Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

In the Homeland, Learn and Share with the Pros

For those who haven't yet Netflixed Homeland, you should. In it, thirty-something CIA operative Carrie Mathison is actively mentored by her fifty-something senior colleague, Saul Berenson. It’s a good thing that Carrie is trying to learn everything she can from Saul now, because within a matter of years, Saul will likely retire from government service. Carrie is ensuring that all of the knowledge he has gleaned from decades of work in the field doesn’t disappear into a black hole.

In the next ten years, the massive Baby Boom generation (born 1946-63) will exit traditional jobs en masse, resulting in a major brain drain. You may be well acquainted with many of these Boomers now, but waiting to pick their brains until they’re out the door is not a good strategy. It’s much better to strike while you have easy access. To that end, here are a few knowledge sharing and gleaning recommendations to employ immediately.

Be a Joiner

Get involved in extracurricular activities sponsored by your company (sports teams, volunteer initiatives, etc.) and third-party industry associations so that you are naturally exposed to senior people inside and outside your field. Become a regular at events that take place more than once, and every time you meet someone, show genuine interest in their work and ask lots of questions.

Practice Reciprocal Mentorship

An evolution of reverse mentoring, reciprocal mentorship is a two-way relationship in which advice and information pass easily between a senior and junior-level colleague. The senior colleague may mentor the junior colleague on general business and career matters, while the junior colleague may provide guidance on twenty-first century workplace efficiencies and technologies.

For more tips, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Boomers: How to Work with a Team Younger Than Your Kids

Baby boomers everywhere are lamenting the same workplace development. All of a sudden, the people working in their offices are younger than their children, who are now approaching the ripe age of 30. And somehow, the same millennial traits of self-assurance and eagerness that were cute in their kids have become annoying in their teammates. If you are in this boat, fear not. Here are a few ways to work effectively with those twenty-somethings without losing your sanity:

Be a Parental Figure

This one may be controversial because many people believe parents (even surrogate ones) have no place in the work environment. But twenty-somethings want an office culture that feels like family, and they want to have someone older to whom they can turn when things get scary and stressful. So show interest in their lives and learn their individual styles. If you can build trust by having an open door and a listening ear, you will be more successful at implementing the tactics below.

Rein Them In

A twenty-something just out of college with too many ideas and not enough political savvy is a dangerous thing. Once you have established a personal rapport, tell them that they’ll be more effective if they try to solve one problem at a time instead of attempting to take over the company overnight. Perhaps suggest ways that they can make a difference without stepping on toes.

For more tips, have a look at the full post at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

8 Bad Mistakes New Managers Make

Many new leaders are thrust into supervisory positions quickly, with no real management training to speak of.  So as you would expect, they make lots of mistakes.  Here are a few of the most common.  Hopefully, just being aware of them will help you and your colleagues do things differently!

Mistake #1:  Trying to be everyone’s best friend

While fostering strong one-on-one relationships with your team members is important to promote trust, your first priority should be developing your team as a cohesive whole.   Also, you must make it clear that you are not your direct reports’ friend but their supervisor, since blurring the lines too much will lead to confusion and decreased productivity.

Mistake #2: Assuming your title is a magic wand

Things will not magically get done because you are the manager and you said so.  Instead of simply issuing orders, you must inspire your team members to work with you and for you.  Authority does not automatically confer respect.  It must be earned.

Mistake #3:  Making promises you can’t keep

In your eagerness to remedy all of the wrongs on your team, it’s tempting to guarantee solutions that you can’t necessarily deliver.  Recognize that it’s better to keep promised actions more modest than to risk disappointing and frustrating your team members by failing to keep your word.

Mistake #4: Changing everything

Many new managers make the mistake of trying to overhaul the whole organization in their first few months.  Things are usually done a certain way for a reason, and that reason may not be incorrect.  Introduce your new ideas one at a time, soliciting buy-in and support gradually.

