Turn Adversaries Into Advocates

"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity."

~Aristotle

 

One of the best advice ever received while in sales was when I was distraught by negative feedback while subjected to customer escalation after they experienced below performance by me, my team and my company.  Virginia was an excellent leader whom I am always graciously thankful that she took me under her wings and made me a protégé.  She taught me lots!  What mattered, was at the threashhold of an exploding career, she advised me:  "People don't evaluate you based on the negative experience, they gauge your response to a negative situation and how you react to make it better."
 
 
Yes, I took/take negative feedback to heart and took it personally.  No, I didn't spin around and point the finger.  It all came down to moi, me, it, she, the person being at fault for letting the customer down on an important project, document, promise for quality and deadline.
 
Spiral forward today.  It makes perfect business sense that no person, department or company is perfect.   Those wise words jump out to emphasize that what sets all of us apart is how we handle adversity. 
 
Call it a good characteristic or bad, but I always care.  I have always wanted to give customers the best experience, deliver on my promises (which 9 out of 10 times had operations endorse and support in advance or be savvy enough to know our capabilities so that I wouldn't want to set up our organization for failure) so that they would continue to buy from us, and even better if they would recommend and send out accolades on not where we fell short, but how we stepped up to the challenge to make amends for our mistakes.
 
Regardless of who you are, the team that supports you, or the company you represent ... mistakes DO happen.  I can chuckle at my earliest naïve junior experiences where I wanted to control everyone and everything to guarantee that what I promised to the customer would be carried out.  Maturity and experience today underlines how unrealistic that is.  Bottom line, you can't do everything thus You have to TRUST your TEAM.  You don't or won't have a team to support you if you throw them under the bus when matters go askew. 
 
Yes, those projects,  performances or promises fall on your shoulders.  Regardless of how high you sit, from the executive suite, to the middle on sales or customer service shoulders, lower to the personnel responsible to make it happen ... you CANNOT make your problem your customer's problem!
 
I shudder recalling an executive telling me we lost their business, not because we were priced so high per se, but because our competitors proved that we were complacent and were not proving value for what they were paying that was wisely proven by a competitor.  Yes, I was exuberant when I won business from a competitor because we showed more value!  Yet I never forgot the corporate executive who had enough to show me that we had let them down.  No, it wasn't about price.  Yes, price made it enough of a factor for them to pay attention when the service fell.
 
My goodness, how I remember being held accountable for my team when a customer told me that it wasn't their job to train my people.  Lack of CRM (Customer Service Management) system to streamline transactions  or avoid gaps amongst those interacting with a customer was one area that could have improved matters.  Preventing turnover is certainly a no-brainer!
 
Soooooo .. what do you do when you fail?  Do you offer a discount, refund or gesture of goodwill that more often than not represents a complete redo, re-engagement for free?  That is often the dilemma that falls on the shoulders of those wiping up the mistakes and trying to restore goodwill.  Whatever you do, don't send in your most aggressive barracuda to match wits with the customer and out aggressive the customer so that they back down on expressing their disappointment.
 
At minimum you should review projects, promises and performance after each single transaction!  There is something to be learned, improved upon each and every time.  Mandate debriefs with your team, your client every single important transaction.  At least it would show you are not complacent or take your customers for granted.  Don't wait for them to complain or demand retribution/refund/replacement.  Be proactive for heavens sake!
 
When a customer complains, they are actually handing you an opportunity to make improvements on a golden platter.  Pay attention.  Mandate that any online or otherwise feedback be communicated upstream not just to management but to the executives as well.  Don't have your CSRs tell a customer that it has been taken care of and communicated to management.  If that is all you do, there falls the lack of accountability.  Unfortunately, if management knows that executives will be informed they just may pay attention.
 
Pay attention to customer feedback.  Document it, incorporate actionable improvements, communicate it to executives so the entire organization can debrief and formulate a proactive plan.  HR has enough on its plate to make it their mandate, examine training, communications scripts, and get everyone involved. 
 
You can turn an adversary, complaint,  into an advocacy.  It IS within your control.  If you just channel the communications or put it on yourself to contradict the customer, you are not turning them into advocates, you are championing the spread of their discontent.  In today's world of social media, discontent or controversy spreads faster than good news.  Be proactive in your good news.  Remember, we all mistakes, nobody is perfect ... but how you handle adversity totally reflects on how important it is for you to turn it into making those people advocates based on how you handle it.
 

"There is no better than adversity.  Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time."

