How To Get Over Overwhelm by Jackie Yun

Guest Post By Jackie Yun  @JackieYunTweets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of www.FreeStockPhotos.biz via Benjamin Miller

“Jackie will have a full report and recommendation for a financial and accounting system on your desk in 2 weeks”.

That was the confident voice of my boss’ boss.  I had no such confidence.  I had no clue how to start, what to do.  I was just a programmer, not a senior business analyst, not a manager.  I had no background in finance or accounting, unless a couple of classes in college counted.  I was just a few years into my professional life.  Back then, there wasn’t much on the Internet, nor was Internet access easy.

Shaky, sweaty and hunched down.  I felt overwhelmed.  While there was no Staples® Easy Button™ to push to meet this or any challenge, I did discover that there are things I could do to get over the overwhelm.

Make Your Environment Work For You > Not Against You.

When my boss came to my cubicle to find out about the meeting, I was so stressed that I burst into tears.  With a comforting hand on my shoulder, he sent me home.

His actions were precisely what was needed.  In her book, The Power of Place, Winifred Gallagher tells us that “our environments are not just backdrops to our lives — they affect how we think, feel and act”.  She cites Roger Barker, founder of environmental psychology, who further clarifies: “once the environmental particulars of a modus operandi work their way into our nervous system, they help close our minds to better options and incline us toward knee-jerk reactions.”

In other words, when you’re overwhelmed, just getting out of your current surroundings, where the negative triggers are located, can change your perspective.

Going home isn’t always an option.  Instead, go to a nearby coffee shop or book store, take a stroll in the park, or even go down to the cafeteria and grab a snack.  If you can’t go somewhere, use the Internet to your advantage and let great photography take you away from those negative triggers for a few minutes.  I love the sunrise pictures Leia Cator (@mscator) tweets.

Your Body Speaks. Help Your Body Say the Right Thing.

Christine Caldwell writes: “I feel the presence of fight/flee/freeze somewhere in my musculature and physiology.  When I isolate, I also feel my defenses. In fact, that is all I feel.” ~ from her book, Getting Our Bodies Back.

When you’re overwhelmed your body feels it and it screams that to yourself and all who see you.  How can we move our body from feeling overwhelmed to one that says it is open and ready for the challenge; not contracted, small or ill?  Use your body’s 5 senses.  Engage in yoga to re-gain flexibility, taste the warmth in a cup of tea to give you resilience, breathe in the fragrance of lavender or rosemary to give you calm or fortitude, or listen and watch Rocky Balboa in his “Gonna Fly Now” scene for the “I Can Do It” stance and feeling. Why not even get up and do that scene with Rocky?

This tweet from Tony Richards (@tonyrichards4) is a clever way of remembering the impact our body’s actions have on our psyche:

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║            *Behavior wags the tail of feelings.*

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Stop Your Mind From Reaching The Red Zone.

The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan, tells owners to make early corrections for their recalcitrant dogs. Past a certain point, the dog won’t heed anything you say or do, his mind is in the Red Zone.  Humans can be like that, too.

Before your mind reaches “The Red Zone of Overwhelm” try settling into meditation (something that leaders should have in their toolkit as evidenced in the HBR Post, The Power of Pause, shared by Rick Ross, @RickRoss10), read poetry and find balance (Terry Del Percio, @WorkIntegrity, tweeted an NPR piece describing how poetry gives peace to the author’s life), or playfully use prompts such as @AnitaBondi’s Interplay Inspiration Deck to gain a different perspective on the situation (and no, I’m not an affiliate, but I am an Anita Bondi fan!).  If overwhelm has not completely hijacked your amygdala, try to engage logic.  Break down the challenge into smaller pieces to see where this takes you.

Reach Out – Your Relationships Can Help.

If you’re in overwhelm, your focus is narrowly centered on yourself; not surprising, given what your body and mind are doing.  Instead of looking inward, look outward.  Look to connect with your network of support.  Your network of support are the positive people who have your best interest at heart, who will uplift you and help move you forward.  Your network can be comprised of friends, relatives, mentors, coaches, colleagues or even kind strangers!  My boss and my husband each gave me learnings that I’ve kept with me throughout my career with good impact:

• • Even though time is of the essence for almost every project, there is time to stop to recalibrate. Make sure you take that time.
• • Figure out what you can do, then humbly without apology make your offer, their decision is not a reflection of you ~ and remember, you don’t have anything to prove.

Use The 4 Quadrants To Give You The Answers

James Flaherty, founder of New Ventures West (my professional coaching alma mater) introduced the concept of the 4 Quadrants as a way to evaluate a snapshot of a coachee’s integral state.  It’s a very revealing model when you look at someone from the perspective of their 4 quadrants: environment, body and behavior, individual consciousness (what I’ve been calling the mind), and relationships.  As we’ve seen, it is also a framework to help you get unstuck, such as when you are in overwhelm.

If you’re stuck, take the time to analyze each of these quadrants, see if you are out of balance, and then do work within those quadrants. Soon, you will be liberated and be open to the possibilities!

To Will and all you followers of Will’s blog, much gratitude to you for including me in your day’s reading.  I’d love to hear from you about how you’ve gotten over overwhelm or become unstuck.  Do you use a special framework like the 4 Quadrants?  Do you think the 4 Quadrants would be helpful to you?  Please share your feedback in the comments below. We can learn much from each other.

Jackie Yun is an Integral Coach ® and Former IT Executive.  For more information about Jackie, follow her at @JackieYunTweets

Connecting with your children

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, CLDC

I used to be a workaholic and felt that my career was what defined me.  I often talked about work and everything seemed to revolve around work.  I got married in 1996. A few years later my daughter was born and everything changed.

A few years before that, I was working with someone who told me that he wished he had spent more time with his children when they were young, because by the time they become teenagers they do not want to have anything to do with you.    Back then I was not sure what it meant to me, but I figured that it must be really important and it took it to heart.  I’m really thankful that I did just that.

Just like any new parent, I was so excited, but then soon realized that it takes a lot to be a parent. Nonetheless, I really felt blessed to have a daughter.    Here is my top ten list of connecting with my daughters:

1)      Spend time with them. By this I mean really spend time playing with them whether  that is with their kitchen set or MacDonald store.  Do I really want to do this, at first I said to myself. No, but I thought about it and decided that I have a small window to do this and this soon shall pass.

2)      Treat them like adults and talk. This meant talking to them about choices, options, tradeoffs and letting them make some decisions.   This all depends on their age.  Small decisions early on and it will grow slowly thereafter.  They need to learn that they have the choice and making the right choice is important and essential to their growth and development.

3)      Love them like there is no tomorrow. Always tell them that you love them.  Let them know it, and don’t take it for granted, and mean it.     I always start my day by kissing them on the forehead and telling them that I love them very much.

4)      Say No to them. Be honest and say no to them on things that do not make sense.  Do not spoil them and shower them unnecessarily.   Let them handle rejection and help them cope with it.  By giving in to them, we are not teaching the valuable lesson of living in the real world.   Guide them to learn to cope with what the future might throw at them.

5)      Listen to them. Learn to listen to them and lend them your ear.  Truly spend the time and understand what they have to say.  As an adult, it is a challenge to do this because we often feel the urgency to get things done just to move on to the next thing.   Listen to their stories and ask questions about them.     I cherish every story they tell and immerse myself in it.

