Monthly Archives: April 2012

The Barista with the Blank Face: Three Hallmarks of Professional Excellence

Two Cups EspressoThe other day I stepped into a local coffee shop where I smiled and said hello to the barista behind the counter. The young woman neither responded verbally nor smiled, but rather, stared at me blankly waiting for me to tell her the next monotonous coffee order she’d have to fill. While her response was obviously far from what any employer would hope for in a customer service representative, what struck me most about my barista was how apparently miserable she was in her job. I felt sorry for her.

The barista with the blank face clearly wasn’t happy, and because of that, I have to say that she wasn’t excellent in her job. Getting a cup of coffee should be a pleasant experience, not one where the customer feels that his or her order is a burden. Because of my barista’s poor response, my overall experience in the coffee shop that day was lackluster, even though the coffee was hot and delicious. I thought more broadly about the excellent customer service experiences I’ve had elsewhere and the excellent individual performance I’ve witnessed. While professional excellence may vary from one person to the next, it struck me that there are three hallmarks of personal excellence that are always in place – and that this unfortunate young woman lacked. Excellent career professionals:

1. Sincerely want to better the business. Have you ever come up with a solution to a problem in your company or suggested a better way of doing things or of providing better service to your clients? Do you treat the company you work for as though it is your own? If you love what you do and you are committed to excellence, you’ll be constantly on the lookout for ways to improve your business, whether it’s your “coffee shop” or someone else’s. If my barista owned the shop, I doubt that she’d have behaved as she did. Or certainly, if she did, the shop couldn’t survive long.

2. Are constantly learning and enlarging their expertise. Do you read books, professional journals, and newsletters pertaining to your work? Do you attend conferences of your professional association and participate in courses, either face-to-face or online? Do you know and regularly visit several blogs and/or websites that help you keep abreast of your field? The career professional who is passionate about gaining new knowledge is better equipped for the future and has more to contribute. It’s a likely guess that my unfortunate barista hadn’t learned anything new on her job or about her work since her initial training.

3. Get in the “flow” of their work. Flow occurs when we lose track of time and are 100% engaged in what we’re doing. Do you find yourself staring at the clock and waiting for each break or the end of the day? As the day is winding down do you find yourself counting the minutes until you can bolt out the door? If you’re just punching a clock at work, like my barista, you’re most likely not performing excellently. Notice the times when you’ve gotten lost in your work and were fully present in the moment. Strive to have more and more flow times like those.

Career professionals who are truly excellent don’t put on a set of behaviors and act the part (though in this case, I’d have preferred that to my barista’s blank stare). They are excellent from the inside out, making their excellence genuine.

Are you looking for more ways to increase your personal and professional excellence? Or, would you like to use an interesting tool to help your employees to increase their personal and professional excellence? If so, check out my Pinterest board, “25 Rules for Being Excellent” at http://pinterest.com/drlaurahills/25-rules-for-being-excellent/. And the next time you encounter excellence – or the opposite of excellence, like my barista with the blank stare — think of the three hallmarks of excellence I’ve identified and look for other lessons that you can apply to your own life and career. And remember, your client’s experience will suffer if you’re not excellent – even if your coffee is hot and delicious. – Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com.

Don’t Be a Time Bandit: A Four-Rule Ethics Tune Up for Employees

ethicsMost people agree that it’s unethical to steal goods, equipment, funds, or information from an employer. Most also agree that it’s unethical blame others for our mistakes, to lie, or to belittle or bully others. These are ethical “givens” that are part of the deal anyone makes when agreeing to work for an employer.

However, employee time is often a gray area. Many employees use work time to do things other than their work. But is that the right thing to do? To begin, consider carefully what it means when an organization agrees to employ you. Your employer pays you a specified salary or hourly wage and perhaps some benefits for your work. In exchange, the assumption is that you’re working the hours you’re scheduled to work. The overarching agreement between you and your employer is therefore that work time is work time. That means that the time you’re scheduled for work is under the control of your employer. It’s not time for you to use for other activities.