~Malcolm X

 
 




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SOLUTIONS = Problem + Solved

"Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the titanic."
Anonymous
 
__________________________________________________________________________________

If there isn't enough sales jargon and terminology out there already there appears to be enough jargon and unique dialect with way too many acronyms, don't you wish that they'd just speak plain English?

Perhaps you are a recruiter and have been asked to search for a top sales professional for your organization.  Fair enough.  That is pretty basic.  Just as you're all set to click send, the requestor has specified they want someone who is a "consultative" sales person competent in "solutions" sales.



Huh?  What's the diff you say?  Aren't they all just sales reps?  That would be like saying all Olympians are the same.  Hardly.

Consultative sales is a sales approach from professionals who have the knack of assembling participation from the customer by involving them and their team to get at the heart of their biggest issues that are preventing them from being more effective and/or efficient.

Consultative Selling: is a sales process by which the customer's end users, managers, executives are interviewed and provide information on matters affecting them.

Solution Selling:  Is a form of sales whereby you are solving those same problems.

This form of sales is usually employed when their is a high value investment in the sale or service that is stake. 

A consultative sales professional is adept at researching for opportunities in the name of prospects by being an authority on not just their product or service, but also how that same product or service solves problems.

Very few organizations wait until an object breaks down, or its service warranty expires before it begins to investigate what is the best new item available out there that they can buy.  Typically, they have a budget set aside and start out by looking to find what can fit into this budget.

There are sales reps or organizations who don't demand much from their reps or can be snowed that activity classifies as results. Then there are sales consultants.  You call them and ask them to give them a price for this widget or that service.  But hold on here, instead you got yourself a sales consultant.  This person is asking a number of questions that are irritating enough because you don't have even half of the answers.

Dutifully, you go back to the Boss with the list of questions, thinking they'll be on your side, and be more effective at blowing off this rep with a smoother "just gimme the price" rebuff.   Instead, they scratch their heads a bit and admit that there are a few items that weren't considered so let's schedule a meeting and see if that will help get the answer quicker.




D-Day arrives.  You escort the poor sales rep to the board room where the chopping block is hidden from view.  You can't wait to see mince meat made outta the soul who questions your boss.

Very few niceties exchanged about the weather, the sports team, but the consultative sales person is calm and you sense confidence that you wouldn't have thought to be there.

Calmly the consultative sales professionals shares some of the research on the organization and asks for confirmation or expansion on those facts.  You have a hard time believing it but your Boss isn't his gruff self, but is pulling up his chair to the table a little bit closer and paying attention.



“Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success.”
                          ~Henry Ford


 

You blink a few times in wonder.  The consultative sales professional is asking questions that have nothing to do with the widget that they're being asked to price on.  Questions like what will it be used for?  What has been used in its place until now?  How has that worked?  What would you change if you could?  What problems does it cause you when the widget breaks down?  Who is impacted by this?  How long are you out of operation for?  How long does it take for the widget to be fixed?  Who fixes it?  Do you have a warranty or any SLA (Service Level Agreement) in place with the widget seller that promises it would be fixed in the evening or on weekends?

Your boss is smiling, being agreeable.  What the heck?  I'm confused while they're both relaxed and even appear to be on the same page.

The consultative sales professional asks the boss if they would be allow to do a bit more digging to find out some of these answer for them.   That ought to be the catch, I smell ka-ching.  But no, the consultant says that in order to make the right recommendation and ensure the right widget is chosen, they would like to speak to some of the end users (huh? why the heck ....) on how they use the widget, when they use it, what happens when it breaks down, and what they would wish for in a new widget.

Man oh Man.  Not one word on price .... yet!  What's that?  Did I just hear that right?  The Widget Man (aka sales consultant) has just had the Boss agree to allow the Widget Man to meet with key people on his staff to interview them and ask the same questions themselves.

Oh oh, the Boss slowly turns his eyes to zero on me.  What did I do?  I'm writing notes I indicate by motioning to my pad and pen.  I'm asked to schedule these meetings for Widget Man with IT, Finance, and Mr. so on and Ms. so forth ... the folks that use the widget we're replacing.

Scrambling for my Day Timer, I lift my eyes that are almost popping out of my head to see what the Boss'll say to that:  the Widget Man just asked the Boss to send out an email or memo to the same folk he calls "end users" stating that Widget Man will be meeting them to ask them questions on their use of Widget that they are considering replacing.





The Boss is smiling agreeably when the Widget Man says they will meet to review the results and come up with a plan "together".

Huh? No price, no proposal was even discussed. 