6)      The most memorable gift does not have to be expensive. I remember few years back that a friend of mine gave my daughter a snail rocking chair.  Once we opened the gift she was ecstatic and played with the rocking chair.   About half an hour later, she was playing with the box.  For the next 10 days the box was all she wanted.    I had to throw away the box because the box was ripped to pieces, but she still insisted on keeping it.   To this date, when she sees a box, she still remembers that instance – amazing.

7)      Keep the notes and drawings that they made for you. It might not look like much, but when they see you keep their drawing and notes, it gives them a sense of accomplishment.  It also shows them that you recognize their work and appreciate them.

8)      Help them accomplish things incrementally. Help them with their projects and show them the ropes.  Make sure to participate and engage them in the activity.   This also provides you the golden opportunity to make an impression on them and develop lasting memories.  This helps them develop their confidence, which is essential for their future.

9)      Don’t compare your children. Growing up in a Chinese family, my parents often compared me to my siblings.  Unfortunately for me, I was not smart compared to my sister and brother.  The more they talked about it to their friends, the more I felt it was really true and I started to doubt that I could really accomplish anything.  Fortunately for me, by the time I reached my third year in high school, I had a teacher that believed in me that help turn things around.

10)   Support them and guide them. While as parent I want my girls to be good at everything, I try to resist the urge to push them too hard.  I always emphasis the fact that they need to try their best.   When they didn’t make the next level in swimming, I would embrace them and say that there is always next time and try your best and don’t think about failing.     Be sincere about it and let them know that when mistake happens, you’ll not be the first one to judge them but rather you’ll be the shoulder to cry on.   Teach them to dust things off then get back on the horse and keep on trying.   Teach them to never give up and the value of hard work.

So far I’m enjoying every moment that I spend with them.  Don’t get me wrong, there are days I wish they would listen to me and do their homework.  But at the end of the day, I think about the opportunity I have and how I took advantage to connect and make an impression on them.

Someday we all shall pass. I want them to remember the time we spent together, the laugh, the horsing around, reading books and not the expensive gifts they receive.   At the end, the goal is to live life with no regrets.   It all starts with realization that there is still time and acting on it.  It is never too late.

Book Review: Get It On by Keni Thomas

By Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, CLDC

Keni  served as a Ranger in the 75^th Ranger Regiment.  He was a member of Task Force Ranger as part of Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.  He was involved in the Battle of Mogadishu and is now the author of Get It On.   Through Get It On, he shares his experiences in Somalia as a Ranger.

While I was reading Keni’s book, it felt like I was in virtual reality, seeing things unfold as it happens. That is how vivid the description is of each scene.    The play-by-play account kept me engaged.   Because of my busy schedule, I was able to read the book at night.    As I ended each night of reading, I was looking forward to the next opportunity to continue reading the book.    Each chapter contains nuggets of information on leadership, teamwork and the Ranger creed.

Why the title Get it On?  It means being able to do what you went to mission for.  It is a chance to use what they were trained on and apply the skills that enable them be  Rangers.    As a civilian, I have enormous respect for people who sign up to be soldiers.   Without them, no one will fight for our country and what is right and the world will be ruled by wicked people.

“Don’t forget nothing” by Captain Robert Rogers is a saying that reminds us that even when something becomes a routine, we shouldn’t take things for granted.   We need to always do our best and put 100% percent effort in everything we do.   If the mechanic of the plane ignored one of the standard operating procedures in the airplane maintenance, such action could cause a catastrophic result.  That is why it is imperative that we don’t lose track of what’s going on and focus on giving our 100% effort.

This book is great in that it is packed with lessons on leadership and teamwork.   Here are a few that I would like to share:

1)      When you heed a lesson it is a good thing. When you find yourself relearning a lesson that’s not a good thing.  You need to learn from your past mistakes and make sure not to repeat them.

2)      A team is only as good as its weakest link. In order for a team to succeed everyone must pull their weight.  It is like a jigsaw puzzle, when one member of the team fails to pull in their share of work, the team will fail.

3)      Lead by example. To gain people’s respect you need to be there with them in getting things done.  Leading by example has been a very important lesson in developing leaders.

4)      Do the hard work in advance. If you want to be the best, you’ll do the hard work needed to be successful.  As a Ranger, your teammates expect you to be your best at all times.  Therefore you need to be prepared at all times – be prepared.

5)      Customer service – the Black Hawk pilot guarantees to put their customer on target, on time, plus or minus 30 seconds.      That is amazing that they could guarantee delivery.     That’s customer service at its best.

6)      Doing the right thing – as a leader you do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.  As leader, you have a burden to make difficult decisions, but you do it because people depend on you.

7)      Encouraging and building each other up – the Rangers are there to carry each other’s burden and lift each other’s spirit and support one another.

Keni’s started the book by telling the story that he was writing to his mom.    That initial attempt was interrupted by a call to mission, which resulted in some of his comrades being killed.    Get It On highlights the story and experience of young soldiers who fought for our freedom and what’s right.  

Reading this book affected me in two ways. First, it reminded me that no matter how hard things are around me, it is little sacrifice compared to the people who fight for our country everyday around the world.  Secondly, there are many ways to learn leadership and teamwork, but the military is still one of the best sources of knowledge in this area.    I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn about history and pickup nuggets on leadership and teamwork along the way.  

As always, I’ll be tweeting about this book review.  Three (3) lucky winners will be selected from the retweets.  If you wish to purchase the book, use this link  http://bit.ly/kenithomas

Bond shown by leaders

By Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, CLDC

I often wonder how does a group of people, most of whom have not had a chance of meeting one another, find a common goal and set out to educate others of the value of character based leadership?

I’ve always thought of sharing my knowledge in leadership development, coaching and mentoring.  In 2009 I was looking for the best way of sharing and collaborating with others outside the confines of face-to-face meetings.   My exploration brought me to try blogging and Twitter.

Back then I expected to use Twitter to share my knowledge.   But as soon as I used Twitter and followed people that shared the common interest in leadership, I met a lot of people who shared character-based leadership.   Through Mike Henry’s leadership, he formed the lead change group.   In March of this year, I joined the group and officially contributed as contributing author.   The objective of the group is to teach people the principle of character-based leadership.

From Tweeting to collaborating on a book project, the lead change group embarked on a book project, which I jumped on the opportunity to be a part of.  We have since completed the copy editing and the graphic and marketing team is working on the book.

The last 13 months has been great as my blog has been generating a lot of traffic.   This, coupled with my contribution to the lead change group has provided me with a great opportunity to reach a larger audience.    Some of my plans next year are to try video blogging and co-hosting a web show with a friend.

Going back to the subject of bond shown by leaders, recently one of our peers at lead change had an unfortunate situation of losing her fiancée.   The person had a financial challenge and one of the members of the group sent out an email to ask the group for help.  In minutes, multiple email exchanges and members were figuring out ways to help and send the person financial help.    I was surprise by the compassion that the group showed toward our fellow.   I recently reach out to her to find out how she is doing, but I’ll forever remember the bond that our group has and the demonstration of support for one another.

In closing, I’m thankful that I took the chance of using Twitter and blogging.   My hope is that if one person in this world learns a thing from me, then I’ve done my job in spreading my knowledge and experience.

Managing your e-presence

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, CLDC

The advancement of the social media gives us many ways to express ourselves.    Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, to name a few, are sites that we can use to share our news, connect with others, like your friend’s stuff, friend others, or share a photo or two.