I believe that the misuse of work time is a pervasive and subtle form of theft that shortchanges an employer and chips away at an employee’s integrity. To help, I recommend that employees ensure that they’re working the hours they’re supposed to and have agreed work and giving their employers an honest day’s work by following by these four basic rules:

1. Be prompt. Arrive on time, be ready to work, and work all of the hours you’re scheduled to work. Sounds simple, right? However, many employees steal time at the beginning and end of the workday. Imagine that your regularly-scheduled work hours are between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Now imagine that you clock in at 8:15 a.m. every morning and leave at 4:35 p.m. Missing these 40 minutes of work time each day for a month adds up to a total of 13 hours of lost work time. Over the course of a year, that 40 minutes per day adds up to 156 hours of missed work – the equivalent of nearly four weeks! So, an employee who misses 40 minutes of work each day is essentially taking an extra one-month paid vacation each year. Don’t let this happen to you. Come to work early or on time and don’t ask to leave early or try to slip out unnoticed. Then, if circumstances occur so that you don’t work all of your scheduled hours, don’t exaggerate or lie about your work hours on your time sheet. Fill in only the hours you’ve been present and working. Offer to make up the missed time or take less pay – that’s what’s fair and right.

2. Don’t take unsanctioned breaks. Your employer may allow you to take a 15-minute break mid-morning and mid-afternoon and a 30- or 60-minute lunch break. Don’t stretch these times or take more breaks than you’ve agreed to take. If you do, you’ll be shortchanging your employer of the hours you’ve agreed to work.

3. Conduct your personal business outside of your work hours. Employees are stealing time when they use work time to make personal phone calls, check personal emails, tweet, text their friends, go on their personal Facebook pages, shop online, play games, run errands, socialize, or engage in study, a side business, or other activities that aren’t within the scope of their jobs. Unless clearly specified as exceptions, your employer expects your time and your attention to work matters during work hours.

4. Be industrious. Your employer shouldn’t expect you to kill yourself working but does expect you to work at a reasonable pace to complete your work. An employee with integrity doesn’t goof off and isn’t lazy at work. — Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Author’s Note: This blog post is written for employees. Business owners and managers may want to share this post with their employees or make this post the topic of a staff meeting or one-on-one meetings with their employees.

Readers interested in learning more about managing their time may enjoy Blue Pencil Institute’s 25 Top Time Management Tips. On Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/drlaurahills/25-time-management-tips/

Hello, My Name Is Laura

Woman smileHave you ever had a job that required you to wear a name tag? I serve as the pianist and music specialist at an assisted living facility on Friday mornings and even though I’m there only a few hours each week, my work requires me to wear a name tag. In fact, everyone on the staff wears the same lightweight plastic name tag, from the president on down, giving us all a common identity and a sense of belonging.

Wearing a name tag is not a daily habit for me, so I sometimes forget that I have mine on when I leave the facility. When this happens, and I stop somewhere to run an errand or get a bite to eat, the same thing inevitably happens. Someone I don’t know in the store, bank, or restaurant starts to talk to me. “Hi Laura,” “How ya’ doin’, Laura” or “Can I help you, Laura?” are typical remarks. Sometimes, someone will ask, “Laura, where do you work?” or “Laura, what do you do?” People are much friendlier to me when I’m wearing my name tag. I’ve noticed that they’re more likely to talk to me, to ask me a question, or to smile at me than when I’m not wearing my name tag.

We are issued name tags at conventions, corporate events, and social functions. Don’t we do that so people will be friendlier to one another? A name tag breaks the ice and helps people connect. It enables us to remember one another and makes the awkwardness of first introductions just a bit easier. Name tags can also provide information that can stimulate conversation. For example, a name tag can tell where you are from, what organization you represent, or your title. I’ve noticed that the employees in a local grocery store wear name tags that have something personal on them and an invitation for customers to ask a question. For example: “Hello, my name is Bob. Ask me about the Dallas Cowboys” or “Hello, my name is Denise. Ask me about running marathons.” The employees have told me that these name tags work like a charm in stimulating interesting and friendly conversation with customers.

