I’m on LinkedIn: Now What? By Jason Alba, Happy About, 2008
Do you have a LinkedIn account and now you’re wondering how to use it? I’m on LinkedIn: Now What takes you through the basics of LinkedIn and how to get started using it to the ways you can make it work for you.
Under getting started you will learn what LinkedIn is, how to create or update your profile, managing your account and settings and how to connect with others. Did you know that if you ask three people to connect to you and they all say no you could lose your account? Be specific about who you ask to link to and if you’re going to send a request to someone who doesn’t know you well you might consider sending an e-mail to them telling them why you want to be linked to them. If you are the one receiving invites from people you don’t want to link with because you’re not comfortable being linked or you are not sure who this person is who’s asking you can let the request lapse without a response so you don’t jeopardize their account by saying no.
Making it work for you covers searching, understanding degrees of separation, recommendations, jobs and hiring, services and LinkedIn groups and answers.
Using this section of the book you can see how you and others can use this site to check out potential employers or employees, how you can block certain people from your information (you may not want your current boss to know you are job hunting) and how to establish yourself as a resource for others or use others to find answers to questions you have.
The last section deals with personal branding, shady practices, netiquette and complementary tools and resources. After reading this I realized a number of ways I could better utilize the tools within LinkedIn. Now I just have to implement them.
by Ronald Shapiro, Crown Business, 2008.
One of the things that can make or break everything you do is preparation. The better prepared you are the better chance you will get the outcome you want most.
Ronald Shapiro covers nine preparation principles he teaches to clients to help them become better preparers. They are:
- Understand your objectives and define your endgame
- Plan with precedents
- Know your alternatives
- Define the interests of the other party
- Set your strategy
- Do a timeline
- Pick your team
- Write your script
- Adjust and learn from your mistakes
If you know what you really want from all encounters you will have a much better chance of communicating with others. You must discover what precedents have been set in the past and use these examples to reinforce your position. If you are able to articulate all of the potential alternatives that are available, you can help others work toward an outcome that is beneficial to all; this also ties into knowing the other side’s interests so that you can address how they can best benefit from your suggested outcomes. By setting a strategy and timeline you can learn to better focus on the outcomes you are trying to achieve and by stating these you can show your leadership in accomplishing these goals. Pick your team of people by who can best help you achieve your goals and write a script and practice it so that you can anticipate all potential obstacles. By using what didn’t work for you and others in the past you can constantly move forward and help to accomplish many things.
The three most common excuses as to why people fail to plan are: 1. I don’t have time, 2. I’ve done it before and 3. I know how to do this. These all assume that you know so much that you don’t need to plan to prepare because you already know how to win and get what you want. By making these assumptions you will often fail to get what you want and you will lose the respect of others because you will actually show how unprepared you really are.
Use the preparation checklist at the end of this book to make sure you know what you are after and how you will address the concerns and questions of others. The benefits you will gain by being prepared are self confidence, effectiveness and satisfaction.
by Michael Fullan, Jossey-Bass, 2008.
Some experts tell you to take bits and pieces of their advice and use only the parts that you want. Michael Fullan calls his six secrets ones that travel, but he recommends that they are used together and does not recommend implementing only one or two of the secrets. He feels that they all fit together and work best when they are all used to make changes in your organization. Fullan feels that his six secrets can be used in any organization or industry and that is what he means by traveling.
The six secrets are:
1. Love your employees
2. Connect peers with purpose
3. Capacity building prevails
4. Learning is the work
5. Transparency rules
6. Systems learn.
Fullan uses examples from health industries, education and manufacturing to show those organizations that have successfully implemented these six secrets. He references many other books to show how others support his theories and to also show how although many companies have tried many ways to succeed they often times are not successful in maintaining their successes. Companies profiled in Good to Great are not all doing well today.
Michael Fullan maintains that if you implement his secrets your organization will succeed long term as Toyota has. Organizations that have successfully implemented the six secrets not only take care of their employees, customers and stockholders they also take care of society by having a postitive impact on those who interact with them. Twenty eight companies/organizations have qualified as Firms of Endearment (FoEs.) Among them are Toyota, Johnson and Johnson, IDEO, UPS and Costco.
Each secret builds on the other as secret one, love your employees covers three factors in motivating your employees: fair treatment, enabling achievement and camaraderie and this builds into secret two, connect peers with purpose. When employees feel empowered and valued as individuals they work together to build everyone up into being the best they can be. From here you become a cohesive organization that helps all to be part of the culture that succeeds.
by Nido Qubein, Recorded Books, 2008.
