D. Meier’s Six Principles of Sticky Ideas that he distilled from Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. And it related to me a lot. The principles are:

• Principle 1. Simplicity
• Principle 2. Unexpectedness
• Principle 3. Concreteness
• Principle 4. Credibility
• Principle 5. Emotions
• Principle 6. Stories

It related to me since I was blogging on Basic Skills For Effective Public Speaking and on Glue Audience To Your Presentation With ZoomIt that are just about that - how to make your message to stick.

It related to me since I am on my quest to reach the Tipping Point. Sticky Message is one of the main ingredients to reach the Tipping Point according to Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. The ingredients are:

• The law of a few. Which is about getting to know:
• Connectors (think of Darren Rowse).
• Mavens (think of Leo Babauta and Skellie for writing and Chris Pearson for WordPress and SEO - OMG, just seen he has Google’s PageRank of 7!).
• Salesmen (all of us, the underdog bloggers, who comment on their blogs, and link to them from ours).
• The stickiness factor. Read this post from the start.
• The power of context. Context matters. You can be connected, backed by good mavens, and armed by an army of salesmen. Out-of-context-ness will kill you.

Continuing blogging theme, the recipe for killer blog would be:

• Make friends with Darren.
• Follow Leo’s and Skeillie’s tips on writing and Chris’ tips on SEO.
• Pick your niche and stick with it.

Nothing new but it only proves that The Tipping Point theory works and that there are recipes for each ingredients. Here is a live example. Shilpan has made it in 3 months with Success Soul blog. The blog has rank of 42 on Technorati. I think it is very nice achievement for such young blog. Have you seen the number of comments there?

Got sticky message?