I mean really, as a manager, what is the right question to ask:
And check out this new great source for quotes called Quotes Daddy, promising over 1,000,000 quotes.
Do you rely on magic to get your point across to your team or somehow try to mind meld your message to them?
I once had a manager who would try to use Jedi mind tricks to get his point across. If that wasn’t weird enough, he actually believed when we complied with what he asked that we did it because of his powerful mind. His emails were vague and he would always send notes to the whole team instead of to the people who needed the information.
Nobody responded to his e-mails because everybody thought somebody else would respond.
Not very effective use of e-mail.
But there’s a better way. It’s called the B.L.U.F. (Big Lead Up Front) method and it works!
How you can use B.L.U.F. to help you communicate more clearly?
1) Use the subject line in your e-mail for initial clarity and add as much information as you can without making it too long.
Example: Subject: Need your answer by Tuesday March 1st at 3 PM
2) Consistently use the To line for all those who you require a response from, and put those who need the information but don’t need to respond, in the CC line.
Example: If you want a response from John, Jane and Sam, but you want to make sure Sally and Tom know the information, you put John, Jane and Sam in the To line, and Sally and Tom on the CC line. Simple, huh?
3) State the main point in the first sentence of the e-mail so folks don’t have to guess what you’re trying to say.
Example: We have 2 options for a meeting date: Friday March 5th at 3:00 PM or Monday March 7th at 10 AM. Please respond with your preference by Tuesday March 1st at 3 PM.
Don’t worry. You can still explain any background information or anything else you want to share below your B.L.U.F.
Simple.
Clear.
Direct.
Don’t rely on Jedi mind tricks and expect folks to guess what you want in email.
Jo Davis, magician photo courtesy of doonvas
Tags: email
John Blumberg shared a shocking statistic: 7% of employees leave their managers because they didn’t say good morning.
How hard is it to say “Good Morning” to the people that report to you?
Must be harder than I thought, as 7% of managers don’t say it often enough to their employees.
Being the imperfect manager that I am, I wondered to myself what I’m not saying to my team enough, and I came up with a few things I’m going to work into my daily conversation with my team.
Good morning.
Thank you.
I appreciate the work you do.
You make my job easier.
Great job!
How are you?
How can I make your job easier?
How is your family?
What’s new?
Anything you want/need to talk about?
Good morning sunshine? photo credit to Rick
FISH! photo courtesy of Amazon.com
Has anyone ever told you about the wonderful little book called “FISH!” the book? Sure, you’re probably a little skeptical about anything that sounds this silly. Or you’re skeptical because the book is based on a group of guys who work at the Pikes Place Fish Market in Seattle, and your team doesn’t sling fish for a living, so you can’t possibly put anything in this book into action.
I was skeptical at first too, and then my team decided we’d “go FISH!ing” and put the philosophy into action in our IT department. And it changed a lot of the ways we talk to each other and even impacted our actions.
What is FISH! and how can you put it into action?
What is FISH!®?
FISH! is a skill that provides the process, tools and language to generate the skills necessary to design a workplace full of inspiration, creativity and innovation. FISH! creates a common language. A language that will help improve your culture by using four simple practices – Be There, Play, Make Their Day and Choose Your Attitude™. FISH! is a wisdom that everyone can embrace. It is an invitation that enables people to care about each other and their commitments. FISH! is an ongoing journey. It is not a fad. It is a practice and a skill that evolves over time creating a positive workplace and a vibrant culture each time it is embraced. - From the FISH! Philosophy website
How can these 4 simple principles be put into practice for your team, and, more importantly what difference can they make?
Stay tuned. Each Friday for the next few weeks, I’ll be tackling each of the philosophies and showing you how you can live the FISH! Philosophy.
If you’d like to read the book, as of this writing, there are used copies available on Amazon.com for just $.41.
Happy 2009 Slacker Manager readers. May the next 12 months be as amazing as you want them to be.
Take some time and reflect over all that happened the last 12 months, and then realize that your best is yet to come.
Thank you for joining me on this management journey! It’s been an amazing year for me, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Melissa blows in the new year from Hurley Family.
