Zoom-Zoom were the words on the cover of the brochure. I am pretty sure there was a car rounding a curve with the ocean off in the distance but I’m not positive. After all it was several years ago I would have been leafing through that brochure. I am certain that I carefully studied the words and the images on each page, looking to convince myself this was the right car for us to buy. Your resume plays the same role as that brochure I described. From the summary of qualifications at the top to the rest of the story told throughout the document, each word choice should be purposeful, truthful, and get the reader excited. Ideally, the reader will salivate a little by the time they are done reading, but that is not absolutely necessary. Your resume is your sales brochure. It is the key that encourages a potential employer to kick the tires and take you for a test drive. Most people tend to understate their achievements. You would be wise to make sure your resume is presenting you in the best possible light. Zoom Zoom.
For years I have been saying that I think trust is the single most important thing for an organization to get right. Without trust, communication suffers, decisions are met with skepticism and execution of organization strategy suffers. But is trust a black and white issue? Do you either have it or not? Are there levels of trust we share with others? I think our tendency is to talk about trust as a black and white issue as in “I don’t trust that guy!” or “I would trust him with my life!” But I think the reality is deeper than that. I think there are shades of gray to trust. Think of some of the ways we might describe the trust in a relationship: “I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him” or “I’m just telling you, watch your back around her” or “For your own piece of mind, I would just double-check his work.” Before I lose your interest, and worse yet your trust in me, let me explain why I am rambling on here about trust. The lesson I think, is in understanding where the basis for trust or distrust is coming from. Trust can be rebuilt, and the key to doing so is in understanding its sources and defining steps to take trust to the next level.
According to a new Conference Board study, only 45% of workers are satisfied with their job. It would be easy to write this fact off as yet another casualty of the recession and assume it will turn around when things get better. I think however that dismissing the fact is symptomatic of the broader issue. Employee dissatisfaction has been increasing for the last two decades. Dissatisfied workers are less productive, less innovative and less likely to offer any contribution to their employer above and beyond what is required. Raise your hand if you are writing reduce productivity and innovation into your people management strategy. The Conference Board report is a macro trend, but you would be wise to think about it on a micro level. What is morale like in your organization right now? What are your plans to fix it? As is so often said to our “barely meeting requirements” employees… “You are either part of the problem or part of the solution.”
Dr. King told us that in his dream his children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. He wanted us to see them for the person they were rather than taking the lazy way out and drawing assumptions based on skin color. As a manager, how inclined are you to look deeper into the attributes of each of the members of your team? Are you willing to move beyond a conventional point of view and get to know them as individuals? Are you willing to adjust your coaching style in order to help each individual succeed? In management courses I have taught, I refer to character as your “get out of jail free card.” Your past behaviors are what will cause people to say, “Scott doesn’t seem himself today” rather than “Scott is being impossible once again.” When you behave in ways that strengthen relationships and trust, people are more apt to be forgiving of minor transgressions. It is a two way street that begins with trust and communication.
The gift wrap is off all the packages, the need to take aspirin for whatever ails you on New Year’s Day has passed, and we’re staring down the fear and opportunity that a new year brings. The New Year’s Resolution is a time honored tradition of identifying things we want to change this year. Unfortunately, a lack of commitment seems to be the loyal companion of the New Year Resolution.
So this year, resolve to do something different. This year, resolve to make a plan and stick to it! Don’t obsess about the big victory, but rather plan for and celebrate the small successes. Set a goal, make a plan and work the plan. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds during the year, the manageable steps might be to exercise 4 days a week and to fill your plate half with vegetables for every meal. When you miss a day of exercise don’t give up. Pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, and realize that you still got in two days of exercise that week and you’ll get four days in next week. It is our resolve and commitment to the smaller steps that will have an impact. We stay committed to those things that are important to us. It shouldn’t take a landmark event like the changing of the year on the calendar to get us to change. That is as true in July as it is in January. I wish you a resolve filled New Year.
I swore I wasn’t going to do this but it seems that my first blog entry for Water’s Edge Coaching deserves to stand on a little bit of ceremony. The focus of my coaching practice is on making work an exciting and engaging place to be. To all who should happen to read my writing, whether you are searching for work you can be excited about, or a leader of others looking to bring out the best from your team, I hope you find value in what I write. I realize you may not always agree with what I have to say but I ask that you give it some thought. I will always make space for healthy debate and discussion on my blog. I look forward to spending time with you on this page. Well there we have it…. my baby is born…. I shall name it blog!