If you're active on LinkedIn, you may have either asked or answered the many questions found on the site's Answer tab. It's a terrific feature where members can ask very specific questions and receive valuable insights from professionals who generously offer their expertise - expertise not so easily gained elsewhere. Some people ask questions that involve business challenges in their organizations; some are looking for a broader perspective for crafting a blog post; while others may use ... Read Full Story
Lately, I've been confronted with more and more examples of two common problems relating to priorities. First, people who state their priorities as one thing but demonstrate their priorities as something else. For example, if you're the company that talks a good game of prizing the concept of teamwork, but rewards and awards employees as individuals, you've got a problem. James Frick wisely stated, "Don't tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll tel... Read Full Story
In my last post Lessons Learned, I responded to the plight of a college professor and her class regarding a fundraising event for their local public library. The library board members said they loved the plan, but chose to delay the event until after the end of the semester, making it impractical for the class to actually manage it. While the class will lose out on the experience of running the event, I pointed out that they learned a great deal more than any of them anticipated. Sometimes... Read Full Story
A college professor sent an e-mail asking me to respond to a story reflecting a recent situation involving her public relations class and a client with whom the class was working pro bono. She shared her frustration and that of her class with this account of what happened:I met with the client, the local public library director and PR person, this summer. They told me they wanted an event in November, fundraising because the system has lost so much government funding this year. Books and oth... Read Full Story
If you lead a professional services organization of any kind, your team is continually challenged to serve a diverse group of clients across a broad range of industries. So when it comes to assessing the intellectual capacity of your employees to meet that challenge, it may not boil down to "how smart" so much as "how are they smart?" This is what the Accelerated Learning Network says as it spreads the word of noted Harvard Professor Howard Gardner.Professor Gardner's Theory of Multiple I... Read Full Story
Managing expectations is one of those expressions to which we should pay more attention, but not in the way you might think. For most people in the professional services business, let's face it, managing expectations is code for lowering expectations. It's the time-honored practice of promising a Cadillac, but making sure the client is happy if you have to deliver the Chevy. The people who live this life of managing expectations bristle at the David Maister(s) and Marshall Goldsmith(... Read Full Story
After a few days of Seeing Red Cars and imagining what it would be like to hit a hole-in-one at one of the most famous Par 3's in the world, I thought I'd shift from high intensity goal setting to the lighter side of client service.In a perfect world, it would be tempting to record an after hours voice-mail message that while offering a broad range of service options, also captured the essence of the real world problems and unreasonable demands clients often impose upon their favorite account... Read Full Story
Just over a week ago, I watched a wonderful video from Laura Goodrich titled Seeing Red Cars. Without giving too much away, Laura asserts that we get more of what we focus on. She calls it "seeing red cars." Interestingly enough, she finds that when you ask most people what they want, they're often very clear about what they DON'T want, but not always able to say what they DO want. A terrific observation.Laura illustrates the point with a golfer getting ready to hit a tee shot to an isl... Read Full Story
I read a terrific post yesterday from Shonali Burke titled Communicator, Sell - and Share - Thyself. She describes an event where communication professionals met with job seekers and offered resume advice. I offered a comment stating that it was a wonderful initiative, but asked that she consider spreading the word about a program I led when I owned my own firm between 1995-2000.About 12 years ago, much to the chagrin of agency principals and HR professionals alike, I wrote an article that... Read Full Story
I'm not just talking about client conflict, but any kind of conflict. I know someone who's the queen of conflict; she's always ready for a fight no matter what the circumstances or the consequences, and she doesn't just fight to win, she fights to destroy. I have another acquaintance who politely doesn't rock the boat, but manages "situations" by internalizing everything and working back channels to feed his self interest. I find both to be unhealthy extremes.Personally, I grew up ar... Read Full Story
