career advice
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Forget About Prioritizing
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 06 May 2010 | Tagged as: Communication, Leadership, Uncategorized, board presentation, boston presentation training, career, career advice, leadership and communication, motivation, presentation skills, public speaking, success, time management
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
-Steven Covey
It’s that time of year - corporate strategy meetings, team off-sites, global leadership meetings, board of director meetings; they’re coming fast and furious. If you’re like my clients you are preparing at least one presentation, probably a few. Some of my clients go into this process like a Chinese fire drill (which I realize isn’t exactly politically correct - I looked it up - it’s a pejorative expression originating from the 1900’s referring to a bucket brigade that is accomplishing nothing) so if I’ve offended you then so be it.
Now I love all these clients but let me explain what I mean by the fire drill. One of them emailed his 14 page draft with about 17 slides at 10 p.m. the night before our 7:30 a.m. coaching session. Another sent five separate documents related to her presentation with detailed notes five minutes before our 1-hour coaching call. A third guy just went MIA. We were scheduled to talk the day before a ”test run” with his boss and I never heard from him. Three days later he replied to my voice mail with an email apology - he was sorry but it hadn’t been ready, he thought it was okay, not sure, would like to talk… but was heading out for a long weekend… catch up next week…
Let me take a step back and say it’s fine to do some things “just in time.” If you’re asked to bring a salad to the neighbor’s backyard barbeque Saturday night you can run to the grocery store at 5:45, whip it together at their salad bar and show up looking like a hero. However, preparing a presentation is not like making salad. You can’t just toss it all together the day before you speak. And once you’re past the third grade, the dog ate my homework excuse just doesn’t fly.
Whenever clients fail to meet a deadline or go right up against it, you can take it to the bank - they’re doing the same thing at work. With a coach, they’re just flushing company money down the drain. At work it can be their careers. In their wake - they create chaos. It doesn’t just hurt them - it hurts everybody who is waiting on them and counting on them.
We all have pressure. Unless you work for the Save the Endangered Caterpillar division of the Environmental Protection Agency and your hours are 9 to 3:30 and everything can wait, you have deadlines. If you’re not busy you’re dead. For the sake of your career and your sanity it is time to stop pretending that you can do it all. You have to know your priorities and be ruthless about how you use your time.
The other day I was on the phone with a client and I recommended he make a list. 1 through 10. What are you priorities? What’s the next action step? When can you complete it? How will you know you’ve succeeded? It’s easy to do this with a coach or mentor but you can also do it for yourself.
1. priority -activitiy - deadline- measure of success
2. priority -activity - deadline - measure of success
3. priority - activity - deadline - measure of success
etc.
It’s simply amazing what happens when you write things down. Writing engages your brain, the list stimulates creativity and checking things off gets you pumped. You don’t need a ten hours of strategic naval gazing introspection to get your priorities on a piece of paper. They’re in your head anyway, for heavens sake. It took my client ten minutes.
Of course, if making a list was the start and end of success then we’d all be Warren Buffet. Once you have the list, you have to take one more step. SCHEDULE those activities ON YOUR CALENDAR. What gets scheduled gets done. You know this because if you switch over to your own calendar right now you’ll see a bunch of things scheduled today. You’re an efficient person. these will get done.
So stop trying to rearrange your to do list. Put the important stuff first. Get it on your calendar. Stop the madness, set priorities and put down your bucket. It’s spilling all over the place.
