Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

How to Start Thinking About Passion

Passion.  If you have a job that you like reasonably well, you might not even want to go there.  This is understandable.  After all, passion is a vague term that is often thrown around, but in fact means different things to different people, and exploring it can be confusing and overwhelming.

Chang’s Theory of Passion

Richard Chang, who wrote The Passion Plan, describes passion as both content-based (activities like writing, hosting events, or racing cars) or context-based (themes like innovation, nurturing, and risk-taking).  Chang says that we can experience both types of passion in our work, and can often find ways to weave our passions into a current job without making a drastic career change.  Indeed, in my speeches to would-be entrepreneurs, I often suggest that the passion for innovation be satisfied by joining an “intrapreneurship” committee that develops ideas for new products, services, and efficient operations on behalf of the well-established organization.

Formulate Your Definition

However, in order to find ways to pursue your passion at work, it helps to have a concise definition.  According to Tom Siciliano and Jeff Caliguire, authors of Shifting into Higher Gear: An Owner’s Manual for Uniting Your Calling and Career, coming up with such a definition involves analyzing:

• What you do really well
• What makes you unique
• What moments in your past have proven the most memorable to you (examples: “I can still remember shouting with excitement when I was teaching my neighbor to ride her bike and she first took off on her own” and “I recruited the kids on my block to open a lemonade stand – we made a ton of money!”)

• What you have that the world needs

Every individual has a distinctive mix of physical traits, personality, gifts, skills, natural abilities, experiences, training and interests, which means that only you can do the work you do in the exact way you do it.  And when you accomplish something you’re perfectly suited for, you feel alive and fulfilled, as if you’re making the world a better place.

Most Importantly

Depending on your point of view, this might seem overly scientific or overly abstract.  Remember that the point is to identify what you love doing, where your energy comes from, and why.  Take a few hours one day and really think this through.  You won’t regret it.

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

 

New Years Resolutions and Your Performance Goals

The week between Christmas and New Years is a slow period around many offices, and you should use the downtime to your advantage by putting some serious thought into where your career has landed this year, as well as where you want to go in the future.

Your first step is to take a fresh look at previous goals. 

These can be performance goals you set with your manager or goals you set on your own at the end of last year. Note if you were able to achieve these goals or if ongoing work is required. Assess whether all of the goals are still valid or if any should be changed in anticipation of the new year.

A related activity is to document contributions made to your organization. Quantify, as specifically as possible, how your actions impacted the company’s bottom line, and why the company is better off because you work there. Also, brainstorm transferable skills — or skills that cut across a wide variety of roles and industries (project management, client relations, sales, marketing, finance) — that you mastered or honed this year. Update your resumé and online profiles with this new information.

Then, think about the next phase of your career. What would you like to learn in 2012, and what type of work would you like to focus on? Where would you like your career to be in five years, and how can you get there most efficiently? As you consider these issues, tap your manager or a trusted mentor for feedback.

Finally, congratulate yourself on a job well done. This was not the easiest year for workers, and you are still standing!

Employee Innovation on the Rise in American Companies

I’m always advocating for employees of large organizations to take it upon themselves to create innovative solutions for their challenges; it’s a terrific way to exercise one’s creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Fortunately, a new survey by Intuit QuickBase revealed that a growing number of employees are creating new apps or software to solve business problems without help from their IT departments.

Solo Efforts Deliver Value

The survey revealed that nearly one in five information workers has built or customized a Web app or software for work purposes without support from IT, resulting in faster help for customers, improved productivity and better collaboration among employees. Sixty-eight percent of information workers who built or customized an app on their own said they completed the work in less than a week, and 82 percent reported that their do-it-yourself solution is still being used within their organization or team.

Allison Mnookin, the vice president and general manager of Intuit QuickBase, explained the importance of DIY innovation.

“There’s a fast-growing population of do-it-yourself app creators in every organization that is taking advantage of easy-to-use, Web-based platforms, social networks and communication technologies to react to customer needs and improve work processes,” she said.  “To remain competitive, management and IT departments must empower and embrace these employees and support their ability to act quickly and drive their business success.”

Some Have to Go it Alone

But not all businesses see it this way.  A full 35 percent of surveyed organizations do not encourage employees to create solutions independently, and 50 percent of information workers have to turn to online databases and Web-based productivity apps, instant messaging platforms, video chat services and social networks to solve their own business problems.

