Your CV - qualify your achievements

"Whether you’re an engineer or sales executive, you have to demonstrate to the hiring authority that the value you will generate is three times more than what you’re costing. When you do that, the odds of landing an interview very quickly are in your favour."

Not my words but those of award-winning CV writer +Sandra Ingemansen. Much has been written about how we need to quantify our achievements ('I saved my company x' or 'I exceeded my sales targets by y%') but what if you can't provide any quantifiable achievements? 

That's one of the questions that Sandra gets asked most often, especially from  technology and engineering professionals. "Sometimes achievements are hard to quantify but then there are always qualitative results," says Sandra, "which is another way of substantiating your personal brand."

A CV that oozes quality 

So, what do we mean by qualitative accomplishments? Here Sandra provides some examples:

1) Maybe you took the helm and developed a failing department with zero morale and high attrition into an award-winning team that went on to reach the highest retention rates in the company and scored the highest on customer satisfaction surveys.

2) Maybe you solved some difficult problems or resolved conflicts. If you solved a problem that three others in your position failed to do in the past five years before you came on board, then there’s your story.  

3) Maybe you overcame conflicts among siloed departments. Maybe you managed your way through obscure and bureaucratic government agencies and got things done quicker by tapping into your network of connections. 

4) Maybe you developed, trained and mentored your company’s next batch of leaders that went on to boost business value in some way.

Sandra adds, "The key to remember is that every single person in an organisation should be able to quantify or qualify exactly how they add value to the business. And make sure your achievements are relative to the needs of the company or hiring executive you are targeting. That means, do your industry and company research!"

You can find out more about Sandra at www.resume-strategies.com or follow her on Twitter @Resume911.

Feedback - 'be bold and ask'

Want to know what others think of you, how you are perceived? One of the best ways is to actively seek feedback. 

Feedback is often in short supply, so what can managers do to find out what their staff/superiors think of them? "I would be bold and ask for feedback," says Dr. Cindy Wahler. 

"The premise and platform should be in the context of recognising that it is hard for us to see ourselves and difficult for us to understand how we impact others. The objective is to learn how we may be more effective and better leaders."

Effective feedback models - three key ingredients

• Timeliness
• Transparency
• Balanced—Strengths and Opportunities

"Feedback should entail these three components: how we get things done, how we lead our team and how we partner across the organisation," adds Dr. Wahler.

Promoting leadership behaviours

Feedback also directly impacts retention and staff development, so is a key part in ensuring that organisations make the right hiring decisions. "All organisations should be conducting an ‘audit’ through a number of avenues that do include 360 feedback, shareholder value, employee engagement surveys and rate of retention."

The ability of the manager to promote and cultivate next generation leaders is key as "the 360 feedback must provide concrete examples of how the manager does embody and promote the company’s core values through their leadership behaviours".

You can find out more Dr. Wahler and her work at www.cindywahler.com. She also writes extensively, is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and an affiliate of Pivot Leadership.

Find the right mentor and invest in your success

Have you got a mentor? If you haven't and you're looking to get ahead in your organisation, you should strongly consider it as it can open many doors and introduce you to influential executives at the corporate top table. 

I went in search of a few answers with Dr. Cindy Wahler, who has worked with many leading companies to help them implement a range of corporate leadership programmes. 

"The key is selecting someone who you establish great chemistry with and is invested in your success," says Dr. Wahler. 

How do I go about finding/choosing the right person?
It is dependent upon the skill set that you require. For example, if you excel at execution and your next role is to help your organisation grow through acquisition or perhaps anticipate market trends, then you might want to align with a mentor who has strategic or big picture skills. Or if you now need to influence through stakeholdering, I would recommend you seek out a mentor who excels at partnering and collaboration. 

Should they be from another discipline to mine?
It certainly is advantageous as you gain a fresh lens and different perspective. Particularly if you can find someone who has had a number of roles, then they have a wealth of expertise and can help map out your career aspirations.

