Random tips (and some fu)
Random tips (and some fu)
Random tips (and some fu)
There are a lot of tips and loads of advice that I’ve picked during my career, some more fun
than others, but all very useful when introduced into our day-to-day working lives. I think
that this would be best presented in bullet point format:
• Get them out of my office or away from my desk. If someone is in your office
or by your desk and you need to get rid of them you can do so without even saying
anything. This is a tried and trusted method which I was taught by the Chairman of
a company I used to work for. He used to do this regularly to me! So this colleague
is by your desk and the conversation (which may not even be work related) has
clearly come to an end from your perspective. Take the bull by the horns and stand
up and walk towards your door (if you have an office) or start walking towards to
kitchen, toilets or reception (or wherever) as they are still talking. If you manage to
take control of the conversation even better. My experience (we’re talking a 100%
record here) is that your colleague will stand up when you do (a bit like when
someone copies your movements on a date, that is, if they like you) and will walk
with you to the door, or wherever you are going. You then simply let them carry on
walking away. You meanwhile return to your desk or office as they continue towards
the horizon. It does work. Please try it and perfect it.
• Organize your work space and have it looking great. The thing is, you may
think you know (or you may convince yourself that you actually know) where all your
important documents are, but anyone looking at your desk will sub-consciously, or
indeed consciously, place you in a box (not literally, unless you are unlucky) as the
type of person who can’t organize a……… you know the rest. Having a smart
workplace is often translated in the minds of others as being smart. Go on, put
aside that hour and make the desk look terrifically organized.
• Don’t get confused between hours and output. As a manager I would much
rather my staff completed their daily routine within the standard office hours than
burn the mid-night oil. In my mind it indicates that the person is either inefficient,
or is deliberately staying late to impress me and others or truly has too much work
to do. But guess what, a thirty minutes conversation gets to the bottom of this very
quickly. A good manager should sort this out pronto. Just remember, if the previous
incumbent finished their work properly and accurately between 9 am and 5 pm why
is someone else taking that much longer? Why should I pat you on the back or
reward you with large pay rises? I’d rather award the member of staff who
introduces a more effective process, meaning that they can now take more work off
my plate, freeing up my time to take higher level tasks and giving them the
opportunity to take on more interesting work.
• Nothing is ever as bad as it seems and nothing is as ever as good as it
seems. This is a fabulous concept to keep in mind. When the chips are down and
you want to resign or simply feel damn awful then take a deep breath and see things
through. Things rarely turn out as bad as you originally expected. On the other
hand, if a project or implementation appears to be progressing without a hitch, well
within budget, beating all the deadlines, then you should be prepared for an
unexpected hurdle to suddenly appear. A good gut check would be to check your
thoughts and/or concerns with someone more objective than you (friend, partner or
colleague from outside your domain etc). No doubt they will be able to put things into perspective, helping you build back your confidence when things go badly and
making sure you don’t become too arrogant when things go well.
• Yes, you can grow into a role. At times people may not accept offers for
promotion or fail to apply for a more senior role because in their mind (only) they do
not have the relevant technical or management skills. I clearly remember my first
larger scale managerial role. My inner-self had significant doubts about taking the
role on as I was very worried about falling flat on my face. However, by taking a
day-by-day approach (thus limiting stress and uncertainty) and putting in clear and
measurable targets for myself (“I’ll learn this function by that date” and “I’ll meet
that group of employees by that date” and “I’ll come out with my recommendations
by that date”) it is amazing how well things turned out. That is, homo-sapiens have
a natural propensity to grow into the roles that are put before them. Most of us cope
with becoming a team captain or a parent or an owner of a pet. We grow and
mature as our responsibilities broaden. Hence, I would say, on balance, go for the
job with the steep learning curve. You’ll look back a few months later and wonder
what all the fuss was about. [Note: if a new role requires extensive travel that
could significantly disrupt your family life, or content that you would simply not
enjoy, then think again. I’m not talking about a job that would reduce your quality of
life, simply one that would be a big step up for you.]