Top Executives Must Build Trust with Workers/Customers
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 14 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: Communication, Motivate Like a CEO, Speak like a CEO, career advice, communications training for leaders, crisis communications, economic recovery, economic turnaround, economic upturn, employee motivation, employee productivity, employee stress, leadership and communication, leadership development, motivated employees
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Press Release: To Lead Companies Out of Recession Trust Ranks as Top Development Need |
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MEDIA CONTACT: “The recession has damaged trust between top-level executives and employees, and between company leaders and customers,” said Bates, president and CEO of Bates Communications (www.bates-communications.com). “Massive layoffs and cutbacks have harmed relationships between employers and remaining employees. Bankruptcies, closures, and failed business strategies have hurt trust between executives and those they do business with. Senior-level executives must work toward rebuilding that trust,” Bates added. The No. 1 way that executives will lead their organizations out of the recession is by meeting with customers and prospects to rebuild trust and win business, according to 77% of survey respondents. Trust-building was also selected as the ability that current executives most need to develop. 76% of survey respondents ranked building trust among employees and customers as the aptitude executives most need to develop. Furthermore, trustworthiness was rated second as the quality executives will need most to guide their companies post-recession, selected by 60% of survey respondents - behind only being visionary, which was chosen by 64%. “Because organizations are leaner due to layoffs and hiring freezes, employees are being asked to work harder with fewer financial incentives. CEOs cannot afford to miss the issue of trust, or they risk damaging the motivation of the very people who are key to the recovery,” said Bates. “Employees are losing steam as the recession drags on, and they continue to do more with less. Top talent is especially at risk. If leaders don’t keep building bridges to them, they will lose them when the economy improves,” Bates added. The least-favored way for executives to move their organizations forward is by developing a higher media profile, which was chosen by only 27% of respondents. Instead, company leaders should direct their efforts toward communicating with, inspiring, motivating, and engaging employees, the survey found. After rebuilding trust, the skills that C-suite executives will need most in order to move their businesses forward are: communicating more effectively about priorities; inspiring people to brainstorm new ideas; serving as Chief Motivating Officers; and engaging employees to take active roles in high-priority projects. However, current business leaders also need to sharpen their motivational and inspirational skills inside their organizations, according to the survey. Behind mending trust, they should perfect aligning their organizations toward a common purpose or vision; articulating a strategic direction; and speaking in a powerful way to motivate and inspire people to act. “This latest research confirms that CEOs need to engage their teams and win their trust. CEOs must provide straight talk about their plans for innovating and building a company that will thrive when the recession is over,” said Bates. “All senior-level leaders must learn to clearly communicate mission and purpose, and do it with passion, so that people are inspired. Leaders who serve as Chief Motivating Officers connect people with the company, the message, and the strategy, and find it far simpler to accomplish their goals. They have an entire organization of people who are working to achieve their own potential, and feel energized by their common purpose. These leaders harness energy and talent, and drive their organizations forward,” said Bates.” SURVEY RESULTS The skills that C-suite executives need most in order to lead their organizations out of the recession are: The skills that current executives most need to develop are: The qualities that leaders need right now to move their organizations forward are: About ‘Motivate Like a CEO’ Suzanne Bates is the author of “Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act!,” published by McGraw-Hill in January 2009, which became #1 best-seller in books on communication skills on amazon.com. She is also the author of the business best-seller “Speak Like a CEO, Secrets to Commanding Attention and Getting Results” (McGraw Hill 2005). She is President and CEO of Bates Communications Inc. www.bates-communications.com and blogs at www.thepowerspeakerblog.com
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Why Not You? How to Get Promoted to the Top Job.
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 09 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: career, career advice, promotions
How can you get promoted to the top job? Is the process really so mysterious? Yes and no.
The part that is mysterious is the cloak and dagger operation that characterizes how many companies approach succession planning. It’s like Oz behind the curtain. Who knows what’s really going on? Few companies do it well, and it’s something you can’t control.
What you can control is one thing - the way you think. What you can control are the questions you ask yourself every day. One question you need to ask yourself every day is, “Why not me?”
Yes. “Why not me?”
“Why not me?” is a powerful question because it eliminates the excuse of perfectionism, the negativity around the process, the drag on your psyche from perceived missteps or missed opportunities. No one person is perfect for any job. There are only great candidates, and there is always one who will be chosen. When you ask yourself, “Why not me?” you empower yourself with the belief that you have as good a shot as anyone.
Recently I have been advising a long time client who was going for a top job. She is talented, respected, brilliant and savvy, yet at the outset, she wasn’t even on the list. She didn’t fit the “usual criteria” for a candidate for this position. They had someone else in mind - someone “everyone always thought” would get the job. Yet, she decided to throw her hat in the ring. She had embraced the question, “Why not me?”
This attitude ignited a fire in her; she worked harder and smarter than any other candidate, she prepared better, she learned more, she built more support. As a result, interviewed better than anyone. How do I know? They told her. She earned enormous respect from a board of directors that barely had her on the radar screen. Whether or not she gets this job, I can guarantee this - she’s going to land another one, just as prestigious, maybe better, because she has started asking the question- why not me?
Your confidence and self-esteen are the number one factor in your success. Confidence isn’t ALL you need, it’s just that with confidence, you do everything differently.
When you ask, “why not me?” you start spending your time and energy more productively, you make better decisions about your career, you find good mentors and coaches to help you; you open up to the experiences that will shape you; you invest in developing the skills you need to get to the top. The question “why not me?” takes you out of your comfort zone to explore who you really might become. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times with our coaching clients. Those who ask “why not me,” don’t look at coaching as something they “have to do” because it’s good for them; they see it as a process that will help them to realize their dreams.
Hitting a home run isn’t just about taking enough swings. You have to picture yourself in uniform, picture yourself at bat, picture yourself hitting it out of the park. When you picture it, THEN you’ll take enough swings, take enough risks, try enough times to knock it out of the park.
I am planning to write more on this topic, which is why I strongly encourage you to comment on this article. Perhaps you would like to share a story about what has happened when you’ve asked yourself the question, “why not me?” Click on “Leave a Reply” and tell me your story.
Also don’t forget to follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/CEOCoachBates.