Taking a look back at 2008, I noticed I reviewed 6 books here on Slacker Manager (click the book name to check out the review):
In 2009, I plan to review at least 1 book a month plus 1 extra (13 total).
Here are 5 I might be reviewing:
I only review the best of the best, though I read quite a few more books than this every year. I also plan to do at least 6 book giveaways for you so you can read some of the best.
3 questions for you:
Please let me know what you think in the comments and I’ll do what I can to make your request a reality!
Note from Phil: This is a guest post from Christian Warren, author of Running with the Rhinos. I don’t have time for long discertations on how I can be a better leader, and I love the simplest of management lessons. This article is great for its simplicity and its ease of application. I think you’ll enjoy it too!
One of the most important guidelines for leading and managing teams comes down to three words: “Communicate to inspire.”
As leaders we must understand how we talk–or more important, how we think we talk. One of the key questions to ask ourselves is, “Do I say what I think I mean? Or do I say what I mean?” Leaders talk all day long, and with every word we speak comes the potential to build up or detract from both our vision and our sphere of influence.
While we may think that we always say what we mean, many times we don’t. When we’re busy, distracted or rushed, we may not think before we talk. Other times, we may become so emotional that we speak from a place of anger, fear or humiliation instead of being positive and inspiring.
Managers need to convey their message as clearly as possible and deliver its truest meaning.
Jack Welch is quoted as saying “Be candid with everyone.” Leaders must form each message with deliberate intent to communicate an idea and deliver it in a way that leaves no room for misunderstanding.
Some of the world’s greatest leaders are known for their briefest communications. Think about the Gettysburg Address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Less than 300 words, it moved a nation and still retains enormous power almost a century and a half later.
A leader’s words must serve a greater cause, emotionally connecting the listener to the leader’s vision.
If we go back to Jack Welch’s words and look at the Third Principle of Rhino Leadership: Rhino Talk, then we will understand that communication starts with being yourself. Other animals listen to the rhino because its every grunt, growl and squeak serves a purpose. Leaders must speak deliberately and consciously deliver the message that needs to be heard. This efficient, streamlined manner of communication is Rhino Talk, and if you use it, others will follow your lead.
Communicating and inspiring your team also means completing the connection with them through reflecting back their needs and concerns while also sharing your vision. Reflecting back doesn’t mean saying what others want to hear but instead showing them that they have been heard and understood. Your ability to communicate this understanding and empathy may not alleviate everyone’s concerns, but it will go a long way toward letting people know that they are not alone, that someone has their best interests at heart.
The essential principle of all communication is simply this: everyone matters.
Here are 5 ways to deliver communications that inspires your team:
What else can you think of to deliver communications that inspires your team?
Christian D. Warren is the author of the best-selling leadership book Running with the Rhinos. You can learn more about him at his Web site at www.christianwarren.com.
Author and management guru extraordinaire Lisa Haneberg shared her 2009 goals, and one in particular resonated with me enough to ask you your thoughts here on Slacker Manager:
What are those areas most especially troublesome for managers?
I think the managers that got promoted last year are in for a big shock in what’s going to be a VERY challenging year.
I’m thinking of 3 big things that will be troublesome for managers in 2009:
What am I missing? Managers, what’s keeping you up at night?
Shared in the Manager Tools forums is this simple, yet brilliant, meeting cost calculator, perfect for your iPhone.
It’s got all you need to calculate the cost of your meeting:
See what I mean. Simple, yet brilliant!
And yes, the meeting cost calculator will work in your browser, you don’t have to have an iPhone. But it does make it a LOT more useful if you do.
If you’re not subscribing to the Manager Tools forum feed, you really should, or at least bookmark the Manager Tools forum front page.
In the comments of my recent book review of Age of Speed, I was blessed with some great questions and feedback from you, the brilliant readers of Slacker Manager.
First, a question: Raymond E. Foster made a fantastic point every manager should think about: “I think the biggest part of “speed” or working smart, or whatever the current term is figuring out which activities actually produce the best results.”
Of course, someone offered a solution. J.D. Meier offered this nugget:
“The way that’s worked for me is fix time, flex scope. The key of course is figuring out how to right-size the value and chunk it down so you actually have “cuttable” scope. (… and the secret to cuttable scope is scenarios).”