For more where this came from, have a look at the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Managing a High-Performing, High-Drama Employee

We received the following question over at the Fast Track blog:

One of my employees is great at her job. She has about 20 years of experience on me and is truly the rock star of our team.  However, with certain deadlines, she tends to put too much pressure on herself and gets frustrated. The level of emotion, I feel, makes it even harder for her to resolve what are already difficult problems.  And she tends to involve others in her stress, which sometimes brings the whole team down. 

In the end, she always meets the deadline and solves the problem.  And she usually comes to realize how futile all the “sturm und drang” was.  Yet, inevitably the cycle repeats itself every time a new problem comes along. However, I struggle to find ways to encourage her in the moment that is helpful but not patronizing. Any tips?

Here's my answer:

It sounds like your employee has a problem with anxiety and/or worry, which can wreck havoc on her motivation and your team’s as well. You can tell her to live in the moment, but for someone who is accustomed to allowing unproductive thoughts to take over, your words may go in one ear and out the other.

I used to be very similar to the person you’re describing. For example, one summer, I worried obsessively about landing an agent to represent my new novel. Every day as I drove home during my lunch break to check the mailbox for agent responses, my blood pressure zoomed into the stratosphere.

Several weeks later, I finally recognized that my worry was out of control, and I talked about it with my husband, who is also a psychologist. He said that I should consider the worst-case scenario and resign myself to accepting that outcome if necessary.

I took his advice and imagined that I couldn’t find an agent, and that my novel would never be published. I then brainstormed ways to improve the situation. This was a hard pill to swallow at first, but I actually felt better once my mind was purged of all the what-ifs? Free from worry, I was able to concentrate rationally on new strategies for obtaining an agent.

Just because you refuse to worry about a problem doesn’t mean you are denying its existence. However, if your employee could skip the part where she plays out a thousand variations of the same drama in her head, she and everyone around her would be a lot happier.

The next time a problem scenario comes up, work with the employee to consider the best way to approach the issue rationally. Help her make a careful decision based on facts, take action, and then move on right away without all that “sturm und drang.” It may take time for her emotions to truly catch up to the strategy, but in a year, she’ll be thanking you.

For advice from the other three experts, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

How to Coach an Annoying Employee

Over at the Fast Track blog, we received this reader question:

How can I talk to my employee about her tendency to annoy people? She likes to work collaboratively to develop ideas, but it has begun to be burdensome for her colleagues. She seems to be high maintenance, mulling over minor little details and dragging things out unnecessarily. Is there a tactful way to tell her she needs to build a better rapport with her colleagues? They’ll all need to continue to work together.

Here's my answer:

I would use this situation as an opportunity to have (or initiate if you don’t have them already) a monthly sit-down with every member of your team. You can deliver constructive performance feedback and also broach interpersonal issues. If the employee in question understands that you are speaking to everyone as part of the team’s professional development, she will feel less threatened at the get-go. Hopefully, this will make it easier to be honest with her.

The caveat, however, is that you will still need to be tactful.  Do not use the words “annoying” or “high-maintenance” – this will come across mean and accusatory and she’ll be right to be turned off.  Focus less on her personality and more on things that can actually be improved, such as her communication techniques.  Suggest ways she might be more effective in gaining cooperation from and building rapport with her colleagues (understanding people style, proposing a win/win, etc.), and include some strategies that have worked for you in the past.

You might also wish to pre-empt future altercations by thinking through a process for completing projects that the entire team can adhere to, complete with milestones and deadlines. In explaining this process to her, emphasize the importance of sticking to the schedule and getting work product out the door. If she knows she will be evaluated on how efficiently a project is completed, perhaps she’ll think twice about dragging it out.

For answers from three other terrific experts, check out the full post at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Adapting to Change in Your Office

Over at the Fast Track blog, we received the following reader question:

I work in an organization that has frequent changes in policies, which requires ongoing adaptation to our assessment and decision-making processes. How do I manage older employees who are struggling to learn to use new processes and technology, resulting in significant time lags in completing their work? Many of these employees have had an excellent track record in their work but are unable to adapt to new systems and skills. I get so frustrated that I wind up doing the work for them, but then too much burden is on me!  In addition, how do I deal with employee resistance to and frequent anxiety around constant systemic changes?

