There is No Maximum to Human Potential

How Competitive are You?

Seattle just hosted The Boeing Classic--and in true Seattle spirit it rained for most of it.  My office is downtown and I noticed early last week that the golfers must be staying at the nearby Westin because I private shuttles with the Boeing Classic logo on the side kept arriving and dropping off guests.  On Thursday morning I was walking back to my office from a few blocks away and ended up walking with a three of the pro golfers--who I will refer to as Larry Moe and Curly to protect their identities.  I asked LMC how much rain they endured the day prior and they said they had endured rain on 13 out of 18 holes and that rain gear really came in handy.  As we continued to walk they asked me about my work and I explained how I work with senior executives and help them with their strategic objectives.  As we continued towards my office, there are two options for entry.  One is to go through one building, the other is to go around one building to the other side.  I chose the going through--the three of them argued about what way was faster--two of them said it would be faster to go around and one of them wanted to enter in my direction and go through.  The two convinced the one and they all three selected the around the building route and I entered through.   What happened next is the point of this blog entry.  I went into my building, rode the elevator up to my office, dropped my bags, and then took the elevator down to then continue through the building to go grab a coffee.  As I entered the adjacent building, the three golfers noticed me and they came over and said, "We beat you in--our way was faster."  I smiled and agreed with them and then entered the coffee line. As I stood in the coffee line, I played the scenario back in my mind and have continued to be amused at the fact that these three guys could turn an everyday act of walking down the street into a competition.  I was also amazed at how pleased they were when they confirmed their suspicion that their way was faster after all when I emerged into their building after them.  I did not have the heart to tell them of my pit stop to drop my bags.   I just let them think they won the race I did not even know I had entered.  I then compared my approach to life with theirs and realized that I am just not a competitive person in that sense.  I do not look at beating other people or being better than someone else at something. I am instead competitive against myself and want to do better each day than I did the day prior.  On Friday I had lunch with a certain NFL player that I told him about my run in with the golfers and how it made me consider my competitive nature.  He went on to tell me that he was similar to me in his competitive nature so this made me feel better knowing how successful he is as a person and athlete.  Through it all, I have decided to stay as I am and continue to have the daily goal of doing a little bit better than I did the day prior.  

Turn it around for good

Tonight I watched a story on Evening Magazine about a family from our area that is setting off in a few days to bike across the United States.  They are leaving from Gig Harbor, WA on 5/18 and will arrive at the Statue of Liberty in NYC on 9/11/08.  What is so significant about this is Bob, the father, has only 1 limb.  He has one arm so he will be "pedaling" his bike 40 miles per day with his one arm.  To learn about Bob Mortimer, his family and his journey you can visit his blog or website. 

NetWORK-ing

I am not an English major but I believe that words ending in -ing signify action or verb--or describing an action in the moment.  It is interesting to me that people consider going to networking events networking.  Showing up does not mean we are doing. How many people go to work and are not actually working?  The same applies to NetWORK-ing.  Networking is more than showing up. It is going to the event and taking action.  For some people, this action does not seem like WORK. For others of us, it can be WORK or even painful.  Here are some rules I apply when I go NetWORK-ing.  And for the record, it used to be a painful experience for me and now it is actually enjoyable. 

1.  Nobody cares about you.  They are there to talk about their business.  Help them do this well and you will make great connections. 

2.  The majority of people are nervous to some degree in new environments and social situation so keep this in mind and be the one to take the first step.  I was working with a client recently who is still fearful of networking events. She stepped into her fear zone at an event recently and initiated a conversation with a woman in line for drinks.  The woman ended up being a key contact with a client of her firm and they are now talking and building a relationship.  SCORE!

3.  Help connect other people and you are the star!  If you know two people in the room that would benefit from meeting one another, take the time to introduce them.  When you do they will appreciate your help in facilitating the meet. 

4.  Stay away from the brochure people.  You know, the ones with the stack of brochures in their hands and laser beam eyes constantly scanning the room for their next contact. Just don't make eye contact and act like you did not see them.  If you do get trapped, take a brochure and be on your way.

