Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Take Ownership of Mistakes

We all make mistakes. Having worked in the communications department at a Fortune 500 organization, I’ve unfortunately had some experience in this arena, and I always encourage leaders to take the following steps:

Beware of a Knee-Jerk Reaction

Too often, when people make a mistake, they get so embarrassed that they want to cover it up or pretend the incident never happened.  Or, they say they aren’t personally responsible and deflect the blame to another person.

This is not the best way to handle things.  If you go too long without addressing the issue, your boss or colleague (or whoever was involved) might build up the situation in her mind to be worse than it actually was.  She will remember it and may no longer trust you.  And placing the blame on someone else may damage your workplace relationships and harm your reputation as a team player.

Take Action Immediately

It’s up to you to proactively address a mistake as soon as it occurs.  How?  First, assess the situation objectively.  What would you think if you were on the other end?  Plan how you can fix things as best you can, and make a note of how you will behave differently next time.  Then, go talk to your boss.  Explain that you’ve learned from the experience and assure her it won’t happen again.

Remember that everyone is expected to make mistakes – that’s human nature.  If you handle one maturely, you may come out looking even better than if the blunder hadn’t happened at all.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

 

How to Close the Deal in a Job Interview

What do you do if you’re in the final round of the interview process and your last few minutes with the hiring manager?  What can you say to seal the deal?  Here are some ideas:

• Express enthusiasm about the position and appreciation for the time they’ve given you and the opportunity to interview.
• Reiterate the problems they’re looking for the new hire to solve, and summarize exactly what you’ll do to address them.
• Ask thoughtful and pertinent questions about the organization and the position to show that you are concerned about fit as much as they are.
• Ask about next steps and when you should expect to hear from them regarding a decision. Inquire if they would mind if you followed up.
• When leaving, drop in something personal the interviewer has shared with you over the course of the process.  For example, if he mentioned his 9 year-old daughter, tell him you hope his daughter enjoys her summer.

Be Productive Over the Summer Slowdown

Many of you reading today are headed into work, and it may well be slow.  In the business world, it’s not uncommon to spend various days in July and August sitting at your desk and twiddling your thumbs because your colleagues and clients aren’t around to do business with.  I’m willing to bet that web surfing, Facebook checking, and online shopping are at an annual high.  Here are a couple of tips to get through the summer months without driving yourself to mindless distraction:

Write down your goals for the “school year”:  Imagine that you are about to start a new school year.  Think hard about what you want to achieve at work in the next several months, and specific steps you’ll need to take to make it happen.  If your boss is around, set up a meeting to talk through what you’ve come up with so that you’re both on board.

Have lunch with a networking contact:  Now that you actually have some down time, why not use it by spending a little more than an hour with a person you’d like to get to know better and who could possibly help you in your career?  After all, informal, in-person networking is the most effective kind.

Organize your files:  If you haven’t read an e-mail from January yet, you’re not going to.  Clean up your Outlook inbox and the hard drive of your computer so that you are able to start fresh in the fall.  Make sure important files are backed up and archived for safekeeping.

Walk down the hall:  If you had to process some financial paperwork for a client, would you know how to do it?  The dead week is a great time to better understand how company systems work and the people you should talk to in order to most efficiently get things done.

Read neglected industry publications:  That would be Information Week, AdAge, or the ABA Banking Journal, not People.  Stop by the mailroom and pick up the summer issues, or hop online.  Focus your attention on trends pieces that will help you better understand where your industry is headed. 

3 Keys to Sales Excellence

Even if you don’t have the word “sales” in your title, don’t be fooled into thinking this post isn’t for you. Everyone who works in business is a salesperson, whether you’re selling an actual product to a client or an idea to a team member.

#1: Nail the Big Five Traits

When I worked in the agency world, there were certain individuals who could always be counted on to bring in the big clients.  My boss used to say that these guys had “the magic touch,” but that wasn’t necessarily true.  They actually possessed very concrete traits, including the following, which encompass the first part of sales excellence:

Good Listening: Top salespeople don’t go into a client meeting and dominate the conversation.  Instead, they get the customer talking about what pains him and what he needs.  They ask probing questions until they can determine the best way to solve the problem.

Concise Speech:  People who close deals easily don’t waste the client’s time with a lot of irrelevant information.  They communicate in a manner that’s easy to understand and follow and choose their words carefully depending on the specific situation.