My point is this: If there’s an opportunity for you to wear name tags in your workplace, wear them. People would be friendlier to you and more likely to strike up conversations. They’d be kinder to you, too. It would be much harder for someone to cut into a line in the company cafeteria if the person next to him could say, “Hey, Michael, we have a line going here.” Name tags remove the anonymity that many people hide behind to excuse rude or unkind behavior. Name tags would make it a lot easier for your clients to know who you are and in larger organizations, for you to know your colleagues in other departments and divisions. And think, too, about wearing your name tag when you’re out visiting client sites and whenever you are doing business on behalf of your company. You’ll see. People will open up to you more when they know your name. — Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Knowledge? Shmowledge! Go Ahead and Make a Little Trouble

Yes!My father used to say that I made my own trouble. He was right, of course. But in my defense, I can tell you precisely why that was the case. Whenever anyone asked me if I could do something I’d never done before — or whenever I saw some great opportunity out there that looked good to me– I was the first one to blurt out an emphatic yes. Yes, I can write that. Yes, I can teach that. Yes, I can make that. Yes, I can do that. I’ve yessed myself through life even when I didn’t have clue about what I would have to do or how I would do it. I just said yes.

Want some examples? Well, here are just a few of the things that I have said yes to in my life with no relevant experience under my belt and without really knowing what would be involved:

  • Write my first book for Prentice-Hall
  • Chair an English as a Second Language program at a university
  • Serve as a marriage celebrant and legally marry a couple
  • Write a newsletter for hospital medical directors
  • Serve as an expert witness in a court case
  • Sing our national anthem at a golf tournament
  • Script and emcee a university commencement ceremony
  • Write an elementary school spirit song
  • Accompany a novice tuba player on the piano for a music competition
  • Make 1,600 chocolates for my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah
  • Play Here Comes the Bride for a wedding
  • Lead an Irish sing-along, and
  • Give subcutaneous fluids to a cat

Why would I say yes to such things if I didn’t know how to do them? Because that’s how I’ve gotten to do amazing things in my life (fluids for the cat aside). I suppose I could have been conservative and taken on challenges only after I’d had proper training and experience. But what fun would that have been? Besides, saying yes when you don’t know what you’re doing is an invigorating leap of faith – in yourself. I may not always have known how to do the things I committed to doing. But I believed in me and I believed that I would ultimately figure things out. Call it gumption, call it confidence, or call it foolishness if you like. But whatever you call it, my yesses have given me opportunities that other people have not had.

Mind you, once I say yes to something I don’t know how to do, I react pretty normally. I panic just like anyone would and tell myself that I must have been completely nuts to say that I could do whatever it was. But then, inevitably, I calm myself down and get to work, and guess what happens? Somehow, I manage to write the book, to bang out the chocolates, to accompany the tuba, or to do whatever other crazy thing I said that I could do.

My daughter, Meredith, has told me that she thinks of her mother as a “professional expert”. According to her, it doesn’t matter what task is in front of me. She says I will always appear to be an expert in it – and then, somehow or other, I will actually become one. The kid has a point. Some people learn to swim by taking lessons in the shallow end of the pool, blowing bubbles, and learning technique step by step. I guess I’m the type that learns best by jumping into the deep end. I may flail and sputter a bit but somehow, I will always manage to stay afloat. And most people will think I know what I’m doing while I figure things out.