Do they have to be from inside my organisation?Not necessarily, if the mentor is a highly regarded with a track record of excellence, then that can be of great value. I would though recommend that they are from your industry so they can identify with both the challenges and opportunities.

How should the mentor approach the process?
The mentee should drive the process. Explore their achievements, areas they hope mentoring will address and discuss their overall career aspirations. Determine if you are comfortable and discuss time lines frequency and mutual accountabilities.

Mentoring must do's – Cindy's top 3 tips

1) Articulate your specific goals
2) Develop an action plan to address each goal
3) Measure your success to demonstrate the ROI of mentoring.

You can find out more about Cindy and her work at www.cindywahler.com. She also writes extensively and is a regular contributor to Forbes.com.

Only Fools and Horses - tribute to Trigger

Only Fools from Luca Rosi

Why good managers are so hard to find

Have you got the balance right between looking at the big picture while focusing on the details of your daily role? 

More meticulous management minutiae from +Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School…

So, what constitutes being a better boss?
JB: There is lots of advice out there on how to be a good manager or leader but it’s mostly pretty obvious stuff. The problem, I believe, is not to figure out what we should do. Rather, it is about understanding why we don’t do what we know we should do! So becoming a better boss is first and foremost about self-awareness: knowing what your own strengths and weaknesses, and learning to adapt accordingly. And second, it is about seeing the world through the eyes of our employees. These two reframing exercises then drive a fundamental shift in the ways we act as bosses.

Why is good management so difficult? Are good managers such a rarity?
JB: Alas, there are few really good managers out there. Or rather, there are few people who are CONSISTENTLY good managers. Lots of us do a good job from time to time, but the acid test of good management is to be able to do it when we are stressed or when the organisation is going through a tough time. This is because good management is a somewhat “unnatural” act – it requires us to give up control to others, and to let others take credit, when our natural predisposition is often one of taking ownership and credit ourselves. And this is especially true in difficult times. 

The best executives are the ones who can ‘zoom in and zoom out’. Explain what you mean.  
JB: This refers to being able to see the big picture while also understanding enough of the detail to be able to support and help those who work for you. Most people are good at one or other of these things, but the risk is that the ‘big picture’ executive ends up becoming disconnected from the real work, while the detail-focused executive ends up as a micromanager. So executives need to work very hard on getting the balance between these two things right.

Do you think that managers often lack the necessary training to be effective? 
JB: Yes indeed.  How many of us received training before we were given a managerial job? Almost none.  And yet, the evidence is that being a good manager is difficult, and can only be learned through many years of experience, with feedback and coaching along the way.

Spell out the differences and cross-overs between effective managers and inspirational leaders? 
JB: In terms of definitions, I see leadership as a process of social influence, while management is getting work done through others. Viewed in this way, leadership and management are just two sides of the same coin – anyone who wants to be an effective executive has to do both.  I have come to view the debate about leadership versus management as somewhat unhelpful, which is one reason I talk about becoming a better “boss” in this book. 

We often hear of born leaders. Can leadership be nurtured or developed? 
JB: Clearly some people are born with a more natural ability to inspire their colleagues and to talk with passion and charisma. But my research suggests that these things are a small part of the whole story. Most of the work of leadership and management is actually skills that can and should be developed over time, and through hard graft.  

Should more senior executives follow the example of the TV show, Undercover Boss, and see the world through the frontline worker’s lens?
JB: Yes absolutely. Clearly, it is impractical for most of us to spend time “undercover” in the manner of the TV show. But there are many smaller ways of getting ourselves closer to the front line, and into the mindset of the people working for us. For example, many retail bosses spend time serving behind the food counter and working the tills.

How do managers go about motivating and getting the best out of Gen Y employees? 
JB: Gen Y employees are different to older employees primarily because of their affinity to technology, especially social networking technology. They also typically have less loyalty to their employers, and think nothing of switching jobs as opportunities arose. So everything I am saying in my book about making work more intrinsically interesting applies particularly to Gen Y. In particular, the notion of allowing people to blend work and play – for example using work time to browse Facebook – is very important.   