The freedom to post a comment and let it all hang out there can easily happen with a click of a mouse.  With just one click, I can poke someone and they can poke me back.  I can like this or like that or choose to unlike.   It is so easy to fall into the trap of just doing it without thinking about the outcome or consequences.

I’m amazed by some of the pictures posted on some people’s profiles.     I sometimes wonder if they realize that those photos will be out there forever and other people might stumble upon them.    While we believe in freedom of speech, we need to be aware that sometimes certain things can be misinterpreted by others.   Just like an e-mail that can be interpreted in many ways by different people,  our post, comments, photos can be interpreted by people who see them.

Nowadays companies use the Internet to gather more intelligence about a potential candidate.    A simple search via Google can bring us loads of information about a potential candidate.  This information can then be used to determine the suitability of the person as a member of the company.

One could argue that what’s posted on those sites should stay on the site, but the reality is people have been fired for things they post on Facebook.    People were fired for posting the following:

• Caught surfing Facebook while “home sick” from work
• Posting inappropriate pictures
• Juror dismissed after posting a message before the jury arrive at a decision
• Insulting their company and safety standard
• Posting derogatory video
• Making racist remarks
• Blasting their boss

What is the point of my post?  My point is that when we post something, we need to think about whether we will be okay if people proliferate it—that we will not be embarrassed about it.   We need to be self-aware and think about the consequences of a basic post.   Once it is out on the Internet, it can be replicated all over the place.    Even if you delete it there will always be copies out there.   So be conscious that a basic comment could come back and haunt you.  Worse yet, it could prevent you from securing a promotion or opportunity that you really wanted.

A piece of advice next time you’re sitting in front of your iPad or laptop, think before you click.  Don’t be trigger happy.

 

Book Review of The Progress Principle

Will Lukang, PMP, MBA, MASCL, CSM, CLDC

For this post I’m reviewing the Teresa Amabile @TeresaAmabile and Steven Kramer book titled The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work.

Let me start about my background. I’ve been in a leadership position for over half of my career. That’s 11 years.    Coupled with my Master of Arts in Strategic Communication and Leadership degree from Seton Hall University, I thought that I knew everything there is on how to motivate employees.   The fact of the matter is that I had successes in forming and developing cohesive and high-performing teams throughout my career.   So, when I offered to review the book, I was a bit skeptical that it would offer any new information that would be of value to me.

Based on my experience, here are some of the ways to motivate employees:

• Treat them with respect
• Value their opinions
• Show them you care by providing a supportive workplace
• Provide a challenging job and guide them to succeed
• Have an open-door culture
• Being well compensated
• Provide training that helps them grow and develop
• Proactive and open communication
• Recognize and reward people

The above list covers a lot of what people value that can help motivate them in the workplace.  But as I read each of the chapters, it occurred to me that I’m missing one very important point, which is progress.   The book highlights that the secret to amazing performance is meaningful work.  Also, it refers to a concept called inner work life.  For a moment I thought, it meant work/life balance, but later on I learned that inner work life is a rich and multifaceted phenomenon.  It describes how inner work life influences people’s performance.   It goes on to say that, no matter how good your overall strategy, the execution of it depends on the inner work life of your employees.

Inner work life is noted in the book as the confluence of perceptions, emotions, and motivations that individuals experience as they react to everyday events of their work day.    When people are happy and engaged, they can be creative.    It can rise and fall and performance is also affected by it.  When people are happy, they’ll more likely do the work.   When people have a good inner work life, they can overcome hurdles and get the job done.   In the book it talks about the findings on Zappos that promoting positive inner work life doesn’t only make people feel better, it also leads people to do better work.

In my experience, having happy employees helps in delighting your customer.   As manager/leader of our organization, the way we interact with our people can affect their inner work life and that has an effect in their performance and ultimately our organization’s ability to compete and deliver.   Therefore, it is important to think about how my interactions, communications and decisions will affect the inner work life of my group.

My main learning point is that the best way to motivate employees day in and day out is by facilitating progress.  Even small wins can help move things in the right direction.   If we feel that our work is valuable and we are successful, then we feel good about our work.

This book does not just say what it is that can help improve our situation, but also provides a guide on how we can facilitate progress and the factors that we need to be aware of to make things happen.    Continuous progress is the key to improving creating a good inner work life.  Each small wins help build confidence to enable us to tackle the next challenge and build on top of the positive feeling that we had as we accomplished our goal.

Setback is the opposite of progress, when something that happens at work at causes a negative effect on our inner work life, it will start affecting our work. And if we don’t do anything about it, we’ll start regressing and ultimately affect our ability to deliver or achieve our goal.

From a personal perspective, I’m really glad that I volunteered to review this book, because I learned about the inner work life, its role in motivating people, and the importance of progress.   More importantly, the awareness of the importance of inner work life and how to turn knowledge into action.   I rate this book as 5-stars   based on the value that readers can learn and its relevance to current setting.  I highly recommend this book to everyone who leads others at any level of the organization.    Sustaining a continuous cycle of progress and positive inner work life are key to companies’ ability to leapfrog against its counterpart.

In the end, as leaders at any level, we have the responsibility to make sure that we do the right thing to help that company produce the best product or service.  The right thing means we need to make sure that we provide an atmosphere that supports a positive inner work life that can facilitate progress.    That step starts by buying this book and learning how we can turn knowledge into action.

Would You Let Your Gut Speak – In the Corporate World?

By Jackie Yun

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy www.pixelperfectdigital.com via Darren Hester

“I’ve been mandated to shut down the office by next June, after we deliver on our key project this upcoming April”.

All eyes quickly turned my way.  It was as quick as a door slamming shut and I hoped that wasn’t what it would portend.  I knew conventional wisdom would not have approved of what I had just said.  Our HR Generalist’s shocked reaction re-confirmed that.  Instead, I had taken my direction from my gut.  Would my team walk out and make an already terrible project situation disastrous?

Was the Gut Wrong?

I had just inherited the Austin Technology Center (ATC) and this was my first all-hands-all-staff meeting with the ATC.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost overruns and repeated schedule delays had plagued the ATC’s project.  Our customers were terribly unhappy.  High dollar penalties (possibly in the millions!) would be incurred if quality and schedule were not met.  Even our support groups grumbled about the ATC and said that we were “rogue”.

My gut had a felt-sense that the staff at the ATC wanted and would appreciate the truth.  They were extremely savvy and smart, very knowledgeable about the latest technologies, and quite entrepreneurial.  This project could be turned around and perhaps (although I had no guarantees), our CIO and our President’s minds could be changed about the shutdown ~ but only if the ATC wanted that.

Incredibly, the Gut was right. They did!!

So due to a gut feeling, we were now together on an entirely different journey.  And the first step called for some self-assessment.

Gutting It Out by Stopping, Keeping, and Starting

Until we asked, I don’t think the ATC knew to what extent their outright battle against using the Corporate Problem Tracking System had on the ATC being able to work with Corporate.  Once the ATC stopped the battle (tabling it with plans to suggest improvements at a later date),  conversations moved forward, opportunities opened up.

Stopping this one action helped the ATC to chip away at their reputation for being “rogue”.  Stopping the ATC’s opinionated technical banter and eliminating their un-corporate dress code of shorts and flip-flops would help, too.  But, this was part of their dot.com DNA and spoke to who they are.  Could we keep our DNA intact yet start getting people to see the “good” in our “rogue”?

