Unless You’re in Charge, Avoid Office Politics

Whoosh out the door goes another executive, manager, salaried or
hourly worker. No one is exempt or excluded from the negative
repercussions associated with office politics. Unless you are at
the top of the company, you have no business being involved in
any aspect of the office politics that play out everyday.

Why should you avoid the game; because there is always someone
more devious, tactful and unscrupulous than you think? You are
going to loose, it is just a matter of time. Our natural
curiosity and human instinct draws us to office politics because
we are curious about the information, insight and perceived
influences that can be derived from being in the game, as I
refer it. There are no-long term benefits for you, just
distractions and a dead end. If you find yourself drawn into
the game, stop and ask yourself these two questions:
*What are the benefits you will gain through your involvement
in this situation?
*How is getting involved going to help you do your job better?
I hope your answers leads you back to being focused
on your job task a hand and not allow yourself to be diverted to
a negative situation. Implement these three behavior modes to
avoid office politics.
Ears – You can not help but hear conversations that are controversial
and fit into the office politics category. Don’t repeat or propagate
what you have heard to others, most of the time the information is
without merit.
Eyes – If you see or read controversial subject matter, do not
pass any of it on to someone else; do not bring the issue up as a
power play against someone involved. In the end if you do, you
will look like the fool and often the one person not to be
trusted.
Mouth - Keep Your Mouth Shut.

Ok, what are some signs that there may be some degree of office
politicking that you need to recognize. I am paraphrasing from an
article found on the Conway Management web site (a) on Patrick
Lencioni author of, Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive:
Four Disciplines of Making Any Organization World Class. In his
book he targets the company’s top leaders in addressing the
subject of office politics.

*Leadership or executive team unification – observe if the
executives are unified in their goals, thought process and there
is no distrust during rough cycles.
*Are the processes and actions consistent and closely controlled
at all times?
*Is the top down communications about the organizational goals;
frequent, clear and understandable?
*Reinforce Organizational Clarity to the point everyone in the
company can recite the organizations goals and company priorities.

If you are an executive and want to truly get an understanding of
the office politics in you business, think about purchasing the
Office Politics Game. refer to web site:
http://www.officepolitics.com/op_game.html
(a)http://www.conwaymgmt.com/pdf/Obsessions_Of_An_Executive.pdf

My final words on this subject are; stay out of the office
politics.

Have You Turned Green Yet?

You’ve heard the comment; Lead Follow or Get out of the Way? Watch out the Green wave is coming and will get you. If you have not noticed, environmental (green) initiatives are in abundance at the local and governmental levels. Let’s start by determining where you fit on the environmental scale. Do you consider yourself environmentally friendly? On a scale of 1 to 10, are you a 1 (I care, but don’t practice good habits) or a 10 (I care,I recycle, my company recycles and I ride my bike to work or drive a hybrid)? I suspect most of us fall some where in the middle; we do care and try to implement programs at work and home that support caring about the environment. Please be informed as there are a number of formal government actions across the U.S. and world that may impact you.

On a local level, have you seen the recycling auditors, yes there are people working for local communities that check to see if you are recycling properly. I think should be an indicator, we need to take personal responsibility and do what we can to comply with your program. This is a perfect time to initiate or restart your home program with summer upon us. Recycling should be a fun family activity, you may want to invest a little time and energy to get this started, who knows it may even grow within the neighborhood if you don’t have a formal program yet. Start with your family, implement a program at home and see what happens. A lot of schools and communities educate and promote recycling programs. Participate in your waste disposal company’s program, every little bit does help. Here is a terrific interactive web site, go on and play the game, http://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/mainmap.htm. Additional information can be found through Recycler’s World,
http://www.recycle.net. Try a program at home; it is never too late to begin. By the way, never throw anything out the window of your car you are setting a bad example for the kids.

How about your business sales forecast? Has the forecast been impacted yet by two European Union (EU) directives specifying restricted substances (RoHS) use or Waste Disposal (WEEE)? Simply put, there are banned substances that the 25 EU countries will not allow to be imported beginning this summer. The internet is full of information on RoHS this subject, you can type into and search engine RoHS. Guess what, California is going to implement similar RoHS legislation to be in effect, January 1st, 2007 concerning product sold in and shipped to California. How do these directives and legislation impact you? That depends on your product, of course there are exemptions but the best advice I can give at this point to research the directives and decide a course of action based on you product and potential revenue impact. Different states already have variety of green programs in place; my intent was to get you started again Thinking Green.