_________________________________________________________________

"The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well."
~John D. Rockefeller


 



DO or DIE: master the fear of public speaking

“A good speech should be like a woman's skirt: long enough to cover the subject  and short enough to create interest”  
~Winston Churchill




Public speaking is the number one fear, that is before death, divorce and any other tragedy you can conjure up ....... I highly recommend Toastmasters International.  It goes hand in hand with lifelong learning, surrounding yourself with positive people and the perfect environment for perfecting the craft.



As a member, I became Membership VP, Club President then on to Area Governor (helping others and reinforcing my own skills).  I've witnessed someone who joined our club go onward and upward to being a professional speaker.  There are many groups out there that you can choose from to suit your own personal circumstances.  For me, it was important to be in a professional setting and a strong mix of people with benchmark speakers to aspire to become as good as.  Therefore, I ended up joining the oldest club in Calgary that met at our Chamber of Commerce weekly during lunch time.  It developed being able to speak in front of an intimate audience while they were dining (that is a very different challenge).

 We ran our meetings very tightly because we only had an hour.  Some of the best friendships evolved from our group.   I stretched outside my comfort zone by participating in contests and as Area Governor hosting them.  It's amazing how you learn how to run a proper meeting or give constructive feedback.  You can find groups that meet in the evenings or weekends that are more social and much longer ... keeping in mind, you are surrounding yourself with people who are learning to talk - sometimes the challenge is to have them shut up - that is why we had a timer :o)



There are countless tips on mastering public speaking and the aforementioned valuable Toastmasters International.  However, I have a few of my own:

  1. The content of your speech is just as important as your delivery:   take the time to research and then write;
  2. I would write my speech in Microsoft Word:   applying a very large font with double spacing using the rule of thumb that if you have a five minute speech, at a comfortable pace, it amounts to three pages;
  3. Edit, edit and then edit again:  Read the draft out loud after your initial proof read to test the rhythm and flow.
  4. Practice reading it out loud again:  practice does make perfect
  5. Use a timer:  practice reading it out loud at a normal pace to get an idea of the length of your speech
  6. Edit again if it doesn't feel natural to you:  you will deliver a speech more effectively if it is a topic you are passionate about or an authority on making it easier and flow nicely
  7. Speak in front of a mirror:  grimaces and facial expressions can detract from the power of your speech if underscored by frowns, etc.
  8. Smile when you speak:  yes, it conveys confidence and sends the message that you are enjoying yourself and your audience will catch on and some smile back
  9. Use pauses to make emphasis:  Effectively pausing, taking a deep breath down into your stomach ensures that you are not going to run out of breath and start panting;  if it is a serious topic, a pause is like underscoring your point.
  10. Use eye contact:  as you've gained familiarity of your speech by practice, you will have the confidence to lift your eyes and make contact; contrary to popular belief have your eyes travel to different people in the audience, smile at them or pause when looking at them
  11. Use hand gestures:  Hand gestures are another way of emphasizing your speech and drawing your audience in
  12. Monitor body language:  Don't be stiff and marginally turn your body as you are making eye contact
  13. Be inclusive:  Travel around the room or across the table with your eyes, hand gestures and body language
  14. It is OK to hang on to your written speech:  I used to clutch mine like I was hanging on for dear life;  it was my anchor for nerves, a reminder and safety net if there was a distraction  you can recoup without hesitation or losing momentum
  15. Know your room and set up before you start speaking:  Having a lectern or podium is a nice to have, in some cases something to hang on for dear life if fear starts to settle in, it is also convenient for placing your written speech pages to slide the pages gracefully as you move along
  16. Cue cards are fine if that works for you:  However, how you use them is what can boost or detract from your speech;  be smooth about it and avoid jerky hand movements that can travel to your body and eyes
  17. Nobody is naked:  you are confident, you've researched and crafted a speech you are an authority of so nobody has to look silly for you to carry it off
  18. Traveling around the room:  sometimes space is limited so if you're counting on including movement, that is all part of knowing the room layout and adjusting if it is squeezed quarters; it isn't necessary unless it is needed for gestures to emphasis points; some consider it a way to generate energy
  19. Generate energy:  by the tone of your voice, fluctuating in tone when you are making key points, hand gestures, body language and facial expressions can communicate your confidence and involve your audience
  20. Don't read a speech:  nothing murders a well prepared speech more than speaking in monitone and droning on and on; if you have rehearsed, practiced, adjusted eye contact and hand gestures you can be animated;
  21. Ask for feedback:  you will learn by feedback; people are more willing to provide constructive, helpful advice if they can sense the level of sincerity you have when you ask for it
  22. Continue learning by being around other stronger speakers:  register in Toastmasters International and attend meetings that suit your personal style and schedule - there are hundreds of groups in your city and very often in rural communities (you'd be surprised).
  23. Reach beyond your comfort zone:  increase the audience size, the venue, surroundings, audience type, enter speaking contests to build your confidence.
  24. Toastmasters International is not typically expensive to join unless you chose a club that hosts luncheons or served dinners; there are brown bag clubs, clubs that meet at venues that are offered as PR by restaurants, hotels, at little to no fees because it shows their goodwill and support in the community.  You usually just have to pay for annual fees and small monthly dues for your club to survive
  25. Keep moving your milestones:  Toastmasters offers multiple prepackaged material that strong clubs tend to have for its members or can be accessed and paid for from their website www.toastmasters.org ;  they offer a platform of understanding as to where you are in your development from your "Icebreaker" to CTM (Competent Toastmaster), ATM (Accomplished Toastmaster), CL (Certified Leader)
  26. Dale Carnegie is the founder of Toastmasters International, his books are still in massive print today (one of my favorite being:  "How to Win Friends and Influence People) and has a world wide organization that offers the power course to public speaking at a heftier cost than Toastmasters but in a shorter period of time, often over the extent of days or spread out over weeks 
  27. Reach beyond your comfort zone:  increase the audience size, the venue, surroundings, audience type, enter speaking contests to build your confidence
  28. Become a leader:  By becoming involved in club, you improve your leadership skills, hosting a meeting, chairing a meeting or being nominated or voted (annually) on the club executive
  29. Volunteer for the different roles:  you can chair to practice hosting effective, tight meetings, speak off the cuff with no advance notice or preparation, provide constructive feedback which you are even graded on
  30. Video tape if you can so that you can observe yourself and overcome some of your own personalized gestures, jerky movements, audience receptiveness
  31. Practice does make perfect:  you better believe it!


