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Your Next Performance Appraisal: Make It Work For YouIn the rush of everyday work, it can be difficult to think about your own career development. An appraisal is a key opportunity to identify your strengths, areas that need improvement and plans for your future. The questions below are designed to stimulate your thinking and to help you prepare for and get maximum benefit from your next appraisal session. Think about your performance, your progress, and plans for the future. Appraise yourself. Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job ? to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks ? resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs ? fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619. |  | | | RELATED ARTICLES Traveling for An Interview? 10 Tips to Get You From Here to There You've just been granted an on-site interview in another town. Hurray! Wanted: A Diva for the Job of a Lifetime! "When I was a child, I always thought the world was mine, A stomping ground for me, full of opportunities. I always had this attitude that I was going to go out into the world and do all the things I wanted to do." ?Madonna Job Lead Websites To Use in Your Telecommuting Search Let me ask you a question: are you tired ofusing job sites only to find scam after scam? I bet you're noddingyour head in agreement to that question. I know that I was sickand tired of spending all my time online searching fortelecommuting jobs only to find scams. Any type of free job siteis going to have a few scams, but some sites have more legitimatejobs than others, and some are easier to use than others. Why One Word Answers are Bad News at Job Interviews It takes a lot of time and effort to get invited to a job interview. Don't blow your chances by being misunderstood by the interviewer. Not many people are aware that giving one word answers to questions, substantially increases your chances of conveying the wrong impression. Minding Your Own Business Think you have gone as far as you can in your present job? Instead of looking around for a similar position in another company, you may want to strike out on your own as a consultant. Pair Your Powerful Resume with a Great Cover Letter Every great resume deserves a great cover letter. Is Job Loss Making You Sick? Job loss affects most of us like anyother loss in life. Yes, there are otherlosses that are greater, but this onecomes close too! How People Really Explore New Careers: What Does A Real Career Search Look Like? The traditional model of career choice suggests a linear pattern. Get to know yourself. Learn your kills and talents. Explore careers that seem to best utilize your talents and skills. Today, both research and experience suggest that real career change doesn't happen this way. Why Choose A Professionally Written Resume? Good question, considering that nowadays you can find manyuseful resources to help you write your own resume(including many located at http://www.impressive-resumes.com). The 6 Stages of Modern Career Development Career experts say that people will change careers (not jobs) 5-7 times in a lifetime. This being true, career management is an important life skill to develop and cultivate. There are six stages of modern career development: Assessment, Investigation, Preparation, Commitment, Retention, and Transition. Learning the characteristics of each stage will empower you to navigate through each stage easily and with more confidence. Taking Your Words Seriously When we ordered the stained glass window as an accent piece for our home, the artist-proprietor told us he was a bit behind. "So," he said, "to be on safe side, plan on six months." That was two years ago. We still don't have the window. Each time we call or stop in, he has yet another plausible reason why our project isn't done, the appropriate apology and a new promise of a delivery date. What he doesn't have is credibility. Wishful promises don't cut it in small-town businesses or big-city corporations. It doesn't matter what role you're in. If you tell me you'll do something, I expect you will do it whether you're a business, an employee, a co-worker or my boss. You're the one setting my expectations, so why wouldn't I believe what you tell me? It baffles me. I've found in twenty years of management few people meet or exceed the expectations they set and they control. I'm not talking about deadlines other people set for you. I'm talking about the ones you establish. Maybe it's because few people take their own words seriously. If you do you can differentiate yourself at work. People who consistently do what they say they're going to do, without sandbagging, are memorable. They're the people with credibility. They're the ones you want to hire and promote and do business with. People fail to establish credibility without even knowing it. If someone tells me she'll provide information by Friday, but what she meant was "around Friday," she'll feel she met her obligation to me when she pushes send on her email Monday morning. I'll view her as lacking credibility when the information for a project I wanted was late. However, if she told me I'd get the information no later than Tuesday and delivered it on Monday, while her delivery date remains the same, her credibility soars. By managing the words that define what others can expect from you, you can surprise and delight your co-workers, boss, and customers. To do that, replace casual-speak and wishful promises of what you'd like to have happen or believe can happen, with commitments of what will happen. But here's the key. You can't commit what you can't control. If I tell a member of my staff he'll get his review next week, but I only control when I finish writing it not when it's approved, the likelihood of me failing to meet an expectation I set with him is strong. But if the review is written, signed by my boss, and in for processing at the time I set the expectation, I'll meet it. Our delinquent artisan could have called three months into