This is, in my opinion, short-sighted, as organizations that are hostile or indifferent to employee innovation risk losing their best contributors to companies that will be more supportive.  Also, if employees are forced to develop their resources in secret, the company will not be able to take advantage of them once employees are no longer working there.

Change Starts with You

Attitude shifts, of course, start with the individual.  As a leader, you can support DIY innovation by surveying your employees to see how they envision solving their most critical internal and external problems.   Ask for their suggestions about new strategies and tools that can be employed, first on a trial basis and then as permanent components of your infrastructure.  Give them time out from daily responsibilities to scout for and test different approaches.  And finally, when a solution is developed, assist your employee in gaining support for it on the ground, and reward her for her efforts.

 

Being Happy Takes Work

You might not believe me when I tell you this, but I have one wish for my children, and it’s not that they are intelligent or successful.  I want them to be happy.  That’s it.

If happiness is a challenge for you, you might understand where I’m coming from.  And thanks to experts like New York-based writer Gretchen Rubin, happiness has become a twenty-first century mandate.  Gretchen was on a city bus in the rain when she asked herself what it would take to make her happy.  She didn’t have an immediate answer, leading to a year of research and a book, The Happiness Project, that includes insights on well-being from history, philosophy, scientific studies, and real-life experiences.

Gretchen says that happiness is something everyone should think about, even if you’re fortunate to have the staples of a good life: health, career, and relationships.

Look Inside Yourself

The area of life that people say makes them most miserable is work, which is really too bad. When it comes to finding a role that makes you happier, start with a roster of things you genuinely like to do. Note that your list should not include things you feel you ought to like.  This requires looking inside yourself, because everyone has different inclinations and varying definitions of fun.

And you don’t necessarily have to overhaul your career completely. Being happier at work can be as simple as starting your day off right by making your bed or finding a friend to talk to over your lunch hour. And those who are self-sacrificing will be relieved to hear that doing things to make others happy is apparently one of the easiest ways to be happy yourself.

Choose Your Attitude

If you’re having a rough time job wise, being happy might be easier said than done.  Remember that have the ability to choose your response to your environment and that you can change your attitude for the better by choosing to focus on particular thoughts.  To that end, it helps to focus on the present moment.  Instead of ruminating about the past or the future, recognize the positive aspects of life in the here and now.  Whether it’s a line of glowing feedback from your boss or a smile from your child, you will inevitably experience something that has the power to turn your day around.

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

Do a Performance Review from Scratch

The mere thought of giving a performance review still makes some managers want to run for the hills, but fortunately, a greater focus on constructive feedback and proactive planning have made this annual or semi-annual exercise a lot less painful than it has been in the past.

Instead of feeling obligated to address the employee with a litany of her shortcomings, the twenty-first century manager uses the review as just one meeting in a series of regular get-togethers to chat about progress on previously determined objectives and devise strategies for meeting current challenges.

In this type of review, there are no surprises, because the supervisor and the report have been discussing these issues all along.  If your organization doesn’t already have a performance review methodology in place, here are some simple steps for preparing for and delivering one:

Make Sure It's Legal

In her book Performance Planning and Appraisal, Patricia King says that performance appraisals must be based on a thorough analysis of the job, standardized for all employees, not biased against any race, color, sex, religion, or nationality, and performed by people who have adequate knowledge of the person or job.

Develop Documentation

If putting together an appraisal form from scratch, you’ll first want to devise a rating scale – perhaps from 1-4 with 1 being “outstanding” and 4 being “needs improvement.  Include established objectives and job responsibilities as well as the measured outcomes.  You can also incorporate a section for assessment of important qualities such as productivity, dependability, and initiative.

The last section should have room for the next year’s development plan, with accompanying objectives and actions, and the report should end with signature lines for both the manager and the employee.

Schedule the Meeting

Ideally, formal performance reviews should be held every six months, but if your employee is new, you may want to have one after the first 90 days.  Tell the report about the review, and instruct her on what she’ll need to do to prepare.

Organize Your Thoughts

Take out last year’s review, if there is one, and note what was achieved.  If the employee regularly interacts with others, think about soliciting their feedback as well.  In jotting down your thoughts, use concrete examples and address behaviors, not personality characteristics.   Expect her to broach the subject of career growth and compensation, and think about what you’ll say when the time comes.

Conduct the Review

Start off by explaining the purpose of the review (i.e. to exchange feedback and to discuss the status of previously determined objectives, outline new goals, and formulate or update the development plan). Let the employee comment on her performance first.  Listen carefully and then respond with a mix of constructive criticism and positive feedback.

