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Leveraging Our Networks: During Every Encounter

15 Monday May 2017

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Every year we have dozens of built in opportunities to network.  We attend our children’s school and sporting events, participate in holiday parties, workout at the gym and stop for coffee every morning at the same coffee shop.  Over time we get to know dozens of people, or do we?

We’ve probably delivered the same proverbial elevator speech we’ve written and practiced over time when we’re asked what we do for a living, as have they, but we often categorize them as “personal” rather than “professional” friends.

One of the most successful business development executives in the consulting industry, who lives in a Chicago suburb, attended both his daughters’ soccer games during their high school years.  During those years, he often sat next to their teammate’s father, was happened to be the CEO of a healthcare company.   When the company wanted to improve their performance, he received a call from the CEO.

While working with a team on a consulting engagement for a graphics company in New York we learned the company had just been purchased by a company in Chicago.   The purchasing company sent a representative to listen to our findings, we were thanked and dismissed.  Two weeks later the team got a call to present to the buyers in Chicago, who happened to be someone he met at a neighborhood Christmas party.

This same man’s passion has always been airplanes.  He holds a private pilot’s license, owns his own plane and is a member of multiple aerospace industry associations.  About ten years ago one of his friends, also a pilot, asked him if he could put a team together to help streamline aircraft production.  The team was successful and since then the preponderance of consulting engagements he’s been responsible for have been in aerospace.

His success is well earned.  Ask anyone who knows him and they’ll tell you he and his wife have spent their lives giving back.   When one of his former clients lost his job due to a merger, my colleague hired him immediately.  He served on the board of a start-up company for a new aircraft largely used for disaster relief and quietly worked to help them secure the additional funding they needed.

His genuine interest in other people shows with everyone he meets.  As a result he’s never really networking – he’s having a conversation.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

Leveraging Our Network: Introductions

09 Tuesday May 2017

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Making the effort to connect people whose relationship may be mutually beneficial is a networking habit that demonstrates to members of our network that we hold them in high regard.  Almost like match-making – when we meet someone who appears to have parallel interests with someone else in our network – we can check with them to determine if they have interest in the connection, then make the introduction.  Although nothing may ever come of the introduction we have complimented both through our effort.

When a colleague makes an introduction on our behalf it’s important we acknowledge that compliment by following up on the introduction.

I’m reminded of an accomplished executive who I added to my team on a consulting engagement.   She had a deep background as a subject matter expert in a specific field.  As I got to know her I recognized it was important to her financially to be selected for additional engagements.

With her permission, I introduced her to two former colleagues of mine.  One owns her own firm and often has work she outsources.  The other is a highly sought after consultant who is often in the position to refer subject matter experts.

I received notes from both my colleagues thanking me for the introduction but, to date, have never received any feedback about subsequent calls that took place.

The learning for me was I could have been any of the parties involved in this scenario.  In this case I made the introduction.  I’ve been the person who was introduced and the person to whom someone was introduced.

I could be left with the feeling that I wasted my time; however, making the introduction gave me the opportunity to reconnect with two colleagues I admire.  It also reminded me how important it is to acknowledge the effort when someone makes an introduction on my behalf.

There may come a day when we need to contact that person, or someone else in our network, because we’re looking for a referral, a reference, or an introduction.  If we’ve established ourselves as someone who refers, provides references and makes introductions; and, who acknowledges our colleagues when we’re referred, when a reference is provided on our behalf, or when we’re introduced, we’ll be less reticent to ask for one when we need it and more likely to be the recipient of the support we need to be successful.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

Building Our Network: Professional Organizations

26 Sunday Mar 2017

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Building a network within our industry or profession is another method of networking.  Most industries or professions have at least one professional organization and many have a wide selection organizations who would love to have us as members.

Finding a professional organization where we fit takes some effort.  We can get online to do the research and query our peers and advisors for information about their organizations.  If there’s a local chapter we can often attend one or several meetings as a guest and consider whether the organization’s purpose and approach works for us.

There are many models for professional organizations. One model is as a business whose purpose is to provide education, training, and certification in a specific field.  These organizations work to legitimize the need for the certifications they offer and attract new members who will purchase the training to earn these certifications.  They typically have a paid professional staff that facilitates their efforts and produces conferences that are educational and offer networking opportunities for their members.