Here is a shortlist of links to get you started:
US and European Union http://www.eurunion.org
California http://www.greensupplyline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187201273
UK http://www.rohs.gov.uk
USA http://www.buyusa.gov/europeanunion/standards.html

Happy Recycling.

My Future Starts Today!

My future starts today, say it out loud, say it silently to yourself, just say it! Like a lot of people, I looked at my past in an attempt to see what my future would be. After years of thinking about my future in this manner, I came to realize I’m actually stuck in the past in a lot of ways. Why, because of the comfort zone the past provides for us. I liked my routine, I was comfortable doing my job in a familiar work environment, I drove the same way to and from work everyday. I could even tell you how much extra time the school zones added to my drive; jeez I was stuck and did not realize it. Sure I thought about the future, my goals and dreams, but for some reason I could not take the step out of the past. My advice to you, do not let the past dictate your future.

I found it difficult to break from the habit of reflecting back to my past, even when I was trying to determine my next step towards the future. This reflection to the past was a very annoying cycle I that I fond myself stuck in. My breakthrough came after I started reading about successful people and learning about their mind set. A major amount of focus and effort during this period of time was trying to determine and improve my financial future. As a result, I set out to research and read about financially successful people to see if I could gain some perspective on improving my financial future. A few of the books I read included; Donald Trump’s Think Like a Billionaire, T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad Poor Dad , granted most of the content is about how they made their money, but they also offer valuable insight into their thinking habits. What I found during this research was for you to understand the past and learn from the past, but do not let the past dictate your future. Look forward, take chances, sure there is going to be risk involved because you will be out of your comfort zone. This is the breakthrough I needed and will you need to make in trying to achieve your goals and step towards the future. If you have tried and not done so well on your own trying to change your mind set, do not get frustrated.

There are a number of companies offering courses, seminars and training opportunities to help you out. Success University http://www.successuniversity.com is a terrific resource. Some of you may be familiar with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)http://www.nlp.com/, again there are many. Figure out what matters to you, be willing to change, get over the blame game, and trust in yourself and others thus allowing yourself to be successful.

When I talk to people about change in general or why they argue not to change a behavior, or habit, I often refer to Albert Einstein and his definition of Insanity; Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Step into the future, if and when you have set backs just say, what’s next…and move on.

Have You Tried Writing Your Own Biography?

I had no idea how difficult it is to be articulate, concise and yet be informative about key facets of ones life. Let alone make your biography interesting enough, that it may spark some level of interest for someone to explore more about what you have to offer. It was a great exercise for me and I think writing your own biography will be introspective, fun for you, your family, friends and even colleagues.

I had no idea where to begin, so I researched the internet and found a couple of good starting points to learn a little bit out biographies and what they contain; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biography, http://www.infoplease.com/people.html, http://www.mozartproject.org/biography/index.html.

I found the research interesting because of the variety of famous people documented and commented on. One common editorial on biography writing is, be careful about telling a false story about the actual events. As one critic commented, do not fall in love with your subject, stick to a timeline, key facts and points you want to make. By all means select you can select positive, actionable words, but stick to the events; do not make up a story.

Ok, here is what I think the key items are that need to be included in your biography. First you need to set a time frame, birth to present day, started my career xx years ago, during the years between 19xx and 20xx, you get the idea. Next, include geographical location, key events, milestones, adventures and incidents that shaped who and what you were about during this time frame. Include historical events (natural, world or local) if you believe they add significance. Close with where you are at today, geography if important and what you see yourself doing in the future.

This is one biography example I wrote:
Kent Jacobson is a traditional working professional, graduated college, accepted an engineering position in Dallas 23 years ago and over the years has developed a keen sense of what it takes to be successful in a corporate environment. Through his years of experience, training, professional certifications and corporate instinct, Kent has acquired a broad perspective on what it takes to become successful and now shares his insights for success with a loyal following of Blog readers at: http://www.Shortcut2Success.com/blog

There are different as many different ways to write your biography as there are kinds of apples, my intent was to help get you prepared so when the request is made you are better prepared. Have fun with your biography, you might even surprise someone in your family or one of your friends by writing about them.

