On-Boarding - Skip at your own peril!

Once you’ve place that offer out there and the candidate of your dreams has said yes, it’s time to make sure that you smooth their way on board.  You can either let it happen, or you can MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Through previous postings, you’ve probably divined that I’m all about process and on-boarding a new team member demands your attention.  This is the opportunity to show your new team member that you care about them and you want to ensure that they have a comfortable entry into the team.

Most people, no matter how experienced are going to feel some level of discomfort as they take on a new role.  There are new people, unfamiliar places, processes that they’ve become comfortable with will need to be thrown out, the path to get decisions made will change, and the politics of the new place are unknown.  This can make for a very uncomfortable period and can ultimately make the difference of the new team member staying with your organization or fleeing back to somewhere where they are comfortable.  I’ve seen it happen – someone comes in and a few months later is gone.  When you ask why, they say, ‘I just never felt like I fit in’.

First – make sure you’ve sold the job that exists!  If you want someone to run screaming from the building, hire them based on some fantasy version of the job and then stick them with reality.  Not only will you burn bridges with that person, but they’ll tell everyone they know what a horrible place your business is and how incompetent you are.

Next – once they’ve said yes, welcome them to the team.  Follow up the official call with another call a couple of days later, congratulate them on taking up the new role and let them know you’ve already begun planning their first few days in the office.  You can tell them that the team knows about their coming on board and that the team is excited and is looking forward to meeting them.

Now comes the real work – actually build an on-boarding plan for the individual.  This plan should include the following and cover the first couple of weeks:

1. Key contacts for this person and their contact information.
2. Time to tour the facilities and show them where they’ll be spending most of their time.
3. Introductions to fellow team members.
4. Introductions to key contacts.
5. Introduction to your boss.
6. Setup meetings for 1-on-1 time with key people they will work with.
7. Setup meetings for 1-on-1 time with yourself (their manager).
1. These should be daily – initially set for an hour so that you can bring them up to speed on the role that they’ll be playing, then as time goes on these meetings can be shorter, just a touch base to answer questions about people they are meeting, processes they are unfamiliar with, etc.
8. Setup time for training
1. HR training
2. Department training
3. Job specific training
9. Time to show them where they can find key information on your intranet
1. Team documentation
2. Team standards and processes
3. Company information you feel is important
4. Standard training material if available
10. Any other items that are critical to your environment and team

I’ve never been told by a team member that the on-boarding process was not welcome.  Early in my career, when working at other companies, I had been told that the lack of an on-boarding plan made the team member uncomfortable.  Well, lessons learned.  I hadn’t been shown then and didn’t know what a proper on-boarding plan was and what it could do for the new team member.  I took time to learn and over the years have been involved with companies that were good and companies that were bad at on-boarding new team members.  

When done right, I’ve even had employees compliment me on the on-boarding process.

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile

I Can't Find The Right People - Yeah Right!

I've had several discussions lately with different groups of people about hiring people.  I'm somewhat surprised at the attitudes of some of the decisions being made or expressed in these discussions.  Here are some of the comments I've heard:

1. We'll only hire people that have x years of experience.
2. We'll only hire people that can prove they have experience using xyz framework.
3. We'll only hire people that have a Bachelors degree,
4. We'll only hire people that have a Masters degree.
5. We'll only hire people that are experts in programming multiple languages.
6. We can't afford to hire newbies, it's too distracting.
7. We need programmers who also have experience as system admins?

Maybe we don't have a shortage of qualified applicants; maybe we're being too picky!  You want 7 years of experience, but you won't consider an applicant with 5 or 6 years of experience, really?  Someone can demonstrate that they know how to code and can discuss in detail their contributions to sophisticated development efforts – yet they don’t have a degree and you won’t hire them?  Your organization uses some hot off the press framework, or some framework that isn’t used by 90% of the developers breathing – yet you won’t hire a skilled programmer that has a track record of learning new languages frameworks and give them a few months to come up to speed?  You find a candidate that can develop is several languages – but is missing a key scripting language that your company uses, and you think that passing up this individual because you can’t afford to give them a little time to learn the scripting language – and this is a good idea?  You don’t want to hire new developers right out of college because you can’t afford to distract your staff – meantime, they’re working 70 hrs a week because nobody is there to handle the simple stuff or address the tickets being opened because of errors in the production environment, great choice!

