Rocks Are Hard

Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should

Just because you can flip the finger to a police officer, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Just because you have the right under the law to  __fill in your own action here___ doesn't mean it makes sense or won't cause havoc.

Just because you are allowed to work from home, doesn't mean that YOU, with your own work productivity issues -- be they technical or innate -- should.

Just because you can choose not to tell the truth, doesn't mean your choice won't have repercussions now or in the future.

Just because one person does something, doesn't mean you should too (or even that it's allowed).

Just because ... oh I could go on.

While rights and rules leave significant leeway in behavior in society and in the workplace, it remains squarely on the person to choose how to act, how to work, how to react based on that person's skills, situation, capacity, etc.

It feels like common sense, but what is common to me, may not be common to you. What is clear is that reading the environment -- understanding your place in it -- is a vital step in action and reaction.  When you're the boss, more leeway in some things, much less in others. When you're an employee, understanding what the rules are -- written and implied -- is critical to success.  When you're the agency, understanding and adhering to the extra layer of client norms is key to keeping that client, regardless of how good the work product is. When you're a citizen, grasping authority, rights and boundaries can be the difference between "thank you m'am" and "spread 'em."

Sort of like when your mother said "and if Jeff jumped off a bridge, would you do that too?"

Be alert. Know yourself. Understand that your choices have consequences, good and bad.

Everybody in the Pool!

There are so many things I love about running an agency -- this agency in particular.  Probably the biggest joy though through the day is seeing people we work with -- in the agency, at our clients, with our partners -- move forward towards their goals because we helped them.

While it might not feel this way at traditional firms, I think this is a universal truth: there is no incentive to NOT want your employees to succeed and achieve and advance. Truly. Advancement , when done well, means more throughput, more capacity, more good stuff, more opportunity for others. What's not to love about that?!

At the same time, just because we're incented for everyone to advance to where they want to be, does not mean that everyone gets there on the schedule they imagined.  Advancement is hard - and it doesn't usually happen within the confines of the work day. Business conditions may limit growth, but hello when flat is the new up, everyone puts on a different pair of glasses.

Remember when everyone with a pulse got a job or a promotion? Or when Sally came in with another offer, and you had to match it? Well...not that advancement left people high and dry when the dot com bubble burst and when the economy tanked in late 2008.  Social promotion -- what we get conditioned to throughout grade, middle, high school and college - does nobody any good.

What you need to be sure of is that you are in a place where real, earned advancement is valued. Because when it's earned you have lots of options. And when you have lots of options your career blossoms, even when you stay at the same company.

Everybody into the pool! Learn to swim, Don't let your colleagues drown, coach everyone to their edge and everyone wins.

Acknowledge Feedback and Direction

I always say the purpose of communication is to end it.  Meaning, write the memo, the plan, the email, make the case, pitch the idea in such a way that the reader/listener is not required to ask any questions to get a relevant, full picture.

This does not mean re-write War & Peace. But be succinct, appropriately illustrative or instructive and give the context the reader needs to gleen the information you want them to.

At the same time, it's important for the reader or listener -- particularly in a 1:1 dialogue or exchange to ACKNOWLEDGE receipt of said message. Otherwise it requires the sender to have to re-say, re-send, and/or wonder "did s/he get it?" "does s/he understand?" etc. etc. etc.

It's pretty simple. Say what you mean, well. Acknowledge that you got the message AND/OR get clarification so everyone's on the same page.

It's good protocol. More importantly, it's good etiquette.

The end.

Everything Is Feedback

Controversy always surrounds performance reviews -- to do them at all? how to do them? 360? top-down? self evaluation comparison? What does the form look like? and it goes on and on and on.

One thing I think is universal is that no review should be a surprise - your employees should have a good sense of how they're doing, what needs to be worked on, where they are excelling and how they can keep improving in that area (does a coach ever say - great job, no need to work out today over and over again?), and how their overall presence is perceived.

They should know this because we should all be having a constant stream of feedback, positive and constructive, throughout our day-to-day work lives.

The challenge is that everyday feedback is not necessarily heard - the positive or the negative.  I'm struggling with why this is true, but I know that it IS true. (Hell, one of the reasons we started Double Forte with a 10-year experience minimum was to remove ourselves from the constant barrage of social-promotion-conditioned inexperienced people who thought that they should all advance regardless of performance just because the calendar turned over.)

I don't believe we should stop providing feedback ALL THE TIME -- and hello, no feedback should mean that you're doing good.  But I do think we need to take the time to make sure the feedback is felt as seriously as it's intended. I'm not happy about it, but I know we need to shift something so that everything is HEARD in the way it is intended.