Persistence: In most cases, even people will excellent persuasion skills will not be able to make a sale right away.  A huge component of sales effectiveness is being able to stay focused and approach a goal from different directions.

Internal Motivation: Although some salespeople thrive based on external quotas and managers hovering over their shoulders, they are not in the majority.  Top salespeople know how and when to begin an initiative and the steps they must take to see it through.

Confidence: The best salespeople are not deterred by negative customer reactions or temporary setbacks.  They believe in themselves and their abilities, and this natural self-assurance.

#2:  Find the Target, Hit the Bullseye

Even if you’re not in a direct sales role now, it’s in your best interest to become proficient at lead generation, which is one of those transferable skills that’s handy to have in your back pocket.

It’s easier to sell a single piece of software than an solution with lots of components.  The more complex an offering is, the longer the sales cycle, and so it’s good practice to maintain a strong pipeline that will bear fruit over the long term.  Here are some ideas that go beyond the typical database poach:

Define your value proposition:  Imagine you are trying to sell to your very first customer.  Why should they choose you over the competition?  What does your solution bring to the table that a customer can’t get anywhere else?  How and why is your solution critical to the customer’s business?

Target your ideal customer: Make a list of the characteristics that define your best possible customer.  How is this customer’s business organized, what is your key contact looking for, and why are you the perfect partner?

Talk to group members and mentors: Approach colleagues to find out more about successful partnerships your organization has had in the past.  Are there customers whose engagements have lapsed who you can re-approach?  Read the news and trade publications to brainstorm additional possibilities and discuss them with senior mentors.

Customize your offering for each client:  Prioritize your top 5 targets and work to set up a meeting with a decision-maker in each organization.  The purpose of this first meeting is information gathering – you want to find out what is ailing this particular business so that the two of you can custom-create a solution to solve those problems.

Find the diamonds in the rough through a multi-pronged approach: Now that you have initiated a deep, strategic approach, you can cast a wider net through lead generation vehicles such as e-mail and social media marketing, online events, and in person speaking engagements.  The more substantial your presence, the more interest you will receive from potential customers.

#3:  Present Like a Pro

After successfully identifying a target, you will probably have only one chance to close the deal in person.  For this reason, you’ll want to deliver a killer presentation.  Here are some thoughts to guide you.

Understand the audience’s needs: Have a lengthy conversation with at least one prospect first to make sure you understand the organization’s most critical needs.  Then, create your remarks based on how you plan to address those needs.  This includes starting your remarks by putting the critical issues out there right away.

Know your company: Find out the names and titles of the individuals who will be at your presentation and do some research on these people ahead of time so that you can get a better understanding of their expectations.  Knowing exactly how many people will be in the room will also prevent you from bringing so many of your own colleagues that the sales team is bigger than the potential client team.

Keep the end goal in mind: In a sales presentation, the end goal should be a call to action – what do you want the prospect to do as a result of your visit?  Your first major point should be this call to action, with the rest of the remarks (including statistics, facts, and anecdotes) supporting why the audience should follow this approach.

Consider a conversational format: Far too often, Powerpoint slides result in a lecture style presentation and audience members tune out.  If you want your prospects to be invested in your message, allow them to contribute to it by asking for questions and feedback as you proceed.  If you want to emphasize key points, consider a handout that allows people to write notes in the margins.

Establish a common ground: Thanking your prospects profusely for giving you their time puts them in the power position, and launching right into the business at hand there puts you there.  Telling a story or sharing an experience everyone can relate to puts everyone in the room on equal footing and encourages rapport and relationship building.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Mantra For Being Less Sensitive

Working in the business world for more than a decade hasn’t made me less sensitive.  I still bristle when someone criticizes my work, and when a colleague doesn’t want to hang out with me on the weekends, it hurts my feelings.

I’m working on it, though.  In case you have a sensitivity problem too, here’s what I’m doing. 

I’m trying not to take things so personally.  If a person gives me the brush off and I don’t know why, I won’t jump to the immediate conclusion that I did something to offend her.  I will accept that I don’t know everything that’s going on behind the scenes in that person’s life, and recognize that it’s possible that the person behaves this way toward everyone. 

I will not globalize criticism.  If a colleague makes a negative remark about my work, I won’t take it as her finding fault with me as a human being. 

I will recognize that I am not going to be best friends with everyone I work with.  Just because we happen to be on a project together doesn’t mean we have things in common beyond that project.  It’s okay for my colleagues to recognize this and prefer to socialize with other people. 