As hiring managers, we’re supposed to be taking into consideration the long term needs and health of our teams.  I find these statements be short sighted at best.  Hiring inexperienced programmers into the organization provides several benefits that we need to be aware of and fight for:

1. They can take over the lower level complexity tasks that do nothing more than distract the more highly paid resources.
2. They can handle production problems that act as a distraction to the entire team.
• Side benefit – this forces these younger developers to learn the ins and outs of the systems that they are supporting so that they can transition into the development team at some point and take on more complex development tasks.

Part of the problem is we are relying on automated applicant tracking systems that filter out everything but an exact match with all of the keywords/buzzwords that we created for the job description.  These systems don’t allow us to find those gems that we can bring into the organization and grow into the next superstar.

How many times have you gone out and hired some superstar, just to have them leave 2 years later?  Sometimes these folks keep moving around because they know they can keep getting a bump in salary.

The real key is to understand the qualities of the people that currently work in your environment.  What makes them stay?  What makes them successful?  You then need to really hone your job descriptions to describe the type of people you want in the organization.  Then you need to adjust the applicant tracking system.  Stop filtering candidates out on skills and find ways to identify candidates based on the real traits you need in the organization.

If you’re a small company – do you really want to hire someone that has a track record of only working in large organizations and has a history of job hopping?  If you need developers that need to be able to meet with non-technical users – shouldn’t you be looking for a developer that has a track record showing that?

I’ll go further – sometimes you need to forget about finding someone with 5 years of experience and focus on finding an entry level programmer that displays a passion for learning, knows how to communicate, has local connections and will become the next rock star in your organization. 

Look at one point, none of us had experience.  Remember how excited we were when we got our first job?  Remember how we tore into any available documentation to learn?  Remember what we felt like when we moved our first code into production?  Someone, at some point, reached down, put their hand out and gave you a chance.  Now it’s your turn!


If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile

I Wish I Knew Then, What I Know Now!

When I got my first professional job - it was selling IBM PC's and compatibles, along with the assignment of teaching a couple of courses for the company I worked for - these courses included dBase III and I believe Lotus 1-2-3 (that should give you a pretty good indication of how old I am). Yes, I had done contracting work prior to this job - some coding on the IBM 5110 - which was state of the art at the time. But that wasn't full time and I fit in the coding between school activities and my real job.

After a couple of years, I sought to find a job doing software development - I learned that although I could sell, I didn't like it. I also knew that I really enjoyed programming. So the switch was logical. Looking back on those first two jobs, I realize that although I thought I knew everything, in all honesty, I barely knew the basics. Following are some of the things that have been ingrained into my psych over the years – things maybe I knew, but didn't realize were important when I started my professional life:

1) Patience is a virtue. I've indicated in previous postings that I'm a Driver - with a capital D - learn more by reading about Social Styles. That's not a bad thing, it's not a good thing, it just is. My particular issue - one that I've learned to manage over the years - is that I want to dive in head first when I see a problem. What I've learned over the years, is that in many instances, you want to listen and ask before starting to solve a problem. In fact, I frequently tell my direct reports that when presenting me with a problem, they need to let me know: 1) they just need some room to vent; 2) they want my input on ideas on how to resolve the problem; or 3) they are escalating the issue and want my involvement. I had/have a nasty habit of jumping in on their conversation and telling them how to solve the problem. In many instances, they don't want me to solve it, they want me to guide them through the process and help them solve the issue (some might call this mentoring).

2) Be Passionate about your Role. I can honestly state that I've loved most every job that I've ever had. I've never left an organization because of the work - I've left organizations because of the culture and because of specific individuals. If you want to get ahead in your current role, you need to show passion, you need to let your boss know that you want to help him/her. Volunteer for the tough assignments! How many times have you walked up to your boss and asked if there was anything on their plate that you could help with? When an opening has occurred, have you ever told your boss that you’re willing to take on the responsibilities associated with the open position? Let your boss save money in the budget! I have and it's been awesome - I've taken on teams that were outside my prime area of expertise and it has forced me to learn. What's better than that? You win, your boss wins!

3) Learning is a never ending process. Especially in the technology industry. And, change is only accelerating. It wasn't long ago that you could use a language for years and not feel the pressure to learn a different language, now there are new scripting tools appearing daily. Businesses are shifting development paradigms!  You need to think about the user experience across mobile (phones and tablets) as well as traditional laptops and desktops. You don't need to run hardware anymore, you can develop, test and have your production environment in the cloud.  Companies are now introducing wearable technology - how do you think that will impact your business?