 Regardless, just get out and do it!

“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu Speech."
~Mark Twain 




 
 

SURVIVAL of the Fittest: Cheaters or Bullies?


Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.”
Theodore Roosevelt

 
Let me start out firstly by underscoring the fact that I am not an advocate of cheating or bullying whatsoever!  What inspired me to write this Blog is the fact that there is a growing enlightenment that bullying by managers is an epidemic that is rampant in corporate America.  Not really surprising  is it?




These stories shed light on the pressure organizations put on managers who in turn bully employees into productivity levels that are so high that the ones that are achieving them are putting their home life aside, long hours without claiming it as overtime, while those Managers are using those superhuman employees as examples by casting them as superstars and the benchmark for performance yardsticks. 

Regardless of what the marketing, website or PR machines are saying, the management style of telling, not asking, never mind showing, is prevalent in corporate culture.  Sadly, it is those same managers who haven't even been in the trenches doing the work to understand the demands they are asking for.  Their middle managers are under the same stress and are more keen on being surrounded by those that support them, do what they ask without question, rather than examine how they are getting those results because they have to continually showcase their own worth and face similar expendable threat.  Or, in some cases, they are the ones who are asking their managers to do it.  Leading by example? 

Sadly, motivation and inspiration deteriorates as employees are under pressure because wherever you look, the media is saying basically that "you're lucky to have a job" with so much unemployment seemingly the norm.   Gone are the days when friends or colleagues layoff are shocking.  We've become more conditioned to it rather than historically wondering if they did something wrong to actually deserve it. 

Repeating myself: I'm not condoning the behaviour of cheating or bullying.  I'm just thankful that more awareness is being brought forward that this is normal practice.  However, what I'd like to see are stories where management bullying and superhuman expectations are not condoned by executives who really believe what their PR states:  they promote life/work balance and want happy employees.  Let's hear more stories where managers are held accountable, if not fired for bullying or threatening behaviour. 

It ain't rocket science:  happy employees are productive employees.  I'm sure somewhere, scientific data demonstrates how this counterproductive culture ends up costing the company more.  Unfortunately, forcing employees to cheat or managers to bully isn't the way to solve the problem, it just compounds it. 



I was floored the other day when I read an article from a CEO who has earned the distinction of having their PR stories shared.  Makes one a little skeptical whether they wrote it themselves or had their marketing or PR team tell the tale ... It was along the lines of getting the right people in the right place doing the right things ... blah blah blah.   I know for a fact that the same organization does not examine its managers style in garnering performance.  Sure there are feedback surveys but who in their right mind wants to be honest when they're already insecure enough as it is.  The executives appear to either turn a blind eye to the extent to which managers are meeting KPI (Key Performance Indicators) or under the false impression that they are following healthy avenues to get results.   Perhaps their own executive team is encouraging the dysfunction based on their own insecurities?