A second model is used by organizations formed to work on issues that are common to their profession or industry and advance the collective knowledge.  They often publish a periodical with articles of interest written by or of interest to their members.  Companies who are suppliers to the businesses within the industry, or of interest to the members of the profession, often sponsor annual conferences attended by hundreds of members.

A third model is an organization formed solely to allow their members to network.  These run the gamut from meet-ups open to the public to those with memberships limited to specific groups. The costs associated with membership range from a small fee to attend each meeting to an annual fee of six figures for a professionally facilitated meeting of CEO’s or business owners.

Whatever organization we choose we need to determine whether the time and price of participation has value One method is to join an organization for a year and take stock when it’s time to renew to determine if we’ve been interested in actively participating or found reasons not to attend the meetings.

If not, why not?  Is it that the organization isn’t a good fit with our goals or interests?  Are we at stage in our lives or careers where we can’t or don’t make the time to participate?

If, however, we’ve found a good fit we can renew the membership and continue to look for ways to actively participate and build our network.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

The Executive’s Network: Building our Peer Group from Previous Organizations or Affiliations

14 Tuesday Mar 2017

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Peers with whom we’ve previously worked, attended school, or worked toward a common purpose can be valuable members of our network.  Our shared history provides a common ground and a known resource for information, references, and referrals.

Since we’re no longer in the same organization, and in some cases, not even in the same geographical location, finding a method for keeping in touch that benefits both parties can be a challenge.

Social media, EMAIL, and messaging have largely replaced telephone calls and the U.S. Mail as the channels for staying in touch.  However, the investment in time required can be significant and often, impersonal.

The good news is, believe it or not, most of us have this issue in common – we really don’t have the mindshare and focus to support a huge network.  We can, however, support people in our networks on an individual basis when we have the opportunity or wherewithal to promote their corporate image.

Consciously looking for opportunities to endorse, introduce, reference or refer a member of your network is a surefire method of maintaining long-term relationships with our peers.  Even when someone doesn’t reciprocate it keeps the line of communication open between the two of you.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

Building A Peer Group Within Our Current Organization

05 Sunday Mar 2017

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If we look at a traditional organization chart, everyone on the same rung of the ladder we occupy can be considered a peer.  The thing we have in common, in most organizations, is there are fewer positions at each level as we climb to the top of the ladder.

To remain on the ladder at all we have to contribute to the success of the organization.  However, even if we’re a superstar and our part of the organization is humming, unless we collaborate with other departments it’s difficult to affect the overall performance of the organization.  To do that we typically must collaborate with our peers.

This can be a challenge, due to the inherent competition peers face.   In many organizations, it’s not unusual for the senior executive of a functional area to work independently, with her subordinates, and with her boss, and only interact with their peers at a weekly staff meeting or on projects where they’re representing their functional area.

Because this is the norm, executives who develop peer relationships within their organization that transcend one or the others departure is the exception rather than the rule.   Even though it may involve stepping outside of our comfort zone it can be well worth it, particularly if we consider it the distinguishing trait our boss would look for in his successor.

  • Seek Their Counsel and Collaborate for Success

When we demonstrate to someone that we respect their opinion enough to seek their counsel, particularly as it pertains to their area of expertise, we’re opening the door for collaboration.

One opportunity to do this can be when we’re drafting a presentation or plan to make a change in how our department or organization does their work.  Calling or visiting a peer for their perspective demonstrates respect.  It also builds trust.    After all, if every time we are going to propose a change in our area of responsibility that affects one of our peers, they know we’ll run it by them and consider their perspective, we demonstrate we can be trusted.

When we look for opportunities to collaborate with our peers it changes our perspective from. “How can I be successful?” to “How can we collaborate to insure our mutual success”?  If we can align on an approach we also have a greater opportunity for success.

This approach is not without risk.  We’ve all had situations like this backfire, some of them with long-term consequences.  Being prepared to diffuse a situation when a peer makes a derogatory or inflammatory comment is essential as often our initial reaction is to respond in kind.

  • Promote Their Corporate Image

Looking for opportunities to remark upon contributions our peers make is an attractive professional trait.  During a presentation or conversation we can often find the opportunity to attribute ideas we received from a peer or comment positively on their contribution as instrumental to achieving a goal that’s important to the organization.

Conversely, when we’re disappointed in the performance of a peer or her organization, the only person we should discuss it with is that person.  One organizational dynamic that never leads to success is when we disparage someone’s reputation explicitly or implicitly.