If a disagreement comes up, try to remain objective and keep your defensiveness to a minimum.  Write down any agreements made about future goals and action plans while they’re still fresh in your mind.  Leave time at the end of the meeting for the employee to ask questions and air issues, and make sure she understands what will be expected of her over the next year.

Finalize and Sign the Appraisal

Add comments to your portion of the form based on the in-person discussion, and have the employee add her thoughts as well.  Both of you should sign the completed form and commit to revisiting the development plan every few months.

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

 

Strictly Nine to Five? Better Think Twice

Do you mandate that your team members be physically present in the office during traditional business hours?  If you haven’t intended to make flextime and/or telecommuting a part of your team’s operations, you may want to rethink that decision.

Recently, MomCorps, a national flexible staffing firm, conducted a survey showing that flexible work options are significantly important to working professionals today as a deciding factor when taking a job, with some even willing to give up salary to get it.

Balance Trumps Finances

According to the survey, more than two in five working adults (42 percent) are willing to give up some percentage of their salary for more flexibility at work; about six percent is the average employees are willing to relinquish.  Considering the current state of the job market and continually high unemployment, this is huge.  It means that, despite financial concerns, American workers are still putting work/life balance ahead of economic advantages.

Dads Want it Too

It’s not just the working moms either.  So, while working mothers are often thought to be the impetus for workplace flexibility, working fathers are also seeking more balance between work and life as it relates to their children.  Only half of all working parents said they preferred to work a traditional “9-to-5” workday, and an incredible 79 percent of working mothers and 77 percent of working fathers say that they would stay with a company longer if it offered flexible work options.

Put Flexibility in Place Now

You might think that your employees won’t ask for flexible work options because they are still afraid for their jobs, but this is not the case.  And if you don’t offer them now, you will be primed to lose them when the job market improves and your competition is out there presenting a more attractive work schedule.

So how do you start?  You might first have a chat with Human Resources to see what is possible, and then survey your team on the type of flexibility that would interest them most.  You may not be able to deliver the perfect solution, but any efforts in this direction will certainly be appreciated by your staff.

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

9 Survival Strategies for Road Warriors

If you’ve worked in the professional world for longer than a year or two, the magic of business travel wears off.  You find that your trips away from the office involve working more hours, not less. You return, exhausted, with a bag full of dry cleaning and a week’s worth of e-mails to catch up on. But for better or for worse, business travel is a part of life for many employees. Here are a few tips to make your trips more bearable:

Keep a bag packed at home.

You never know when you’re going to need to travel out of town on short notice. Prevent frazzled, last-minute rushing around by keeping a travel bag packed and ready to go in your closet. Besides a suit and comfortable business shoes, include toiletries, regular medications, mints, business cards, and power cords for your devices.

Review your itinerary ahead of time.

Go over your schedule to make sure you know where you’re supposed to be at all times and how you’re going to get there. Leave large time cushions in between each activity so that you can make it from one place to the next without having a heart attack.

Print out important materials.

I hear that you don’t want to kill trees, but you never know when your laptop is going to decide to have a temper tantrum. Technology often fails us on business trips, so if you really need something for a meeting, carry both hard and virtual copies.

Assign colleagues to share your workload.

Keep the machine running by making a detailed list of tasks you need covered while you’re gone and delegating each one to a trusted colleague.

Carry snacks and a bottle of water.

In the alternate universe known as business travel, something as simple as eating can turn into a complex task you can’t be bothered with. In case you have to miss a meal, tide yourself over with a granola bar or a health bar. And don’t forget to stay hydrated, especially when you’re flying.

Dress up, not down.

When you’re attending meetings in unfamiliar surroundings, wear business-appropriate attire. Even if the folks you’re meeting with are dressed casually, no one will fault you for being the only one in a suit. Pack your clothes in a garment bag and use the iron in your hotel room to keep your attire looking neat and wrinkle-free.

Fly during business hours.

Inevitably, taking a business trip means working longer hours anyway, so don’t be a martyr and volunteer to take a red-eye flight. You’re already stressed, so why should you be bone-tired too? Also, don’t feel obligated to work during the flight out. Use the time to relax and mentally prepare yourself for the trip ahead.

Pay someone to drive you around.

Even if you take pride in your sense of direction, do you really want to be bothered with navigating a rental car through the bowels of a strange city? If your company will allow it, stick to taxis or corporate cars.

Have dinner with friends or family instead of your colleagues.