• Bluff at your peril. I don’t recommend bluffing in any situation. You are likely to
get caught out when the conversation gets deeper and even if you think you have
got away with bluffing the other party may actually see through the sham. Don’t
bluff and be prepared to say “I need to look into that and get back to you by the end
of play today” (or whatever is appropriate!).
• Remembering impressive facts. By this I don’t mean that you should be able to
recall the 50 States of America or the names of the seven dwarfs but rather one or
two facts about a client or other key contact that demonstrates your interest in them
beyond the pure commercial. By way of example, imagine that the son of an
important client has just gone to University on a 3 year course to study economics
and accounting. Doesn’t it sound great if the next time you meet up (perhaps 6
months later) you can ask how John (the son) is doing now that he’s six months into
that course? I have often seen very capable and forward thinking managers noting
down in their diaries the names or children, pets, other halves, football teams and so
on within their electronic communication devices. They don’t have to remember all
this information (they probably won’t be able to) but they are more than capable of
running through the contact details 15 minutes before the client meeting and making
sure that they have the facts at the top of mind. Not only will the client be
impressed with the fact that you remembered something very personal and
important to them (they probably will have forgotten that they told you about John
in the first place) but they will also be flattered. What a great start to a meeting.
• Standing out. Here are some ways to stand out. I’m not recommending that you
should try to stand out each and every day (that would be exhausting) but there are
ways of raising your profile on a visible and regular basis. These are fun things not
to be taken too seriously:o Dress up on a dress down day.
o Wear a tie for a day in your office if no-one else does.
o Get in early, if that’s something you rarely do (as long as you are seen to be
in early).
o Stay late, if that’s something you rarely do (as long as you are seen to be
working late).
o Sit outside in a workspace for a day if you have an office.
o Introduce yourself to some entirely new people at work.
o Buy your team or colleagues a tea or coffee.
o Walk past the CEO’s door. In fact, pop your head in and say hello. [Make
sure you have something of interest to say beyond that!]
o Wear a suit for a day if everyone else typically wears casual clothes (but only
if you want everyone to think that you have an interview lined up).
• Leaving your worries behind. You have been under a lot of pressure over the last
few days and there are a number of issues that you need to think through and
resolve before the week is out. However, it is Tuesday morning and you have a 3
hour meetings to attend where your thoughts and opinions are going to be
important. The risk here of course is that you are unable to switch off. You may
spend most of those 3 hours with your eyes glazed over thinking about the problems
at your desk. Why are you thinking about them so much? Well, the reason is that
you have not brought them to a close, or had an effective mechanism for ‘parking’
the issues for the time being. Perhaps then, one of the following could help your
cause:
o Write down the issues in enough detail so that when you get back to your
desk you don’t have to either locate the relevant emails and documents or
begin the cognitive process from scratch. The act of placing the concerns and
issues on a piece of paper (or email to self) may help you forget about them
for the interim period. You know that you have recorded them and hence
they won’t be forgotten. You are free to let them go for the time being.
o Time permitting and if appropriate, identify a trusted member of staff that can
gather some useful background information or relevant details (perhaps
copies of agreements, contracts or policy documents) allowing you the
freedom to add value at your meeting in the knowledge that the ground work
is being done on the issues that sit in your in-tray.o Assess whether it would be appropriate and acceptable to request that the
deadline for completion be pushed back if that would alleviate the underlying
pressure and stress and allow you to regain comfort over your workload over
the next few days.
• Buzzwords and phrases. To be clear I don’t recommend using the following but
for completeness and for the sake of good humor I have included them within the
book:
o I’ll take that on board – translates as ‘I’ll consider that when putting together
my plan of action’ but in reality it may translate to ‘I’ll forget about your
comment as soon as I leave the room’ so tread carefully.
o Get ahead of the curve – translates as ‘do something early on’ or ‘get a job or
task done before the agreed deadline’.
o Got it (usually by email) – means ‘I finally understand what you are saying’
o Good catch – means that you have spotted something, often a hard to see
mistake.
o My bad – means that I made the error.
o Continuous improvement – means ‘we will look to make things better every
second of every day’. With no target dates or specific action points this
phrase is not particularly helpful.
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