That doesn’t mean we have to disingenuously endorse someone who’s not performing.   It does mean we have to disengage from conversations that can be damaging to their professional image.  We’ve all had such conversations and although it’s sometimes tempting to “dish the dirt” those statements can come back to haunt us.

  • Provide Honest Feedback

Most of us feel uncomfortable providing unflattering feedback.  When we do it out of genuine concern, or because we’ve been asked, particularly with our peers, we have to tread carefully.

One method of doing this is to start the conversation by making positive statements about their experience or the approach they’ve taken.

In Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, the principles he articulated in 1936 still apply today.

He advises us to: “Begin with praise and honest appreciation.”  This can be easier if we rehearse our opening prior to discussing an issue with a peer.  In the quiet of our own minds we can usually find genuine positive attributes.

He also offers the suggestion that we “Talk about our own mistakes.”  This demonstrates our understanding that we’re all just “works in progress” and also goes a long way to showing that you’re genuinely concerned in ensuring this person’s success.

He goes on to recommend that we, “Ask questions instead of giving direction.”   For example, “In the competitive analysis you’ did a great job of showing X.  What did you find out about Y?”

Like any relationship, peer relationships grow deeper over time.  By not being in a hurry and giving peers the opportunity to collaborate you can develop relationships with peers in your current organization.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

The Executives Network: Building Your Advisory Board

26 Sunday Feb 2017

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Our Advisory Board is exactly that – the people we go to when we need advice.  In order to insure advice we receive from them is sound they need to have some specific characteristics.  They have to be willing to provide advice, they need to be wise so the advice they offer is sound, they need to have the experience to offer advice that is pertinent to the issue at hand, and the advice they’re offering needs to be unbiased.

  1. Willingness.

The willingness to seek and listen to advice is a mark of maturity.  When I consider those times in my career I’ve failed, without exception, I could have prevented it.  I always knew I was in a situation where I was in trouble and there was always someone who, had I been willing to seek and listen, would have provided the advice I needed.

However, when we’re finally in the situation where we know we’d benefit from some advice, we need to already have developed trusted advisors who are willing to provide us the benefit of their counsel.

Not everyone is comfortable, and even our most respected advisor might be uncomfortable, providing advice in certain situations or on certain topics.  If, before we ask for advice on a particular topic, we consider why it is we would ask or accept advice from this particular person on that particular topic, we can avoid putting ourselves and our advisors in a situation where they, like us, don’t really have the background or experience to provide us counsel.

On the other hand, we all know people who, will give advice, unsolicited.  They’re just wired that way.  If we are together for any amount of time, enjoying a meal or just walking across a parking lot, and describe what we’re working on or struggling with, they’ll offer advice.

We can choose to consider this type of advice as the gift it is.  When we’re fortunate enough to have people like that in our lives, for goodness sake, we can at least consider what they’ve offered and thank them for it.   Typically, they won’t hold it against us if we don’t follow their advice if we don’t bring the same issue up repeatedly.

  1. Wisdom.

A young client once said something that’s still stuck with me almost twenty years later.  We were talking in his office after a particularly contentious exchange between two of his team members.  Both were extremely bright and hard-working.  One had the responsibility for solving a particular technical issue and presented a path forward to the team.  The other, countered his proposal at every turn by discrediting the soundness of the approach.

He shook his head and offered, “There’s a difference between smart and wise.”

Understanding the difference between the two causes us to develop solutions that pave the way for future success without seeking to win at someone else’s expense.

This understanding also gives us the wisdom to seek advisors who are both.

  1. Pertinent Experience.

Seeking advisors who have experience pertinent to the business challenge at hand is a matter of defining what we’re trying to accomplish and exactly what experience it is we don’t have.  In other words, we have to “know what we it is we don’t know” and seek an advisor who does.

Once we’ve defined what it is we need to learn there are multiple advisors whose counsel we seek based upon the issue at hand, particularly if we realized some of our advisors are people who are people we’ve never met whose writings and work we follow.

In fact, finding an answer can be as easy as typing, “How do I …?” into our Internet browsers.  There are volumes of materials and instruction available on about every topic if we are looking for it.

Sometimes, however, we need an advisor who will be sure we are asking the right questions.  The Small Business Administration recognizes the importance of this and through their SCORE program has a virtual army of retired executives who are willing to mentor.