When I think about which activities produce the best results, I try to focus on this question: “What can I do right now that only I can do?” If it’s not something only I can do, it’s something I probably should be delegating to one of my direct reports, or something my team or I shouldn’t be doing at all. Sure, this isn’t something I always follow, because there are plenty of times when for some reason or another, I have to do something that anyone can do.
What do you think?
How do you figure out which activities produce your best results?
Wondering what to get your team this year for Christmas or whatever other holiday they celebrate?
How about giving them each a little more of your time, and be fully present for them?
Make your presence the present!
Not in a micro-managing sort of way, by undermining everything they do, but in a being fully present sort of way, when they stop by to ask you questions or need help.
2 questions for you to ponder and share in the comments:
Happy Holidays!
Thank you for your attention this past year. I appreciate you taking time to comment and be fully present for me.
Underpants photo credit to Daniel Pink
I thought I had it alright, in an article I wrote about setting and resetting expectations. I thought it was all about my expectations and my associate’s expectations, and that was enough.
But then, I got some really insightful comments that challenged my thinking about expectation setting.
Mike King started it off with:
I believe in this case the ratings were in direct relation to salary review so were skewed from what they might have put at a different time of year. This is something I think a lot of people believe. I’m always amazed that people find it hard to believe that a manager can actually think about a whole year in review, not just the last few weeks before a review.
Note from Phil: Very interesting thoughts Mike. I think linking performance directly to pay and explaining that as clearly and as timely as you can is critical to it’s success. I know companies who have reviews in February and pay increases in September. Something’s gotta give!
And yes, it is amazing to me to think that some don’t understand I can review the year as a whole, because I take notes, I save emails, and I keep the feedback going both directions, with one-on-one sheets to look through and also tickets, all examples of a year’s worth of performance. I look for patterns of behaviors, not one incident that was great or terrible.
Then Udo shared:
Managing should be about making people achieve great things for the company. However, the expectations-based evaluation process substitutes objective measurements of their actual performance with the subjective perception of the manager. It’s a deeply flawed process, it’s unfair to the employee and bad for the company. And nice for the manager’s ego, but that doesn’t really count, does it?
Note from Phil: I took a little offense to this comment, but still, it made me think differently. I added my two cents to the post:
This is not the only method of rating my associates. This is for core competencies and company values. This is the subjective part of the review. This is the part where I take all the client feedback, all the emails I’ve sent the associate, and everything else, and weigh that against where I expect you will be (and what we have discussed all year as part of the one-on-one process).
Next, Alan shared something I’d never thought seriously about:
Being a little more realistic than Udo, who was both a little harsh but yet had some good points - my problem is the separation of what the employee thinks is “exceeding expectations” and what we as Managers feel are “meeting expectations”.
I’ve seen enough reviews where employees give themselves a “5″ on a 1-5 scale and you wouldn’t give them higher than a “3″. Now is it your fault as a Manager because you did not communicate the expectations clearly enough, or is it a problem with the employee who, without direct and consistent feedback, had the attitude that they should be recognized as a King or Queen.
Maybe a ranking of where they stand in relation to all the employees in your firm would give them a more realistic visual (sort of like the BCS standings). If they saw themself ranked 24th out of 50 employees, then maybe they would do away with the feeling that they deserve all 5’s on their evaluation.
Note from Phil: Interesting idea here. A BCS ranking of job performance. VERY interesting. As nobody has the exact same duties and responsibilities, this is VERY hard…unless you multiplied it by goals achievement (times .5 for partially met, 1 for fully met, and 1.5 for exceeded the goal or something like that), I think it’s too hard to do unless you manage sales folks who’s only measure of success is something you can easily measure.
Steve continued the conversation:
I think the question is really “whose expectations.” The answer, IMNSHO, is the JOB’s expectations, not your and not the employees. Each job should be defined in terms of what is expected. If YOU then expect the person to do an amazing job, far above the JOB’s expectations, and the person does so, then they HAVE exceeded expectations.
And you have done a good job as manager to find and encourage the person.
Note from Phil: This is the last comment on the original article, and the one that finished opening my eyes. It’s really the expectations of the JOB, not of me. I like this a LOT.
