Past Five

Top Performers Uncover Mediocrity in Peers

As companies grow, mediocrity begins to infiltrate staff…it’s inevitable…with more employees and various office locations, it’s difficult to ensure everyone is producing at their highest potential.

Inevitably, there are employees who skate by, carried along by their high performing peers.

I’ve found that if a company retains top employees, and maintains an open door policy, those performers are likely to identify their sub-par peers.

Rock star employees who consistently go above and beyond don’t want to work alongside a slacker. They want to be challenged, pushed and stimulated.

Top performers are usually deeply invested in the company culture and care about their professional development. They expect their colleagues to share these sentiments.

If a company is growing and has concerns over the work product of certain staff members, they need to look to their top performers for insight. Listen to employees talk or ask employees their thoughts. If the company has fostered a collaborative, open door environment, employees won’t hesitate to speak the truth.

Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Exist: Aim for Work-Life Happiness

Work–life balance. Everyone talks about it; everyone wants it….but it doesn’t exist. Realistically, it’s impossible to achieve the perfect balance. Think about it; even if you only work eight hours a day, there’s not time for eight hours of socializing and eight hours of sleep.

Consequently, searching for a career that allows for a work-life balance is fruitless. Why not focus on something attainable….like work-life happiness.

Work-life happiness can be achieved by anyone. It’s not about separating personal life from professional life, or designating certain hours of the day for work. It’s about blending the two.

Here are a few ways to achieve work-life happiness:

Do What You Love: It seems simple, but too many people are working in careers they don’t enjoy. They use the tough job market as an excuse for staying put, but the market is picking up and hiring is increasing. If you’re unhappy, make a change. Pursue your passions and dreams. As the idiom goes, if you do what you love, you never have to work a day in your life.

Value Weeknights: Instead of heading home after work to put on pajamas and catch a t.v. show, make it a point to do something outside of the box. Go see a local play, have a casual dinner party or find a place to volunteer at least once a week. You would be amazed what it can do for personal morale.

Create Friendships with Colleagues: Separating friendships and co-workers is an excuse to separate yourself from your career. Take the time to get to know your colleagues on a personal level, attend happy hours and invest in these relationships. It will make your time at work much more enjoyable.

Be Yourself: Let your true colors shine at work. Francesca Gino, an associate professor at Harvard Business School says it best, “authentic self-expression at work leads to reduced turnover and increased performance and job satisfaction.”

What other suggestions do you have to achieve work-life happiness?

The Best Places to Work Put Employees First

Last night, I attended the Daily Herald Business Ledger ceremony for the Best Places to Work in Illinois in 2012. LaSalle was honored in the small and medium size company category. It is a huge honor to be recognized and I am proud of every employee’s contribution to the award.

The keynote speaker, Thomas A. Klobucher, CEO of Thomas Interior Systems, explained why each company made the list using three words: putting employees first. Companies today that have the most unique culture and the most dedicated employees almost always put their staff first.

Happy employees treat customers better, subsequently improving customer service levels and sales at the organization.

Last night reinforced my belief that retaining and engaging staff is not all about monetary incentives. Almost every company that was honored offers training programs, uses recognition tools, provides regular feedback and spends quality time with employees.

They also do fun things as a company, like happy hours, baseball games, March madness parties, potlucks, sumo wrestling competitions and volunteering.

The ceremony attested to the fact that every company, regardless of its size, has the potential to be a great place to work.

Congratulations to all of my co-workers at LaSalle!

Advice for Working Mothers: How to Balance Your Career and Family

For Mother's Day, I thought it would be nice to have one of LaSalle's successful working mothers share her advice on how to balance a career and family. The post below is from Jayme Schrieffer, one of our Manager of Major Accounts who has been with LaSalle for over eleven years. Jayme oversees more than $4 million per year in revenue and is also the mother of an active two-year-old son.

Balancing a career and family is difficult, and doing it successfully is truly a skill. I've found that in order to juggle both responsibilities, it's crucial to be realistic about what can be accomplished in a day or a week at work. It's important not to take on too much that a deadline or goal will be missed. It's all about time management. Making a list of priorities every morning helps me manage my day to ensure that I get everything accomplished and still leave the office at a decent time so that I can spend time with my son before bed.

Communication with your manager is also key when trying to balance home life and a career. Communicating my goals, ambitions and concerns of trying to do it all have helped me take my career to the next level, and at the same time, has strengthened my relationship with my manager. Maintaining open lines of communication, continually checking in and asking for one-on-one meetings demonstrates a commitment to professional development and proves that your career has not taken a back seat because you are a working mom.

Being a working mom is rewarding both personally and professionally. If the skill is mastered, it can
make a woman to do more in less time, produce more and exceed goals.

-Jayme Schrieffer

Advice for the Class of 2012: Do What You Love

So many blog posts and articles I’ve read recently have spouted endless advice for 2012 graduates. Forbes contributor Mike Myatt advised graduates to cultivate and maintain relationships, continue learning throughout their lives and live below their means.

A Wall Street Journal blog post was less coddling….basically deflating the egos of this generation and saying they are less intelligent, charming and invaluable than their professors made them believe.

While all this advice is beneficial, albeit somewhat harsh, one piece was missing. Do what you love. It’s that simple.

Too many recent graduates accept offers for positions they know they won’t enjoy merely to have a job. They are nervous to be unemployed with a degree and college loans, so they jump at the first opportunity.

I recently interviewed a candidate who was considering accepting a job in sales…but they hated sales and knew it wasn’t what they wanted to do. Why even consider the offer?

Why not take a temporary position to earn money, gain experience and augment a skill set until a dream job is determined or secured? In the long run, I believe this will make millennials happier and more successful.

Rhapsody Get's It Right

I have no idea how the music business "works"...however a few months ago I got a Sonos internet stereo that works utilizing Rhapsody (formerly Napster I believe). Rhapsody plays any song, any musician...any radio station. I pay $7/ month, and I originally had debated if it was worth it under the "music is free on the radio" theory and I buy music via itunes already thought process. To justify the $7 a month, I'll skip 3 Starbucks, not buy a beer after work and not buy the silly app for the ipad I won't use. Music makes everything better.

Rhapsody is worth it! Over the past few months I have gotten enjoyment out of it...however watching my kids eat breakfast this morning while they each picked songs (majority of which I didn't own) and sing to the music...that vision was worth a lot more. Music in general for kids is under appreciated. My parents weren't big music people, so I didn't grow up with it.

As an adult I realize the value music brings to my kids...but also to life and the work place. Music makes people happy. Rhapsody, Sonos,(Napster before it), itunes...they get it right!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Advance Your Career: It’s Simple….Work Harder Than Your Colleagues

I had dinner the other night with the CEO of a $25M corporation that is rapidly expanding into new markets. He’s bright, motivated and extremely successful…and he’s only 31. After dinner, he was deciding whether to return to the office. It was after 6 p.m., and he conceded that most of his employees had probably left. Then, musing to himself, he said, “Where do they go?” I asked, “What do you mean, where do they go? They probably go home.”

He replied, “If they aren’t out with friends, are they just at home watching TV? Wouldn’t they rather be working?”

Wouldn’t they rather be working? In his mind, the answer was obvious…of course. In the minds of millions of workers, the response is probably a resounding no. This is the difference between great, successful employees and mediocre ones. Great employees are constantly working, thinking of new ideas, reading new literature and determining how events and lessons in their everyday life can transfer to their career. These are the employees that are getting promoted and receiving raises.

So if you’re wondering why your career hasn’t taken off, evaluate whether you have put in the time and effort necessary to advance your career. Would you rather be working?

Advice for Chronic Job Hoppers

If you've had four jobs in four years or three jobs in three years, the problem may be you. You accepted the jobs, you should have researched the companies...you can't always quit and not think there will be consequences. I'm not saying you won't land your dream job on the fourth or fifth job in as many years...I'm simply stating you can't always blame bad bosses, bad companies, etc. There is something to be said for learning to work your way through a "tough" situation and learning to navigate in an environment you don't love...and still being able to produce a superior work product. Don't let your surroundings dictate your work product! You control how much time you put in and the quality of your work...make it great!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Millennials Rock

Who says twenty something's feel entitled. I'm meeting with two of my marketing and communications staff who are 24 years old...and they are terrific. They ask for more to do...they think about solutions, not the problem...and they are happy and want to learn!!!

Nothing is more motivating than eager, hungry professionals with something to prove!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Entrepreneurs: What to Know When Starting a Business

According to a report conducted by the Harvard Business School, first-time entrepreneurs have only an 18 percent chance of succeeding. Why? Because many entrepreneurs today are naïve to the struggles and triumphs that accompany owning their own business. They underestimate the amount of time, energy, devotion and care it takes to develop a meaningful, successful organization.

Here’s what entrepreneurs need to know before they open up shop.

Pinch pennies: This seems obvious, but frugality is essential for entrepreneurs. The biggest area people spend foolishly on is technology. People buy huge servers for potential, yet technology changes so fast, that they bought too much, too soon and could have grown in to it. Companies can also save money when investing in an executive team. Entrepreneurs forget that they don't need to build the executive team of a $100 million company when they’re just starting out. The people they hire to start and build the company probably won't be the same ones they’ll need when they achieve certain milestones.

Go all in: Entrepreneurs need to be able to commit to working 60, 70, 80 hours a week, to being on call all the time and to taking a substantial pay cut (hopefully only initially). They need to be able to put their business first and themselves second.

Be resilient: Building a business is like having a child. You love your child unconditionally and are proud of all their accomplishments, but you know along the way there will be hardships. You don’t stop loving your child because of their mistakes or faults, instead you help them to grow and support them no matter what. This is how entrepreneurs should run a business. If something goes wrong, they need to do something about it. If their number one client leaves, they need to cold call and door knock to compensate for the lost business.

Build and leverage relationships:When an entrepreneur is just starting out, everyone should know about it, family, friends, former colleagues and acquaintances. Everyone is a potential investor or client. At the same time, entrepreneurs need to develop new relationships. They need to be transparent and honest with prospects, recognize the big events in their lives and show appreciation for their time and consideration.