Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Again

Alexandra Levit — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Abraham Lincoln is widely considered to be the most admired president in the history of the United States. Listening to the Gettysburg address or talking to your high school teachers, you’d think he could do no wrong. Except he could, and he did. Let’s take a look at Honest Abe’s lifetime record:

Failed in business (age 22)
Defeated in legislative run (age 23)
Failed in business, again (age 24)
Sweetheart died (age 26)
Had a nervous breakdown (age 27)
Defeated for Speaker of the House (age 29)
Defeated for Elector (age 31)
Defeated for Congress (age 34)
Defeated for Congress (age 39)
Defeated for Senate (age 46)
Defeated for Vice President (age 47)
Defeated for Senate (age 49)

Lincoln was elected president at the age of 51, by which time he had suffered 12 major defeats! A lot of people his age would have disappeared from public life and retired on a rural estate somewhere. But not Lincoln. He went on to shepherd the American Civil War to a satisfactory conclusion and was in great part responsible for abolishing slavery in the U.S. He was so beloved that we still celebrate his birthday and display his face everywhere. Just think where this country would be if he had been consumed by despair that success wasn’t coming quickly enough.

I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again

If you talk to any Fortune 500 CEO, you will get an earful of all of the mistakes and mishaps that occurred before they were able to reach their current level of achievement. The difference between high achievers and everyone else is that the high achievers keep getting back on the horse every time they fall off. They give themselves time to recover, they think through the mistake and learn from it, and then they move on to the next thing.

We’re struggling with a tough business climate right now. You are likely trying a lot of ways to get ahead in your organization, and many of them won’t work. But by recognizing that defeat is all part of the process, you will be able to sustain your motivation until your next big break.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Manage the Needs of Multiple Supervisors

Alexandra Levit — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

It’s a fact of modern work life that many of us have multiple supervisors. And even if you’re an efficient multi-tasker, you’re never going to be Superman. It’s not a good idea to sabotage your goals by taking on more work than you can do just because someone above you said so.

Formalize Daily Responsibilities

In general, you want to be perceived as a can-do employee by all of your supervisors. A good first step is to formalize your daily responsibilities with your official boss. Find out who on your team is authorized to delegate work to you, and note the type of assignments you can expect from each person.

Let’s say that Joe, who is outside this core group of delegators, gives you a stack of client status reports to do. How should you respond? It’s perfectly appropriate to politely reply that you would be glad to help, but that you would appreciate it if Joe would check with your official manager first. Joe may or may not pursue the matter, but, either way, you have extricated yourself from an awkward situation and have placed the ball squarely in your official boss’s court. In all likelihood, your boss will say no to Joe for you, especially if doing status reports is outside your area of responsibility.

Be Assertive

Now imagine that Jane, a member of your core group of delegators, leaves an urgent assignment on your chair that must be done by the end of the week. Jane has known about the task for a few days, but now it’s Friday morning and the deadline is looming. As my mother used to say, don’t let another person’s lack of planning become your emergency. If your own “to do” list dictates you do something else, speak up.

Tell Jane that you wish you could do the task for her, but you are currently working on a project with Tom that requires your attention. Give her the option of resolving the issue with Tom or your official boss, and emphasize how much you enjoy working with her. Ideally, Jane will leave the interaction with the perception that you sincerely do want to help her, but that you can’t help being caught between conflicting responsibilities.

Get Help Prioritizing

What if your official boss is the one with an urgent request that you don’t have the time to attend to? In a way, this is the least painful scenario, because all you really have to do is ask her to help you prioritize your various assignments. You can say something such as, “I’d be happy to take care of that, but today I’m researching statistics for Tom’s client presentation. Which do you think I should do first?”