Here's my answer:

The good news is, you are not alone. In fact, the issues you describe are so common that we recently addressed them in two recent Fast Track posts, How to Cope with Uncertainty, and 6 Types of Change Resisters Who Are Holding Back Progress.

Beyond the advice given there, I would say to make sure that you are explaining the big picture rationale for undertaking each new process, move to a new technology, etc. Employees, understandably, are less fond of change for change’s sake. Why is the organization moving in this direction, and what will the negative consequences be if the change is not implemented?

Next, you need to establish a clear deadline for incorporating the change into everyday operations. Do not allow employees to stall and do not take on their workload, as this will only prolong everyone’s pain. If necessary, secure mentors for the struggling employees to help get them on track, or take an afternoon to sit down with them yourself and go through the new processes step by step. Once this additional training has occurred, consider using a project management system like Quickbase to ensure compliance.

When faced with resistance of this nature, it’s always a good idea to motivate employees by turning the discussion to why adaptation of these new processes and skills is good for them in addition to being good for you and the organization. For instance, you might tell them that 100 percent of employees on the job market today are required to at least understand the cloud, and they will be neither marketable nor competitive if they don’t keep current.

If your employees seem genuinely anxious, show empathy. It is, after all, difficult to change your approach after you have been doing things a certain way for dozens of years. Let them know that you are a sympathetic ear and suggest stress management techniques to lessen strong emotions – but still insist that they get with the program. Your team’s productivity depends on it.

For answers from the other three experts, have a look at the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Is a Career Coach For You?

From humankind’s earliest days, mentors and coaches have been a significant ingredient in the careers of many accomplished individuals.

As they reported in Fast Company in 2006, Jim Bolt and Brian Underhill conducted a study that found that 56 percent of surveyed companies emphasized coaching as a major learning method, and two years later, 51 percent of the same organizations said that the use of coaching had increased.

The investigators also discovered that coaching was no longer a “fix it tool” for leaders with problems and was instead being used to help high-potential leaders get even better. In fact, at the time of the second study, 43 percent of CEOs and 71 percent of senior team members in the surveyed organizations has worked with a coach. Sixty-three percent of the companies said they planned to increase their use of coaching over the following five years, and an incredible 92 percent of coached leaders said they planned to engage a coach again.

For advice on whether or not hiring a career coach would help you, check out this post on the Fast Track blog.

See Yourself as Others See You

Over at the Harvard Business Review blogs, Linda Hill and Kent Lineback have a terrific post on the importance of knowing how your words and actions are perceived by those who report to you.  As Linda and Kent rightfully point out, though, getting a truthful answer is easier said than done.  Here are some of their top recommendations for getting honest feedback about how others see you:

Establish ongoing human connections

Is there an easy give-and-take between you and your reports? Are you able to carry on a real conversation about a variety of topics, business and personal? Can you disagree and respectfully discuss your differences? Without such connections, which require time to establish, little else you do is likely to uncover others' thoughts and feelings, especially about you as a boss.

React calmly and constructively to negative feedback

You needn't accept everything you hear. But when you disagree, do you seek clarification, pose thoughtful questions, and ask for examples? Or do you respond angrily and deny defensively what you're hearing? Only as people test your tolerance will you slowly build a reputation for a willingness to hear and accept candid comments.

Seek out perspectives in the context of a specific task

Asking broad, general questions can feel threatening to those you're asking, particularly if they work for you. So, develop a practice of checking in with people at the beginning and end of a piece of work.  Use the specific piece of work as a setting for a candid discussion of what worked and what didn't, where you might have done less or more, and what you should do differently next time.

Build an internal development network

Communicate regularly with a group of trusted advisers who are willing to provide their honest reactions to how you’re operating within the organization.  Members of your development network are most likely to be peers and colleagues and may include a more senior mentor.

