Is LinkedIn Making Us Lazy?
LinkedIn is a great
networking tool and sees more users added by the day. When it first started, it was much more
basic, but as demand and technology have grown and improved, it has added other
“bells and whistles”.
We can now (among other things):
- Ask someone to connect;
- “Recommend” contacts for skills(this seems to have been withdrawn now);
- Congratulate contacts on achieving another year in their business;
- Wish contacts Happy Birthday.
My question: is LinkedIn making it too easy (and making us look unprofessional) as a result? For example, there’s a standard message to ask people to become a professional contact. Now if it’s a friend
or colleague, that’s one thing, but if it’s a total stranger, we should be
introducing ourselves and explaining why we would like to connect. We don't just walk up to strangers in the
street and ask, “Will you be my friend”
Yet this seems normal on LinkedIn…
What about when we recommend someone for a skill? How many times have we clicked on a skill of
one of our contacts without really asking ourselves “Do they possess this to the
degree that I can honestly recommend them?”
Remember, we are endorsing
them for a skill, which might make the difference between being put on an
interview shortlist or not. There’s also
no idea of to what extent they possess that skill. I’ve been surprised (and gratified) by some
of the recommendations that I’ve received from people I consider don't know me
that well.
For the congratulations messages: again nice to receive, but
when I get the “boilerplate” text, I wonder how much the other person really cares. I always try to personalise it (but that’s
just me). Same applies for the birthday
greetings.
In short, LinkedIn risks depersonalising
relationships and making us look unprofessional
if we aren't careful.
I have spent more than half my life delivering
change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging”
economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around
the world running different operations
and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer solutions for
improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses,
charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An
international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Career, Social, Strategy
Have You “Got Their Back”?
Many of us will have
heard the phrase “I’ve got your back” (at least in films), but how many of our
staff feel that this is the case as far as being able to rely on our support
when things go wrong?
By this I don’t mean that we, as managers, have to fight for
our staff if our employer decides to downsize - that’s a decision “beyond our
pay grade”. We may succeed in retaining
those whom we know add value, but
some will (sadly) have to go. Equally,
if the staff concerned isn't performing and it’s affecting team morale, we have
to address the situation.
My focus lies more on how we ensure that our staff feel that
they can trust us to look after their
best interests (even if this means announcing at the Team Meeting that the
business has decided that it needs to downsize).
How often, for example, have we taken someone else’s side
against one of our reports even when we know that the action that the report
took was “right”? It’s important to give
the customer the impression that we’re looking out for their interests and that we value their business, but do it once
too-often, and we suddenly find decisions being passed up to us, falling morale
and an increase in customer
complaints due to low morale and lower service standards arising as a result.
Here’s a further example of having their back: giving them
credit for a job well done. This could
range from a “well done” in front of the others to a mention in the company
newsletter to financial reward. We show
them that we won’t take credit for their
achievements and efforts.
Following on from the example above of the underperforming
team member, we can show the team that we have their back and the back of the member concerned by addressing the issue. The
“underperformer” may not be aware that they’re underperforming, or may lack
training or other key support that will turn them into an effective member. They’ll welcome the opportunity to discuss it
and to improve things. If they’re simply
not ‘right”, then we can still have their back by supporting them as they
transfer into a different function that suits them better. We also gain a valuable ally, the respect of
our team and that of other teams.
There are plenty of examples that we can all think of: when
did you last feel that your manager really had your back, or when did you last
forget to cover one of your own team?
The other advantage of our team knowing that we have their
back is increased trust in us as a
manager. From a personal point of view,
I can count on the fingers of one hand the managers that I’ve trusted in my professional life. That had a direct impact on how much effort I
was prepared to put in on their behalf and therefore the quality of their
results.
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running different
operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer
solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses,
charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An
international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Leadership, Teamwork
Are You A “Last-Minute Loser”?
“Procrastination is
the thief of time” is a saying with which many of us were brought up, but we’re
all guilty of it! How many people do we
know (apart form ourselves) who put off doing things until they have absolutely
no choice, and end up doing just an “OK” job?
Procrastination or putting things off is a natural human instinct, which usually kicks
in when:
- It’s something unpleasant (writing a report);
- We think we’ll fail;
- We can only work (or think we can) in “high-pressure”
situations;
- We under-estimate our ability to do it;
- We’re overloaded as it is.
How many job adverts have we seen for “self-motivated”
staff, or job descriptions that state that one of the qualities a jobholder
needs is “self motivation”?
Most of the reasons for procrastinating above boil down to
three basic causes:
- We’re in a bad mood (I’ve been there…);
- There may be no obvious “benefit” or reward in doing it (me
again);
- No one expects us to do it/there’s no deadline (oh dear…).
Instead, to fill the time and make us feel less guilty, we
tend to do those “harmless” tasks that make us feel “busy” but actually don't
move things forward.
What are the main results of procrastination? Researchers say that the habit
of delaying has a number of negative effects, including:
- Depression
- Low
self-esteem
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Irrational
beliefs
… meaning we may put off doing things even more.
I’ve also noticed that, when people wait until the
“important” becomes the “urgent”, they often ask colleagues to drop what
they’re doing to help them because
otherwise the business will suffer. Is
this fair?
So what can we do
about this? We can’t expect our
managers, colleagues or others to act as cheerleaders, but by understanding what
drives us to procrastinate, we may be better able to control our tendency to
indulge in it. If we want/need a real
“cheerleader”, then we should surround ourselves with the sort of people who we
see are those who “get things done” (not always possible in the workplace, I
know).
One technique I was taught many years ago was the “banjo”
technique. “Banjo” here stands for “Bang
A Nasty Job Off”. What happens when you
finish something you didn’t want to do?
You feel good about yourself, your mood improves and you feel more motivated for the next task.
We can also reward ourselves
- whether by a trip to the coffee machine, a biscuit or maybe a takeaway dinner
this evening, depending on the magnitude of the task. The idea that there will be some tangible
reward at the end can change our mind-set about doing something.
The above suggestions bring to mind the importance of taking regular breaks during the
day. Remember school? Lessons usually didn’t go on for more than
40-45 minutes. Breaks refresh the mind
and reduce stress.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that, when I exercise
regularly, my energy and motivation levels increase, and that improves my
performance. Another (long-term) benefit
of exercising and eating healthily is that we live longer.
We’re all guilty of putting things off. What we do about it is up to us.
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running
different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to
offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk
management. I work with individuals,
small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across
the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be
contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Career, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