If your official boss wants to snatch your time at Tom’s expense, that’s her prerogative. Again, though, you have made someone else accountable for deciding which of the competing tasks you should direct your energy toward. By always striving to present yourself as a hardworking and disciplined employee with the best interests of the organization at heart, you will be able to maintain good relationships will everyone above you without killing yourself in the process.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Extended Working Hours Are the Norm

Alexandra Levit — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

According to a recent global survey conducted by Regus, a provider of flexible workspaces, one in two workers in the U.S. work well over eight hours a day and more than half regularly take work home with them.

Remote Work Does Not Mean Less Work

The study polled more than 12,000 business people in 85 countries and found extended working hours to be the new norm. Regus attributes this to a tight job market with fewer resources at employees’ disposal, and employees’ desire to keep and excel in their jobs. Some of the more interesting findings included:

35 percent of U.S. workers usually work between nine to eleven hours every day compared to 38 percent of global workers.
11 percent of workers in the U.S. and 10 percent globally regularly work more than eleven hours a day.
56 percent of U.S. workers take work home to finish at the end of the day more than three times a week compared to 43 percent globally.
14 percent of remoter workers globally are more likely to work eleven hour days than fixed office workers.
59 percent of remote workers globally are likely to take work home with them compared to fixed office workers.
13 percent of U.S. workers in small businesses were three times more likely to work eleven hour days than large business employees.

This study finds a clear blurring of the line between work and home,” claimed Regus. “In the U.S., where the American Institute of Stress reports that coronary heart disease is much more frequent in individuals experiencing high levels of job related stress, the long-term effects of this over-working could be damaging both to workers’ health and to overall productivity as workers drive themselves too hard and become disaffected, depressed or even physically ill.”

But Don't Abandon Remote Work

Although the study found that remote employees worked longer hours, telework has been shown to produce higher job satisfaction, higher productivity, and lower stress levels. Therefore, one might conclude that by allowing your team members to work from more convenient locations and operate more independently, you might mitigate the negative impact of a longer work day.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

How to Do a Great Phone Interview

Alexandra Levit — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The phone interview is typically overlooked because managers want to move straight to the in-person interview. However, you can learn a lot from a 15 minute phone call, enough perhaps to save yourself the trouble of entertaining an unsuitable applicant for an hour or two at your office.

The Ins and Outs

The purpose of a phone screening is to determine if a candidate has the basic qualifications so that you can make an educated decision regarding an in-person interview. Once you’ve set aside resumes that show potential, arrange for a quick call to meet each candidate. You don’t necessarily have to make all of these calls yourself. Employees on your staff can be trained to conduct phone screenings for applicants at their level or below.

Your first questions should address any critical questions you have as a result of reviewing the candidate’s resume. If you’ve circled a potential deal breaker, you’ll want to get clarification on it before bringing that person into the office. Here are a few additional conversation ideas from Martin Yate’s excellent book, Hiring the Best, for getting a top-line, well-rounded view of the candidate in a short period of time:

Track Record: Of all of the work she has done, where has the applicant been the most successful? Look for answers that demonstrate her ability to contribute in your most crucial areas.
Current Job: How does his current job relate to the overall goals of his department or company? This response should demonstrate that the candidate understands how her efforts fit into the big picture. If the candidate is currently unemployed, his answer can reflect his last full-time position.
Preferences: What aspects of her job or company does the candidate like best, or what would she change? This answer will help you determine if she will enjoy and will be successful working within your culture.
Future Direction: What is the applicant looking for in his next job? Look for a match between the candidate’s needs and what your opening can genuinely provide.

When you’re satisfied with the answers you receive, then it’s time to bring the candidate into the office for a longer, more in-depth interview.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

How to Avoid Trouble Online

Alexandra Levit — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

By now, you’ve probably heard of Crystal Cox, the blogger who was sued for libel by Obsidian Financial Group after Cox wrote that some of their business practices were illegal. Cox is now required to pay $2.5 million because a judge ruled she was not a journalist and therefore not entitled to protect anonymous sources.

This is a scary story because one definitely gets the sense that Cox thought she was doing the right thing and had no intention of getting into hot water over it. And I suspect that millions of casual social media consumers are in a similar boat right this minute.