With the ATC’s unique knowledge set, we focused on becoming a Center of Excellence.  We also touted the ATC’s satellite office culture as a place within our company to re-charge, re-energize.  We gave authenticity to our “we do whatever it takes” attitude and took on projects that no other division wanted.  We looked for opportunities to help.  When our sister division, which supports our company’s core systems, needed people resources; we volunteered to provide “in-sourcing”, even subjecting ourselves to being interviewed.  We started to reach out and not be so insular.  Many other actions were taken, including those to specifically address the project situation.

Unknowingly, what we had been doing was a variation of the Stop-Keep-Start Feedback Method (Read more here:  http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2011/08/three-questions-for-effective-feedback.html).  Asking ourselves, our peers, our customers and our executives: “What should we STOP doing? What should we KEEP doing? What should we START doing?”, gave us practical insights that we used.  It got us to a better place.

That April, the project was finally completed; not the prettiest of implementations but it got done.  The June shutdown was averted and we were on our way to becoming an integral part of the company and would be so for another six years.

A Few Final Gut-felt Words:

S. Chris Edmonds (@scedmonds on Twitter) tweeted a keen observation about leaders that resonates with me:

“Too often a leader’s HEAD doesn’t always act upon what is in that leader’s HEART”.  To this, I would add — “and Gut”.

I encourage you to let your gut and heart speak; even in, or maybe especially in a corporate environment.  Magic can and will happen!

To Will and all of you who read and engage on Will’s blog, a heartfelt and gut-felt thank you for giving me of your time.  I’d love to hear how you feel about the gut and heart in the corporate world.  Do tell me if there’s been a time when you let them lead instead of your head.  If you’re curious about how to encourage your gut and heart to speak and for you to hear them, spend a few moments at the end of day and ask yourself: “Would the decisions I made today be any different if the gut and heart were involved?”.  Put your response down on paper and review at the end of two weeks.  You may be surprised at what you hear.

 

For more information about Jackie Yun, follow her at https://twitter.com/JackieYunTweets or connect with her at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackieyun  @JackieYunTweets

 

Customer Service – Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Will Lukang, MBA, PMP, MASCL, CSM

In this economic situation companies have a tendency to focus on cutting back and reducing expenses to make their business profitable.   But there is a saying “penny wise, pound foolish”.  While it looks like you’re making progress by seeing incremental expense reduction, you could be missing the big picture, which is what your company’s value proposition is – what  your company is all about.

 

This week I witnessed this first hand while a friend of mine dropped off his car for service.  The customer representative at the counter for loaner cars asked him which insurance company he has.  Upon hearing the name of the insurance company, the customer representative says, “I’m afraid that I cannot provide you with our loaner car, but we can provide you a Budget rental car and you have to pay for the insurance.” I was surprised by what just transpired because the purpose of the loaner car is to let your customer experience driving the newer cars, thereby eliciting interest to possibly make a future purchase.   The representative explained that they had an issue with the insurance company that led to their decision. The insurance is $36 per day.  From my perspective, for such an amount, they decided to sacrifice the client experience and took away the opportunity for the client to drive one of their vehicles.

 

As I returned to work, I pondered on what just transpired that led to that outcome. My friend was not happy with what happened; he felt that loaner service is one of the conveniences that people expect.   For $36, how many customers had a bad customer experience?  Once a customer has a bad experience, there is chance that they will not make any future purchases.    Therefore, is the $36 cost worth losing your customer?   In my opinion the company was being penny wise but pound foolish.   In fact, they’re missing the big picture as to why they are in business. They describe themselves as a luxury line of product, but they don’t provide the level of service commensurate to the image they’re presenting.

 

From a customer-service standpoint, it is important that we make the most of every opportunity we have when dealing with our customers.  We need to ensure that the customer comes away feeling good about how they are treated.   If they are treated well, it increases the chance of repeat business.  

 

That experience taught me one thing.   We need to deliver what we promised.  Each touch-point with our customer is an opportunity to impress upon them that we are here for them.   It is essential to do our best to make sure their needs are addressed and they come away satisfied.  

 

 

Collaboration as a career strategy

By Steve Broe

Stay connected. The people in your world can make a difference as you seek an intentional career transition. While you should hold people in high regard as individuals, never forget that your network represents a form of interpersonal capital. The connected links between friends, colleagues and decision-makers can help you launch a business or find a better job.

 

Now choose an attitude. Are you going to collaborate or compete with the people that you know? The collaborator strengthens the people in his or her network, leaving a positive impression that resonates among extended connections. Collaborators can simply go farther by leveraging the talents of their network.

 

One attitude embraces the power of the team; the other promotes the rugged individualist.  The competitive career transitioner seeks to be a hero in the game of life. The collaborator earns less specific acclaim, yet ends up at the finish line regularly with other achievers.

 

Collaboration creates synergy. Synergy is a condition of enhanced productivity. The participants on a project encourage higher performance, typically be focusing on personal areas of strength. When collaborating, members notice each other’s work, pay attention to it, and appreciate the contributions.  Synergy creates a condition where all players raise their performance energy.

 

The competitive career strategy is one of admirable self-reliance. Many organizations, especially sales-oriented organizations, encourage competitive work. The top sales professional is a hard-working superstar, and often very competitive.

 

Collaborative sales work is also a success strategy. Decisions that depend on long-term sales relationships, or complex decisions, are enhanced with collaborative work practices. Teams of colleagues, all supporting the same goal, can serve a business sales’ efforts, especially if long term, sustained, performance is important.

 

The collaborative choice helps one keep going, even when one is not feeling up. A network of colleagues can provide the inspiration or resources to get over a hump. Collaboration creates a community, and serving the community gives a person an extra reason to meet goals. Try collaboration with people you can trust, or can learn to trust.

 

For more information about Steve, please visit his websites http://blog.mycareerimpact.com and www.stevebroe.com.

A night for Tina

Tina Coppola Fundraiser

 

Please join us for a night to help Tina fight her battle with Cancer

 

Tina Coppola is fighting the fight of her life. Diagnosed with stage 4 cancer 2

years ago, Tina needs our help to combat this terrible disease that has taken

over her life. Tina, mother of two beautiful children Taylor age 14 and Jordyn age

8 continues to be an inspiration to all of us who are lucky enough to be with her.

She fights the fight everyday. She has been through every conceivable treatment.

Conventional Chemo treatments have not helped. She is now with Dr.

Raymond Chang in NYC of Meridian Medical for additional non conventional

treatments which cost $11,000. Per month. She fights the fight and with our help

will beat this disease. Help us Help Tina win the battle.

 

A Night for Tina

 

Mayfair Farms

 

West Orange New Jersey

 

September 9, 2011

@7:00 pm

 

Cocktail Reception

Featuring live Music by Nils Lofgren, from the E-Street Band

$150.00 per ticket

 

Please make checks payable to The Tina Coppola Cancer Foundation

 

If you can not join us for this evening please feel free to send us a donation for Tina.

We can also use gifts of merchandise for use in our Auction.

Please contact Lori Fiori at 201-230-8972 or libertydog@verizon.net for more information.

You got promoted – Yeah! Now what? – From Bud to Boss

Will Lukang, MBA, MASCL, PMP, CSM

You’ve been working on a team for years and were hoping that one day you’d be promoted.  That day has come and your manager called you to her office, congratulated you on a job well done, and told you that you’ve been promoted to team lead.  Wow! You’re on cloud nine.  You’re thinking finally all the hard work paid off.   You can’t believe it.  You left her office pumped and motivated.  You can’t wait to go tell your friends and family about it.

