Politics and Technology Make For Strange Role Models

Innovation.

Whether you are a fan of following the current Presidential race, or enjoy discovering what's new in technology, you'll be lucky enough to see it in action.

Okay, sometimes you will...for better, and sometimes for worse.

More and more we see in the news how this candidate is responding to the other candidate about that topic, when the candidates aren't even in the same room.  (It makes me wonder what the candidates are going to talk about when they do have their debates, if they hash it out in the social media and in advertisements ahead of time.)  The art of politics seems to be how well you answer--or dodge, as the case may be--the other guy's accusation.  There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of innovation or new ideas proposed.  Just a back-and-forth tennis match.

The same thing goes for technology.  This morning Kindle announced the unveiling of its (pardon the clichéed terminology) answer to the iPad and Google Nexus tablets, with all kinds of bells and whistles that are supposed to make it competitive with those tablets in the sheer existence of features that Apple and Google didn't think of.  Two weeks ago Apple was awarded a $1.5 billion settlement for Samsung's answer to the iPhone.  All of these tech companies are answering each other with tablets that sort of look alike but have new features that we never thought we always wanted--like a timer telling me when I'll finish reading a book.  (I can't say that I want to know that information, Mr. Bezos--the idea makes me feel like I'm back in college, reading under a gun.)

Meanwhile, no one company can seem to make earbuds that don't get caught or tangled in everything.

There are rules still waiting to be broken...not answered for.  There are needs that still need to be met.

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Every morning in my email inbox, in my Facebook feed, in my LinkedIn feed, and in my Twitter stream there are postings of link after link on how to get ahead in my job search.  Here are just a few examples of "advice" or "tips" that I get on how to "get ahead":

• "Nine Phrases You Should Never Put on Your Resume" (Monster)
• "Five Ways to Leave a Lasting Impression During a Job" (LinkedIn)
• "Going Over Two Pages [On Your Resume]?" (Twitter, FindEmployment)
• "Here are tips to boost your confidence" (Twitter, Mary Anne Dorward)
• "How to Transition From the Corporate World to Freelance" (Google Reader, The Daily Muse)

"How to..." "____ Tips to..." "What You Should Do If..."

Isn't every job-hunter reading these?

As I read them I'm finding that most of the "lists" are common sense, some of them are arbitrary rules that make no sense and have no explanation offered for them, and none of them strike me as innovative.  The lists that strike me as particularly unhelpful are those where the candidate is given tips on "how to stand out."  A standard list on how to stand out?  

Again, there are rules waiting to be broken...not pat answers to the question of where the next opportunity is, no standard solutions.

Time to slim down my reading material and do a little innovating of my own.

My Personal History of Customer Service, All the Rest

When I'm not working in customer service on a heightened and concentrated basis, I tend to notice it more than I do if I'm just passing through a traditional workday.  As is the tendency with any passion, if you're sitting on the outside, or if you are dealt the consequences of something you could have done better, then you instantly shift into backseat driver or Monday morning quarterback.

What I have been trying to do to be optimistic is a) look for the instances where there was exceptional customer service (and write about it somewhere so there's recognition to be found); and b) treat customer service providers in a way that if I would want to be treated as a worker.  I get the second part of that outlook from working in customer service myself, and the first part from being a manager.

Recognition is important.  All too often, front-line employees and middle managers aren't recognized by anyone, regardless of the challenge and the outcome, with one exception:  they are blamed if something didn't work for the customer.  Imagine hearing what didn't work all day and never hearing back when you exceeded your customer's expectations.  Sounds like the world's most abusive co-dependent relationship, doesn't it?

Throughout my experience as a manager my recognition of my employees has come about in a variety of ways.  Bring in baked goods.  Utilize them as mentors for the next round of new employees that are hired.  Even something as small as announcement acknowledgment works.  When I worked for Grainger I had a habit of saying "Thank you" to any radio announcements that employees made to inform other employees of crucial information.  It sounds way too simple, but I established such an expectation that when I would come back from lunch and no one thought I was listening, employees were acknowledging each other.  People like to know that they've been heard, that what they are doing or saying matters.  (You want proof?  Look at Facebook and Twitter on any given day and tell me there's no thrill in someone "liking" your status or retweeting a line of yours.  Even if it's small, it's gratification.)

Acknowledgment works for people who provide me with customer service as well.  A simple "thanks," a good write-up on Yelp or on other social networks (if you use the employee's name you can really make someone's day for thinking of them as memorable in a good way), or even sending a note back to the place of business thanking them is helpful (I did that once with a dentist; if you were like me in the dentist's chair, you would too).

In regards to the second aspect of my outlook--treating customer service providers in a way that I would like to be treated if I were doing their job--well, that comes from what I've tried to establish with every student or employee of mine.  Evaluations started with, first and foremost, asking the employee if they would have liked to have that kind of service.  Then we explored a breaking down of what could have been done better.  Then we made a plan of how to improve the next customer experience.  I do the same thing now when I greet a customer service provider as a customer.  Who's my favorite customer?  What could I do to make this person's job easier?  How can I be a better customer next time?  Being the best customer doesn't always mean spending the most money (although that works as incentive, don't mistake me there), but in little things like establishing clear expectations, addressing the person by name, and offering up a smile, to name a few.  I do this with Muni bus drivers, and they never see money from me with the transit card I use.  I say thank you when I get on the bus, and thank you when I get off the bus.  (I'm a better bus patron than dental patient, but it still pays to be kind.)

