Category Archives: Adapt, Innovate, Win

8 Ways to Raise the Level of Your Job Performance and Your Leadership

Adapt, Innovate, Win

Seek advice before acting on important decisions.  It is so easy for me to go into difficult situations and make large decisions with the belief that I already have all the answers.  It is equally easy for me to overlook things that I should have considered before acting.  I have better results when I get ideas and solutions from other people.  I better understand my circumstances by discussing them with someone else.

Get greatest results from each activity and from each day.  The National Football League wide receiver Jerry Rice holds 23 NFL records.  He caught long passes.  What made him greater than other wide receivers is the distance he gained after he caught the pass.  Business professionals can do a better job for their company by identifying those small details that turn mediocre projects into hugely successful products.  These people are the innovators.  They do the same tasks every else does and make greater results than anyone else.   These people make the same products everyone else makes and make those products far better than anyone else.  These people build companies like Google, Apple, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and Samsung.

Take breaks during the day and stop working when the day is over.  Again Jerry Rice knew when to step out-of-bounds or go to the ground to avoid a violent tackle.  He knew when he had gotten the most possible yards out of a play and avoided pushing a play that would only risk dangerous tackles and possible injuries.   Smart workers take breaks during the day.  Smart workers leave work at the end of the workday.  Continuing to work longer and longer hours can lead to inefficiency and health problems.

If you finish your work before the end of the day, do at least one more task before leaving work.  It is easy to sit around or leave early.  By starting and completing one more task on these days, you will find that your production can rise dramatically.  If you add and complete one extra task per week, you will complete fifty more tasks over the course of the year.  Your company will benefit.  Your value to your company will grow.

Regularly read articles and books about your job and your goals.  Nearly every job continues to evolve.  Many jobs disappear entirely. New information and tools become available to make job performance easier and make you more marketable.  Take advantage of this information to grow in professional value and for personal enrichment.

See obstacles as opportunities to create personal value.  Everyone encounters obstacles.  It is very easy to give up or procrastinate instead of acting on these obstacles.  Often obstacles one person experiences are the same obstacles other people experience.  By acting on the challenges you face, you can develop effective, often new ways of dealing with these obstacles.   As you overcome obstacles in your own life, look for ways to help other people use your solutions to overcome their own obstacles.  People have founded companies based on providing products and services to overcome common obstacles.   If you can sell the solutions you have developed in overcoming obstacles, you have a business.

Continue to build your network of friends and mentors.   One of the more interesting qualities of my son is that he has multiple circles of friends.  The people in each of these circles are people he has met at different times and in different settings.  He has friends from high school classes.  He has friends from his sports activities.  He has friends from college.  Since graduating from college, he has met these people from different circles to pick up new hobbies and to travel.  He has traveled to Sweden, Peru, and Thailand to meet with friends he has met over the years.  You may also find that having new circles of friends can help you develop new and valuable career ideas and solutions.

Continue to set goals.  Goal setting can have a subconscious power to drive your actions even when you are not working directly from a daily plan.  Additionally, having goals can give you a sense of purpose and a feeling of a richer quality of life.  Rather than focusing on the ruts of your life, you can focus on your goals and how to move toward them.

4 Tools for Turning Decisions into Actions

Adapt, Innovate, Win

Four tools for turning decisions into action

I find that the most successful people have tools and systems for turning their decisions into actions.  The things I decided to do in life are not nearly as important as the things I actually do.  Deciding to get exercise, learn a new skill, get a better job, start a new business, and so on through New Year’s resolutions, frequent or occasional inspirations, or anything else that seems appealing yet may be fleeting without something bringing forth the action to complete the vision.

Have a partner or a team.  The Internet has isolated so many of us that we lack the benefit of having other people who start the day at the same time, end the day at the same time, and share processes and ideas to keep the project moving.

Google, IDEO, Apple, Campbell, Exxon Mobil, and nearly every other business use business teams to carry out their goals.

I have read criticisms of teams or, rather, committees, for the ways that joint efforts can throw projects off track.  As I read these criticisms, I find is that the problem is not in the team concept but the team selection and structure.

Start with a team manager who can bring leadership, direction, motivation, energy and focus to the team.  Add team members with different, complimentary skills and experience.  For example, if you are creating a financial planning team, the team leader might be from the finance department, but the members might be from a variety of departments who can add ability and creativity to the team.