You return to your desk, sit there and think, what do I do now?   How will my friends react to this news?  We are friends and now they will be reporting to me.  Can I really do this?   What do I do next?  What if I fail? I’m not sure I’m ready for this.  From being excited you are now worried about what do to next and how to make sure your friends are not slighted.   You wish there were a book that tells you what to do.   Don’t worry because Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris are launching their book entitled From Bud to Boss. (Usually book titles are italicized, but I don’t know if that shows up on web pages. If it doesn’t, underlining is fine.)

The book From Bud to Boss is like a GPS that guides you through each and every step of the way.   But the readers need to have an open mind and be willing to commit to invest the time to learn.   The two key ingredients you need are desire to succeed and belief that you will succeed.   How I wish I had this book 18 ½ years ago.  Success would have come early for me because of all the skills and knowledge that I could gain from this book.

What can you expect from this book?

1. The book is like a train with many stations.  Each station provides you with some information and exercises that allow you to explore and learn about yourself and others.
2. The skills that you learn can be applied immediately at work.  I call these action learning and it makes the knowledge stick better, thus lasting longer in your memory.   Besides, the skills you learn will make you confident in your ability to lead your team.
3. Bonus bytes are little pots of gold that the reader should take advantage of and explore.
4. The book provides you with information that helps you navigate and handle situations that might arise.
5. Learn to transition from being a doer to an influencer.  Getting the job done through others versus getting the job done yourself.
6. How give up control and learn to influence and trust others to get the job done.
7. Understand change and how a leader can facilitate change.
8. Understand communication and how to communicate with people with different styles.
9. How to set goals and get the goals.

This book takes the guesswork out of trying many things and failing at each one of them.  You don’t have to live in the world of trial and error. But as a reader your commitment to apply and do what the book says is important.  At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.    While From Bud to Boss is a great book, it can’t change things for you unless you want to give it a try.  Only you can do that by applying what you learn.  Go out and buy From Bud to Boss from Amazon.

In closing, I highly recommend this book to anyone who was recently promoted and people who are aspiring to be promoted.   This book will help you immensely in your journey toward being a successful leader.   For seasoned leaders or people in middle management, this book is also valuable because it provides you with a framework to guide your newly promoted people to be good leaders of tomorrow.

E-mail and texting as means of communication

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

Merriam-Webster defined communication as information transmitted or conveyed.  A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, behavior.  In its plural form it is a system for transmitting or exchanging information.

With social networking being main stream, communication was reduced to posting and responding to statuses on the wall.   Another common means are texting and e-mailing.   Unfortunately the art of face-to-face communication is not commonly used by the younger generation.  My nieces and nephews are constantly on their cell phones texting.  You rarely see them use the phone to talk to someone unless it is their parents.  I often wonder how the future generation can interact and communicate in the workplace.    These are words that I see them using LOL, OMG, LMK, CYA, but they are not common words used in business presentation and discussion.

Even at work, there are times when you ask people to give someone a call, they will send e-mail instead.  It is not uncommon to hear people say he/she never responded to my e-mails.   In such a situation, I would ask them to pick up the phone and call or walk over to the person’s office or cubicle and ask the question.  Also, there are times that you’ll see an e-mail chain of more than six responses back and forth without gaining any clarity of what the e-mail is all about.  I often ask people to stop the e-mail chain and pick up the phone or set up a meeting.   E-mail is becoming a de facto standard of communication.    The challenge with e-mail, like any written form of communication, is that is subjective.  Therefore people can misinterpret it.   It often causes more confusion because you’re missing the body language.

The advancement of technology enabled us to be connected 24/7.  However, it did not improve the way we interact with one another.   Things like text messaging do not help our leaders of tomorrow practice the art of communication.    As parents, mentors and coaches, we need to emphasize the important of face-to-face communication and help them understand the value of human interaction beyond the virtual world; otherwise they won’t be effective as future leaders.

In 20 years, the world will be different than it is today, but I believe that the art of communication or the foundation of it will still be the same.  Therefore, we need to do our part in making sure that our future leaders understand its value and essence as it relates to their success in their future endeavors.

Pursuing Your Passion – Chasing Your Dream

Will Lukang, MBA, PMP, MASCL, CSM

Do you sometimes wonder how things would have been had you taken the course that you liked a few years back? What if you pursued a degree other than the one you had? What would you be doing? What if you left your current job and pursued other opportunities two years back? All these what ifs do create a lot of uncertainties. The fact of the matter is that most people would not dare take the step to seek their passion or try the alternative they desired. Why? Because there is no guarantee for a positive/good outcome, so people stay where they are and settle until it is too late.

What’s the point of this blog? I’ve met a couple of people who, while facing challenges, took the steps to seek their passion and step outside their comfort zone to try something new. I’ll blog about each one of them and describe their journey. It is important to note that success is relative to how happy you are in pursuing your goal. One quote that comes to mind is from John R. Amos, “It’s simply a matter of doing what you do best and not worrying about what the other fellow is going to do.” The point I’m trying to get at is that some people are willing to push the envelope to do more and learn new things, while others are content with what they have.

In this blog posting, I’ll feature Elizabeth Hawk. Miss Hawk graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Italian from The Pennsylvania State University. She has always been interested in fitness and even thought about pursuing a degree in Kinesiology, but instead chose to pursue her first passion – writing – for her undergraduate degree. After ten years of working as a sales and marketing consultant after college, Elizabeth decided to enroll in an intensive Advanced Personal Training certification program offered through Santa Monica College. At the time she lived in Los Angeles, CA. She completed the coursework while employed as a Client Services Manager and Implementation Manager for a consulting firm specializing in outsourcing and quality assurance. It was a challenge for her to complete her coursework and weekly quizzes as well as all final exams and papers – especially as she was traveling a great deal for work at that time. Since all coursework was to be completed online, however, she had some flexibility and was able to do so. She received her certificate as a summa cum laude graduate.

Maybe not so coincidentally, Elizabeth lost her job at the consulting firm where she had recently been promoted and where she had worked for two years. She decided that it was fate and proceeded to pursue a career in fitness. Elizabeth struggled to get back into shape and lead a balanced lifestyle so that she could set an example for her clients and emphasize that balance is key, having herself fallen into the trap of working too much and exercising too little.

Miss Hawk began her fitness career at Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York City. There she completed courses at the Equinox Fitness Training Institute (EFTI) and worked with both men and women in designing optimal training programs. When an opportunity arose for her to move back to Los Angeles to work at the new flagship Equinox location, she took it. Soon after she transferred to Spectrum Athletic Clubs, a more community-centered gym, and was very happy with her clientele as she worked with clients of all ages and professions. Her specialties included working with clients with MS and arthritis and those with previous surgeries such as knee and hip replacements.

To supplement her training income, Elizabeth pursued another passion – online marketing and research. A self-professed “research guru” and “internet junkie” she completed coursework through SEMPO Institute and received her certification in Search Marketing, and is also certified in Internet Marketing through Inbound Marketing University. Elizabeth has written, designed and/or copy edited many Websites – including www.socialnetworkbutterfly.com, www.thefitnesscell.com – and has provided online marketing expertise to a number of online companies. She has advised many of the benefits of using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to not only gain an audience but to drive traffic to Websites as well. Some of her recent projects include writing a Beauty, Health and Fitness blog that boasted over 40,000 readers and many fitness industry-specific articles with an emphasis on cardiovascular training. Elizabeth has also founded a networking organization for women called Social Network Butterfly – where a sound body and sound mind approach is emphasized in all social activities – and is currently seeking funding to help take the organization beyond Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. She found that when training her clients (mainly women) many were so dissatisfied with themselves – especially their bodies. This led her to become even more passionate about helping others not only achieve good health through proper diet and exercise, but to achieve a positive self-image as well.