5.  Use the pocket system to separate out the wheat from the chaff.  Good contacts in left pocket, duds and brochure pushers in right pocket.  At the end of the night, walk to the nearest recycle bin and empty out your right pocket.  This will keep your good contacts from getting lost in the piles of cards.

6.  Email left pocket people and ask them to go to coffee.  If you met at a mixer or event that you are both members of, ask them to meet you for a drink before so you can get to know them and just add on a few minutes of time for both of you.

7.  Don't go if you are not up to it.  This is not a cop out or excuse not to network.  What I mean is if you are not feeling good or upbeat it would be best to not go versus go and have a horrible experience and a negative impression of networking.  This makes it harder to go in the future. If you are constantly skipping events when you really need to go for your line of work then there is a different issue going on.

8.  When you get to your car jot down a few notes about each left pocket card so you remember some details of your conversation. 

I am sure there are 800 more tips to successful networking.  My main tip is it is WORK and requires action. 

The Impact of Interest on Outcomes at Work: How to Motivate Younger Workers to a Higher Level of Performance

Last fall I was hired to assess an executive administrator at a small business in a technical industry.  She was in her first job out of college, placed in the job by a staffing firm, and was considered very bright at the time she was hired.  Unfortunately, her output did not meet up to the owners’ expectations.  It was a puzzle to the owners because they knew she was capable of doing a good job, she had the skills to do a good job, even a great job.  What they were witnessing was a steady and accelerating decline in quality of work and more frequently missed deadlines. 

I used a total person assessment tool to understand her thinking style, her behaviors, and finally, her job interests.  The results I received back confirmed that she had the correct thinking style for the job, she had the perfect behaviors or personality, but she just had little interest in administrative work.  In fact, she scored a 2 out of a possible 10 in administrative interest.   

The fact was she could do the job well, she just chose not to because she was not interested in the work itself.  As a result, she was blowing her chances to succeed and do well in her first job—as well as her chances of getting a positive recommendation for future work.  It made me realize that gone are the days where younger people take jobs and work hard, invest themselves whether they liked what they were doing or not, just for the chance to move ahead.  Today these younger people want to be good at what they do, but they want to like the process and the work itself.  If they don’t like the work, they will perform to a lower standard or they will leave and go somewhere else. 

This realization caused me to coach my clients to ask some questions in the interview that will uncover interests so they can gauge if the position they were applying for will line up with the candidates interest areas.  I also coach my clients to make sure and help these younger workers develop a clearly laid out succession plan.  They need to know where they can be in 3 years at the company, what they need to learn and develop to get there, and that they have a supportive manager to help them along the way.  If they do not see a clear career path and an opportunity to grow, they will lose interest and go somewhere else. 

So you are probably wondering what we did to help the performance of the admin.  The truth is we did nothing to help her performance as an admin.  There is no training or coaching in the world that would boost her performance as an admin.  She simply was not interested in the work that admins do. Instead of wasting time and money for little return, we focused our time on uncovering what her true interests were and finding a position at the company that would be a better fit for her.  We discovered that she is very interested more technical and creative work so she was placed in a technical support role and is doing much better.  I would not consider her to be a top performer, but I would say she is B performer.  As the company grows, and as her maturity grows as a worker, my hope is that a new position will open up and she will have the maturity to take it on as an A performer. 

Amy Hedin is a professional speaker and executive coach at HumanPoint.  She works with senior leaders to help them improve their performance as leaders, and the performance of their employees.  For more information, contact amy@human-point.com or call toll free 877-494-7947.

What Matters Most to Young Workers

•Comprehensive benefits package  (19%)

•Workplace that is enjoyable  (13%)

•Work that enables me to learn & grow  (12%)

•Comprehensive retirement package  (10%)

•Work that is personally stimulating  (10%)

•Flexible work schedule  (10%)

•10% more in total compensation  (8%)

•Two additional weeks paid vacation  (7%)

•Work that is worthwhile to society  (6%)

•Flexible workplace  (5%)

Source: The New Employee/Employer Equation Survey

Employee Engagement leads to Bottom Line Results-- Part 1

Employee engagement drives business results.  When employees are engaged, they stick around.  When they are not engaged, they leave or will leave if an opportunity presents itself. 