Self-Censorship is Key

My rule of thumb for staying out of trouble online is not to post anything – anywhere – that you wouldn’t be comfortable seeing on the home page of Google, or that you wouldn’t want read by your grandmother or religious officiant. This (usually) means no posts or images involving sex, drugs, or radical politics.

It’s Not Always Obvious

When you are employed with an organization, what you can and cannot post online takes on a whole new dimension. In general, you should always think before you post, because there are the obvious no nos (such as not writing that you hate your company or that you are looking for a new job) and the not-so-obvious no nos (such as posting a company announcement on Facebook or giving a colleague a reference on LinkedIn).

Privacy Controls Are Not Everything

You are not excused from careful consideration if you make use of privacy controls on your social media networks, or if you don’t think you are “friends” with anyone who could disapprove. This approach is by no means full proof. As an example, a young professional I know in Chicago got fired after she called in sick but sent a live tweet to her friends from a Cubs game the same day. One of her friends re-tweeted the remark, which eventually found its way back to the young professional’s boss.

Know the Rules

It is also critical that you understand that company’s policy when it comes to social media. Hopefully, this is written down somewhere. If you can’t find it, ask a contact in HR. Otherwise, you could end up posting something that will cost you your job. Even if you were completely in the dark and your intentions were totally innocent, at-will employment laws in most states mean that an organization doesn’t need a serious reason or in depth process to let you go. And worse, if word gets around why you were fired, it may be difficult to secure another position because other organizations will be leery of your lack of discretion.

Thou Shall Not Resume Blast or Defame

Staying out of trouble online involves more than just social media too. When you’re job hunting, be aware that when you post your resume in a public place, you risk your boss or HR department discovering it while sourcing candidates. And, in light of the example at the top of this post, please do not defame anyone on a website. It may seem like a good way to let off some steam, but your comments could come back to haunt you – if not legally, then personally or professionally.

If you’re a bit freaked out by this advice, that’s good, because it means you will be more vigilant. Remember: if in doubt about a piece of information, keep it to yourself.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

For Global Workers, 2012 Will Be a Mixed Bag

Alexandra Levit — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

According to the latest Randstad Workmonitor survey, workers across the globe feel slightly – but not totally – positive about conditions in 2012. The good news is, those of us in the U.S. are not alone. The bad news is, it’s going to take longer to dig out of our economic hole since it doesn’t appear that our neighbors are in a position to help out.

In 21 of the 30 countries surveyed, employees expect to have more disposable income compared to 2011. But only in a bit more than half of the countries (18 out of 30), respondents feel their employer is entering a better year financially compared to 2011.

Rewards for Performance

In most countries, at least 60 percent of the employees feel that their salary does not reflect their performance, which could be related to uncertain economic times. These numbers run especially high in Poland, Hungary (both 79 percent) and Greece (81 percent).

Willingness to Relocate

This one is interesting. In general, employees do not want to move (abroad) for a job even if it would be a job better suited for them; less than a third of the respondents worldwide would do so.

In China and India, however, employees do not have problem with relocation: 64 percent and 58 percent respectively would move if the right job comes along. In some cases a pay rise serves as an incentive, although employees in Denmark, Japan, Luxembourg and Switzerland indicate they want to stay put even if there is a pay rise connected to a job for which they have to move.

Job Satisfaction

In Europe, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch employees are the most satisfied. Outside Europe, Mexico and India rank highest. Japan has the least satisfied employees. You might recall that less than two years ago, the Conference Board reported that U.S. workers had the lowest job satisfaction rates recorded in 22 years (only 45 percent were satisfied with their jobs in 2010).

Personal Motivation and Retirement

The most ambitious employees can be found in Turkey and Italy as well as in Mexico and India. Employees in the Nordics and Japan are not very much focused on getting a promotion. Seventy percent of U.S. workers report that they expect to work beyond their official retirement age, and 59 percent of those say they’re happy about this.

Do these numbers reflect how you are feeling, and what's happening in your workplace?