Tap your boss

A good manager is willing to pass on what she hears about you from others.  She also has access to organizational information and commentary not available to you and so can offer a broader perspective on how you're perceived.

As Linda and Kent point out, being able to accurately understand how you are perceived requires putting in time and effort to establish strong internal relationships, which, as a manager, helps you in many other ways as well.

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

What Does Being a Mentor Mean?

I received this e-mail from a reader, and it’s not the first time I’ve gotten this question:

Dear Alexandra:  A college graduate asked me to be her mentor.  What does this mean?  I have two kids in high school and I’m a little worried that I don’t have time for such a thing.

Attached at the Hip?

It’s a valid concern.  You want to help out a young professional, but you also have a day job and a family.  You don’t want to spend several hours every week helping her navigate through every minute aspect of her job search, college-to-career transition, or problem at work.

Lay out the Relationship Clearly

Fortunately, a good mentor relationship doesn’t necessarily entail that you become your mentee’s third parent.  The key is to concretely establish the parameters at the beginning of the relationship so that you and your mentee are on the same page.  What are her expectations, and will you be able to meet them?  What is she looking for help with specifically? How often will you meet, and how/when will she contact you outside of those meeting times?  How long will the engagement last?

It’s Easier Than it Sounds

You don’t have to turn a mentoring engagement into your next giant project.  In fact, you may well find that you have the ability to help your mentee meet her goals and pursue her path with confidence simply by occasionally sharing your own experiences and what you learned from them.  This can often be done over one or two lunch meetings.  Most of my mentoring relationships have been relatively short-lived, and it’s a pleasure to see that the few hours I invest on the front end often significantly influence my mentee’s future.   You can make a difference without having to replace the time and care you spend nurturing the important individuals in your life.

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

8 Tips for Managing Summer Interns

It's that time of year again! College students and recent grads are starting their summer internships and their managers are wondering how in the world they're going to keep them occupied while providing a valuable experience. Over at the Intuit Small Business blog, Liz Magill has some excellent suggestions for leaders implementing an internship program this summer.  Among them:

Offer a real learning opportunity

Making coffee and copies won’t do. Bright, energetic interns want a chance to do something meaningful. Although you can start with basics, gradually increase the complexity and scope of the job so your eager talent feels a sense of accomplishment.

Set challenging, but attainable goals

Don’t expect a writing intern to win a Pulitzer, a science intern to develop the next great patent, a sales intern to land your company’s biggest client, or a tech-savvy intern to build the next Facebook. Setting goals outside the capabilities of your intern may lead to frustration, while goals that are too easy will bring on boredom.

Don’t babysit

Interns should be mentored, not watched like a hawk.  You can put them on a leash, but make it a long leash. Interns come with a huge bucket of enthusiasm; don’t stifle it.

Enforce deadlines

It may be summer, but it’s not summer camp. Let your interns know that their work is very important to the success of your business, and that you expect deadlines to be met — and work quality to be high.

Abide by labor laws

In order for internships in “for profit” companies to qualify as unpaid, they must meet six federal legal criteria  as outlined in this United States Department of Labor fact sheet. If these six criteria are not satisfied, then an “employment” relationship exists, which means the intern must be paid.

Additionally, I believe open communication with interns is essential.  Get your interns started on the right foot by encouraging them to:

Look around and listen

Interns should pay attention to the comings-and-goings of more experienced colleagues, and routinely ask for feedback on their performance.

Be social

While they have the opportunity, interns should network with as many colleagues as they can, going out with the group for Happy Hour and attending the summer party.

Show appreciation

When dealing with other team members, interns should come across as gracious  and can-do.  They should constantly look for ways to share their expertise and add value to the team’s operations.

With the right preparation and guidance, your interns will contribute substantially to your team, both workwise and interpersonally.  You know you’ve managed them the right way when, at the end of the summer, your team members ask if an intern can stay on as a full timer.

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