Motivational speaker Nido Qubein shares 12 proven strategies to succeed in business. We all have different talents and the trick is to identify yours and develop them to their fullest potential. Qubein shares his strategies through real life stories and situations.
The strategies include:
Create your own success system
Focus on differential advantage
Turn problems into opportunities
Turn stress into creative energy
Boost your impact with people along with seven others.
Every time you interact with others you have an opportunity to advance your business and theirs. You need to define what success means to you and develop a system that works for your personality, your system will probably not look like someone else’s. Once you have developed this system you can then focus on your differential advantage. This will help you define the similarities and differences between your product or service and that of your competitors. Once you have this you can look for problems that potential clients are facing and show them how your products or services can be a new opportunity for them. Using your products they can address their problems and turn them into opportunities for their companies to grow.
All of us suffer from various forms of stress and the strategy shared for turning your stress into creative energy will help you deal with the stress while advancing your business. Although we don’t always realize it we impact all of the people we interact with. Using this strategy you will realize more of the impact you have on others. You will become aware of the actual effects you have on others. By following these strategies and others you will learn to better understand yourself and your business.
by Carmine Gallo, John Wiley and Sons, 2007.
Carmine Gallo divides this book into two parts; first he defines and illustrates with stories the 7 Simple Secrets and then he tells you how to live them. Many of the companies that have successfully implemented these secrets will be very familiar to you. Some people/companies use multiple secrets all of the time and some pick and choose the ones that work best for them and are known for adhering to these principles. People you will recognize include Winston Churchill and Steve Jobs and companies showcased include: Intel, Gymboree, Cold Stone Creamery and Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.
The 7 secrets are:
1. Ignite Your Enthusiasm
2. Navigate the Way
3. Sell the Benefit
4. Paint a Picture
5. Invite Participation
6. Reinforce an Optimistic Outlook
7. Encourage Their Potential.
Many stories are given that show exactly how these aforementioned individuals and companies inspire us to learn and use these secrets. Your passion and commitment can help others around you provide the same level of service and commitment that you do to all of your customers.
If you want to light a fire under your company and get everyone’s buy in to grow the company and succeed you only need to emulate the guidelines shown here to succeed. The energy and passion shown by these individuals and companies will give you the inspiration you need to develop your own game plan and to put it to use.
by Peggy Klaus, Collins, 2008.
For many of us the education we received for our careers involved learning technical skills on the job or through colleges and other schools. The soft skills include: communication skills and people (or personal) skills. The definition of hard skills is technical ability and factual knowledge needed to do the job. Soft skills are defined as personal, social, communication and self-management behaviors. These soft skills are often learned on the job or by imitating the people around us. Soft skills complement the hard or technical skills and allow us to advance in our careers.
Peggy Klaus uses a style reminiscent of a personal career coach and appears to be directly talking to the reader. She shares many scenarios of past clients and circumstances to help the reader to learn by others’ examples. She shows how learning and using soft skills from adaptability to trustworthiness can help us succeed in our jobs and in our career choices.
Soft skills cover a wide spectrum of abilities and traits including: being self-aware, trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability, critical thinking, attitude, initiative, empathy, confidence, integrity self-control, organizational awareness, likability, influence, risk taking, problem solving, leadership, time management and others. Using these traits and abilities we learn to accomplish what we need to to get the job done and have the effect we are looking for on our company. Without these skills, knowing only the technical skills and factual knowledge, we will not be well liked, respected or easy to work with. Each chapter focuses on a different type of soft skill from getting the job done to bragging. Developing these skills will help take us to the next level in our jobs and in our careers.
by Stephen Young, McGraw-Hill, 2007.
We all know that communication with others involves more than just the words spoken. Sometimes the non-verbal communication is the overwhelming communication and is totally opposite to the words that we speak. The inflection, tone, facial features and body language can make or break what our words are saying. Micromessaging explores the microinequities and microadvantages we communicate in all situations. Microinequities are when we unconsciously or consciously communicate negative feedback to those around us. Microadvantages are when we give positive feedback to them. These messages may not be totally clear or understood but they do effect how we view ourselves and our capabilities.
If a leader or manager is using the wrong micromessages they can communicate to their employees that they are not capable of handling assignments given to them. If we expect people to excel they will, however if we expect them to fail they will live up to that expectation as well. “Micromessages are the keys that unlock-or shut down-potential.”
Micromessages happen between two people but they are often observed by others, sometimes in small groups and sometimes in larger groups. The receiver of the micromessages, whether positive or negative, can be forever impacted by the subtle communications.
