"You can now download my new book for free!"

Download my free ebook, Leadership Skills Learned on the Playground

Just in time for graduation- Creating Your Unique Selling Points (USPs) will net you the job you're looking for!

This 44-page instructional guide will hand-hold you through the process of developing an unbeatable individual strategy for the job you want!

 
Management luminary Tom Peters promoted the idea of self-marketing. "We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc." Creating your Unique Selling Points (USP) is the genesis to helping you... More > identify your brand. Getting a job is the process of selling oneself as the person (brand) who exceeds the needs of the potential customer, the employer. This blueprint for identifying personal Unique Selling Points will give you the confidence to get the job you want!
 
American poet Dr. Maya Angelou's grandmother once said to her,

"Those who give...get.

Those who learn...teach."

It is with this thought in mind, I authored the book.  Find a quiet space.  Yes, you're going to have to think.  And, quelle horreur, you’ve going to have to write, sometimes longer than 144 characters.  Two great life-learning skills!  Once complete, you'll know what your USPs are.  You might be surprised.  I was.

To order your success tool, click here:  La Petite Femme's Bookstore

“all done...?” (performance appraisals)

(part of the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) series)

How an organization achieves world class quality excellence depends on its leaders within the organization, at all levels of the organization.  Whether your organization has just started its quality journey with ISO certification or are ready to apply for the world renowned Deming award, the critical success factor to world class quality excellence…it’s all in the leadership!

Leadership skills that make an environment successful are the same skills that we learned when we were little.  Today, performance appraisals.

When we ask children to do something, we tell them what to do and what the expectations are.  "I want you to sweep the kitchen floor and make sure you clean behind the table.  Thank you."  If it's the first time they've done it, we show them how.  We then turn the task over to them, we watch them for a while, and answer questions when asked.  When it appears the child understands the what, the how and the why, we leave them to finish the task. When they are done, they will come in and tell you to "come and look".  You walk into the kitchen, look at the floor and give your comments.  They may range from "good job" to "it looks good but you forgot to clean under the table".

"Good job" means the task is over and expectations have been met.  Depending on the age of the child, if he/she also mopped the floor, expectations were "exceeded".  If the first review means the task was not complete, the child will try again. When finished, the child will come in, and the review process, this time, should net the "good job" appraisal.  If not, the process of sharing with the child what was missed and having the child try again will continue until expectations are met and the "good job" appraisal is achieved.  Not all children learn at the same pace.  It may take only once for one child and several times for another.  One child may just need to understand exactly what you mean ("you didn't tell me to pick it up, you just said 'sweep' ".)  et touché!

Performance appraisals should be used as a way to increase employee achievement.  Back in the day performance evaluations were used as a "gotcha" tool.  To evaluate means to examine and judge something, not a person.  To appraise: HR – to make a formal assessment of an employee or an employee’s performance following an agreed set of criteria.

In our team based environment, both employee and team leader (or manager and director; director and vice president...) sit down and discuss achievements and needed (continuous) improvements of the year past.  This should not be a surprise to either involved.  In a team based environment, we share performance every day.  When a correction needs to be made, we share immediately.  The goal is to continuously coach our team for their success and ours.  The introduction of SMART goals in the '90s was the tool to assist in the professional development of all employees regardless of level.  SMART goals articulate the expectations and eliminate the nebulousness of evaluations (what does "you're a good leader" mean?). 

• Specific  (what is the task or objective?  Attach details if appropriate)
• Measures  (standards and parameters)
• Achievable  (is it?)                         
• Realistic  (is it?)
• Time-bound  (start / finish dates)

When questions are asked, they need to be answered to the satisfaction of the one who asked.  The old "that's why I hired you" comment does nothing to inspire or teach or answer a question.  Today that comment translates to "I don't know but I don't want to tell you I don't know".  It's ok if you don't know, just say that rather than putting the onus on the questioner.

Remember the "one size does not fit all" mantra.  Employees (all humans) learn at a different pace.  Specificity removes ambiguousness in expectations - the "you didn't say x, all you said was....".  The time taken up-front to insure goals are understood, and agreed to, by both the team leader and the associate saves time in behavior and task performance.  It allows for an easy "yes" or "no" when responding to the "all done?" questions in the performance appraisal process.  The goal for both you and the employee is to achieve the "good job" grade.

Are you employing SMART in your business? 

 



Celebrate Us!

I spoke, via Skype, this morning to a group of over 100 young girls ages 13 - 18.  They hail from over 25 countries  -  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the UK, the US - just like you.  They attend public, private, and parochial schools.

My topic:  Success is not a “one size fits all” definition.

One of the recurring comments by the audience was there were so few resources for them.  Yes, they know Secretary Clinton, UN Ambassador Rice, IMF President Lagarde but what about the women I spoke about in my presentation. Couldn't I ask them to write their stories?  This prompted my CTA (call to action) to you.

When I hung up, I started thinking about all of you - family, friends, my social media, professional organization and academia colleagues. All of you are successful role models.  Each of you, regardless of race, age, religion, geographic, socioeconomic, demographic, or occupation (and I include the unpaid occupation of homemaker in this group) has a story to tell and lessons learned during your journey to “right now”.  Each of you has a message to contribute.

I would like to ask each of you to write your story, maximum 1000 words and end with 3-5 lessons learned.  Use word.doc format, your name and country on top of page, your title is optional, and a picture would be great.  If you are hesitant to write a story, please include your 3-5 lessons learned.  All pieces will be compiled and published as a motivational resource for young girls globally.

I would like to meet a December 1 deadline.  Return your article via e-mail, the comments section on this blog site, my Entre Nous blog, facebook, or our website. 

Thank you for your help.  I look forward to reading YOUR story and I know the girls will too.