I’m also trying to steer clear of people who trigger my sensitivity radar – for example, someone who has already said something less than pleasant to me, or rejected me in some other fashion.  If I can’t avoid these people, I will not let their behavior ruin my day.  Instead, I will remind myself of all the people in my life who do love and appreciate me.  I’ll raise my hand for a pep talk – they’re only a phone call away.

A Different View on Decision Making

 Ann Marie Bland of Boston, a video game marketing executive, was recently faced with two attractive job offers.  Both companies were start-ups in which she felt she could rapidly grow her career as part of a successful management team.  Ann Marie made a list of pros and cons and did her due diligence on the two companies, examining their goals and direction, funding, and culture.  She also relied on her instinct.

Instinct is at the center of the decision-making process advocated by Jonah Lehrer, the author of the bestselling book “How We Decide.” Jonah, who was inspired to write about this topic after “pathological indecisiveness in the cereal aisle at the supermarket,” claims that the brain’s prefrontal cortex is limited in its ability to make complex decisions.

“In the face of an overwhelming number of variables, we have to trust our hunches,” Jonah says.  “Although we can’t explain them, they often reflect the most critical information.”

The Hidden Variable – Your Gut

When making an important decision, Jonah argues that uber-rationality doesn’t always work because pros and cons aren’t created equal, and by simply looking at a list, you may not be seeing the whole picture. Watch Jonah talking more about decision making on the CBS Early Show:

Are people who are less in touch with their gut feelings destined to experience what Jonah dubs “paralysis by analysis?” Fortunately, this is a skill that can be honed. Jonah suggests eavesdropping on subtle feelings, clicking off the reasoning process, and listening to the quiet emotions that arise when you think about the decision.

“Also recognize that the brain doesn’t like change, so it’s normal to be scared,” he says.  “Emotions associated with fear don’t necessarily signal that you’re making a wrong choice.”

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

New Episode: 30/20 Vision

Join me and my co-hosts, Christine Hassler (author of The 20-Something Manifesto) and Lindsey Pollak (author of Getting from College to Career), for our next 30/20 Vision podcast tomorrow, Monday, July 12, at 5:00pm EST. This month we'll be talking about our favorite sources of inspiration!

Click here to join us live or download the episode anytime.

A Passion as a Side Job: The MAHA Music Festival

I recently learned about MAHA, a summer indie music festival in Omaha, NE. MAHA's organizers include attorney-by-day Tre Brashear III, Mike App, a VP at Lozier Corporation, marketing pro Traci Hancock and businessman Tyler Owen. The 2nd annual MAHA will take place in Omaha on July 24 and will feature a mix of national and local music talent and will highlight several noteworthy bands, including one of my personal favorites, Spoon!

I absolutely love MAHA as an example of how you can pursue your passion as a side project while sticking with your day job, so I chatted with co-founder Tre Brashear about his experience:

Tre, how did you discover you were passionate about music?

 

Well, the simple answer is that I have always (no matter how old I was) had a song or two that could lift my mood entirely, no matter how bad the day or what else was going on.  Yes, the song or artist changed over time, but there was always something about music.  The energy created from hearing a good song is instantaneous. 

 

The long answer is that I have always loved music of all types.  My parents had very diverse tastes from my peer groups growing up (Mom – R&B, County; Dad – Classical; Peer Group – Classic Rock in High School, “Indie” Rock in College), so I was constantly listening to different things.  However, my “passion” really didn’t arise until I attended law school at the University of Iowa.  The campus radio station (KRUI) exposed me to a lot of different bands and styles that I hadn’t really been exposed to before.  Plus, Iowa City was full at that time of used CD stores (likely isn’t anymore since everything has gone digital) where you could wander in and buy a CD for $2 or so.  That “cheapness” of being able to acquire a whole CD for just slightly more than what iTunes now charges for a single song really allowed me to expand my horizons and fuel my passion for music.

You made the decision to stick with legal work while co-founding a music conference on the side.  Why did this approach work for you, instead of, for example, quitting law and becoming a musician?

 

As much as I love music, there was never any possibility of me becoming a musician.  I was the classic “all sports, all the time” boy who rebelled against his music lessons until his parents finally gave up.  My parents were right, I DO regret not sticking with the piano now that I’m an adult. 