In today's world, HR has a lot of pressure placed upon it:  recruiting the "right" people, sometimes onboarding, managing benefits, offering training,  mediating conflicts, terminating employees, etc. etc. while they are suppose to be the watchdogs of a positive corporate culture.  The sad fact is, like everyone else in many corporations, they are being tasked to do twice as much with half the resources ... those key resources are human capital.

I had dinner with a couple of mentors the other night and one was sharing a story on how they tried to follow the company complaint process broadcast on its website and HR policies yet was not supported by HR who immediately appeared to believe the manager immediately before the employee.  This same staffer ended up resigning because of the disappointment and embarrassment for doing the "right thing".   Another situation I recall hearing is when communication was specifically forwarded to a CEO and its HR executive on bullying and favoritism by a manager ... the HR executive responded in a couple of hours to say that the matter had been investigated and was unfounded.  Sounds rather quick for an indepth investigation doesn't it? How does that sound about caring about employees coming forth with the truth?  Then there may be the question of whether they are following the right channels or process.

It doesn't take a genius to understand that employees are one of the most expensive and quickest ways to eliminate costs to corporations and many make it a acceptable practice to play with employees lives by eliminating jobs or backfilling offshore because it saves money.   Who really feels valued when they're shown time and again that they are easily expendable or can be replaced at a heartbeat.

Recently, I heard a new term to me on CNN called "Moral Capitalization".  Basically,  the interpretation is that it is perfectly normal for organizations to backfill people with offshore workers at a fraction of the salary or hourly wage to save on the bottom line.  It came up at least, but not a heck of a lot of indignation.  The threat is real yet I'm not hearing much about it.  I consider myself rather tuned in.  Maybe I'm not.  I'm a cup full person I like to think ... if I'm not questioning where the rest disappeared to?


“Men occasionally stumble over the truth,
 but most of them pick themselves up
and hurry off  as if nothing ever happened.”

~Winston Churchill

 Granted, executives are under extreme pressure to provide shareholder value which fuels the engine and pays their big salaries.  It is fine for the media to examine whether executives earn their inflated salaries and bonuses but really who ends up being held accountable?  I respect the pressure they're under but isn't it normal that you are paid for doing your job which equates with the responsibility you have!?! 

One of my wishes would be more accountability and media stories about those who fall into the habit of bringing costs into check by eliminating jobs as a quick out to savings.  Isn't it kinda like knowing your fuel gauge is showing you're almost on empty while you try coasting downhill with your foot off the gas thinking you'll get further?  It doesn't eliminate the fact that you need to refill the tank.  

What about stupid spending and inflated salaries?  Maybe we're getting there slowly in my own country, Canada, who is fielding a rather large controversy of out of this world spending by Senators.  Subnote:  which is being overshadowed fiercely by the drama unfolding of Rob Ford, Toronto's Crack Mayor.  It appears human nature prefers scandal over fairness.  Even in my own City, Calgary, in the final weeks leading up to our Civic Election, the media was catching momentum on sharing how taxes were escalating like crazy.   Yet, the leadership was re-elected despite what was unfolding.  I can't help but wonder when the poor workers at City Hall are going to be laid off as a means to get costs under control because the media exposure causing the populace to complain resulting in a show of fiscal responsibility?  I know, it is a vicious cycle.   One can't help but think change will not occur if the same people are continually rewarded for unacceptable behaviour.  Have we just been conditioned to accept it as normal?  What does it say about the generation who is being raised under this picture?  How to you secure your future so it isn't your kids responsibility when you are being squeezed so tight to make ends meet that putting away a nest egg so we don't have to rely on those kids to help us when we retire because we aren't saving enough for our golden years.  Not sounding like golden years to many anymore.



