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Standing Out in Uncertain Times |Dodging Landmines

With layoffs happening all over, many people become nervous about impressing upper management. Follow these tips from Tanya Goodwin-Maslach, Executive Coach at Elevati Inc., to show your boss and clients that you are indispensable to their success.

Speaker: Tanya Goodwin-Maslach, Executive Coach, Elevati Inc.

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Tags: Landmine, Workforce Management, Human Resources, Dodging Landmines, stand out, job, economy, downturn, clients, manager

 
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    1

    mttodd

    03/10/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Standing Out in Uncertain Times |Dodging Landmines

    This is so true. My job is to make my boss look good-
    plain and simple. She is my support manager, and when
    the time comes to be rated (against my peers)- she does
    the rating.

  •  
    2

    gstromberg

    10/15/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Standing Out in Uncertain Times |Dodging Landmines

    Give more value than what you receive. Go the extra mile and do potential problem analysis. Stay ahead of the curve.

    Ask what are the 4 most important things I do for you?

    Then ask how am I doing on these 4 things.

    Remember every time you ask a question you create an expectation. Make sure you manage the expectation.

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Standing Out in Uncertain Times |Dodging Landmines

With layoffs happening all over, many people become nervous about impressing upper management. Follow these tips from Tanya Goodwin-Maslach, Executive Coach at Elevati Inc., to show your boss and clients that you are indispensable to their success.

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^M00:00:20

Speaker 1: I am watching what's happening in today's business world and it makes me really, really nervous about my job. So what can I do to stand out?

Speaker 2:Well the most critical thing for you to do is first to think How do I change my mind set from thinking it's about me I have to protect myself versus I need to serve other people. I need to help other people look good and by doing that I am going to start to stand out amongst the masses.

Speaker 1: It's hard to quit thinking about yourself though in these tough times, so how do I get started? What's the strategy?

Speaker 2: Well the first easiest thing that you can do is walk into your boss's office, sit down and ask him or her what are the top 3 things that are keeping you up at night? What are those things that just you can't go to sleep because they are bothering you and then ask why? Take on a very scientific approach to this. Think like a scientist. Be curious, because any information that you get back from him or her is going to be key data for you to say hmmm how do I do that to make my boss happy?

Speaker 1: I see that this might be useful to my manager, but still I am not in a position to influence change or be a change maker so I am getting all of this great information but isn't this just a futile exercise?

Speaker 2: No it's not. In fact it's not and that again is the difference in mindset. So, for example first thing you tell yourself is how do I do this? I don't have the authority so what do I do? Well you call your biggest customer. You are a manager, you can do that. Call your biggest customer find out what's happening for you right now? Tell me about your difficulties. How can we better serve you? Listen to them. Acknowledge the difficulties and the feelings they are having. Tell them you are taking notes and tell them you are going to follow up with a progress report from your team. When you hang up the phone go back in your boss's office and say I found these things that are going wrong for our customer and these are the things that you said you wanted to make a difference on. I can do this it is going to satisfy your interest here and you bring those two things together and viola you look fabulous.

Speaker 1: And you are adding value to your company.

Speaker 2: That's right you are standing out.

Speaker 1: In summary

Speaker 2: So in summary change your mind set. Move away from this whole idea of I have to protect myself cause I need this job. No, no, no. Focus on how do you serve other people first. Think about their jobs. Think about what they need and see if you can serve them in a way that makes them look better. As soon as you do that people start coming to you because you are the solution provider.

^M00:02:52

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