The next time you’re wondering if you should agree to do something that’s completely new and unfamiliar to you, don’t back off. Don’t let a lack of knowledge and experience stop you from doing what you would like to do in your life. Take a giant leap of faith and join me in the deep end. Say yes. You’ll figure out how to do whatever it is that you’ve agreed to do. Don’t worry when the panic sets in, because believe me, it will. But it won’t last. Don’t worry about the trouble you will create for yourself either. It will be worth it. Besides, what’s so bad about making a little trouble in your life? After all, the world needs more experts, doesn’t it? — Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

It Started with a Red Kitchen

Red PaintMany years ago, I was feeling stuck in my career and my life. I had lost my mother only months earlier and the combination of my grief and my overall dissatisfaction made me feel incredibly sad. Then one day, as I was preparing my breakfast, I noticed how beige my kitchen was. The walls were almost the same shade of beige as the countertops, appliances, table top, and vinyl flooring. Even my toaster and coffeemaker were beige. The beige engulfed and surrounded me and stood for me as a symbol of my beige, bland life.

That’s when I decided that I had to paint my kitchen. But I didn’t know what color to choose. I spent weeks looking at paint chips of tasteful colors that most people would like – light greens, blues, and tans for the most part. I asked my friends for their suggestions. But nothing was right. Then, as I was looking at the paint chip display in a big box hardware store, I saw a man walk by who was wearing a windbreaker in the most delicious shade of red. It was a clear, strong, and definite red, and it immediately caught my eye. I followed the man and asked him if he could please come with me for a moment so I could match my paint to his windbreaker. He must have thought me mad. But he was a kind man. He humored me and together, we were able to match his jacket perfectly.

The moment the red paint went on the wall, I started to feel better. With every stroke of the brush and every pass of the roller, I felt that I was covering my beige sadness and preparing for a happier time in my life – a red time. When the room was completely red, I felt for the first time in a long time that I could finally breathe again. I felt exhilarated. My red kitchen was the harbinger of so many great new things in my life. After that, I returned to graduate school, took better care of my physical self, created a more orderly home, started playing the piano every week at an assisted living facility, and even, composed music for the first time ever. My creativity and energy soared, and with it, my happiness.

Are you feeling stuck, sad, down, or at a loss for what to do? Choose one room in your home where you spend a lot of time and paint it a spectacular new color. Don’t pull your punch. Give yourself permission to live in a color you love. If you don’t know what color that is, keep your eyes peeled and notice what pops. A color will come to you. Then live in that color, wrap yourself in it, and let it heal you. You’ll draw energy from the color but also from your own power for having changed something so dramatically in your environment. Then see what happens next. My guess is that good things will follow. — Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

My Presidential Office

shutterstock_92470540A few years ago, I was working in an organization where most of my coworkers and office visitors were amazed by my office. There were no files lying about, no bulletin boards crowded with messages and to-do lists, no plastic or metal organizing trays on my desk to serve as in- and out- boxes for stacks of paper. In fact, it probably looked to some as though no work at all was ever done in my office. That was unusual in the culture where I worked; I was the only person in my organization to have such an office. Even our president and his Number Two were usually buried under paper.

Mind you, work most certainly did occur in my office – plenty of it, in fact. I had the justly-deserved reputation for being one of the most productive employees in my organization. So you may wonder, how was this possible?

The answer is simple. I made a commitment to keeping my office free of clutter and loose papers. I arranged my work in such a way that my desk was always empty except for the one project I happened to be working on at the moment. Even so, I put the evidence of that work away before I left the office for a meeting or lunch, at the end of the day, or before I prepared for a scheduled appointment with an office visitor. That way, I was able to greet every visitor to my office and start every day with a clear desk.

Now you may wonder, why did I do this? My decision to keep my office free of visible paper stemmed from a formative experience early in my career. About 30 years ago, I was serving as a freelance writer for the president and CEO of a mid-sized cable television company in central Pennsylvania. The company published a quarterly client newsletter and it was my job to interview the president of the company before each issue and ghost write his article for him. This was an unusual opportunity for me because I was in my mid-twenties and had one-on-one meetings with a very powerful corporate leader. There was no other person even close to his stature who spent that kind of time with me back then.