Miss Hawk managed to balance full-time work while studying to be a personal trainer. She did this because she has the passion for it – unlike some of us. We dwell on our desire to take courses that match our passion, but rarely do we act on it because there is no guarantee of a successful outcome, or sometimes we struggle to juggle multiple balls in the air. Elizabeth is currently working as an Analyst for a strategic advisory and business consulting firm and is writing her first book for women about how to find true happiness by first achieving positive self-worth. She credits her recent experience as a freelance journalist and consultant in helping her receive an invitation to join such a prestigious firm.

People like Elizabeth inspire me to pursue what I want and push myself outside of my comfort zone. As such, I started pursuing my Certified Leadership and Development Coach. I believe that if you want it bad enough, you’ll work day and night for it. You’ll give up time and sleep for it and never be tired of it until you achieve your goal. The goal is what keeps you going. You’ll never make any excuses to stop and fret on things that you missed. You’ll gladly sweat for it and plan every step of the way. Nothing can stop you until you make that dream come true. In a way that’s how I view life. Sometimes people ask me how I do it. My answer is: I will it and if I want it bad enough, I’ll make it happen. I hope this blog inspires someone to chase their dream. Imagine what it’s like to do what you really want – picture it and feel it. Keep that image and start your day by saying to yourself, “The investment I do for today is a building block for my future.” Therefore work hard and persevere to achieve your goal.

Insight from my Daughter’s School Project

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

A month ago, my wife told me that Maddy had a school project to create a new character for the Dr. Seuss family.  The character can be drawn on a piece of paper or be done in 2D or 3D image.   I thought to myself,  Why does the school gives projects that obviously the parent will be doing most of the work on?  It would be a waste of my time.   But I did not want to disappoint my daughter and I went along with it.  I asked her to think of a character that she thinks could belong to the Dr. Seuss family.

No long ago, Maddy developed a fascination for giraffes.   We have a giraffe stuffed toy that says a prayer when you press it, which we bought when our first daughter was born.   Maddy decided that it is hers.  Since then she has collected a few more items with giraffes on them.    When I arrived home the next day, she came to me and told me that she had a character in mind.  She told me that it would be a giraffe named OYZ (pronounce OZZIE).  She declared that I could either draw or make a 2D or 3D character and to let her know when I was ready to work on it.

I spent the next three hours thinking how to create a giraffe character that is worthy to be part of the Dr. Seuss family.  Before I went to bed, I had an idea what to create.   Next day, when I came home I told her to get ready and we gathered our materials and I told her that I needed her help.     As we created the character, I would ask questions like, what would the face look like?  Faith was intrigued with what we were doing and she decided to join the fun.   They would take turns telling me the things they wanted and we would try to create it.    Over the next three days, the three of us worked on the project and enjoyed the sharing of ideas.    Maddy and Faith would paint the giraffes and determine the size of the spot depending on the body parts.   We also added a personal touch by creating a snout using Faith’s old sock.   They initially did not think it was a great idea, but later on liked the outcome.

What did I learn from it?

• Keep an open mind – I initially jumped to the conclusion that I would do all the work and felt burdened by it.    After stepping back and thinking it through, I was able to come up with a solution to get them involved.
• Get them involved – Children are creative and we have to believe that is the case.  They see a lot of things and are full of enthusiasm.    If they are involved, they will be more engaged.
• Have fun doing it – Since we kept it fun, I got more out of it.  I was able to bond with them and spent quality along the way.
• Sometimes the journey is better than the end itself – learn to go with the flow and not worry too much about every minor detail.   This is very true with everything we do.  Sometimes we sweat the small stuff and it makess it hard for us to move forward because we are too focused on things that are not important.

In the end, it did not turn out to be a project that the parent worked on, but rather a project that everyone collectively participated in and enjoyed doing.    Over the next few weeks, Maddy was proud of her character and she would often compare it to the ones that her classmates brought to school.  She would say mine is still the best.   The fact of the matter is it meant less to me that our character is the best than the experience that we three shared while working on it.    It is something that she will remember for a long long time and to me that is what matters the most.

Don’t dash off – Give Change a Chance

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

I’d like to start my post with my favorite quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change  you want to see in the world.”  This quote was in our office cafeteria this week.   Change is about the only thing that is guaranteed, together with death and taxes.  It  is timely to talk about this topic as change is again in the air.

Change is a source of fear and anxiety for many people.  It is easy to fall into the trap  of being comfortable in your current situation.  Why change when you can just do  what you’ve been doing for the last four years.  The routine simplifies things, but the  question has to be asked: Is it really good for you?  I’m sure this would be an ages old debate on why keeping with the status quo is good or why change is necessary.  For one, staying as is would render your skills obsolete in a few years.

People react differently to change because of the fear of the unknown.  Some people would dash off and seek greener pasture elsewhere because they don’t believe in the change that is about to happen.   I’ve been in the industry for almost 21 years and it is my experience that grass is always greener on the other side.  Until you cross and see all the brown spots, it often looks nice from afar.  Just like my front lawn, when I’m driving home, I see it from afar and admire how green it is, but as I get closer, I can see brown spots and the smile turns to a frown.

So, what’s my point?  For one, change does give people hope, especially when people are not happy with the past or current situation.  It gives people a chance to dream and imagine what it would be like to see the end state of the change.  Here are some points I’d like to share

• Give people a chance – It is not fair to judge something without really giving it a try.  You can’t say that something is bad until you live through it and experience it.   Experience is our best teacher.
• Learning is only possible if you keep an open mind – if we never push ourselves and embrace the change, we will not grow.  Growing is only possible through patience and acceptance that through change new things can be learned that will make you better.
• Staying the same is not good for you – You can’t expect different results by doing the same thing over and over.  Staying the same means that you’ll be left behind.

 Acknowledging the change is the first step.  Embrace the change and give it a  chance.   Who knows what you will learn from the journey and experience that  you’ll gain along the way.  Remember that everyone deserves a chance.  Just like  when we were first seeking employment.  Imagine if no one gave us a chance, how  could we gain experience?   With change comes opportunities, by keeping an open  mind, you’ll see opportunity and achieve greater things.  Just keep in mind that  change could be slow, therefore patience is really important.  The next time change  happens, don’t think about seeking another opportunity elsewhere.  Listen and give  it a chance – you never know what will happen.

Bullying in School

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

Growing up I had my share of experience being bully in school.   Back then they either took my lunch money, made do chores for them or, worst case, they would beat me up.    At times, I would try to avoid the bully, particularly those older than me, just to avoid the hassle.   It made my world a lot smaller because I was not able to venture to places that they would frequent.

My upbringing was a little different in the sense that my parents often thought that I instigated the fight and that’s why I ended up getting beat up.   Therefore I tended to keep the issue to myself and never tell anyone unless I came home with a ripped-up uniform or all the buttons gone; that’s when I had lots of explaining to do.  And as I grew up and got taller, the incidents of bullying trailed off.  Especially in situations when I fought back and defended myself.