Feedback must not be given to tear down, but to help someone improve.  Really. If you don't want your staff to improve, go sit in a closet with a phone and a computer.  At the same time, we all need to LISTEN and ABSORB what we're told.

Everything is feedback. Everything counts. And if you're listening, nothing should be a surprise.

It's Been A While.....

After self-imposed but not declared moratorium on blogging, I'm BAAAAAACKKK to talk about all things Communications, Agency, Service and common sense.

Labor Day has passed and with the newly sharpened pencils, new backpacks and lunchboxes, comes a deluge of email that apparently was sitting in people's outboxes just waiting for the first full week of September to happen.

Common threads: optimism, frugality, purpose, urgency.  Well you've come to the right place, because that's where we live.

However, I do want to know when the inquiries starting with

"what media do you know?"

"When can you get us on Oprah?"

"we don't have a lot of resouces and no internal person but we need you to ramp up fast and announce with a big splash next week" are going to end.

Really? Really.

Big breaths. Common Sense will prevail, good work will be done, reputations will be built. But maybe not by us for those people. :)

Stop Talking, Start Doing

Drama Drama Drama

Blah Blah Blah

If you stopped talking about something over and over again, and started actually addressing the issue at hand, perhaps you'd solve the problem.

Just saying

Revisionist History Hurts Everyone

You know how it is. You're cruising along and BAM! you make a mistake. Maybe you don't see it, maybe you do, but you keep on moving because there's so much to do.

And that mistake gets bigger and bigger because it requires fixing. 

And if you don't fix it right away when you know about it then it becomes a thing, a thing that other people need to deal with.

And if you don't say "sorry, won't happen again" then it's even BIGGER. And if you tell a story that bends here and there with exactly what happens then it gets even BIGGER.

Here's the deal. With email and twitter and facebook and recording devices of all kinds, telling a revised story will bite you in the behind. Just don't do it. Eventually you will lose (could be in 2 years, could be in 2 minutes).

Recognize, aborb, apologize, fix if you can and MOVE ON. This is what builds trust. This is what builds a career.

Everyone makes mistakes....EVERYONE. Just don't revise (or, ps, deny) it.

And while we're on the topic of acknowledging, apologizing and moving on: here's a story my friend Liz O'Donnell wrote on the topic How To Remove Your Foot From Your Mouth.  

 

 

Let's Review: The Answer is Yes, or No Problem,

When you're in the service business, nothing is more irritating than bad service served up to you. So let's review:

In a service business, the answer is yes. Even if the answer is no. Yes says you're listening. Yes says you'll try. Yes says you're thinking about how to achieve the goal. Even if the way to the goal is DIFFERENT than originally conceived.... yes says you care about THEM not you.

So please, people for whom I am the client, understand that this is our point of view.

And if you can't bear to say yes to me, please say "no problem" or "let me get back to you."

Please Say Please

When the going gets tough - it's time to pour on the manners.

Please and Thank You go a long way in a difficult situation.  Go a long way in ANY situation.

For clients who regularly say please and thank you, my experience over 24 years says they get better service, better results, more for their money. For co-workers who use please and thank you, my experience says work gets done faster without as much drama and bitterness.

Even if you are giving a direct instruction, please and thank you have a serious place in the dialogue. It shows you respect the other person. It demonstrates that you are dependent on them to do something well for you.

At the same time, please and thank you do not mean the request or directive is necessarily a suggestion. Rather that the person has respect for you. If your "current" understanding of your day does not accommodate the request or directive, it is incumbent on you to explain that you have a full deck and to accommodate the request you will need to shuffle the deck and then seek input on how to get it done.

(Of course this sign is all wrong, but it makes the point!)

I know I respond better when the please and thank you buttons are pushed.

So Please say "please" and Thank you for saying "thank you" as you go about your day.

It is the give and take of working together.

The Right Action For The Right Situation

Today I heard from an old friend/colleague who is at a different agency and her story boggled my mind.

they have a set of tactics that they use on every account. Every Account, without fail.

But what if you need a video with beta not just a youtube upload I ask.

Nope, we only do youtube uploads.

What happens if you want to use video for broadcast?

We re-shoot it.

WHAT? wouldn't you think about possibilities first and get what you need in the can first to save time and money and lost opportunity time?

Heavy sigh from the other side of the phone.

Um, no, that's not how we/they do it.

Why?

Well it didn't work the last time they tried, so now they only do digital for youtube.

HELLO, JUST BECAUSE IT DIDN'T WORK LAST TIME, DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT PERFECT FOR THIS TIME.

and conversely -- just because it did work, doesn't mean it will work.

I mean really people -- ADJUST TO THE SITUATION.

Why I hate PR people #4.