I've openly been a huge advocate of Don Collins book "Good to Great" and know leaders who personally are invested in creating the culture promoted that creates a self-sustaining company that will serve generations to come.  I know of two executives that I know are disciples to the lesson unfolded in the book that come to mind:  One is actually doing a phenomenal job of following the practices demonstrated in the book and the other "thinks" it is being done. One does it by default, unconsciously and would never condone it what I'm talking about here.  I would even go so far as to say that they would fire a manager who was caught bullying employees never mind making them fearful of expiration if they didn't produce more.  Another biggie is one of the companies in his book ... are practicing this horrid behaviour ... the founders are likely rolling in their graves!  Don't get me ramped up on Code of Ethics.  We've all signed them.  Even the organization that says that inter office affairs lead to disciplinary action, including losing one's job, if a manager engages in a relationship with a subordinate.  Never mind if that subordinate just had a brand new baby and a wife dealing with post partum depression, escapes through the affair.  What happens to the employee who brings it up to the person responsible for upholding corporate morality?  If they aren't so uncomfortable they leave, they may have a cause for termination surface.  That, promotes keeping your mouth shut if you know what's good for you doesn't it?

Bullying and making employees fearful of keeping their jobs or being replaced is real and happens daily. Will someone please start bringing to light the organizations where executives are not examining their managers' behaviour?  It seems to me that the only way the unscrupulous behaviour will be stopped is when the media or someone starts uncovering dysfunction and the horrid practice of eliminating spending on the backs of real people.  These are the same people who when employed, buy cars and upgrade homes, AND fuel the economy!

If one is constantly under the fear of losing one's job, they are not going to spend money.  Even more realistic, groceries, gas and sundries prices continue to rise, yet salaries don't increase at the same pace.  Fearful employees don't ask to collect overtime for doing a job that a manager has set at superhuman levels and bullies staff and more often holding them fearful.

What a vicious circle!  Eventually it is going to cost more than just money.  What about health?  Heart attacks, stroke and many ailments are compounded by stress.  Does it make sense to allow companies to boast about employee value but nobody monitors it?  It sounds good to increase shareholders or attract customers.  How about citizens, customers, shareholders rally together and stop supporting organizations that don't practice what they preach?  How about they start asking if the only way the corporation saves money is from layoffs or offshoring jobs?   Or, how about turnover being monitored more closely so that the investment in an employee isn't being lost because they leave before they become honest and say how they really feel?   That drains corporate finances but why isn't anyone really bringing forth these exits.  I should back up, I did read one article a couple of months ago that a powerful organization was dealing with a mass exodus of some of its people. 




Nothing is going to change unless every single person thinks that they can make a difference.  That their voice will be heard.  That they can be honest on feedback without repercussions of losing their job or made to feel so uncomfortable that the morals promoted when they were hired were not just blowing smoke.  That executives are more concerned with the health of the organization through its employees being productive by moderate means and real life balance than its financials.  Sounds like Utopia to me.

Let's start the dialogue now!  Let's stop promoting the IPO of Twitter, who the average middle wage employee couldn't dream of investing in because they're planning for not if, but when, their job will be eliminated.

I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.”
~    
Abraham Lincoln



Do you have a story to tell?  Do you know someone who has been bullied at work, or was it you?  Do you agree with what I'm saying?  Let me see your comments, please.


“No, you don't know what it's like
When nothing feels all right
You don't know what it's like
To be like me
To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No, you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life

Simple Plan

You wanna to work in technology? GAME ON!

"Anyone who stops learning is old.  Whether twenty or eighty.  Anyone who keeps learning stays young."

~Henry Ford 


I got a great kick out of watching the movie "The Internship".  The premise of the movie is based on characters by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who are has-been sales schlumps, who have talked their way (via video conference, of course) into Google by having them accepted into their internship program at its headquarters.   The winners at the end are rewarded with a job (radio of 10/95).  To most in the audience, it provides a  cool canvass of what Palo Alto and the Google corporate offices may be like.  (Free food, corporate branding everywhere).  Never having ever been there, I was along for the ride just like everyone else.  I could appreciate a couple of Gen-X characters attempt to relate and communicate with the brilliant millennia majority population.



What I did look at with my own experienced eye from working at HP and then in corporate sales, is there are some similarities.  At other times, it is just that:  a movie.  For instance, I do agree that there is the likelihood of a "sink or swim" (in a pool with sharks) environment -- where the strongest survive.  Underscoring the fact that all the tricks and brains that may have gotten past your parents, high school teachers or college professors won't cut it here. 

The "rah rah" speeches at the beginning of the Google first day is what people tend to believe is what happens.   In reality, there truly are some corporate culture where it does.  Many more others that do not whatsoever.  My own personal experience with HP was remote, working from home.  We had one of the most enthusiastic persons (Donna) who did make us excited we had arrived, who was tasked to show us many of the tools that we needed access to.  There really wasn't any onboarding schedule or even a welcome aboard rah rah event.  You got the job, now you had to just do it.  So in that, the expectations in a fast moving, successful, technical environment is basically it.  There is no sugar coating or welcome parade. 