The president’s office was tastefully decorated with a matched suite of cherry wood executive furniture. Behind the important-looking desk, which dominated the room, was a huge and high-backed black leather executive chair. The president was always seated on this thrown when I entered his office, and then he’d stand, smile, shake my hand, and greet me warmly as he offered me a seat. Always, the president had a clear desk with no papers in sight. Behind him sat a large closed credenza and I always imagined that piles of papers were hidden behind its closed doors. But I never knew.

The president would always begin our meeting by saying something like, “Lovely to see you again, Laura.” He took great care to call me by name. He would then engage me in some chit chat so the two of us could catch up. He’d tell me about his horses and I’d tell him about the book I was working on. Then, without fail, he would ask me if I would like something to drink and when I said yes, which I did once I got to know him better, he would press the button on his intercom and say, “Marge, would you please bring Laura a Diet Coke?” And like magic, Marge would appear in seconds to place before me on edge of the desk two leather coasters, and on them, a cold sweating can of Diet Coke and a glass filled with delicate cylindrical ice cubes. Marge would leave and after these pleasantries, the president and I would get down to business. We would talk and I would ask questions and take notes to help me write his article for him.

Every time I met with the president, I was impressed that such a successful and powerful person had so much time and attention just for me. I couldn’t figure out how he managed such a big organization with hundreds of employees without having even one piece of paper anywhere in sight in his office. In fact, I was so dazzled and confused by this feat that I told my father about it one day. Dad had worked in large corporations for most of his career and knew the behavior of presidents and other people at the top very well. “They’re all like that, all the highest-level executives,” my father told me. “They’re always well-mannered, beautifully dressed, and perfect hosts when you visit them. Always, they ask you if you’d like something to drink and always, they seem to have lots of time for pleasantries,” he said. By contrast, mid- and lower-level managers – people like my Dad — are the “worker bees” of the organization, he explained. They’re the ones buried under stacks of papers and who haven’t got time to breathe, let alone chit chat. “Think about it,” Dad said. “Does the President of the United States greet visitors to the Oval Office with lots of notes and memos tacked to a bulletin board? Do you expect that he’d have piles of papers covering his desk?” But somewhere in the White House, there’s some poor “low level grunt”, Dad said, closeted away with all the papers. It’s like that in the corporate world, too.

So how do they do it? The highest-level executives have secretaries to handle all the paper for them, Dad said. They ask Marge or Joan or Mrs. Someone-Or-Other to bring this file or that to them on command. Then they do what they have to do with the file and give it right back to her. “Presidents don’t deal with filing or calendars and they don’t have to keep track of things for themselves. That’s the secretary’s job,” my father explained. How wonderful to be a president, I thought.

I had no secretary to manage my calendar or files for me where I was working. No one screened my calls. And I was not a president. Still, I made a decision when I began to work in the organization that my office would be a “presidential” office. Right away, I bought doors for my open bookcases to hide all the things I didn’t want visitors to see – papers, my purse, and the phone book, among other unsightlies. I also bought myself a high-backed black leather executive desk chair to replace the blue fabric-covered computer task chair provided by my employer. I make good use of my file cabinet and also had a holding area hidden from view for a large pile of projects in progress. That and my sheer determination enabled me to keep my desk clear for office visitors.

Again you may wonder, why do I do this? Certainly I was not a president – really I had much more in common with the worker bees – and I had no one to help me. There were several reasons. First, it is a wonderful thing to be received in a presidential office. One feels that he or she is important and special and that a cordial host is ready and able to be of help and is truly interested. I saw it as a big part of my job to be such a host and to help to my office visitors. My presidential office was welcoming for them. Second, a presidential office gave me a certain mystique among my colleagues. I believe that my office, in combination with my professional wardrobe and bearing, helped me snag several promotions for which others were passed up. We’ve all heard the old advice that we should dress for the job we want, not for the one we have; I also kept an office for the job I wanted. And third, if truth be told, I got off on acting presidential and giving myself a presidential office was part of that. I believe I was more effective and productive because I enjoyed being in my clutter-free and welcoming work environment.