You’re CEO of a multinational for a day. What one change would you instigate?
JB: Well you cannot get much done in a day! The problem is, being an effective boss is as much about the consistency of your action over time as it is about the specific things you do.  But with this point in mind, here is my simple one-day intervention that builds on a lot of the points mentioned earlier: I would get every mid-level and senior manager in the company to either spend that day with a customer or with a front-line employee two levels below them. 

Management or an MBA?
JB: Well, the interesting thing here is that most MBA programmes, including the one at London Business School, spend very little time on the subject of management itself. Instead, the focus is on the more technical aspects of business, from finance to strategic thinking to consumer behaviour. So if you want to become a better manager per se you are better off getting a personal coach, seeking feedback from those around you, and diligently seeking to improve. An MBA programme is invaluable for providing you with the depth and breadth of understanding of how businesses work, but it is not a substitute for the experiential learning you get in the workplace.

And finally, what are your top tips for the management masses?
JB: I am reluctant to boil my work down to a specific set of “things you should do” because a big part of the problem is that management does not lend itself to quick fixes – just as you cannot become a better golfer, or lose weight, by just following a list of top tips.  So I would reframe the question slightly. My top tips are two: (1) As a manager, always try to look at things through the eyes of your employees; and (2) Become more self-aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, by seeking advice and feedback whenever possible.

+Julian Birkinshaw has written extensively about management and leadership, including his most recent book, “Becoming A Better Boss: Why Good Management is So Difficult”. Julian is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School.

Find out more about Julian and his work

Why is good management so difficult?

What better place to continue my research on management than the hallowed halls of academia? I spoke to +Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School, to further unravel the intricacies of good management and leadership.

Think you’re doing a truly good job as a manager? If your answer is a resounding ‘yes!’, then congratulations, but I ought to add that the bulk of evidence says otherwise.

So, why is good management so difficult? “Alas, there are few really good managers out there. Or rather, there are few people who are consistently good managers. Lots of us do a good job from time to time, but the acid test of good management is to be able to do it when we are stressed or when the organisation is going through a tough time,” says Julian.

A lot has been written on the subject and according to Julian most of it won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone. In his eyes, “The problem is not to figure out what we should do. Rather, it is about understanding why we don’t do what we know we should do!”

Become a better boss – two things to focus on

1) Self-awareness – know your own strengths and weaknesses by seeking advice and feedback wherever possible (and learn to adapt accordingly)

2) Switch perspective – always try to see the world through the eyes of your employees

“These two reframing exercises then drive a fundamental shift in the ways we act as bosses,” explains Julian.

+Julian Birkinshaw has written extensively about management and leadership, including his most recent book, “Becoming A Better Boss: Why Good Management is So Difficult”. Julian is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School. 

Find out more about Julian and his work

"Life's too short to work with jerks"

Continuing my series uncovering the skills needed to be  a successful manager, I was lucky enough to speak to +Jill Geisler about her book, ‘Work Happy – What Great Bosses Know’, ahead of the paperback launch in January 2014. 

It’s one of the most insightful guides you’ll ever read on the subject and if like me, it’s an area that interests you, make sure you buy the book, it really is that good. We all have had bosses that we’ve admired and those that have been, well, a waste of space. We also know that individual and team success is inextricably linked despite everything we hear about building our personal brands. As Jill says, “You can build a great personal brand by being known for developing a high-performing team.”

The idea for Jill’s book came from the incredible response to her and the Poynter Institute’s [Jill heads up their leadership management programmes] “What Great Bosses Know” free podcast series on iTunes U, which began in 2010 and boast over 12 million downloads worldwide. 

That wasn’t the only source of inspiration though, “So often, at the end of a seminar or workshop, people would ask me to recommend just one book that would help them continue growing in the key management areas: communication, collaboration, change management, performance management, emotional intelligence – and I couldn’t identify just one. So I wrote it!”