Co-founding the MAHA Music Festival worked for me because it enabled me to utilize my life skills (nonprofit law, strategy, communication) in a way that was fun, unique and independent.  One of the downsides to practicing law is that what you do on a day to day basis is dependent upon what others need you to do (i.e., your clients).  Conversely, with MAHA, I was now the client (along with my founding partners) directing my services.  And there’s nothing wrong with being your own boss. 

Many people struggle to find their passion.  How did you realize what your passions were (music and community service)?  How does the music conference allow you to fulfill both of these at once?

 

It’d be cool to say it came to me in a vision as I was walking through a desert, but my life is not an Oliver Stone movie.

 

I've always found music uplifting.  No matter the weather, the day, the workload, the relationship, the whatever, a song can change your mood entirely and that is powerful.  Given that someone can access the music that uplifts and inspires them virtually anytime they want (mp3 player in yard, internet radio at work, stereo at home), I’m always struck thinking that people who aren’t passionate about music don’t know what they are missing. 

In terms of community service, my parents taught me that helping others was not a chore, but fun.  I firmly believe that life is not about “stuff,” but about “experiences.”  Community service is an extension of that belief.  Some of my community service is geared towards helping people in need, especially children.  Other parts of my community service, like MAHA, are about creating fun/atmosphere/events that make my community better.  Whatever the cause, I gain experiences that I would never otherwise gain sitting behind a desk staring at a computer screen.    

How to Communicate Across Generations

In every talk I give at a corporation or conference on intergenerational communication, someone raises their hand and says that people of different generations don’t vary in their styles and that it’s all in my head.  If you’re tempted to think that, here are some examples of the types of remarks I’m always hearing:

Born before 1945, they’re the loyalists, the ones who spent a lifetime at the company and expect to be rewarded with a Rolex:

How can I help YOU?

Flexibility is a code word for less work getting done.

If I’m not yelling at you, you’re doing fine.

Baby Boomers

Born 1945-63, they’re the hippies and the yuppies, the ones who worshiped the Beatles and clawed their way to the top:

I paid my dues to get more money, a better title, and a swankier office – what are you going to do?

You’ll get your feedback, that’s what annual performance reviews are for.

We’ve been in business for 50 years, we must be doing something right.

Generation X

Born 1964-79: they’re the loners, the ones who learned to be self-reliant while their parents left them with latchkeys:

Company loyalty – what’s that?

I can manage my own career, thank you very much.

Give me the skills or give me death.

Millennials

Born 1980-95, they’re the techies, the ones whose parents taught them they were special and entitled:

Sorry to interrupt, but you haven’t told me how I’m doing in the last hour.

Let’s cut out the red tape and cut it out now.

How can YOU help ME?

You can see that when it comes to communication, we’ve come full circle from the customer-oriented traditionalists, who wanted to know how they could help you, to the self-focused Millennials, who want to know what an organization and its people can do for them.

Adapting your style to suit the different perspectives of the multi-generational workforce will increase your team’s productivity and support a stronger sense of loyalty and positive morale.  Here are some ideas to start you off:

Traditionalists

• Empower traditionalists to make their own decisions by encouraging them to “trust their gut” and supporting them in whatever they determine is the best course.
• Have deference for their years of experience and listen.  After all, what has happened in the past is the best predictor of what will happen in the future.
• Talk to traditionalists about their learnings and their long-term plans. Don’t assume they have one foot out the door just because they’re what used to be retirement age.
• Provide constructive feedback as you would to any other employee – they can and should learn new tricks.

Boomers

• Give recognition whenever possible.  Acknowledge Boomers’ contributions and be cognizant about implementing their suggestions.
• Encourage them to mentor younger colleagues and learn new skills and technologies so that they can continue to hone their potential.
• Allow them to experiment with their jobs.  Many Boomers are getting antsy and want to do work that’s different and more personally meaningful.
• Respect the status quo.  Boomers feel that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Don’t insist on change for its own sake.

X-ers

• Share your unique expertise.  X-ers are interested in amassing as much training and knowledge as possible.
• Look to X-ers as team leaders.  They have been chomping at the bit to be out of the Boomers’ shadow for years and are ready for their time to shine.
• Use technology to make team meetings easier.  Many X-ers have families to think about, and they appreciate you keeping their necessary work/life balance in mind.
• Don’t block their path to decision makers.  X-ers just want to get the work done and can get impatient with turf wars and too many bureaucratic channels.