To survive, you figure out what tools you have available.  For example, to communicate, it is not often by telephone and email can take too long.  So what you have is "Office Communicator".  I know I sound old when I thought it was it was to trick me into a calm sense of security that I was allowed to "chat" never mind have the time to do so.  On the up and up, I considered it would be a waste of company time just touching the keys.   However, when you get in the trenches of these big mean smart machines that are called companies, the office communicator is your life rope to getting things done: asking questions, following up in "real" time.  That is compared to the time it would take to look up a phone number and then dial, losing valuable minutes.  An email is really convenient if you want to "track" something but is ancient technology when seconds count and escalations are mounting and productivity matters.

Back to the movie ... again, hilarious right?  I'm going to be different and suggest you watch the underlying lesson hidden deep.  It is a warning call to anyone who thinks they're hot stuff techno savvy.  You may think you will  blend in at the supercool center of the universe.   You may have excelled in Computer Sciences, and worked at other companies where the boss doesn't understand half of what you say but trusts you with the company's network, firewall, security, etc. etc.  AND you were told you were a genius by your parents since you can remember .... right? 

Imagine again, you're parachuted into Google headquarters, had to make a group with others to form a team.  That in itself, would usually place a super computer genius in an uncomfortable position, because they've typically been labeled as introverts more comfortable with a keyboard than a telephone ... and yikes avoid eye contact whenever possible.  Stereotype right?

What about the young gal in the movie?  She has been thrown in with a bunch of misfits who happen to be guys .... while she hasn't even had her first date, never mind a boyfriend ... so her she starts off kilter just by having to be thrown in with a team of guys, who are more alien to her. 


"Technology is nothing.  What's important is that you have faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools they'll do wonderful things with them."
~Steve Jobs  
          

What does this have to do with a Blog on sales and leadership?  We'll be getting to that another time, I promise.  What I wanted to do first was give you a reality wakeup to the world of technical companies.  Over my career, I've had onboarding like many people.  Being shuffled into a meeting room with a text book, an instructor, lots of Power Points, while the biggest challenge is staying attentive never mind awake.  By the time you get to the HR forms, you have placed mental toothpicks in your eyes and are just praying for the time when its all over and you can get down to work!


Well, the world of onboarding in a technology company is not usually as game on as the Google one in the movie.  The biggest excitement will be if you do get your laptop on your first day.  If you are lucky enough for that, you're even more excited than when you got your offer letter after you were able to get the log on credentials to work the first time.  The irony is that you're working for a technical company, but the only guarantee is that getting logged on, may only be after 15 attempts, and that is if you pass the security of Fort Knox, firewalls and so on.  Now you start to wonder if there was something in your past they did uncover during your background check during screening (which is akin to applying for the Secret Service) is what is making matters so difficult.

In the real world, you will HAVE to reach out to a colleague, or similar lost soul, and have no choice but to start helping each other because there is no manual or text book provided.  You're there, you've got a secure password, you are finally logged on, thus you are onboard in this company's rule book.

Training?  Huh?  Similar to the movie, you are given a project and told to get going.   Nobody wants to appear puzzled because there was no training.  You've been immediately told to get started.  You don't dare say "How?" .... that would be very uncool and set you up to appear as an imposter, which is next to impossible since you know your criminal, credit and background were under the microscope before an offer letter came, so you wouldn't think they had made a mistake. 

How do you get a project without being trained you ask?  You get an email of course!  Yes, your name is on it, but it is a template where they insert your name.   (Lucky for you if you're copied in with other souls that you may eventually grasp on to.  Mostly every other mystery is what you unravel yourself.  If you're proactive and a keener, you have figured out to take the chance to message one of the names you heard on the first call or copied list and ping him/her to ask what they perceived we were suppose to do.  Thankfully, no alarm bells went off and your computer didn't freeze, so this Internal Communicator message service is an acceptable practice.

The reality in the movie on teaming up stretches to remind you more of sports team groupings from elementary when there are a bunch of lost souls thrown together as a team because everyone else didn't want the misfits on their team that quickly fell into place.  Thus, while everyone else has measured up and grouped up, the leftover misfits have to make do.  Truth be told, in the real world, it is not much different, except you are not misfits, of course.   You are thrown together, because you share the same division,  first day, job description and received the same email instructing you what time and what teleconference number to dial into ... automatically you accept and its filled in for you for a week.    Don't even get started on "just being a number" ... that is all you are when you have to call HR to inquire about benefits and haven't memorized your number.   The only time you likely hear proactively from HR is when you are asked to fill out a feedback form on how well they are doing.  Who wants to take the chance of being honest? 