Follow the leader

Peter Drucker, the most famous management thinker of the 20th century famously said that managers ‘do things right’ while leaders ‘do the right things’. Much has also been written about the differences between management and leadership although I think we’d all agree that there is a crossover between the two. 

I wanted to know where Jill stood on the definitional debate and she raised an interesting point which we can all relate to, “I like to say that the real difference between managers and leaders is simply this: people are required to follow managers. They choose to follow leaders. That means a person who is a manager can also be a leader and a person can be a leader regardless of title in the organisation.” 

Although her book takes the standpoint of what good bosses know, it’s as much about what bad bosses don’t know and so I was eager to ask Jill about some of those attributes that we should avoid have attributed to us.  

‘Being a great boss is hard work’

“The worst bosses focus on the product at the expense of the people,” explains Jill. “They fail to understand what truly keeps employees engaged at work. Some take the ‘You’re lucky to have a job’ approach that builds neither trust nor staff performance. Make no mistake, being a great boss is hard work: you have to learn skills that are entirely different from those that made you good at pre-management work. You can’t just give orders or presume that everyone should do things just the way you did when you were on the front lines.”

Jill makes an interesting point and one which is just as pertinent to us as people or to businesses as they seek to engage with their customers. In other words, put yourself in the other person’s shoes and don’t just assume that the way you do things is the right way. That then led me to ask about training, as quite often newly appointed, inexperienced managers can get thrown into the deep end of the management maize. 

So how do we navigate our way out of it?  “Look for good training opportunities and wise mentors. If those aren’t easily available to you, read worthwhile management materials to help you understand how to get the best out of others.” 

The importance of research [as a former journalist and TV anchor this is something close to Jill’s heart] cannot be underestimated, “Managers tell me the reason they’ve found my writings and podcasts helpful is that I translate theories and research into practical lessons they can put to use immediately.” 

Million Dollar Question

We move on to discuss practical strategies that managers can apply on a daily basis. One particularly effective approach is to ask a simple question and that is, “Is there anything you need more of – or less of – from me?” aka the Million Dollar Question. 

“The reason this is so effective is that managers get very little feedback from staff. They may be hesitant to complain, for fear of retribution or to compliment, for fear of looking like sycophants. So the messages go unsaid. I am always amazed at the reaction of managers in my seminars to the 360 degree feedback they get from staff [‘ViewPoynt’ feedback is not anonymous].”  

So, in the absence of a formal feedback process, what can a boss do? “Managers might feel awkward saying, ‘How am I doing?’ for fear of seeming insecure or fishing for compliments. But the Million Dollar Question asks for measurable information. A military supervisor told me he really appreciated that question because it let him, as a ranking officer, solicit input while maintaining his position of strength.”

Continuing the feedback theme, I’m keen to learn the secrets of performance management. “Understanding of your staff as individuals, communicating clear expectations to them, coaching rather than fixing and providing sincere, specific and ongoing feedback about their strengths and challenges,” is Jill’s straightforward advice.

Dwelling on the positives

Another topic on my ‘hit list’ is the 360 degree feedback model, “I believe it should be used as a developmental, not an evaluative tool. The model I developed for our programme belongs to the participant.  It’s a ‘free peek’ at what people perceive and believe about them, for their use only, not for their HR files. Our model also uses narrative format. People don’t get numeric grades, instead they get specific details from colleagues, often with concrete examples, so they don’t have to guess at ambiguous responses.”

And what about strengths and weaknesses – which should we prioritise? “Both, really,” is Jill’s answer but with a very clear caveat, “Before handing people their 360 degree feedback reports, I give them highlighters and make them pledge to highlight the positives. Why? Because too many people disregard the positive comments and dwell on the negatives – especially high performers and perfectionists. 

That’s a mistake, according to Jill, because it is precisely this “base of credibility and social capital” will help them improve on the negative comments. “If you’re known as a great ideas person with a short temper, just imagine how much more your ideas will be valued when you learn to be cool under pressure. Of course, from the feedback they also discover they are doing many things well and had no idea how much people appreciate them.”