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Boeing and the Layoff Culture

Alexandra Levit — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

When the recession began in 2008, nearly every organization in existence reeled from its effects. Within a few months, all anyone could talk about were the mass layoffs taking place around the country. As millions were let go, sending the unemployment rate skyrocketing, American companies developed a culture of fear. No matter what, you didn’t want to be the employee called into the boss’s office that day, because getting let go seemed like the worst thing that could happen.

But was it?

The media rallied around laid-off individuals and lamented their fate as unemployed or underemployed workers. Swept under the proverbial rug was what happened to the employees who weren’t laid-off by their companies. No one had anything to say on this matter except a few academic researchers who provided an eye-opening account of their 10 years studying the layoff culture at airplane manufacturing powerhouse Boeing.

From 1996 to 2006, the group of scientists went onsite at Boeing to study what happens when a company is inundated with layoffs. As they recount in their book, Turbulence: Boeing and the State of American Workers and Managers, the researchers found that laid-off employees were actually better off than the ones who stayed behind and struggled to stay relevant and visible, do the work of several employees and hold onto their jobs.

The scientists, who included Edward Greenberg, Leon Grunberg, Sarah Moore and Patricia Sikora, interviewed 3,500 Boeing employees at all levels as the company was in the process of merging with McDonnell Douglas and downsizing its workforce by 33 percent.

As Michelle Conlin reported in a 2009 Business Week article: “With each round of layoffs, the survivors hustled to reinvent themselves. They re-proved, re-auditioned and repositioned, only to watch yet another new manager—pushing the fad du jour—parade through the door.”

Boeing human resources specialist Frank Zemek described the survivors’ guilt, the intense stress of not knowing if and when the hatchet was going to fall, the numbness and disengagement, and the deep, pervasive grief of managers who had fired people.

The researchers discovered that overall, the employees who were laid-off from Boeing were happier than those who stayed. Employees who remained at the company were twice as depressed and more likely to suffer from insomnia, alcohol abuse and chronic health complaints.

This doesn’t totally surprise me. I grew up with a father who worked in large organizations my whole childhood, and he was always afraid he was going to be let go. His job stress sunk its teeth into our family and held on for years. On the other hand, my uncle, who was laid-off a few times during the same period, often expressed a feeling of relief that he had escaped a bad situation and could make a fresh start.

Three years after the recession began, the layoff culture has really taken its toll. A new survey by Right Management, the consulting arm of staffing group Manpower, found that 84 percent of employees are planning on searching for a new job in 2012. That compares to 60 percent of the respondents in a similar survey by Right Management conducted in 2009.

Apparently, despite the fact that the job market has still not improved that much, unhappy employees who feel trapped in a nonstop cycle of stress are willing to take the risk.

What has the layoff culture been like at your company?

This post was originally published on the AMEX Open Forum.

How to Start Thinking About Passion

Alexandra Levit — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Passion. If you have a job that you like reasonably well, you might not even want to go there. This is understandable. After all, passion is a vague term that is often thrown around, but in fact means different things to different people, and exploring it can be confusing and overwhelming.

Chang’s Theory of Passion

Richard Chang, who wrote The Passion Plan, describes passion as both content-based (activities like writing, hosting events, or racing cars) or context-based (themes like innovation, nurturing, and risk-taking). Chang says that we can experience both types of passion in our work, and can often find ways to weave our passions into a current job without making a drastic career change. Indeed, in my speeches to would-be entrepreneurs, I often suggest that the passion for innovation be satisfied by joining an “intrapreneurship” committee that develops ideas for new products, services, and efficient operations on behalf of the well-established organization.

Formulate Your Definition

However, in order to find ways to pursue your passion at work, it helps to have a concise definition. According to Tom Siciliano and Jeff Caliguire, authors of Shifting into Higher Gear: An Owner’s Manual for Uniting Your Calling and Career, coming up with such a definition involves analyzing:

What you do really well
What makes you unique
What moments in your past have proven the most memorable to you (examples: “I can still remember shouting with excitement when I was teaching my neighbor to ride her bike and she first took off on her own” and “I recruited the kids on my block to open a lemonade stand – we made a ton of money!”)