  1. Unbiased.

Our advisors provide unbiased advice on issues because they have “No Dog in the Hunt”.  Unlike mentors or peers in our current organization our advisors can offer us an outside perspective.

One of the most fruitful sources for advisors is people with whom we’ve previously worked.   Maintaining those relationships throughout our careers is an investment worth making.

Building a personal advisory board, just like the advisory board to a business, is a valuable source of wisdom and counsel when we populate it with the right team.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

The Executives Network

21 Tuesday Feb 2017

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In the book still often credited as being responsible for creating more millionaires than any other, Think and Grow Rich, originally published in 1937, Napoleon Hill advises readers to assemble a group of masterminds.  He defines the purpose of this group as, “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for attainment of a purpose.”

Building that network is a lifelong undertaking, yet for most of us, the only time we have energy or make time to invest in building our network is when we’re looking for our next job or client.

Even with the availability of social media, making the time to keep up with people we’ve worked with can be a challenge, particularly when there aren’t enough hours in the day as it is.   I know I’m not alone in admitting that when I’m fully engaged with my work I have little mindshare left to invest in keeping up with my previous clients and colleagues.

However, networking is like exercise … an investment in our future selves.  The more we stay connected to the people with whom we worked, learned from, and with whom we share a common set of experiences, the better we get at what we do.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

Finding Balance and Focus

04 Wednesday Jan 2017

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A colleague of mind recently shared an article on LinkedIn.  Written by John Eades the article, The People You Should Lead For, includes the Dale Partridge quote, “Success at work without success at home, isn’t success at all.”

As executives, we’re the leaders who have the ability insure the corporate culture we create in our organization promotes that concept.  We have to “walk the walk” in order to demonstrate what that means and to insure our own lives reflect those expectations.

Over the next six weeks this blog will explore methods for finding balance and focus between our personal and professional lives.

Setting Expectations. 

At each stage of our careers, our personal lives and the lives of our families, we have different requirements for how we spend our time.  Understanding those requirements to determine how to manage our time so we can be successful is a first step.  Discussing this with our significant other and family, then listening to what they need, is the next.

Setting expectations with those we work with is also essential because unless we develop a shared definition of success, both at home and at work, we run the risk of our best never being good enough.

Wisdom in developing those agreements goes a long way toward supporting our good intentions.  Negotiating for one night a week to work late or bring work home can help insure success and demonstrates a level of commitment at work.  Committing to being home in time to help prepare and enjoy a family dinner, or participate in family activities on the remaining nights, goes a long way to promoting family harmony.

Once we broker agreements, both at work and at home, we need to honor those commitments.  Scoring a home run at work and missing dinner, if that was the commitment, sets up the potential for hurt feelings and resentment.  Conversely, missing an important deadline at work while going out to lunch and leaving on time every day sets a poor example that can cause the people we work with to see us as undependable.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

Achieving the Stated Purpose and Driving Results

16 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Executive Toolbox, Learnings from the Management Consultant, Leveraging Fortune 500 Business Practices

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We all know the tools and practices that, when used, make meetings effective; however, when we’re meeting with the same people day after day and year after year, the overhead associated with preparing for and following up on every meeting can feel like wasted time.

However, as someone who’s made a living coaching executive teams to meet stretch goals – I observed that every executive team who consistently used the following tools and practices (either before or after a consulting engagement) achieved, if not exceeded their goals.

Agenda:  Every meeting should have an agenda –even if it’s a recurring meeting and the agenda is written on a white board.  The agenda should include the purpose for the meeting, what topics will be covered, who’s responsible for each, a review of action items, and a brief time at the end of the meeting to assess the meeting’s efficacy.

The act of preparing an agenda allows the leader or facilitator the opportunity to organize the material prior to the meeting and think through the specifics.  Distributing the agenda prior to the meeting allows and implies that each attendee know the purpose of the meeting and what they’re responsible for presenting or discussing.

Time:  Meetings that start and end at the top of the hour typically insure that those attendees who have a meeting in the next time slot are late.  A simple remedy is scheduling meetings to start at the top of the hour but limiting meetings to 50 minutes instead of an hour.

Because meetings can consume so much time, many companies have implemented a block of time each day that’s meeting free to allow their employees a full block of time each day to focus on their particular task at hand.   Other companies have gone even further and designated a day each week and made it meeting free.