Clearly defined JOB expectations will be the key to my January conversations with my team. I will share what expectations are, and how they can exceed them, then we’ll measure against that.
Thank you to my VERY smart commenters. I appreciate every comment you make, and though I don’t always respond with a separate post or even a comment, I read every comment and suggestion you make and take it into consideration when I write my next posts and when I lead my team.
Questions for you:
What did we miss about setting and resetting expectations?
How can we do it better next time?
Image credit to istockphoto for this complimentary download
NOTE from Phil: This is a timely guest post from Brandon Caudle, one of the most insightful writers on customer service I know. If you manage anyone who talks to customers or if you talk to customers, read these tips and act upon them RIGHT NOW. Then repeat them each month for best results. Simple tips. Great results. Thanks for your attention.
Whether our new President-elect Obama will turn around our struggling economy is unknown, however, as we head into our Holiday season, each of us can see and feel the impact that these tough times are having on our Customers. People are spending less, credit is tight and the home equity wave that we all rode for several years has crashed. This means that our Customers are spending less, and a lot of them are not spending at all!
If there ever was a time to hold on to our Customers, this is it. Which begs the question, what can we do to hold on to our Customers, when they simply cannot afford our products and services? Here are a few suggestions that may help us retain our Customer base through this economic crisis:
Reach out with a personal call or note - It’s so easy today to blast out an email…and equally as easy to delete it. The personal call or hand written card will not be forgotten as easily. Take a few minutes each morning before you start your day to call or write personal notes to a few Customers. You will be remembered more than your competition. Which means that when they spend money, it is more likely that they will spend it with you.
Bolster your product or service - We may not be able to slash prices like Wal-Mart, however, we can boost our image by enhancing our return policies during this Holiday season or adding in the little “extras” that do not impact our bottom line, but make our business more attractive to our Customers.
Treat each Customer as a VIP – This should be our daily mantra, however, it is so easy to slip into a passive mode when interacting with our Customers. Figure out a way to make their experience with you one that they tell their friends about the next day. Very quickly, your service becomes legendary and a Viral Customer Explosion will occur.
These times are rough, but we can do more than just make it through them. With the right Customer Service, we can thrive in them.
Thanks for reading,
Brandon
Brandon Caudle blogs at www.customerservicevoodoo.com, where you can find out why he capitalizes the word Customer.
Do you think work/life balance is some cruel joke designed by someone who’s never managed YOUR team or worked at YOUR company?
Do you wonder how to spend more time on what you enjoy, and less time on what you hate?
Pick up a copy of Vince Poscente’s Age of Speed today to learn how to do this.
I was admittedly VERY skeptical about a book that talked about speed and pacing, because I have heard from so many experts that you need to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N and take it easy.
Poscente writes about how speed can give you more time to do what you want. Not with a reckless speed, but with an intelligent speed, a speed that allows you to invest your time in alignment with your values.
Ways to cut time on the crap, and do more of what you love.
As a manager, this means I get to invest more time coaching my team, helping them create and achieve their goals, and less time on mindless meetings and pointless presentations.
Want to test drive the book before you pick up your own copy? No problem!
Vince offers a quick start guide to using this great book for you called Tips to Succeed. He’s also got a great weekly newsletter called Full Speed Ahead, which I subscribe to and greatly enjoy because it offers fast tips I can use RIGHT NOW to be a better manager and a better person.
Pick up a copy of Age of Speed today.
Better yet, pick up 2 copies…1 for you, and 1 for your manager, so you both can do more with less time.
Image courtesy of Amazon.com
What is the most meaningful phrase you’ve ever said, or had said to you?
Thank you to everyone who entered the contest to win a copy of 10 Powerful Phrases for Positive People by Rich DeVos.
All you had to do was answer one question: What is the most meaningful phrase you’ve ever said to one of your direct reports, or ever had said, to you?
In any experience, no matter how mundane, you’ll get out of it only what you put into it.
If your task is boring, it’s probably your fault. Look deeper.”
And if you did win, I’ll be emailing you soon!
Point to ponder: How much of an impact could YOU make by saying a few positive phrases, from the heart, to someone in your world?
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