In many cases, the team leader report to a director of teams who is not a member of any team, but is the person who appoints members to the teams, and directs the teams through the team leaders.  The head of marketing or sales or any other department might supervise the team leaders for innovation, product development, insights, labeling, advertising, branding.

Teams come together in meetings.  Scheduling meeting to afford the greatest use of the skills of each employee is critical.  A demand planner might take part in team meetings for finance, sales, marketing, and logistics.

A head football coach might be a good example of a team director.  The head coach has team leaders who manage the development and success of specialty teams in modern football:  quarterback coach, special teams coach, linebacker coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, offensive line coach, secondary coach, strength coach, defensive line coach, and coaches with special skills in working with kickers for punting, kickoffs, on-sides kicks, and field goals.

On a small-scale, your team might just be you and your partner.  In a family business, the team might be two sisters or a mother and daughter in a garage, a kitchen, or in the case of a new household product, even the bathtub, where they create the vision, draw up the plan, develop the financing, and maybe even create the products right where they will use the product.

Gordon LeBoeuf, the person who trained me recruit, owned one of the top four executive search firms in the nation and owned the Carter/Bryant  (named after Amon Carter and Bear Bryant) employment agency in Houston.  Prior to recruiting, LeBoeuf had played professional football and had worked as a national marketing manager for Pfizer Pharmaceutical.

His advice was that I needed two things:  (1) someone to work with and (2) a place to go to work.

Develop outside sources.  Reading and listening to motivational and inspirational speakers that talk about my own goals is very helpful.  Reading, watching videos, or listening to speakers who have been successful at achieving their goal creates the motivation and provides the instruction for getting the job done.

Find a quiet place and a quiet time.  I have found times when I have become so absorbed in reaching my goals that I failed to recognize that I was too tired to be effective.  Failing to act was not tripping me up.  Stopping to rest was tripping me up.  Walking away from my desk and sitting somewhere else, some place quiet and restful, can bring tremendous energy and clarity.

Act motivated.  Acting motivated can bring real motivation, enthusiasm, and energy.  I have found that simply performing the actions of being happy, motivated, and full of energy can result in my being happy, motivated, and full of energy.

  1. Smiling, even when I am alone
  2. Clapping my hands or snapping my fingers with or without a crowd or music
  3. Saying “thank you,” especially to myself
  4. Singing, especially when I am alone
  5. Giving compliments, even to myself: “You did a great job!”

Resumes for Managers

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Resume Summary, Resumes

Here is a simple resume format.

Your name
Street address, City, State Zip
Home phone, Cell phone
Email address

OBJECTIVE AND SUMMARY
Stating an objective or a giving a summary at the beginning of the resume is common practice.  Stating an objective or providing a summary is optional.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 

(Most recent job first)
Company Name; company Location, From –to
Most recent title, Location, From – to

Use bullet format.
•        List things you have accomplished.  Do not waste space on your just giving a job description.  List things that showed that you made a difference in the positions you held.
•        Use facts—for example, exceeded assigned sales goal by 30%, reduced costs, promoted people, saved time, increased productivity, etc.
•        Employers and recruiters search their databases for specific words, so list successes with specific industry words or functions.  Include the real name of your product categories, product names, sales accounts, functions (e.g., Profit & Loss, Market Research or Software Names, New Product Development, Market Insights, Innovation), etc.

Next List Previous Titles at this company and again list successes and accomplishments in bullet format.

Then include Previous Companies going back in time from most recent.

EDUCATION
Normally, education goes at the bottom of the resume.  People who have recently received an educational degree or credential that alters their employability might consider putting education at the top of the resume.

Other items that might go at the bottom of the resume are awards, extra skills, volunteer work, or perhaps some relevant college employment.

Cutting Weak Wording From Your Resume

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Resume Summary, Resumes

The people who invite you to an interview want to know what you have done and what happened as the result of what you have done. They are looking for measurable results.

Your competitors as job seekers are writing resumes to focus on career accomplishments and career keywords.

These words waste space and weaken your resume.
Experienced
Excellent
Driven
Motivated
Seasoned
Inspirational
Team player
Energetic
Results-oriented
Expert
Outstanding
Effective
Innovative
Strong
Exceptional
Love (i.e., Love to…)

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