Category: Corporate Games

One of the unofficial meeting rules
is
the person who calls the meeting
makes the agenda.

There is an exception to this rule.
If your boss calls a meeting.

She says something like
“K, let’s meet about the XYZ account.”
This is code for
“K, give me an update on the XYZ account.”

In this case,
you are setting the agenda.
You control the meeting.
You present, bring her up to speed,
sell her on how she can help you
(because clearly
she’s concerned about the XYZ account).

As Gil Schwartz shares
in the April 2012 Men’s Health

“The boss may have
called the confab,
but it is you who
sets the tone,
establishes the content,
and organizes a clear structure.
Do not waste the man’s time.”

When your boss requests a meeting,
be prepared to lead that meeting.

“70 percent of respondents
in a Wells Fargo survey
say they plan to work during retirement,
because they worry
or know they won’t be able to afford
to retire full time.”

What does this mean for everyone else?
They’re job blocked,
unable to progress upward in management,
stuck in their corporate careers.

These job blocked employees
are usually advised to take lateral moves
or to take this ‘opportunity’
to be mentored by the job blockers.

Which is likely
what folks told England’s Prince Charles
to do also.
Now, he’s 64 years old
and still waiting for his mom to retire.

Instead of waiting for your boss
to retire,
consider building your own empire.

What I find interesting
in the Petraeus affair
isn’t that a high ranking General
got caught with his pants down.
It isn’t even that he shared secrets
with his lover.

What I find interesting
is that no one is concerned about
the information the betrayed wife likely has.

If the General shared secrets with his lover,
he likely shared secrets
with his now angry wife,
a wife likely now considering divorce,
a wife with no remaining loyalties
to the man she married.

But no one cares
because she’s his wife,
magically trustworthy.

In today’s society,
pillow talk between spouses
is acceptable.
If you’re going to spill workplace secrets,
spill these secrets to your spouse.

Women still aren’t represented
at the C-Suite level.

Monique Valcour shares some reasons why.

“Aware of the importance of
turning in flawless performance,
women take fewer risks than men
and are less likely to promote themselves,
with the result that they appear to lack ambition.

Wary of putting women in situations
where sub-optimal performance
could hurt not only their own career chances
but those of other women,
even well-meaning superiors are less likely
to give them critical developmental assignments.”

In other words,
no one is going to give us
the risky assignments
needed to propel us into the C-Suite.

If you want those assignments,
you’ll have to grow a pair,
take even more risk
and grab opportunities.

The C-Suite is not for the risk-adverse.

In an employer-employee relationship,
managers can often
use carrot or stick tactics
when motivating employees.
We give employees incentives
($, verbal, emotional, etc)
or we punish employees
($, verbal, emotional, etc).

In an organization
run by volunteers,
the stick option is not available.

Recently,
the stick option was used
in a volunteer-run organization
I belong to.
The volunteers said ‘F**k it’,
quit, and
they’re not coming back.

That leaves managers
with only the carrot option.
As they are unpaid,
the biggest carrot – money –
is unavailable.

The best volunteer organizations
have the carrot incentive tactic
perfected.

If you want to learn
how to motivate your employees
in a positive way,
volunteer in one of these organizations
and learn.

You’ll become a better manager
while you’re making the world
a better place.

Many managers pride themselves
on their open door policies.
They drop whatever tasks they’re doing
to serve the people walking through the door.

They feel this is a good thing.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders
shares another perspective.

“Part of being a good manager
is demonstrating the importance
of focusing on high priority work.
I can keep my door closed
during certain times of the week
when I need to get things done
without guilt.”

Leading by example is powerful.

If you don’t complete your core tasks,
why would you expect
your employees to honor their commitments?

Close your door
and get your work done.

I don’t attend meetings
for informational purposes.
During a meeting,
I expect to help make decisions
or to be assigned tasks.

Both of these require documentation.
That’s the job of the note-taker.

Gwen Kuebler shares

“The note-taker provides a written record
to each participant.
Action decisions must be noted in writing.
Affix the proper person’s name
to the action,
along with the deadline completion date.
The moderator
(or another appropriate, assigned person)
is responsible to follow up on each item
until completed by the designated party.”

If you don’t need a note-taker
for your meeting,
you don’t need a meeting.

Hurricane Sandy brought devastation.
It also brought out the best
in leadership.

In the past,
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
has been harsh in his criticism
of U.S. President Obama.

On Tuesday,
a week before the U.S. Presidential election,
the Governor praised U.S. President Obama.

“I spoke to the president
three times yesterday.
He has been incredibly supportive
and helpful to our state…”

When asked about whether or not
he’d tour the area with Mitt Romney,
the Governor shared
“I have no idea,
nor am I the least bit concerned
or interested.
I have a job to do in New Jersey
that is much bigger than presidential politics.
I could care less about any of that stuff…
If you think right now I give a damn
about presidential politics,
then you don’t know me.”

THAT is what leaders do.
They set aside their personal beliefs,
their personal agendas,
and they do what they can do
for the people they lead,
not caring whom they receive assistance from.

Cascade’s current Tug Of War commercial
irritates the hell out of me.
In this commercial,
the male insists
muffin tins don’t have to be pre-scrubbed.
The female insists
they do.
A kitchen counselor arrives to determine
who is right.

Who cares?
The person who is right
isn’t always the person
who should win the argument.

For the time cost of pre-scrubbing a tin
(which would have taken
less time than their argument),
he proved he was right
but he also risked his relationship.
Unless he foresees daily muffin tin washing
or he doesn’t care about the relationship,
the price of being right seems way too high.

And in an argument,
there is ALWAYS a price to being right.
Make certain the rewards are worth that price.

We all want star performers.
They go beyond expectations.
They have initiative.
They’re passionate about what they do.

And that passion needs direction
because without it,
star performers could move the company
away from its goals.

As Denise Zaporzan
shares in the September/October 2012 issue
of CMA Magazine

“After a star performer is hired,
it’s critical that he or she is aligned
with the organization’s goals.
Star performers need to know
where the organization is heading
and that they’re part of the journey.”

Star performers will take action.
Ensure that it is the action
YOU want them to take.