Intuitively, either of these practices should improve productivity as they reduce the need for employees to multitask.  Most of what’s been written, however, focuses on a resultant improvement in employee morale – in many companies a desired outcome.

Metrics:  There should be a metric or set of metrics that drives the focus of every meeting.

This is the practice that, when implemented in a company where it previously hadn’t been used, gets the most pushback but also gets the most dramatic results.

Often the pushback comes from a previous experience when the metrics used didn’t directly tie activities to results.  Many companies get so enamored with metrics that they take on a life of their own.  What started out as a great idea can result in page after page of metrics that are expensive and time consuming to produce.

The Goal,  (Eli Goldratt, Green River Press, 1984)  written in 1984 about the principles of manufacturing the basic premise is that the goal of every business is to make money.

Using Eli’s premise, any meeting whose purpose is to ensure the business makes money can be measured.  The weekly Chief Operating Officer’s staff meeting can review cost of goods sold, on-time deliveries, and cost of poor quality.  The Vice President of Sales staff meeting reports year to date sales against plan.  Even the Planning Committee for the Christmas party can review employee attendance to turnover, year over year, against venues and types of parties.

Action Items:  Every action item, to whom it’s assigned and a commitment date for completion should be captured at each meeting.  Each meeting should also include a review of the open action items.  When an action item is closed, a brief description of the resolution should be entered either in the minutes or in an actions complete register.

Score:  At the end of each meeting, each attendee (except the facilitator) should be asked to provide a score.  That score should be published in the meeting minutes for that meeting.

The responsibility of scoring a meeting forces each of us to weigh in on what we’re doing well and where we can improve as a team.  When we’re not asked our opinion we can leave a meeting with an idea for improving a lingering annoyance unspoken.

The leader or facilitator of the team should consider those comments and look for opportunities to incorporate the suggestions into future meetings.

One of the most telling comments that demonstrates this phenomenon is one that’s sometimes used as a criticism of consultants: “You haven’t told me anything I didn’t know.”

What’s so telling about that comment is that, many times a consultant is telling you what you already knew because, for some reason, the leader of the team didn’t address a known issue or a team member didn’t speak up and ask that the issue be addressed.

Minutes:  Minutes should be published for every meeting by the end of the day the meeting takes place.  Minutes don’t need to be elaborate or time consuming to prepare.  All that’s really necessary is who attended, what decisions were made, the meeting score and comments.  The updated action item list should be included with the minutes.

Taking a few extra minutes to draft an agenda for the next meeting and including it with the distribution of the minutes allows team members to review the proposed agenda and provide input setting up a cycle of improvement for subsequent meetings.

There are other tools and practices in place in most organizations that help insure meetings are effective and organizational goals are met but this is the set that seems to be the predictor for accomplishing stretch goals.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in early 2017.

Establishing the Right Meeting Order and Times

08 Tuesday Nov 2016

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The order and times of our recurring meetings is as important as the content of our meetings.

A client I was working with had a meeting every morning with the senior people responsible for completing a complex software project.  The workday began at 7:00 AM so the meeting was scheduled for 8:00 to give the people attending “The Breakfast Club” time to clear EMAILS and check in with their teams to complete what had been done the day before.

At this meeting each morning the team reviewed progress against plan and often made decisions to temporarily move engineers from one team to another or to give a team priority on the testing system.

Meanwhile the engineers were heads down working on the direction that had come out of the meeting the day before.  When “The Breakfast Club” adjourned, typically about 9:30, the new direction would be provided, often negating the work that had been done by several hundred people in the first several hours of each day.

By changing that meeting to occur only once a week and at the end of the workday, they immediately increased the velocity of their progress and reduced rework significantly.   It also reduced the amount of time first level managers, a critical success factor in software development, were in meetings.

This is by no means an uncommon phenomenon.  In most organizations at least 10% of the recurring meetings are held at a time that’s suboptimal.

Fortunately, this is easily remedied – at least when reviewing just our meetings.  It takes little effort to plot them out, define the inputs and outputs and ensure the information flows in a coherent manner through all of our meetings.

It takes a synchronized effort when completing this exercise for an executive team or for a department, but the benefits far exceed the effort required, particularly when the meetings of multiple levels of an organization are synchronized.

If you’ve ever been sitting in a meeting wishing the information you’ve just been provided had been available in your last meeting or before you’d made a decision that you might have reconsidered if this information had been available you can identify with the need to establish the right meeting order and times.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in early 2017.