4) Communication, communication, communication! For those of us in the technology field, there is a certain personality that people associate us with - they believe we lack social skills and don't understand how to interact with others. I am lucky that my parents taught me how to communicate in groups at a young age. The fact that I can move between non-technical and technical users and communicate and share information has been a key driver in my career. The time has passed where you could hide at your desk and not have to interact with anyone. In the business environment that exists today, you need strong written and verbal communication skills. You also need to be adept and moving between technical and non-technical discussions and being able to translate information between teams.

5) If you're not happy, find something else to do! When you're dreading going into work every day, maybe you need to change things up. Once job from my past, made me extremely miserable. I didn't realize it in the moment, but after leaving the company and taking on another role, I was able to look back at the experience and understand how it had impacted me - and not for the better. It was a miserable experience for myself and others. I wasn't the only one who ended up leaving either. Over a period of time, a lot of good people ended up taking on different roles in other organizations. What a loss for that organization.

As I've grown into different roles and moved between organizations, these realities have allowed me to tackle new challenges.  Each of us have our own core strengths.  Figure out how to maximize the impact your strengths have within the role you currently play.

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile

How to FAIL an Interview!

When interviewing candidates for a position, I like to get the candidate to tell me about experiences that speak to the goals that I have for the open position. This is the easiest way to weed out people that can't speak to their own personal contributions within the roles that they've played.

It amazes me on regular basis when I tell someone about an objective/goal that I have for the open position and a timeframe that I want it completed, and they can't come up with concrete examples of how they've achieved something similar. They will speak in generalities and will become silent when I ask them specifically what contribution they individually made in the effort that they are discussing. Suddenly, they look like a dear in headlights and stare back at me - then begin to tell me what the team did. STOP!

You know what - I really don't care what the team did (ok, I do, to give context). But I really want to know what you did. What obstacles did you personally experience? How did you overcome those obstacles? What disagreements did you have? How did you solve the disagreements? What did you learn? If you could go back in time, what would you do different?

Some candidates who are entry level look at me and tell me they haven’t done anything yet.  Yes, you have.  What team assignments did you have in school?  How did you solve problems between team members?  Don’t tell me there weren’t any problems, there always are.  Were you able to deliver something unexpected in the piece of the project you were responsible for? 

If you didn’t have any team assignments, than think about whatever jobs you’ve had.  Be it a cook at a restaurant, a server, a lifeguard – think about how you provided service.  Where did you go above and beyond in the expected job to be noticed by your supervisor?  If it was a volunteer activity – tell me about it.  Were there experiences you had during the volunteer experience that show your passion for doing something?  Where you needed to get something done and someone or something was in the way – how did you get around it?

Let's be honest, I'm taking a few hours to make a critical decision that will allow the team to succeed, or that could potentially cause the team to fail. This is not an inexpensive decision - when I bring a person on board, I'm going to lose some productivity within the team as others bring the new team member up to speed. I need to have the highest degree of assurance through a short interview process to make the decision that this person will fit in with the team and be a contributor.

If you're not willing to understand what the goals and objectives of the job are and can't speak to specific experiences that you've had that can contribute to achieving those goals, you will not get picked. In fact, if I see the pattern, I'm going to find a way to end the conversation and move on to the next candidate.
 
Prior to an interview, take time to reflect on the contributions you make to the team you’re part of and be willing and able to talk about that during the interview. In other words ... take time to prepare!

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile

Communication: You might be the Problem!

How many times have you entered into a conversation where you knew you had the answer to an issue, you just needed to sell the others. Much to your surprise, when you presented your idea you struggled to get the expected buy-in. In your mind, it was obvious what needed to be done, but you couldn't get others on board.

Well, it just might be because you didn't know how to communicate your ideas in a way that others could understand, or in a way that they felt safe buying into your recommendation.
Let's take a look at the 4 different Social Styles as documented by Larry Wilson:

• The Driver - these are the folks that just want to get it done! Given the opportunity, they will take charge.
• The Analytical - these are the folks that want to know the facts! Before diving into an assignment, they want to know all the details.
• The Amiable - they want to be your friend. Relationships drive their world. They are very loyal and want to know who they can work with and why it needs to be done.
• The Expressive - these folks have a lot of energy and have a "let's do it" attitude. They are spontaneous and will struggle with commitment and follow-through.

