Archives for March 2015

Getting the First 90 Days Right

March 28, 2015 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

The first 90 days in a new role or a new company are important to get right. First impressions are difficult to change after 90 days.

There are several common-sense things you need to do when moving into a new situation. Unfortunately, we often see people make significant mistakes in one or more of the areas below. Often the adrenalin from excitement or fear causes people to come on too strong; or conversely, be too laid back. The 90 days go by quickly. If you are too focused on task … the opportunity is lost forever. Use the grace period you normally receive in the first 90 days to lay the groundwork for a successful first year. Key points:

Focus on Listening and Learning
It is easy to see what you would do differently based on your experience. Wait. Make sure you demonstrate interest in what others have done in the past. Ask questions. Show respect. Clearly let them know you want to help build on past successes. If you have been told you were brought in as a “change agent” … don’t be too sure or move too fast. The phrase is often more of a recruiting message than an organizational message.

Use meetings well
Many people will likely create their lasting impression by the way they participate in meetings. Match your vocal and visual approach to those around you who seem to be most effective in meetings. People often come on too strong vocally or visually when they are trying to make their mark in the first 90 days. No one wants a nervous airline pilot. Don’t you be the one making them nervous! If you are making them nervous, you won’t last in the corporate relationship.

Look for “Low Hanging Fruit”
Most situations provide relatively small changes that can bring immediate payback, have low controversy, are easy to implement and within your control. Make those changes and share the credit. Help people think of you as working with them and getting results.

Build your network quickly
Being new is a natural reason to have a meeting, lunch, or coffee with key people in your area as well is in other areas. After 90 days it can be more difficult to orchestrate.

Be ready with a plan by 100 days
After you have made the 90 days work for your personal brand, it’s time for a clear and simple plan. Engage your boss and other stakeholders as well as your team. Be ready to deliver results that are perceptible to others.

Delivering results matter
Set clear expectations. Update others regularly. Avoid unpleasant surprises. Manage your perception as well as your product. Get your results through others.

Bottom line: When joining a new department or company, don’t make it just about results. Relationships matter. Let them get to know you. Share a little more about yourself, your family and your interests than you might have in the past so they can understand more of what you bring to the party. With strong and trusting relationships throughout the company, your early results will actually have a greater impact.

There is Hope for Email Clutter

March 18, 2015 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

There are so many emails that fall between “Must Read” and SPAM. The time it takes to go through those emails is significant.

What if your computer watched to see what you read immediately and/or respond to often? …..If your computer knew what you seldom read or read days later or never? Those emails might be notices of concerts or plays that you only open if there is an event that you are interested in seeing. They might include information you may want to search for in the future … but not today.

Let’s call those emails Clutter.

Microsoft Office 365 Outlook Web App application has such a feature. It is called “Clutter“. The feature is turned off by default, but turning it on is easy. Rumor has it that this feature will come with the next version of Microsoft Office 2016.

To enable Clutter, open the Outlook Web App for Office 365. From the console tree:

Select OPTIONS
Select AUTOMATIC PROCESSING
Select CLUTTER
Choose to separate items identified as clutter

It takes time for Clutter to determine your patterns and begin helping you, but the results should improve over time. Anything that can improve our productivity when dealing with email will have a big payback. Currently the volume of email received threatens its value. I look at email primarily on my laptop. I will await with anticipation Office 2016, soon to be released.

Are you providing free advertising for Apple?

March 12, 2015 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

When I see emails with a signature line that says “Sent from my iPad” or “Sent from my iPhone” it reminds me of the label that car dealers put on the back of the cars they sell. When buying a car, I ask the car dealer to not put their label on my car or give me an “advertising discount”. It stops them from drilling holes in my trunk (or boot) to attach their advertising. They still attach a very hard to remove sticky label.

Fortunately, changing the Apple signature line on IOS devices for an email is much easier than removing a sticky car dealer label. Go to SETTINGS >> select MAIL, CONTACTS, CALENDARS >> Select SIGNATURES. You can replace the default signature with your own information (or advertising).