The cost of voluntary employee turnover is very high when you consider the following impacts:

1.  Employee morale is affected.

2.  When top people leave and join competitors there is a great chance they will attract their peers to join them in the new endeavor. One person walking out can lead to several over time.

3.  All of the energy put towards hiring new people could be directed at more profitable initiatives. 

4.  If reasons are unknown for departure it could be several months or years meaning many lost people. 

5.  The changing workforce is shrinking the number of available people for jobs.  If we have to constantly replace people year after year and there are less people available we will be forced to hire lower performers just to fill open positions. 

Now that we have reviewed the costs--let's review the benefits of having engaged employees:

1.  Employee engagement drives business results. 

2.  Client feedback says engaged employees are better to have working for them. 

3.  An engaged employee will go the extra mile.   

4.  Engaged employees are happier and create a motivated culture.

5.  Engaged employees stick around.

Inspiring Words

I received this email today from Sandy Bjorgen, the current President of our local NSA chapter.  Sandy was sending along New Year's greetings along with this story: Enjoy!

Martha Graham wrote in a letter to Agnes DeMille (both leaders of 20th Century dance):

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all Time, this expression is unique.

And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.  The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine: how good it is; nor how valuable it is; nor how it compares with other expressions.

It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. 

You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open...no artist is pleased...there is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than others.”

(As quoted in Dance To The Piper, an autobiography by Agnes De Mille)

A Spirit of Thanksgiving

Tomorrow we will celebrate our Thanskgiving holiday and I know I have so much to be thankful for.  I had to take a trip to IKEA tonight to pick up a gift. As we were loading our purchases into the car I met 2 soldiers from the Stryker Bridgade.  They were young men and seemed so friendly and happy.  They had just returned from Iraq and were there buying all new furniture for one of their apartments.  They seemed so happy and excited just to be at IKEA.  I mentioned to them that they must be so happy to be home for the holidays this year and they both just nodded their heads and you could see in their eyes they meant yes. 

Sometimes in life things happen that don't really make sense or seem like giant setbacks or disappointments.  One way to help raise our spirits is to keep a list of what we are thankful for until we are back on our feet. By focusing on what we have and by showing our thanks we will be less focused on what don't have. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Becoming a Coach

I was contacted over the summer via my Zoodango profile to participate in an interview for a publication targeted at youth and helping them to achieve more in life.  I thought it sounded like an interesting project so I sent back responses and just received back today the edited copy from Marcus  that will appear in various publications targeted at youth.  Here is the article...

Coaches exist in all fields and disciplines and many coaches in our lives don’t even carry the title “Coach.” Yet through their encouragement and investment, they have made a tremendous impact on our lives.

Coaches must be experts in their chosen field and passionate about their area of expertise. (It is difficult to be a great soccer coach if one is not passionate about soccer or has never played the game). They have lived through their own development and want to share their wisdom and experience with others. They are never happy with the status quo and are always striving to know more and become better in their fields.

In my own life, I once struggled making connections with people, sharing my ideas in groups, and displaying confidence in my communications.  I turned these weaknesses into strengths and now these are the exact areas where I am best at coaching others.

The first time I remember coaching people was in the first grade. I could already read because my grandmother spent many hours with me reading books. When reading was introduced in the first grade with the “See Jane” books, I was already reading at a more advanced level so I immediately worked with my classmates who were struggling. It just seemed like the natural thing to do—to help pull them up to my level in this area.

Through my school life and work life, I would master tasks and then share short cuts or help new people come up to speed. When I turned 18, I realized that I was confident academically, but had a low self-concept. I believed other people were superior to me, and I struggled with speaking to people, especially if they were older or more experienced.

I heard a speaker tell a story about a guy in Australia who was very poor and did not want to be poor anymore, so he read 2000 books on other successful people and now is one of the wealthiest people in Australia. I never found out if this story was true or an urban legend, but it sounded good to me at the time, so I immediately began a reading spree. I read biographies of people who overcame great obstacles and became great historical figures. I read business books to help improve my business vocabulary. I read self-help books to learn how to deal with people, speak in public, sell ideas, and influence others.

I immediately started to see a change in myself.  Soon, people who were much older and more successful started showing me the ropes. My income started rising, along with my confidence and by the age of 19, I was working for a Fortune 500 company in a sales support role, earning more money than I could have imagined at my young age.