Does anyone from your personal life live in the city where you’re traveling? Make an effort to get together instead of hanging out with the same colleagues you see all day. Business travel is a great way to catch up with folks you wouldn’t get to spend time with otherwise.

I’ve logged hundreds of business trips, and I still get stymied by some of these. I’ll never forget the time I arrived at JFK Airport only to find that my flight to Washington was departing from La Guardia. If only I had reviewed my itinerary ahead of time! Learn how to travel smart, however, and your experiences as a road warrior can add a rewarding dimension to your job.

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

Should You Test Potential Hires?

Pre-employment cognitive, skills and personality assessments can be valuable additions to your arsenal of hiring tools.  Not only do they assist you in finding the most appropriate candidate, but they also help you avoid the biases inherent in in-person interviewing, and better predict on-the-job success and whether a person will assimilate well into your organization.  However, there are a few “rules of the road” you’ll want to follow as you navigate this territory.

Use Tests Appropriately

First, assessments should be used as directed and in their entirety.  You should also make sure you use them consistently rather than selectively, meaning that all candidates who apply for the same job take the same test.

Second, pre-employment tests are subject to anti-discrimination regulations, and the federal agencies responsible for overseeing these regulations are increasingly interested in examining skills and personality assessments.

In order to be legally defensible, assessments must be designed for the hiring process, and all questions contained within them must have predictive validity, which means that they must accurately measure the traits they seek to measure and accurately predict behavior in the position in question.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The test vendor should also conduct either a validity study specific to your organization to justify the test’s use in this organization and for these specific jobs, or a transportability study to show that the jobs in question are sufficiently similar to jobs that have been included in other validity studies.

With respect to developing valid assessments, David Hyatt, an organizational consultant with the Center for Creative Leadership, suggests these tips:

• Be sure that a representative sample is used to validate the assessment. All groups should be represented in validation studies in order to truly understand the real-world consequences of using the tools.

• Ensure that assessments are culturally sensitive. Some words convey different meanings within different cultures. Be sure to remove all language barriers and culturally insensitive content areas. Cultural differences can impact the use of assessments in the hiring process. For example, some cultures (e.g., China, Japan) emphasize group outcomes while others tend to emphasize individual outcomes (e.g., United States, Europe).

• Personality is more closely related to the motivational aspects of work than to the technical aspects. Personality-based assessments are better for getting at what a person “will do” as opposed to what he or she “can do.”  Skills-based assessments are better suited to this latter purpose.

• Personality assessments are more predictive of performance in jobs where employees have a great amount of control as opposed to jobs where an employee has little or no control.

For questions or concerns on test validity, you can also check out The U.S. Department of Labor’s Uniform Guide on Employee Selection Procedures.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

If you’re thinking of rolling out pre-employment cognitive, skills and personality testing, you shouldn’t attempt to go it alone.  Talk to other human resources or hiring managers in other companies, or get advice from a third-party company or consulting psychologist specializing in these types of tests.  While outsourcing may require a significant upfront investment and a consulting psychologist can cost to $2000 per candidate, experts suggest that assessments are an aspect of hiring that you should either do well or not at all.  If you take shortcuts, you could end up worse off than when you started.

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

How to Apply for a Job Internally

In this job market, when it’s generally safest to stay where you are, the internal move has become a popular option for dissatisfied employees.  But how should you handle the delicate matter of applying for a different job in your organization?  For advice, I turned to Alison Green, who features this question in her excellent eBook How to Get a Job: Secrets from a Hiring Manager.

Don’t Act Rashly

Alison recommends that before you apply, you should be reasonably sure you actually want the job.  You should not interview for positions you either don’t want or don’t know too much about yet, as that’s wasting everyone’s time.  You can sniff around for information, but do not do anything definitive until you are certain there’s a good chance you’d take the position.

Tell Your Boss First

Once you formally throw your hat in the ring (i.e. submit an application), you won’t be able to hide the news from your boss, so your current manager should hear it from you, not from someone else.  Alison instructs us to be prepared for her to react badly.  “Be ready with an explanation that will control the fall-out – for example, this is an opportunity you can’t resist and you really want to grow your career in a company you love.”

Do a Thorough Wrap-Up

According to Alison, unless your boss is totally unprofessional, she should be able to handle the news like a grown-up, and you’ll be on your way.  I will just add that, of course, you'll want to stay busy doing top-quality work and putting things in order until your very last second working in your current position.  When you’re staying with the same organization, it’s even more imperative that you keep your reputation spotless and don’t burn bridges.

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