Create Your Personal Success Equation!

Do you have any idea how to measure your success? I really had not thought much about how to measure my success until I was asked the same question. Some of my initial responses were; money, power, paying off debts, raising children and so on. All of these are factors in what I refer to as a success equation. Ok, what is a success equation going to do for me? My answer, to help keep you focused on the big success picture. To help you answer and save you a little time, I need you to think about your success factors (words, phrases or number's) that will ultimately contribute to equation. Begin to formulate these factors into a basic equation. Document your success equation so you can refine it and refer to it frequently. I like to carry mine around with me, because sometimes I need to refer back to some of my factors and what they truly really mean to me. Everyone's success equation will be different and your ultimate success is dependent upon your personal or professional situation and how well you assimilate your critical factors.

For this discussion, I will share with you my personal success equation and how I developed it. By the time you finish reading this article, I want you to create you own success equation, believe in the factors you document and implement actions to be successful.

My success equation (Success=F+F+F+O+P) involves five equal factors.
Faith*Believe in a higher presence
Family*There is no greater priority
Failure*Do not be afraid of failure, learn and grow from it
Optimism*Maintain a positive outlook
Perseverance*Relentlessly pursue your dreams and goals and recognize opportunities

The first step in developing your equation is listing key factors (words and phrases) that are important to you. Initially, put down all your thoughts, then review and eliminate the less critical ones until you have five to seven factors. To many or to few may lead to conflicting decisions or priorities. This is why I recommend you initially omit money from your equation, your choice.

The second step is to review your factors during the next few weeks as you interact with family, friends, business associates etc. Document and carry with you your success equations during this time fame. As you progress through your normal routine, allow yourself time to reflect on the factors you have identified. Ask yourself, are my decisions and actions are consistent with these factors? Do I need to change my behavior or maybe a factor? Keep notes; do not be quick to change anything until at least a week has passed. This is your development and learning period; there is no need to rush this step.

Third and final step is to critically review your success equation. Look back through the notes and experiences from the second step. Refine your success equation, document the final result and carry it with you. That's it your on the way!

I close this article with one my favorite quotes from Pope John Paul II, he said, "The future starts today, not tomorrow."

Make Your Meetings More Productive

Oh no, not another meeting request! We all dread the meeting invitation, not because of the content, but because a majority of meetings we have to attend are so poorly run. You know a good productive meeting vs. the unstructured, why am I here, one. Do not let the next meeting you hold or attend be poorly executed. You have the ability to hold a productive meeting and influence a poorly run meeting headed in the right direction by implementing a basic strategy.

Establishing your basic meeting strategy allows you to hold and attend effective meetings, yes even if someone else is leading the effort. The only difference is, as an attendee you may have to tactfully ask appropriate questions when the situation warrants, of the team leader, sponsor or facilitator on a key point during the meeting. Be aware of your audience and also who is running the meeting, too much of a push can focus the attention on you and detract from the meeting purpose. Just mentor the meeting along it my point.

Your basic meeting strategy should include the following elements.
* Establish and be able the articulate the purpose for holding the meeting.
* Identify the desired outputs for the meeting, or what you want to accomplish.
* Present an agenda by key topics to be addressed and estimated duration.
* Identify someone to take meeting notes or minutes for you.
* Control comments or discussions that are off topic by focusing on your purpose and but allowing comments to be captured in the minutes for review at a later time.
* Stick to your agenda and time schedule if possible.
* If required, establish set a follow on time and date to meet again.
* Ask if there are questions?
* Wrap up a meeting with a summary of accomplishments against your purpose and cover any open items.

Obviously there are more steps involved if a meeting is in support of a larger team project or more complicated effort. However, I think this basic strategy will form a foundation for you to hold productive meetings and influence meetings you attend.

As our time becomes more compressed, influencing the environment around you can and will provide benefits to you in the long run. Remember, your success depends upon how effective you are in continuously improving yourself and those around you.