I have always been interested in people and what makes them successful and not successful. Armed with this knowledge and with the help of my mentors I have become stronger and more confident in myself in my abilities. I still read about 3-4 books in these areas per month. I enjoy surrounding myself with people who are experts in other fields so I can be challenged and learn from them.

The truth is that for most of us, until we are out there working, we really don’t have an experience of our strengths or our passions. With the global view we enjoy today, having a breadth of knowledge can enhance our possibilities, versus just a depth of knowledge in one area.

I have one friend who was pressured from her parents to become a nurse, following the footsteps of several aunts, saying that they “made great money.” She heard this throughout her life from her mother who was also the family accountant and did the annual taxes for these aunties. She graduated from a top University with a $98K degree and jumped into her first nursing job. She absolutely hated it. After two years she was very depressed, realizing that her true dream was to be a music teacher. After about five years of being a full-time nurse and part-time music teacher, she went back to school for her music degree. She is now a full-time music instructor making more money than she ever did in nursing.

It may seem after hearing this story that the nursing degree was a total waste of money and time. However, a few years ago at a cousins wedding, she met a doctor who later became her husband. Even though she no longer practices nursing, she has a deeper understanding of her husband’s work and can have graphic conversations with him about procedures. If we studied further, we would probably also find that she uses knowledge gained from nursing on a daily or weekly basis, receiving even more of a return on her “investment” than a wonderful husband.

Once we acquire knowledge, it becomes part of us and we never know when we will need to apply it in life. The faster we can determine our strengths and passions, the sooner we can use this knowledge to develop the career of our dreams.

In today’s world, just having the technical knowledge about a field of study is not enough to get to the top. I know many brilliant engineers who were passed over for promotions because they are not good leaders. In today’s workplace, collaboration with others and fitting into a company’s culture is sometimes considered over and above the technical knowledge. This is where the younger generation has the true advantage and potential to pass up people with more experience. Just this week I was meeting with a VP of a company in the aerospace industry and he told me that he hires for culture fit and personality versus experience.

In any industry, what separates people from the masses is their ability to work with and connect with others. If you have a brilliant scientist who is great in the lab but is unable to communicate her findings and sell her superiors’ on a course of action, her brilliance is useless. The best way to get ahead in any profession today is twofold: first, by always doing a great job and second, by taking the time to build connections with others. In order to do this, we need to be confident reaching out to make the connection. This is where I struggled for so long in my earlier life and it was very costly for me. It is other people who will network for you when you need a job, funding for a project, acceptance into a club, or an introduction to a potential client. Coaching top executives is such a private endeavor that I cannot divulge the names of my clients.  The only way to gain new clients is by referral, based on my skills and our relationship.

The key to connecting with others is to have the attitude of “How I can I help?” rather than,  “How can they help me?”  With the new technology available and web 2.0 platforms, making and keeping connections is easier than ever. I wish I had kept in better contact with my college professors, peers, and classmates, but I didn’t see the value or have the confidence at the time to be the initiator. I am currently reading the great book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. Keith says that he has 5000 people in his Palm who will take his call. (http://www.keithferrazzi.com/) The 250 people in my Pocket PC is quite small in comparison and I realized that I need to work even harder at making connections with others.

When it comes to personal development, I cannot stress enough the importance of developing leadership competencies, speaking abilities, and confidence in sharing ideas. My advice is take advantage of participating in any program that is going to help you develop in these areas. These are skills I struggled with in the past and now coach others to strengthen. In addition, I would reach out to people in the business community -- ask what extracurricular activities they participate in and see if you can attend with them.

I have an associate in Seattle who is graduating this year from UW. I can’t tell you how many times I have run into him at business events. He is a master at developing his network and rubbing shoulders with people in roles he wants to occupy in the future. He has also paid for and attended leadership courses and sales related courses outside of his college to gain further insight. One of the best courses any young professional can take is the Dale Carnegie Course in Effective Communications and Human Relations (www.dalecarnegie.com).

I agree with Warren Buffett’s comments on a recent PBS special where he said that by going above and beyond the requirements in a particular area, a person is setting themselves up to be able to coach and train others in the future.