My signature is listed in the example picture. My smartphone emails are normally very short and thus easy to be misunderstood. I note that it is a “Brief mobile email” hoping it will put the email in context. You can add any information to your signature that you would like … as you would with computer based email.

Apple will continue to send the same amount for the advertising space that they currently do … zero. 🙂

Mar 2015 – Change Masters President’s Letter

March 8, 2015 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

We are often asked to make generalizations about the coaching needs of men versus women in the workplace. We typically work with the top third of the organization chart in large corporations. The key coaching opportunities at the level of our clients are more similar than different. Most senior women have learned to function and thrive in the “man’s world” of top management. More importantly, top management is becoming less the domain of men. One of the blogs noted below shows the progress women are making. Germany is close to legislation that requires the Board of Directors to contain 30% female members. As the father of three very competent daughters, I am delighted to see the progress.

Other blogs provide a glimpse of the future; how being a good boss is important; and how to deal with a dead phone battery.

The year is off to a great start for us. We are building the Change Masters Academy products and continuing to hear great feedback on our efforts. We are finding new and interesting companies as customers. We have two trips to Europe planned this year to deliver workshops on executive presence in remote communications (Digital Executive Presence). A number of people have volunteered to give us feedback as we build our remote communications.

Are you ready for what will happen in the next twenty years?

Technology continues to move quickly. Before we know it, today will seem very old-fashioned. A six-minute Microsoft video demonstrates what is close at hand.

Technology Hot Buttons are …

Augmented Reality
Wearables
Edge to Edge Displays
Foldable/Fabric Displays
Ubiquitous Computing
Seamless Workflow
Multi-modal User Interfaces and Input Devices
Operating System Sublimation

[the video and more …]

How Important is it to be a “Good Boss”?

A recent study found that 65% of employees would choose a good boss over a pay raise if they had to choose. What most people want more of is recognition and praise. It is also true that the main reason good talented people leave a company is because of their boss … even if they like the organization.

So being a good boss is very important. How do you do that?

A short list of ways include:

[MORE …]

Dead Phone Battery and No Time to Charge

It happens at the worst time. Your phone battery is dead and you have little time to recharge your phone. You can charge most phones about twice as fast if you put it in “airplane mode” when you plug in the charger.

To reduce how fast your battery drains when you are running low, turn off “bluetooth” and “cellular data” if you can operate without it. Connecting to WiFi for email takes much less power than cellular data. Your phone will still work.

[MORE tips …]

Female Executives Gaining Ground

“Female executives are making progress in the workplace by gaining seats on the board and earning higher pay” at top companies according to CNN Money Report.

At the top 50 companies defined by the National Association for Female Executives, the breakout of women shows:

51% of the workforce are women
40% of the top earners are women
37% of the top management positions are held by women
29% of the boardroom seats are held by women

I was glad to see several of our customers on the Top 50 Companies list; including American Express, DuPont, General Mills, General Motors, KPMG, Procter & Gamble, and Target Stores.

When starting Change Masters in 1986, my vision was to help create work environments that I would like my daughters to work in someday. The best way to do that is to help leaders at all levels in the organization be more effective leaders. Those at the top of organizations have the biggest ripple effect. That continues to be our mission today.

We continue to hear wonderful feedback from our clients and those who know our clients. In addition to the impact at work, I am most touched by the impact on people’s personal life. One client reported …

“Honestly, the impact has been larger in my personal life and that has really been my focus recently (and needs to be my priority going forward) The concept of blind spots and applying to my marriage has opened our eyes more to my wife and I opening up about what we would like to see in our relationship and how each of our blind spots may be a challenge to us reaching that goal. We’ve since started to see a marriage counselor, still in early stages but is making a difference. This wasn’t about us on the verge of divorce but more of we knew our relationship should be better than what it is. Much of this started because of the training (or beating) you gave me around listening and engaging in the discussion. So I write this to you to say thank you. Thank you for saving my marriage!”

The client’s message is why we consider what we do to be our mission. For those who have been clients or observed client experiences, I would love to hear your story. You can reply to this email. Thank you.