One of my colleagues told me the once that she could never keep her office the way I kept mine because she has too many things to do. I didn’t believe that and I still don’t. I worked harder than the majority of people around me and juggled an amazing number of projects at once. Two of my colleagues later took over positions I previously held, one in my actual former office. The first thing they both did when stepping into my vacated job was to put up a bulletin board and cover it with paper and then to muck up their desks with file folders and stacks of paper. No, my colleague who felt she has too many things to do to stow away the papers was making a choice. I made one too.

Some say clothes make the man. That’s true. But I also believe the office makes the man – or woman. Worker bees are rarely promoted to top positions in organizations. They get stuck in the mid-level. To be an executive, one must create the aura of an executive. The office is a huge part of that. Come visit me even today, in my new office. I’ll offer you something to drink and we’ll chat before getting down to business. You’ll see what I mean. – Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Minute Men and Minute Women: Our Unsung Heroes

shutterstock_8764987In my experience, taking minutes of a meeting is a thankless task. The only time you are likely to hear anything about the minutes you’ve taken is when you’ve made a mistake. Few people will sing your praises because you did a good job of taking the minutes. And let’s face it; taking minutes is not all that exciting. You’re there to capture what other people say, not to come up with your own ideas. You have to pay attention the whole time you’re at the meeting and not let your mind wander. While other meeting participants can sit back and relax, you can’t. And when everyone walks out of the room when the meeting is over, you still have a lot of work ahead of you. You have to review and edit your notes, complete the minutes, and distribute them.

I remember working in an organization some years ago where no one on our senior management team was designated to take the minutes of our meetings. We were supposed to rotate the task. But there were some members of our team who always had a reason that they could not take the minutes. They weren’t very good writers, they’d say. Or they were really busy. Or they were going to have to leave the meeting early. Whenever the question of who would take the minutes came up at the start of the meeting, which it inevitably did, they would rifle through their notes or jot something in their padfolios to avoid eye contact with the rest of us sitting at the conference table. And I must admit, too, much as it pains me, that a few of the older men on the team held fast to the idea that the task of taking minutes was more suitable for a female colleague.

The people who take the minutes of our meetings are doing an important and valuable service for us. If you’ve never had to take minutes, think about how different their experiences at meetings are from yours. Be grateful that you don’t have to be the one to take the minutes. Thank them for what they are doing to support you and your colleagues. Compliment them on their excellent minutes. And when you do, smile warmly and mean it. — Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Working, Living, and Surviving in the Fishbowl

FishbowlThe other day I had a meeting with a colleague in my home. That’s not unusual. However, on that particular day, one of my adult daughters happened to be in the house visiting us. I realized as I spoke with my colleague that my daughter could probably hear our conversation. Now, there was nothing within that conversation that was private or confidential; we could have just as easily had that same conversation in public over lunch or coffee or even shared what we were saying directly with my daughter, had she been interested – which she wasn’t. But just knowing that my daughter was in the house and within earshot changed the dynamic of our conversation.  It made us feel self-conscious. And I think we both restrained and edited our conversation because my daughter was there.

That’s the nature of the beast whenever people share an office, work in a cubicle, or otherwise conduct their business in front of other people. It’s hard when you’re the bystander in those situations not to listen, not to notice what’s going on. But we have an obligation to try. That means we can’t glance or peek at something or strain to overhear a conversation. We can’t read memos or faxes that are lying around in other people’s workstations, even if they happen to be in plain view. We can’t stand behind coworkers seated at a computer monitor and read what is on the screen, without their permission. And certainly, we can’t make comments about the phone and face-to-face conversations we can’t help but overhear.

Be mindful of what you’re doing if you work or live in a fishbowl. Every now and then, have the grace and sensitivity to shut your ears, shut your eyes, and swim behind a rock. — Dr. Laura Hills, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com