I wonder what the first thing she’d do if she were CEO for the day. “Go on a listening tour.  Look for quick wins, issues that matter to people that can I resolve right now. Identify buried treasure, people or ideas that have been overlooked.  Finally, I’d ask people what’s worth celebrating right now and how they’d like to do it. Then I’d delegate that duty to the folks with the most unselfish and creative ideas.”

And to conclude, I ask Jill what she would really want to be known for, her legacy, “I hope that people might say, ‘She loved to learn, to lead and to laugh – and to help others succeed.’”

You'd expect nothing less from someone whose management mantra is, "Life’s too short to work with jerks".  

Jill’s top management tips for 2014
How to become a better delegator

You can find out more Jill and her work at jillgeisler.com and her columns on the Poynter Institute’s website. Her iTunes U podcasts have been incredibly successful with over 12 million downloads to date. Jill can also be followed on Twitter @jillgeisler.

Feedback - The Million Dollar Question

Asking your team members, 'How am I doing?' is unthinkable and just not the done thing. Not only will you come across as insecure but it's highly unlikely that you will get the answers you're looking for.  

So how can you find out what your direct reports think of you in the absence of a formal feedback process? Well, there is a particularly effective approach and that's to ask a simple question.

The fear factor

+Jill Geisler, in her book 'Work  Happy – What Great Bosses Know', calls this the Million Dollar Question. Jill explains, "The reason this is so effective is that managers get very little feedback from staff. They may be hesitant to complain, for fear of retribution, or to compliment for fear of looking like sycophants. So the messages go unsaid. 

The Million Dollar Question asks for measurable information and goes as follows:

“Is there anything you need more of – or less of – from me?” 

Are you good at delegating?

'To delegate' is possibly one of the important infinitives used in any management training manual. 

Assign work or tasks to your direct reports and not only does it free up time for you to focus on the big priorities but you're developing and instilling confidence in your team members at the same time.

Or so the logic goes. Yet whether it's a lack of confidence in others' abilities, a control freak or micro-manager mentality, the skill of delegation doesn't come naturally to everyone.   

So what can you do improve? I asked +Jill Geisler, author of 'Work Happy – What Great Bosses Know', for her top three tips.  

How to become a better delegator

1. Prioritise

“Ask yourself, ‘What are the most important things I do for this organization, that only I should do?’ This tells you what NOT to delegate so you can decide what duties to share with others”  

2. Coach, don’t fix

“Coaches help others learn how to do the work or make good decisions. Fixers do the work and make decisions for them. You will never effectively delegate tasks or decisions if you fear others won’t perform as well as you”  

3. Build trust – in all directions

“Delegation works best when your bosses trust that you do it wisely and your staff know that you trust them – and why. You build that trust through clearly defined roles, responsibilities, spans of control and feedback”

You can find out more Jill and her work at jillgeisler.com and her columns on the Poynter Institute’s website. Her iTunes U podcasts have been incredibly successful with over 12 million downloads to date. Jill can also be followed on Twitter @jillgeisler. 

Management masterclass with Jill Geisler - lesson 1

How do you think you're faring in the management stakes? Or more to the point, what would your direct reports say about you? 

To help me navigate the management maize, I was lucky enough to speak to Jill Geisler about her book, ‘Work Happy – What Great Bosses Know’, ahead of the paperback launch (January 2014).  

Here's a little starter to warm you up in the New Year...lots more insight to come from my chat with Jill. 

Jill's top three management tips for 2014

1) "Think strategically, always look at the big picture and not just your slice of it"

2) "Expect disruption and change – and learn to lead through it"

3) "Be a student of your industry and its future so you can be a pacesetter, not an obstacle"


You can find out more Jill and her work at jillgeisler.com and her columns on the Poynter Institute’s website. Her iTunes U podcasts have been incredibly successful with over 12 million downloads to date. Jill can also be followed on Twitter @jillgeisler.