I may be independently employed at the moment in unconventional ways, but that doesn't mean I can't still follow establish practices of what works in customer service.

More on my passion, my foundation, next week.  Have a great workweek and a warm holiday.

What I Have Been Doing Lately

There is a short story by Jamaica Kincaid by the title "What I Have Been Doing Lately," in which she dispels a dreamworld of what she has been doing in a variety of shadings to make herself look better with each telling.

This story sounds remarkably like what an unemployed person must do for each application in order to be hired.

Still, here is a list of what I have been doing lately.  There have been no utilization of bonbons or of soap operas to the process--just me, doing the following:

• From November 19th through November 29th, I visited my brother and sister-in-love (they will get married in October 2012) in Carlsbad, California.  While my brother was at work daily in San Diego and my sis-in-love would go to one of her volunteer organizations during the day, I would work on one of the following tasks that I had been working on before and after the vacation;
• Every day, first thing in the morning, I free-write three pages.  Sometimes it feels pointless, other times it grounds me, and still other times it helps me plan what's next;
• I went for morning runs while I was in Carlsbad--usually a two mile climb up a neighboring hill and down again;
• I worked on a long work of fiction that I began in August, for an hour each day;
• I combed through job listings for as long as it took to work my way through the daily entries.  I've been looking for coaching, training, or management jobs with Amazon, the San Francisco Giants, and anything in coaching, training, or management in job boards like craigslist and publishing listings like Mediabistro;
• I had phone interviews;
• I spoke with locals about opportunities in Carlsbad.

After I returned home I usually take a short period (a couple of days), and re-assess; I review what works, what doesn't.  I have been trying to break into freelancing, offering my experience and skills up for consulting and any other related opportunities, but I hadn't been doing that well.  That's what I am working on now--the list above and offering my expertise on a short-term basis for improvement in our customer service-based world.  There will be more to come on my opinions in upcoming posts.

For now, I'm working hard to learn:  to learn how to change my approaches to the business world; to learn how to improve my communication skills; and to learn how to be a better leader.  When I flew back on November 29th, I had something to look forward to--joining with a group of writers at our weekly writing group, where all of us are trying to be better at fiction and prose.

There will be more to come on that, too.

Have a great workweek.

What One Does With Her Time

When I'm speaking with prospective employers the number one question that I am asked, since I'm the one who discontinued my employment with my last company, is "What have you been doing since you left Grainger?"

This break has been a monumental opportunity to assess what I could have done differently with my past opportunities, how I can learn from them, and what I want to do next. My activities have focused mainly on that last point--I wanted to put into practice skills that would benefit my next employer and that would contribute to my own job satisfaction. Based on that reasoning, here's what I've been doing:

• Volunteering - Through this aspect keeping a continuum with my love of community involvement
• Writing - I write four blogs a week, and write short stories of an average of a rough draft finished once every two weeks. My foremost passion is communications, and my favorite aspect of this passion is written communication--opening me up to all kinds of virtual and networking possibilities
• Leadership - Three nights a week I lead a writing group in various parts of San Francisco. This is also on a volunteer basis, but allows me to flex my coaching, leadership, and teaching muscles

These activities, along with daily approaches to job searches, have filled my days and allowed me to experience more of contract/consulting nature of employment. They've allowed me to constantly learn and continuously learn change.

AD HOC: What Every Recruiter Should Know

Ah, the news all over my Twitter and RSS feeds today: Dow Below 12,000 for the First Time Since March. And, from a week ago: Unemployment Rises In May.

I am the last person to tell any corporation how to run their business. The advice that I'm about to bestow is for when the employer is ready to hire again.

If you utilize a hiring agency, be sure the recruiter handling your account has basic written communication skills mastered.

I say this because:

1. I'm a communication professional. The opening line of my resume states just that.
2. It's good business sense, regardless of whether you're a recruiter, a hiring manager, or the receptionist answering the phone.
3. Anything less than a mastery of basic written communications skills ruins your opportunity for quality talent.

Since I've been actively looking for a job (starting this spring), I usually receive an a kind of inquiry from a headhunter about every other week or so that could be mistaken for an adolescent text message. This doesn't anger me so much as disappoint me--I'm not even going to read that job offer, no matter how sweet it may seem, due to the poor use of language in the e-mail. (And if the recruiter is not composing the message on e-mail but on an application of an e-mail program, that practice could be leading to the problem.) My understanding is that recruiters receive incentives for getting the right people in the right positions, but communications skills can make or break that determination. Consider my most recent offer, which contained the following syntax errors:

• Use of "U" instead of "You"
• Wrong application of "You're," meaning the writer should have utilized "Your" (Actually, it was spelled "u're," which troubled me twice)
• Improper spelling of the word "believe" (no spell check?)
• Little or no use of the article "a" or "an"

That was just the beginning. Normally I'm not a stickler for grammar (I don't walk around with a red pen), but how am I to take this job offer seriously and not think of it as spam? And, what's worse, how can the company hiring the recruiter possibly expect any productivity from this recruiter?

I'm not sure if we are in an employer's market or a candidate's market, but either way, candidates and recruiters alike should make sure they are sending out the right message. Talent could be missed or developmental growth could be lost due to either party deciding that communication skills are not important.