On Monday, my seven year old came home from school and told my wife that a boy from a higher grade yelled, “Go away ugly Asian girl.”   My wife asked her what she did in that situation and she indicated that she just walked away.   She was shocked by what happened to her.   I understand that sooner or later that she will experience bullying.  What upsets me is that the bullying has a racial undertone.  The incident kept me up at night wondering why it happened.  On Tuesday night, I wrote a note to her teachers and expressed my concern regarding the incident.  The principal acted swiftly and the matter was addressed accordingly.

What’s my point by telling this story?    The point of my story is that we need to constantly communicate with our children.  It is important that they feel safe to tell us what’s going on while they’re away from home.   As parents, we need to keep an open mind and resist the urge to jump to conclusions.    Our children do not want to be judged, but rather want to be heard.

With the advancement of technology, bullying has manifested itself in many forms, such as sending explicit pictures to all their friends that would cause embarrassment to the subject.    Unfortunately, bullies do not usually think of the repercussions of their actions and victims are left to fend for themselves.   I would suggest that you establish an open channel of communication to your children.  It’s best that you know what’s going on; this way you can help them.   Let your children know that you’re there for them.    Let them know that they have the choice to walk away and that the choice is always theirs.

Time Spend Versus Results

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

I was talking to someone few weeks ago about our work environment these days.   The person I spoke to mentioned that working 10 to 12 hours a day is the norm and that anything less than that would be frowned upon.   For most companies, cost saving, productivity and efficiency are up on their list of things to accomplish each year.   The quest to do more with less causes a ripple that causes people to work longer hours to get things done.

That discussion led me to think about my time spent and all the people around me.   While it is true that I have spent more hours over the last four years than I did in the past, the circumstances that I’m in are very different because of the types of projects that I was fortunate to lead and worked on.  However, the discussion made me aware of how people spend their time and the result that yielded out of the time spent.

I beg to ask the question: Is working more hours really a way to demonstrate that we are committed to the cause of the company?  And, by doing, so are we an asset to the firm?   Therefore, why do some managers bring it up when discussing how much time we spent at work?   As if we don’t spend 10-12 hours a day would mean that we are not reaching our maximum capability.   Is it fair to expect that logging more hours is a true measure of our contributions?

From my perspective, I value the results more than the total hours spent.   One could argue that there is a minimum number of hours worked to commensurate the pay we received.    As one my developer often says, “I’ll do the work that I was paid for and won’t do anything less than it.”   His saying reminds me of the saying “An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.”   Which I firmly believe is the way to measure our contribution. We need to be able to say that we did not take more than we deserve and that we put in the hours needed to get the job done.

Working more only makes sense when

• It is for a stretch project – such project that you committed to ahead of time, but did not get around to and that would affect your ability to get better projects in the future.
• Last-minute surprises – this could be last-minute problems that could jeopardize the project that you’ve work so hard for the last few months.
• Taking one for the team – I believe that we succeed as a team and fail as a team.  When someone fails to deliver their share of the work and the team will end up paying the price for an issue, someone should pick up the slack and get it done.

Working more does not make sense when

• Task has less priority – don’t burn your midnight oil on a task that has less priority and brings little value.   You need to prioritize your work and work on the one with the nearest due date and that has the highest importance.
• To show that you’re committed – working long hours with the implicit assumption that it adds more value does not make sense.   The number of hours worked should yield equal results.
• Assuming that by showing you’re a hard worker you’ll get promoted – the reality is if you’ll be spending more time now to get your job done, chances are you’ll have to work even more longer hours to assume more responsibility.

Don’t fall into the trap that working long hours means you’re being valuable to the company.  Focus on results and making sure your results match your effort.   I’d like to reiterate that I did not write this post to discourage people from working hard.  My point is: make sure that your work adds value to the business. Don’t do busy work and take important things for granted.

If you have children, remember that they are only young once.  If you missed any opportunities you can never buy back the time.   Bonding with your children is best done while they are young.  Once your children reached their teenage years, they want to hang out with their friends; therefore your chances are minimized.

Take care of yourself and make sure that you’re a positive influence to the people around you.   When you start your day tomorrow, think of the value of the task that you’re about to worked on and compare it against the other tasks on hand and work on the one with the highest priority.  Because hours spent should be almost equal to the result they produce.  It cannot be 150% work effort for 50% results.

Happy Customers and Angry Customers

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

Few weeks ago, my wife and I were discussing her experience with her Coach pocket book that she bought few months back.  The thread on the shoulder strap started to come off and she was deciding to send it back for repair.    My initial thought was this would be amazing if they would bother addressing a single incident.

A few weeks later, they sent my wife a letter indicating they could not fix the strap and so they were giving her a store credit because they were sorry that it did not meet their quality standards.  My wife was surprised that Coach had very good customer service.   As a happy customer, I use Social Media to let others know our customer experience.  Here is what I tweeted on May29th. “Love @Coach! My wife had a problem with her pocket book strap & since they can’t fix it, they gave my wife a store credit. Amazing customer service!”

Every time an employee of a company makes a contact with their customers, they need to make sure that it is a pleasant experience.   The touch point could provide the firm a lasting experience with the customers.  Happy customers have a tendency to go back and do business with your company.

On the flip side, angry customers are also an excellent source of customer feedback.   The company can take advantage of the opportunity to understand the situation and take care of the issue at hand.    There is a saying that negative news travels much faster than good news.  An angry customer is most likely to tell 10 of their friends than when they experience good news.    Therefore, the company has a golden opportunity to change an unhappy customer to a happy customer.

My point for this blog is that, when we interface with our customers, we always have an opportunity to impress our customer by showing them that we value their business.  To that end, we will do whatever is necessary to address their issue.  We will take ownership of the issue and see to it that it is addressed in a timely manner.

So, the next time you’re at the receiving end of a customer inquiry or complaint, imagine yourself being in the shoes of your customer.    Try to understand their concern and work with your team to address their issues and concerns.  Remember that a good customer always comes back and does more business with your company.  Who knows, as a side benefit, they could provide you with an excellent feedback that can help you advance your career.

 

Tired of your job – Is it time to move on?

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

I recently spoke to someone whose son quit his job because he did not find it interesting.  According to the person, he did not like the progress he was making and didn’t feel the passion to keep doing the same job.   The question is: Is that reason good enough to drop everything and move on?

During the time he quit his job, he was convinced it was the right thing to do.    It has been over two months and he has not found any other opportunity and his cash is running low.    He’s feeling the pressure of the decision he made and wonders what he got himself into.    Life lessons often provide us with tough lessons that we can learn, but the experience is rather a painful one.

The question is: Is it right to quit your job without having another job?  My personal point is that you need to assess your personal situation and also the economic situation in general.    In this economic situation, is it best to stay at a job you don’t feel passionate about, but that gives you a steady income and stability, or do you seek what makes you tick?  If you leave your job without another job, you run the risk of being unemployed for an extended period of time.

My suggestion is staying put for the following reasons:

• Reinvent yourself – you can always showcase other skills you have by volunteering on other projects.  It provides you with the opportunity to show you’re a team player and are maturing to accept new challenges.
• Learn new things or attend a class – sometimes by attending classes, you can learn new skills that can help you to be more marketable.  Also, you might learn something that you can take back to your job and use this so your manager sees that you’re adding value to the firm.
• Find the reason why you’re leaving – unless you know why you don’t like your job, you can’t just leave for the sake of leaving.  You need to be able to pinpoint the three things that make you hate your job.  Otherwise, you’ll be in the same stage again a few months down the road, except you’ll be working elsewhere.   You need to seek the reason for your dissatisfaction.
• Seek your mentor’s help – sometimes asking someone’s perspective can help you see things differently.   Especially if you have an experience mentor to work with.