If you want to be successful in the interactions you are having with others, it is imperative that you understand what makes that person tick. Then guess what - it's you that needs to change your approach! Yep, you need to take the time to figure out who your interacting with and be able to modify your communication style to win them over.

• The Driver wants you to cut to the bottom line. Expect them to be business like and outspoken. They can sometimes be poor listeners and want to control the conversation. They will freely interrupt the conversation to get answers to questions and will summarize to move the conversation forward. To be successful: focus on the problem at hand, be brief, speak in terms of results, give them options to choose from and allow them to feel in control.
• The Analytical wants you to talk facts. Expect them to set high standards for themselves and others. They will have limited expressions and eye contact during the conversation. They will focus on the detail and will want to ensure the accuracy of any assertions. They expect you to be logical and well organized and will expect you to do what you say you will do when you say you are going to do it. You need to allow them time to think through things and don't force a decision.
• The Amiable wants you to avoid conflict. They will want to focus on the traditions and will want to be flexible in how the approach the issue. They will want to keep things easy and informal. They will want to allow time for the team to feel good.
• The Expressive want you to seek their input. They will focus on the future and want to illustrate points with stories. They will want to focus on the big picture and leave details to others. They will want you to compliment and recognize their contributions.

The trick is learning how to quickly recognize the social styles of the individuals you are working with and then being able to change the presentation of your idea to make it more compatible to how the person will hear the proposal. This isn't easy, and it take quite a bit of practice to master. What can really be tricky is when you are interacting with a group of many social styles and then understanding how you have to shift the presentation between the different social styles to win over the others in the room.

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile

Find a Mentor ... Be a Mentor!

Maybe you're in your first job, maybe you're at the pinnacle of your career, it doesn't matter, all of us need a mentor and those of us that are moving up the ladder need to lend a helping hand to those on their way up!

You ask yourself, why do I need mentor? Well, let's be frank - you don't know it all. If you're new in your role, or have been in your role 15 years, there is someone you can learn from. Maybe you've noticed someone within your organization that you respect. Maybe you've been introduced to someone outside the company that you feel you could learn from.

Before you make any moves, sit down and figure out what it is you are expecting from a mentor. What is it that you want to learn from them?

Next, find an issue that you're dealing with that addresses the above question. When you have a situation at hand, open up the conversation by letting the person know that you've been watching the way that they handle themselves and really respect their abilities. Then ask if they wouldn't mind giving you some advice on a specific situation. Once you've broken the ice and started developing a relationship with the person, ask them if they would be open to providing you career advice on a regular basis. Let them know up front that you don't want to eat up a lot of their time, that you understand that they are successful and you are willing to minimize the time spent together to get this advice.

When you're having this discussion make sure that the person your approaching is relaxed. Don't approach this conversation when you know they've just gotten through a tough meeting or had a rotten week at the office.

Now let's flip this around! Those of you that have started moving up the ladder, when's the last time that you intentionally found someone to help take their next step? If you don't take the time to help the next person up, how does the organization find the next talented person when it's needed? Part of the human experience is sharing knowledge! I'm sure each of us have seen someone struggling as they try to figure out which path moves them forward. Remember when you felt that way and someone put a guiding hand on your shoulder and opened the door for you. Now is your time to return the favor.

Look at the people that you meet with on a regular basis. Is there someone that you recognize has the potential to be something bigger? Introduce yourself, if you haven't already. Let them know that you see something bigger in their future, that they have the potential to grow and that your willing to help them. If you see a project that they are struggling with - give them some free advice on what they might do next. If you see them struggling with certain conversations - tell them how you might approach the situation.

Now, I'll let you in on a little secret - I found my mentor by accident and found myself being mentored without realizing it at first! I had actually been in management for a while and thought I was all that, I was comfortable and having fun. What I didn't realize is that my personality was causing some of the pain that I felt in my role. I'm a Driver by nature - I see a problem and I begin attacking it to solve the issue. I can be very vocal and sometimes in my communication I can be blunt. I immediately head for the goal posts and will drag everyone across the line to get the problem solved.

My mentor also happened to be my boss. Without realizing it at the time, she was coaching me on understanding how to recognize what made other people tick and how to change my approach to working with people. She would take me to meetings I didn't necessarily need to be in, just so I could see how she was handling certain situations. She never formally told me what she was doing, it was only after some time that I figured out she was 'teaching me'.