the project, told us he accepted an unusual opportunity to restore an historic building, was putting his other projects on hold until that was complete, and offered us the choice of waiting until he resumed work or getting our deposit back. He could have preserved his credibility and the relationship. Actions may speak louder than words. But it's our words that provide the backdrop for whether our actions measure up. If I'm your customer, your boss, or your co-worker, I'm taking your words seriously. I think you should, too. (c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved. How To Find Quick, Free, Job Search Resurces There are many free job search resources availablein any community, large or small. These resourcesare available to the aspiring CEO as well as to the person who wants to make sandwiches. Somejob seekers are not aware of what helpful placesand people there are, especially for FREE. Theresources are: How to Access Employers through Proposal Marketing Use Proposal Marketing and you'll be your own hot spot, opening gateways previously inaccessible. Hook up with those who have the power to hire you. Present a history or even an achievement-driven resume and your coverage is limited. Send a proposal to employer prospects and you'll gain more scalability to customize a solution to their business challenges. Sync with decision makers' needs and high-speed your career campaign. Youre Fired! One-day you're minding your own business and your boss comes in and says "You're Fired", perhaps he was a bit more polite than that but the end result was the same, you're now out of work!! The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting - As Seen Through The Eyes of a Seasoned Telecommuter Janelle Delacorte has been happily answering calls for the Home Shopping Network and various infomercials since November 2004. Top 10 Resume Writing Tips to Get You the Interview There are many reasons why you could be in the marketfor a new job right now. Perhaps... How To Find A Job Writing Grant Applications Do you have what it takes to land a job doing grant writing? Many people are looking for ways to develop a freelance business, but unless you know what it takes to do so, you might as well stop trying. There are several fields in which you can learn and have many jobs waiting for you. But, in others, you will need to properly be prepared for them before they pass you by. Here, we will talk a little about how to find jobs in grant writing. American Idol Syndrome I like Simon, one of three judges on American Idol. I find his feedback refreshingly honest. And while his words startle me with their ego wounding potential, the traditional feel-good, let-you-down-easy, sugar-coated feedback is not much of a gift. It's hard to tell someone they're not good enough and their dreams are not going to happen, at least in this venue. But not telling them is no gift either. Some contestants rise to the challenges he throws at them. Some don't. And, some can't. Which one are you? The people who influenced me most in my career were those who gave me the hardest critiques. Stricken with a bruised-ego for days, or on occasion for months, inevitably their feedback helped me make the right life choices to improve, change direction, or stay the course with intensity. In fact, the boss who was the hardest on me is the one I thank the most. Good was not good enough if I was capable of better, and she was quick to point out when that was. No sugar coating from her. And the funny thing? When I was honest with myself, I knew she was right. Being honest with yourself is one of the challenges to winning at working. We all have talents and abilities, but they're not always in the areas we pursue at work. Too many people I've run across in my career have American Idol Syndrome (AIS). Like Idol contestants auditioning with little or no singing ability, these people believe they are good at what they do. They can't understand why they don't get the promotion, the outstanding review, or the highest increases. They view themselves as varsity team material, but they play with junior varsity skills. When I was a freshman at Stanford, I got a D in biology. Stanford graded on a bell-curve, so an 84% that might traditionally put me in a B category, was near the class bottom. Accustomed to A's, first quarter grades woke me up. At first, I rationalized a D at Stanford was an A or a B at most any other school. But, reality prevailed. I wasn't at another school. If I was going to compete at the school I was at, it was time to use more than high school skills to bring results. Are you applying yourself? Are you as good as you could be to get the raise, the promotion, or the more interesting work? If these are things you want, don't suffer from AIS. Give yourself some Simon-esk feedback. Ego aside. A Simon-esk answer to the questions, "how good are you?" and "are you in the right field?" offers you a chance at becoming happier and more successful at working. The answers give you choices: you can stay the course; find a playing field at your skill level; improve your skills to compete where you are; or change directions. (c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved. Whiners Need Not Apply Sometime last summer I decided to host a pity party and invite all my friends. Well, not all my friends, exactly. Only those whose livelihoods might have, like mine, been suffering from the downward slide of the economy. To make the guest list, invitees would have to possess the ability to grumble, gripe, groan, fuss, snarl, scream, fret, rant and complain -- preferably all at the same time. I wanted world-class whiners at my party. Optimists need not apply. Negotiate Better Job Offers with This Twelve-Point Checklist You've been through an employer's interview process successfully and have now been extended a job offer. And you think the offer could be better. If that's the case, read on to find out cutting-edge strategies that'll help you negotiate a better deal. |
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