One has to take into consideration that grass is often greener on the other side.   It applies to jobs and also your lawn if you own a house.    From a certain vantage point, my lawn looks great, but as I drive closer, I see brown patches that make my smile turn to a frown.    I agree that you need to find your passion and do what you love, but you also need to summon your practical side and survey things before you jump to conclusions.   The best decisions are the ones that are made over time rather than one hastily made because of a knee-jerk decision.

Unless you find why things are broken, you are bound to repeat the same mistake, only that the view is different.   The cost of mistake later on in your career cost a lot more than mistakes incurred earlier in your career.     I say let the head do the thinking and keep your emotions in check.

Customer Service – Make a positive impression

Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

About a week ago, I post a message on one of the appliance merchant’s site to inquire about their program.  The next day I receive a response asking me some questions in order to address my needs.

The next day, I received a response regarding my inquiry and he also mention that I should reach out to the person at the branch to further my request.   I replied to his message and thanked him for his time, but at the same time I mentioned that he could have taken it to the next level by contacting the branch and clarifying the matter on behalf of the customer.    It was a perfect opportunity for him to make a great impression on the customer.

 

My perspective is that every touch point with our customer is an opportunity to make an impression.   When we make a good impression, the customer remembers that experience and it could provide a compelling reason to do business or continue to do business with us.    Therefore, we need to take advantage of each of the opportunities, akin to playing baseball (three tries before you lose your turn) that you want to do your best in each of your at bats.

Every company has to be known for something, some for best quality, best in innovation, best in price, or any other for that matter.   For example, your firm is second best in the quality category, but you have topnotch customer service.  In the end, you might be able slowly increase your market share because of your ability to serve your customer.   Let me reiterate that by no means do I promote that bad quality and excellent service will get you anywhere.    It is important that you have a good service or product in order for you to talk about customer service, because customer service alone is not going to get the job done.

Going back to my point on my e-mail exchange with the customer service person at this appliance merchant, he replied and explained to me why he did not reach out to the branch on my behalf.  According to him, he was avoiding confusion, as it already happened a couple times with them in the past.  Then he said the situation does put everyone in a tough situation.   Nonetheless I was impressed that he took the time to explain to me the situation rather than ignoring my response altogether.   He also apologized and explained that he wanted to avoid the message coming across as being rude.  As a customer, I was glad that he explained himself.  Because of the email exchange and my interaction with their branch folks, I’m leaning toward doing business with them

Neglected Fish

Will Lukang, PMP, SCM, MBA, MASCL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we can take things for granted because something is always there for us whenever we need it.   Such would be like an oven that turned on whenever we need to bake or cook something, or a pet fish that is always there to entertain us when we feel like giving it attention, or people who are always there for us to back us up and help us get things done.   Either way they are neglected in many ways.

 

 

 

Just like a pet fish that does not need to be walked or petted, there is a tendency to neglect it and go about our life.  However, when we remember that it is around, we might spend a few minutes interacting with it, feed it, then off we go again.    So, what’s my point for writing this post?   As we get too busy with work and get preoccupied a lot of things, we might take the following for granted:

 

• Family and children – our family will always be there for us, but your children will not be young forever. If you don’t take the opportunity to connect with them, you’ll miss the opportunity.  You only have ONE opportunity to make a difference.  Do it now and take the time to connect.
• Friends – these are the people who are there for us through thick or thin and have been there for us, from being the sounding board or a shoulder to cry on.  We need to make sure we set aside time to reconnect with them and let them know that we have not forgotten them.
• Network – these are people whom we might have worked with or were introduced to us in the past.  We need to let them know what we are thinking of them and set aside time to meet and interact with them.    You need to ping them and let them know that you are thinking of them and not only reach out to them when you need them.
• Mentors and coaches – to a certain extent you owe your success to these people, so let them know that you appreciate their help and always remember it.   It is important that you remember where you come from because the experiences you learned will serve as guides for your future decisions.
• Top performers at work – when things are getting taken care of, it does not mean you’re really good at getting things done, but rather that you have an efficient crew that stands by you and gets things done.  You need to let them know you appreciate them and value them before they leave to seek opportunities elsewhere.  Spend the time with them and recognize them.

 

 

 

Don’t treat the people you care about like fish; just like fish they will not last forever.  If you neglect it, it might be too late.    Always make time to let them know you care about them.   Make it a priority to take care of the most important thing first.

 

Sharing the stage with others (Are you ready?)

Will Lukang, MBA, PMP, MASCL, CSM

A year and half ago, I venture into the world of blogging hoping to wet my toes and see what it is like to share my knowledge and experience.     It took me over six months to muster the courage to jump into blogging.    I blog because I want to share what I know with others, hoping that if there is only one person out there that can benefit from my knowledge and experience, I will have accomplished my goal.

 

Each post provided me a sense of satisfaction that someone out there will read and learn from it and avoid learning things the hard way.   I enjoyed the comments posted and e-mails thanking me and suggesting possible future post topics.

 

Sometimes I have my ducks in a row and I know what to write for the month, but there are times I experience writers’ block and am unable to generate a post for weeks.    It frustrates me that I’m unable to connect with people who read my post.     I have the idea, but I was not able to put things together.  Other times I’m just too busy at work that left me little time to invest in writing my post.

 

One day I was on a conference call with my fellow leadership coach and we were talking about sharing our knowledge and expertise. During that discussion I had a eureka moment that I can offer a guest blogger who can blog on topics that I’m not familiar with. This way I can expand the material on site.  My first guest blogger will feature another leadership coach.  I’ll run his blog at the end of the month.

 

My hope is that, by adding guest bloggers to my blog, I can offer a better experience to the people who read my blog and provide them with an opportunity to learn new things.    For those who reach out to me or post comments, thank you for connecting with me.  I really appreciate it.   Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.  I welcome the interaction and look forward to hearing from you.

In reviewing The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

Will Lukang, MBA, PMP, MASCL, CSM

The main character of the book is Mr. David Ponder, a wealthy real estate developer in Dallas.  He is committed to building a skyscraper without borrowing money.   People don’t believe that it is possible, but he declares that he will pay as he goes.   His life is not walk in the park, because he declares bankruptcy at age 55.  But he believes that adversity is preparation for greatness.

 

He uses the Seven Decisions as a guide for the way he lives his life.    What’s interesting about this book is the concept of travelers.   Mr. Ponder is one of the travelers who travels to meet some of the great people like President Truman.    The author was able to put events that happened from multiple time periods into one setting,  which provides a historical perspective and a good blend of exchange of conversation that would otherwise not be possible in our current setting.

 

My favorite part of the book is when David Ponder, Winston Churchill, Joan of Arc, Eric Erickson, and Abraham Lincoln are discussing the possible solution to the question: What must humanity do, individually and collectively, to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?  They have four chances to answer the question and save humanity.   The quality of one’s answer greatly depends on the quality of the question asked.

 

Reading this book is like peeling an onion; the more I read the more I became interested in it.  Eventually it became impossible to put it down until I found out the outcome of the journey.  The creativity that was put into writing this book is amazing.  As I read it, I could imagine the characters interacting with one another.    I highly recommend this book to people who want to take a peek into the past and also learn how the Seven Decisions can help change their life.   To learn more about the book, please visit The Final Summit.  You can also follow Andy Andrews on Twitter (@AndyAndrews).