What the movie accurately portrays is that no matter the differences in background, degrees of intelligence, or preconceived strength, you are joined by a common goal: "to succeed."  Team work will evolve as your life line to success.  Everyone there will be given the same degree of challenging projects.  The moral of the story:  the team that comes together the best, becomes a real team, faces challenging circumstances TOGETHER and recognizes each unique strength, will be successful.  There is no time to lose, they are ready to jump in.  Yes, they have fun, they do some team building and overcome challenges that bring them closer together.   At they end, they adore each other, rely on each other and are not a bunch of misfit individuals but one solid unit.



Have you ever worked in a place where there were people who would throw you under the bus in order to make themselves look good?  Well that happened in the movie and in my technical world background, it did happen.  When you're in a dog-eat-dog world culture that some companies thrive on (I'm not suggesting Google is this at all), they encourage this so that the cream rises to the surface.  The thinking behind this is that customers, projects, requests, escalations, don't have time to hand hold, be empathetic, and even less time to hear excuses.  Toughen up baby!

Perhaps there is method to the madness after all.  Who has time to tell a group of people who don't know each other, are often labeled as introverts, are in an environment that challenge often comes last minute with huge obstacles ... how to deal with it?  By throwing them together, seeing who gets it together and gets what needs to be done done.  Trial by fire you say?  Nope, more like the real world.  On top of it all, there is nobody there to pat you on the back and say you're a genius, smarter,  or anything better than everyone else in your group. You're there.  'Nuff said, now get to work.  You'll figure it out.  If you don't, you will  know the door you came in is likely the one you'll be shown out (or computer you logged on to will freeze up and block you out quicker than you can sneeze).


The guarantee I promise though:   you will discover and know what it meant to be part of a real team -- the ones you shared the big-? on your foreheads together on the first day, the ones you scrambled to ask questions from in a panic, the ones you stopped everything to help because you know they would do the same, meanwhile you wouldn't even be worrying about if you have to work a little later to catch up.


The nice moral of "The Internships" is those that play together, work hard together, and work well together will come out as champions.  Unfortunately, in the real world that churns at an alarming pace, it doesn't always work out that way.  Personalized real connections are rare.  Often, there are others out there that will not hesitate to throw you under the bus so that they can be the one who end up ahead.  Managers couldn't even imagine it, never mind have time to access these types of behaviours.  Why?  Simply said:  it is all about productivity.  A apt visual metaphor is the marathon race where the not-so-nice person puts an obstacle in the path of his/her greatest threat so that they take a tumble and fall.  The mean person pulls ahead and wins the race.  In the movies, unrelated to the one I'm talking about ... the mean guy eventually gets caught and the hero finally gets credit for playing the game by the rules.

In the real world, productivity is productivity.  You all start at the start line and cross the finish line in the same place.  Just how long and if you have detours is between you, yourself, and maybe someone you like to complain or whine to.  Then again, it is true you could be doing everything right, you could even be very detailed and conscientious.  Yet the mean guy who throws curves at everyone else, talks about how great he is, or politics up to the boss, can end up being at the front of the race and considered the winner.  Yeah, I know, that sucks.  That's life.   If you want my advice?  Get down to it, work harder than the rest!  Yes, that could mean working overtime regardless of whether you get paid for it or not.  Because in the real world, and I didn't even start talking about this:  there are folks in far off lands, where economics mean that they can do what you do, at a fraction of what you are paid, are VERY prepared, willing, and able to take your job if you can't handle it.  That's when the boss or manager takes a bow for saving the company money.

I suggest you scrutinize sites like "Glass Door" or "Linked In" to research company's corporate culture carefully, paying particular attention to how they treat their employees.  That is the most sure way you can guarantee your own happy ending.

Intrigued?  Here is a clip of the movie:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=The+Internship+Trailer+2013&Form=VQFRVP#view=detail&mid=312EFE4A599AEBA5CE8E312EFE4A599AEBA5CE8E

 

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"Learning is a gift, even if pain is your teacher."
~Unknown


This article was written with team wonders in mind:  Donna, Rehan, Lonna, Ken, Siri and Amy, colleagues and fellow trainees from HP. ~JM

 All images were accessed freely from content posted on the web and no copyright infringement was intended by the usage of same or Google logo.  All the opinions here are my own and in no way reflect upon HP as an organization or company.