The coach’s role is to assist us in areas of our lives where we have been unsuccessful, unmotivated, or scared to develop on our own. Real estate agents, financial advisors, fitness trainers and other sole proprietors, all include some degree of coaching for their clients. They may be depending on the client to take action, yet if they are afraid of transitions and change, it is necessary to find ways to motivate them to push through the challenges. Being an expert financial advisor or fitness trainer with poor people-skills is not going to help us gain or keep our clients.

The reason I loved working with fitness trainers is they motivated me do what I was not willing to do on my own and they encouraged me along the way. I work to do the same for my clients and for people I care about in my life. The best way to motivate people is to praise their positive improvements and not criticize their mistakes. This way they will be encouraged to deal with the uncomfortable feelings associated with change. Pointing out their incremental results and how they are improving gives them fuel to continue the journey.

My joy in coaching happens when I see people (and companies) break through their imaginary ceiling and watch their excitement when they realize they are at a new level. It is fun to read about the companies or run into people months later and hear of their successes and new heights they have reached as a result of their breakthrough.

When I left the comfort of working for someone else with a national brand and client base to start my own company, I felt anxious. I quickly realized that I had been telling people for many years to step beyond their areas of comfort and now it was my turn to practice what I had been preaching. It is normal to feel anxious when we are charting new paths. The great thing is that during this time I received emails from several past students and friends who gave me the boost of confidence I needed to continue forging ahead. Again, my network of connections paid off and helped me in my time of need.

Just this week I met with my friend’s younger brother, Jay, who just graduated from WSU. Jay wants to go into sales but did not know what industry or product. I met with him with the goal of helping him narrow his focus and get interviews with a few companies that are aligned with his interests. After we were finished going over his results, he asked me if I was using any web 2.0 tools to promote my business. He explained that he had taken a course this past semester in college about web 2.0 and spent the next 45 minutes helping me get with the times.

Based on his recommendation I started a blog http://www.amyhedin.com/ and am considering podcasting.  So you see, when we connect with people to help them get ahead, we also may gain from the process.

5 Tips for a Successful Seminar

Our Megatrends for Megabucks:  Building Alliances that Grow Revenues was a big success in Seattle this week.  We had a room full of energy filled with business owners, CEO's, sales and marketing execs, and executive directors.  I think there are some very specific things we did to make this event a success so I decided to post this 5 Tips For a Successful Seminar List to share best practices with others who may be planning seminars and speaking events.  Please post any additional tips you have so we can create a long list. 

1  Get a venue that is acceptable with your desired audience. 

Our desired audience was CEO's, business owners, company leaders so we held it at a private business club in Seattle with great food, great views, and top service.  Just think of it like dating, if you had a date with a supermodel would you take her to Denny's? 

2.  Select a topic that is very current and relevant and narrow enough to draw the correct audience.

In talking with different people throughout the morning many said they came to the event becuase they are currently working on alliances or want to do so in the future.  This means the topic drew the right people and the three speakers have resources that can help them achieve a current business objective. It also means that people left satisfied versus being too broad and missing the target with some who misinterpreted the context of the topic.  If you feel your topic is too broad, narrow down what you will be covering in bullet points or seminar objectives.   

3.  To provide a tremendous value to your audience, team up with other experts to tackle the same relevant topic. 

I created an alliance with two others, Lori Richardson and Jeanette Nyden, to deliver a topic about building alliances.  This topic was very relevant with all three of our customer bases and we have helped our clients in this area in three different ways. In reading the feedback sheets at the end, we noticed that people found this to be very valuable and comprehensive. 

4.  Select a time of day that works for your audience and location. 

We were marketing to company leaders so we decided that early morning was the best time of day for them.  We also allowed them time to leave and get to lunch meetings or back to their offices.  Consider the desired audience, the location of your event, and the traffic conditions of your area when deciding on times. 

5.  Relevant Marketing

Market to your desired audience in a way that works for them in a way that they appreciate.  In our case we marketed through clubs, associations, business websites and journals.  We also included on our flyer the words, "Intended For" and listed the titles that would find our topic relevant. 

Now, lets hear what you do so we can grow this list and help people.

Lori Richardson is also collecting ideas on her blog.