Stephen Young shares 10 microadvantages we can cultivate to help those who work with us to develop to their highest potential. These microadvantages are how we choose to communicate and include:
1. actively solicit opinions
2. connect on a personal level
3. constantly ask questions
4. attribute/credit ideas
5. monitor your facial expressions
6. actively listen to all
7. draw in participation
8. monitor personal greetings
9. respond constructively to disagreements
10. limit interruptions.
Young tells of his experiences in helping many different companies develop microadvantages as a way of business and the positive outcomes of these practices. Young places the main points in gray boxes which can be used to refresh or reinforce the concepts learned.
by Lori Silverman, Recorded Books, 2007.
For many of us hearing that the meeting we will be attending or the annual report we will be reading will supply us with data needed to go forward with our business causes us to want to go to sleep or skip it altogether. Dry data is extremely hard for us to remember or relate to, but that is how much data has been transmitted in the past. Lori Silverman makes a case for transmitting data by telling stories. She and others have collected stories from over 80 companies that show how they use stories to show how they adhere to their values and create or develop marketing opportunities among other uses.
The stories come from both large and small companies, government, nonprofits and the military. Stories can be used to teach and to spread the policies and procedures a company wants to use.
Stories invite us to respond emotionally and emphatically. Stories give us a common background and goals. They can open communication channels and can be used to give positive feedback and acknowledgement of a job well done. Stories can show our successes as well as our failures.
Stories are best shared verbally, but can also be used in other formats although the impact is often lessen by other formats because the person sharing the story can not change the way it is presented by the feedback being given by the audience. If the story is not touching the audience they will not remember it as well or feel the need to relate it to others.
The stories used show the many and various ways we can use stories to make our businesses stronger and to help our employees and customers communicate better and be remembered for what they communicate. Using these examples we can learn to develop stories for our businesses.
by Linda Seger, Inner Ocean, 2002.
There are many ways to look at things today. Linda addresses linear, circle and spiral thinking and walks us through the ways each way of thinking is beneficial to us in today’s world.
Most business relationships were originally set up as linear thinking, one straight path to accomplish a specific goal. There was usually no deviation from this. Circular thinking was the next step and looked at the various spheres of influence around us and how they rippled out from us and allowed us to look at a fuller picture. Spiral thinking is the most complex and allows us to see the web connections around us. We see some straight-line relationships, some circular and some spiral. We can cross from a linear connection to other connections within our sphere of influence.
Linda gives many stories that show us how to develop the right connections to allow us to use the relationships we have to provide the most benefits to us and others. Some relationships are between just two people, but many relationships we use contain multiple people. Some of these relationships are stagnant, while others are constantly changing members. Learning how to look at these relationships to see their impact on us and what changes may be needed is what is addressed in Web Thinking. Once you realize the impact of looking at a broader picture and how quickly you can build the right relationships with connecting instead of competing with others you will find that you get more of what you are looking for.
Meryl Runion writes about using Power Phrases when writing performance reviews. One of the most important communication times we have is the yearly review we have with our staff. This book will help you communicate your commendations, suggestions for improvement and let the employee know the impact they have had on the company’s goals and accomplishments. It teaches how to use positive phrases when communicating with others. Criticism is hard to hear, but if phrased positively we will have a much greater chance it will be heard and acted upon. This will help us to develop our staff in the direction we need them to go to facilitate growth of the company.
She starts by sharing misconceptions about the performance reviews and then focuses on essential tips or processes to use to gain the most from our employees.
These tips are:
1. Consistent performance tracking
2. Interim performance reviews
3. Address performance problems with a plan (as needed)
4. Pull it all together in the formal performance review.
Reviewing our employees is not a snapshot of what they have done in the recent pass, but everything they were involved with since the last review and therefore requires us as supervisors, managers and peers giving input to evaluate the total contributions of the employee. To accomplish this we can follow the five steps of a masterful performance review.
These include:
Greet the employee
Set expectations
Summarize performance
Look forward
Close
Actual examples from many different jobs and levels of jobs are included to illustrate each point covered. The dos and don’ts are covered as well as the laws governing the workplace. Examples to use cover everything from interpersonal and team skills to task and technical skills to professionalism. Each section has phrases to use for exceptional/acceptable performance, bonus phrases for the exceptional performer and a needs improvement section.
Some of the sample phrases include: (coaching skills) Sees the greatness in others and draws it out through coaching; (prioritization) She prevents office fires before they happen and (organization) Needs to create easy-to-follow work systems that successfully organize operations.
Communication can be built upon by using these phrases and others in your own words to build better employees and clear organizational goals and priorities.