Millennials

• Take Millennial employees out to lunch and inquire about their career goals and aspirations.  They want to feel like you care.
• Explain to Millennials why things are done a certain way in your organization, educate them on who they need to talk to to get things done, and spell out “unwritten” rules to ensure compliance.
• Have an open-door policy in which you are available for Millennial team members to ask questions and receive guidance.  Provide constructive feedback in real time.
• In the event of a crisis, don’t shut them out because of their status as junior team members.  Millennials love the apprentice approach and will learn so much from having the opportunity to work by your side.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Discovering What You're Meant to Do: Jennie's Story

While writing for the Wall Street Journal, I had the opportunity to meet Jennie Mustafa-Julock, my fellow compatriot in Gen X crime.  Jennie is inspiring because she escaped a consulting career that wasn’t right for her, and found her dream job as a life coach.  I thought you’d be interested in what Jennie had to say about her journey:

Jennie, why was your dream to be an organizational consultant?  How long did you nurture this dream, and what steps did you take to achieve it?

As the daughter of a proud Vietnam Veteran, I was raised to be passionate about public service. Right out of college, I moved to Washington, DC to pursue a career in the federal government. I went to work at the US Department of Labor in training and development and fell in love with the field of organizational development. I simultaneously worked through my Master of Public Administration program at American University with a specialization in Organizational Development (OD). I decided to pursue a dream as a sought after OD consultant for government agencies, specifically for human resources departments.

To nurture that dream, I applied and participated in the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship program. While I knew I didn’t want to work for the government forever, I knew the PMF program would give me the higher level exposure I needed to establish myself as an expert in government-related OD and leadership development. I worked at the National Institutes of Health during my two-year fellowship. 

Just shy of completing the PMF program, I got my break into consulting at Oxley Enterprises, Inc., a now defunct boutique management consulting firm with contracts at the Pentagon. I was hired as a Senior Management Consultant and dove in with all I had. However, in just five months, I decided to leave Oxley. I was absolutely miserable! In hindsight, I was miserable because I hated consulting, though at the time, I was sure it was the people and the Pentagon projects that I despised. I was unwilling to admit to myself that I sucked as a consultant.

I quickly rebounded and went to work at a larger firm, Touchstone Consulting Group. Here I was doing much more interesting work and made it six whole months with a smile on my face. But as time pressed on, I started realizing this was not for me.

Describe the incident that led you think you'd failed in the career.  What was that realization like? 

I hated the culture of government consulting. I resented that my worth was measured by the number of “billable hours” I could accrue. Here we were, a bunch of grossly overpaid, know-it-all 20-somethings who were sucking out every dime we could out of the federal agencies we worked with.  As someone who was deeply passionate about the value of public service, I felt like a leech instead of a public servant.  Even though I was miserable, I worked very hard at trying to make it work for me.

Upon completing a big, boring, laborious consulting engagement, a very wise (and brutally candid) supervisor called me out. Though I tried to hide it, my misery was palpable. She felt it, my co-workers felt it, and to her chagrin, my clients felt it. She asked me if I really wanted to be a consultant. And even though I knew it meant my job, I had to be honest with her (and myself) and say, "no."

What made you decide to become a life coach? 

I spent the remainder of 2006 unemployed, broke, and completely freaked out. I had just turned 30, despised my chosen career, and had no idea what I really wanted to do. I reached out to my friends, classmates, PMF colleagues, and others who were all turning 30 that year, too. We had followed all the rules, done the college thing, perhaps the grad school thing, went above and beyond with fellowships and internships, all in pursuit of some fabulous career. But 9 out of 10 of my peeps were absolutely miserable! I began to search for the connection. Why were all these highly competent, super driven people so frustrated? What was it we were feeling? 

The conclusion: we were all STUCK! 

Once I had this mini-epiphany, I went to work looking for solutions. I reached back to the coaching community that I had dipped my toe into years before. There were tons of life coaches who worked with people to get them unstuck, but I struggled to find one that “got me” because they were all my parents’ age. There was a huge void of coaches for my age group - people who felt stuck because of what they had chosen in college and completely clueless as to what they really wanted - people who didn’t want to wait until retirement to start answering these major life questions. That fall, I launched Live Audaciously, a life coaching practice designed with my age group in mind. Nearly four years into my business, I’m also a motivational speaker delivering workshops and keynotes to high schools, colleges, associations, and other organizations on Audacity - the most important quality of fabulously successful people in today’s world.

Feel free to learn more about Jennie’s life and coaching practice at www.coachjennie.com.