During this time, the organization began training all of the supervisors and managers, taking them through a Working Styles course. It was during this class that I realized what she had been doing with me since I had started reporting to her. My mentor worked with me a lot outside of that class to help me break some bad habits, how to improve my chance of having a successful exchange of ideas with others. I won't say I'm an expert at it, but I'm a lot better at it today than in the past. 

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile

Adding Value – That’s Why They Hired Us …

Are you adding value?  I don’t care what your role is within the organization – are you adding value?

If you’re simply holding the fort, doing only the minimum required for your role.  Then you have a job, not a career and I would also argue you are not adding value.  Look, we are all here for a purpose and that’s to advance the cause.  Now for some, that may mean exceeding the expectations of the department down the hall, your peers halfway across the world or the customer actually using a product sold, distributed or given away by the company.  Heck, you may look across the deliverables of the team you work with and identify multiple customers.  At the end of the day, look back at what you’ve accomplished.  Did you move the ball forward and did you exceed the expectations of your customer.

If the answer is no – then you need to look at the way your performing your role, the way that your team performs it’s role and potentially the way that the company responds to its customers.  You can definitely change the way you respond to work assignments that you have responsibility for and you have influence on the way that the department and the company provides the product or service that your customers use.  Some of the best advice I ever received in my years of work: “under promise and over deliver”.  And, that’s not an excuse for padding the work estimates just to make yourself look good!

Early in my career, I not only took responsibility for work that was assigned to me, but I would volunteer to help others, or to take on additional work.  Now, all in all, that is not a bad thing, except for the fact that it was preventing me from meeting the deadlines associated with work my boss was expecting me to deliver on assigned projects.  Lucky for me, I had a boss that realized I was young; he knew what was happening and took the time to educate me on what I was doing to myself.  For a while, I kept up the pretense that I could handle the work – both my own and any additional work where I had volunteered.

Then the backlog started to creep in and I began to miss deadlines.  First I would miss them by a day or two and then it began to stretch out further.  Finally, my boss called me on it and forced me to admit that the additional work was preventing me from meeting my own goals and was impacting not only myself, but the entire team.  Not an easy conversation to have with your boss.  This is the person that I wanted to impress, to show him that I was the go to person on the team.  Well, I impressed him, just not the way that I had intended.

It took me a while to dig out of the whole that I had made, but my boss was patient and helped me make decisions on where volunteering to take on additional tasks made sense and where I needed to pass.  Sometimes that meant telling my co-workers that I was on a deadline, but that I’d be happy to help them once I got past the next milestone.  My boss made me realize that sometimes the person asking for help didn’t necessarily need it that minute.  Sometimes they could wait, and I needed to be able to determine when someone truly needed immediate help and when it was something that could wait. 

He also made me realize that it wasn’t necessary to volunteer for every extra assignment that popped up on the radar.  When picking these extra assignments, he showed me how to identify those projects that would have a net positive impact on the team or the company.  He also got me to realize that not every call that came in to my desk was an emergency. 

Now, I’m not advocating that you ignore requests.  What I’m talking about is being able to prioritize the work requests – both requests originating from others and additional work that you identify as important.  The feeder that fills your pipeline has many inputs – assigned project activity, departmental meetings, service requests, code defects, project meetings, code reviews, implementation planning, environment builds, etc.  However, there is only one output from your pipeline – you must be able to identify the priority of all of the inputs.  Now, depending on where you are in the chain of command, you may need to validate the priority with your boss, or you may be able to set the priority within some discretionary limits.  Whatever method you need to use – use it!  Figure out the priority and then work accordingly to produce results.  Meet the deadlines, exceed the expectations by delivering something extra that wasn’t planned and ensure that you wow your customer!

When it is something that you have direct control over – hold yourself accountable.  When it is a team or company decision, make your best case for change and don’t give up.  Just because someone up the chain doesn’t like the idea right now, doesn’t mean they won’t like it a month from now.  If you know it is the right thing to do, find a different way to present your idea.  You may need to find out why it was rejected and then provide alternatives that work around the objection.

Take a minute and think about a time you received exceptional service from someone.  Maybe it was the last time you went out to dinner with your family.  Maybe it was the last vacation you went on.  Maybe it was work that a vendor had performed for you.  Maybe it was a contractor that had worked on your home.  Whatever that moment was – what made it special?  Was it the personal contact?  Did the person responsible, go above and beyond and exceed your expectations?  Now, what can you do to provide that same experience for people you work with on a day to day basis.

So, how are you adding value today?

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile