Past Five

Would You Fire Yourself?

Your manager is unfair! The deadline was too tight!

At the end of your day look at what you did and pretend that you owned the company and that your effort was of an employee who worked for you. You took a home equity loan out on your house, plus a third mortgage, you cashed our your 401k, and you borrowed money on your credit card at 22% to get enough cash to start your company. Then you hired staff and paid them twice a month no matter how well the company did that month or what they accomplished. Then you look at the day you had today from the eyes of the entrepreneur.

You came in late because your workout at the gym didn't start on time because your personal trainer was late. You were late, yet you still managed to stop at Starbucks for your coffee. When your manager came over to talk to you, you were on the phone with your girlfriend talking about your upcoming trip to Florida. You spent time on Match.com looking for a date for your best friend and then also had to check your personal e-mail four times during the day. You ducked out at 5:00 p.m. on the dot because you were having friends over for dinner, yet there was work left that can "wait for tomorrow."

Don't forget you are the person who took a home equity loan out on your house, plus a third mortgage, you cashed out your 401k, and you borrowed money on your credit card at 22% to get enough cash to start your company. The above paragraph is someone who worked for you. How would you feel knowing your pay may vary to make the business survive, yet the person who did all of the above still gets paid.

Would you keep yourself employed? Work like you own the place...maybe someday you will. I can guarantee this, you'll feel better about your job because the results will be better, your manager will be happier and you will get promoted!

Past Five in Scripps News

My tips for recession proofing your job were picked up by Getting Hired columnist Marvin Walberg over at Scripps News. Marvin also added his own two cents for improving your job, and it's great advice. He's what he had to say:

The paycheck you get each week is for doing your job. In today's workplace, just doing the minimum may not be enough. You may keep your job by doing it well, but you'll only grow your job, earning a raise or a promotion, by exceeding your employer's expectations. Work hard, and smart, and your next evaluation will be a time to celebrate.

More of Marvin's tips can be found at his blog.

Monday Morning Blues

"They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as bad

Oh, they call it, call it stormy Monday

But Tuesday, Tuesday's just as bad

Oh, Wednesday is worse, and Thursday's oh so sad..."

For some reason, there are a lot of people who don't like to work. I really don't understand it. We can't afford to do the things we "like" if we don't work. Yet, so many people are okay with not liking what they do. It really got under my skin last week when I heard a radio DJ say, "It's only Monday...will this week ever end?!" It kills me. I realize a lot of people just say things to agree with the person they are speaking with, and it has become easy to fall into the Thank-God-It's-Friday mentality, but give it a break!

If you actually liked what you did, there would be weeks where you didn't want the weekend to come! Trust me, I live it. People may look at me when I say something like that and say, "You're weird!" Ironically enough, my response is, "No, you are!" Why? Isn't the person who doesn't enjoy what they do for a living weirder than the person who actually found something they enjoy doing?

I enjoy a day off just as much as anyone. I enjoy golfing, but after the fifth day in a row, it's nice to take a break and play some tennis or go for a run, etc. I don't say, "Geez, I wish I didn't have to play golf tomorrow."

Maybe it's the fact that someone else is telling you what to do at work. That is a very real possibility. Well, why not do your job in such a way that you know what needs to be done and do it before someone has to tell you to do it. Yes, that's the key to really liking your job - do it better. It's a chicken and egg thing, do you like a job you do well, or do you do well in a job you like better? Try both...work hard.

Be successful, and you will be surprised how much fun it is to go to work. Then you get to surround yourself with other people who like their jobs and have an opportunity to actually create something special. And then when you hear other people complain, you'll be glad it's not you!

After Work Socializing

This is a big part of the career experience, for a number of reasons. To begin with, it is important for you to invest your time beyond the "9-5" experience. By showing your coworkers that you want to spend time with them, you are opening up the communication doors at a whole new level. You don't have to be a big drinker, all you need to do is be able to smile, talk and listen.

The key is, do you genuinely care about making this relationship work? If the answer is no, it's just a job, and you don't want to spend anymore time with your coworkers than the 40 hours you must, it will show through. If you don't want to get to know them, you are losing out on a valuable experience!

Why would you not want to expand your social horizons and become friendlier with a new group of people? I read once, you can never have too many friends...and the ability to make friends with people whose income is dependent on the same things as yours is a good thing! "We're in this together" is the message you should send to your team. Plus, it can be a great opportunity for you to get to know people you don't interact with every day. Who knows, maybe one day they will actually be able to help you accomplish something.

Plus the coworkers get sick of your excuses as to why you can't join them.

1. The man's excuse of "My wife won't let me go" is unfair to wives everywhere. They want a night off to go shopping, drinking with friends or simply to watch reality television by themselves while eating fluffernutter sandwiches in bed alone.
2. Women...you're men can fend for themselves. You know, he'd rather have fast food any way, or simply drink beer and watch rodeo on ESPN 2. Let them have their night.

So, lose your lame excuses, invest in your career, and have some fun, make some friends and don't drink and drive!

Communication is Crucial in a New Job

I heard a wonderful story about an employee we just hired as a recruiter at The LaSalle Network. He was speaking with a tenured employee and talking about running advertisements to recruit candidates, as well as other methods to attract talent for our clients. When the point was brought up about using an on-line resource, the recruiter responded, "I know how to use it, however, I want to know how LaSalle uses it."

What a refreshing view. So often in work, employees are hired because they have industry experience and can bring an existing level of competency without being trained. However, every company does things differently and it is important early on in your new job to make sure how you are doing things is the way your manager(s) and coworkers do it as well.

Obviously, there is another option as well. That is to go ahead and say to your manager, "This is how I do 'x'...does this fall in line with how you want it done or how we do it as a company?" Either way is perfectly fine, because you are showing those around you that you are on board as team member and you are willing to conform if necessary to be a productive member of that team. So often people who are experienced in their field join a company, unit, team...and immediately go in to show they know better and this is how it should be done. Communication is so crucial, and the ability to be humble enough to say, "Is there a different or better way," can be a make or break ability in your career transition.

Take great notes of the questions you have, create a log of suggestions you have regarding how you have done things in the past, and make a meeting with your manager to have a free-flowing conversation on a regular basis to make sure you are executing the right way...not just your way.

Who Cares About Your Career?: What Michael Jordan, Chess and Key Influencers Have in Common

I was at a meeting with a client a few weeks ago and we were talking about their department (staff of 100+) and the negative attitude that existed within it. We talked about the managers and they all seemed fairly positive, as I knew a few of them and agreed with his views. So, where does the negative culture permeate from?

I brought up an article in the July Fortune about sub cultures and who the people are within a company who actually can be depended on to impact change and culture. At The LaSalle Network, we call these people Key Influencers. These are the people who literally care more about the company's success than their career -at a neutral point - and realize that if the company succeeds, they too will advance their career.

Care more about a company you don't have ownership in than your own career? Isn't that silly? Not really. While sports analogies are overused, they come in handy on this one. If you look at people in say, basketball, who are on a bad team, yet they score 30 points a game, that usually is great for the individual for the first few years of their career. They then reach a point where they say, "I want to win a championship," and they begin to look at playing a lesser role on a better team or re-working their contract so they can get better players on their team. Eventually, they have to "buy in" to the system of what the coach has in mind as a vision for what the team, or company, can be.   

The best example in sports is Michael Jordan. He realized that scoring 40, 50, 60 points in a game is    great, however he would have to follow the lead of his coach in order to win a championship. Phil  Jackson and his assistant, Tex Winter, installed a unique offense called the Triangle, and once Jordan bought into it...they won 6 championships in 9 years.

But Michael Jordan is the best player of all time you say? Wilt Chamberlin was once the best player of all time...he only won 1 championship. Dr. J the same..only 1 championship. Charles Barkely is a terrific player...never won any. Enough of sports, hopefully you see my point.

Back to business. It's not only getting your managers (best players) to buy in...which is important...in business you have to get rid of your negative influencers as well. Like a cancer, a negative attitude can spread to every part of your company. Can you change a negative attitude? I am not so sure because a negative attitude usually comes from somewhere other than work. It isn't what is happening to the person, because you can put the person on another assignment...another project...another department and they pick the negativity out of everything. The trick is how you communicate with the key influencers within your company and department.

I call it negative chess. You are playing chess against an unknown opponent, and you have to move your pieces around the negativity, so you can determine if it can be cured or if you need to manage that individual(s) out of the company. Step #1 is not what you may think. Before you counsel the "cancer," you need to get the pulse of those around the situation and see if what you are seeing or hearing is accurate. If it is, you then have to speak with your key influencers and figure out why people are letting this attitude take over the department. When they complain about something that isn't either a) worth complaining about, or, b)isn't true to begin with, are the key influencers countering the complaint? Are they challenging the individual?

By coaching your key players on how to develop a positive attitude within their groups, you have the oppotunity to work with and challenge your negative players. The truly negative people never want to admit they are negative, and perhaps need to leave the organization. However, if they are really good performers, you should want to work with them to improve their attitude, because perhaps no one ever tried to help them before. So, build up your case with actual points of negativity, point them out, and don't let the individual wiggle out of the situtation by passing blame. Then create a zero tolerancy of negativity.

If and when they go to their peers, your key influencers have been coached and developed on how to handle that...and if your team is strong, peer-to-peer management can hopefully overcome this cancer within your group.

It may sound like a lot of personnel management, however, you only have two other choices: 1) let the negative attitude take over the group 2) terminate the employee.