What you have that the world needs

Every individual has a distinctive mix of physical traits, personality, gifts, skills, natural abilities, experiences, training and interests, which means that only you can do the work you do in the exact way you do it. And when you accomplish something you’re perfectly suited for, you feel alive and fulfilled, as if you’re making the world a better place.

Most Importantly

Depending on your point of view, this might seem overly scientific or overly abstract. Remember that the point is to identify what you love doing, where your energy comes from, and why. Take a few hours one day and really think this through. You won’t regret it.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

New Years Resolutions and Your Performance Goals

Alexandra Levit — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

The week between Christmas and New Years is a slow period around many offices, and you should use the downtime to your advantage by putting some serious thought into where your career has landed this year, as well as where you want to go in the future.

Your first step is to take a fresh look at previous goals.

These can be performance goals you set with your manager or goals you set on your own at the end of last year. Note if you were able to achieve these goals or if ongoing work is required. Assess whether all of the goals are still valid or if any should be changed in anticipation of the new year.

A related activity is to document contributions made to your organization. Quantify, as specifically as possible, how your actions impacted the company’s bottom line, and why the company is better off because you work there. Also, brainstorm transferable skills — or skills that cut across a wide variety of roles and industries (project management, client relations, sales, marketing, finance) — that you mastered or honed this year. Update your resumé and online profiles with this new information.

Then, think about the next phase of your career. What would you like to learn in 2012, and what type of work would you like to focus on? Where would you like your career to be in five years, and how can you get there most efficiently? As you consider these issues, tap your manager or a trusted mentor for feedback.

Finally, congratulate yourself on a job well done. This was not the easiest year for workers, and you are still standing!

Employee Innovation on the Rise in American Companies

Alexandra Levit — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I’m always advocating for employees of large organizations to take it upon themselves to create innovative solutions for their challenges; it’s a terrific way to exercise one’s creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Fortunately, a new survey by Intuit QuickBase revealed that a growing number of employees are creating new apps or software to solve business problems without help from their IT departments.

Solo Efforts Deliver Value

The survey revealed that nearly one in five information workers has built or customized a Web app or software for work purposes without support from IT, resulting in faster help for customers, improved productivity and better collaboration among employees. Sixty-eight percent of information workers who built or customized an app on their own said they completed the work in less than a week, and 82 percent reported that their do-it-yourself solution is still being used within their organization or team.

Allison Mnookin, the vice president and general manager of Intuit QuickBase, explained the importance of DIY innovation.

“There’s a fast-growing population of do-it-yourself app creators in every organization that is taking advantage of easy-to-use, Web-based platforms, social networks and communication technologies to react to customer needs and improve work processes,” she said. “To remain competitive, management and IT departments must empower and embrace these employees and support their ability to act quickly and drive their business success.”

Some Have to Go it Alone

But not all businesses see it this way. A full 35 percent of surveyed organizations do not encourage employees to create solutions independently, and 50 percent of information workers have to turn to online databases and Web-based productivity apps, instant messaging platforms, video chat services and social networks to solve their own business problems.

This is, in my opinion, short-sighted, as organizations that are hostile or indifferent to employee innovation risk losing their best contributors to companies that will be more supportive. Also, if employees are forced to develop their resources in secret, the company will not be able to take advantage of them once employees are no longer working there.

Change Starts with You

Attitude shifts, of course, start with the individual. As a leader, you can support DIY innovation by surveying your employees to see how they envision solving their most critical internal and external problems. Ask for their suggestions about new strategies and tools that can be employed, first on a trial basis and then as permanent components of your infrastructure. Give them time out from daily responsibilities to scout for and test different approaches. And finally, when a solution is developed, assist your employee in gaining support for it on the ground, and reward her for her efforts.