Tag: Career

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Ashley Career

Podcasts, Teamwork, & “Kaizen”

I’ve been totally into podcasts recently. We did a lot of travel this summer, including three weeks in Europe, and we even nerded-out to the point of using Rick Steve’s podcasts as walking guides in the cities we visited. Before our long, late summer trip, we spent 12 hours in the car to drop our sweet pup off with my parents, and opted for some great episodes of This American Life for the journey. One episode from earlier this year on NUMMI, a joint venture car plant in California that was Toyota’s first on-the-ground project in the U.S., immediately appealed to my husband because of his Michigan and GM family roots.

I expected to be clued in/interested in the NUMMI episode, but I didn’t expect to take away such a major lesson on organizational change. I recommend you go listen, but here’s the jist. In the early 1980’s, Toyota was looking for a U.S. project that would allow them to take advantage of U.S. tax incentives and help them better understand American production and business. GM had a failing plant in Freemont, California, with a cranky, dysfunctional, union workforce, so they put the Freemont plant on the table for the Toyota deal. Since the Japanese were going to run this plant, and they had no desire to perpetuate the American union model, GM decided to fire all the union plant employees. Crazy thing is, for the partnership, they proceeded to hire back about 80% of the former plant team, and shipped them over to Japan to train on the Toyota production line alongside their Japanese peers.

The Toyota business model was so foreign to the American workers – for starters, the Toyota crew believes in 100% teamwork. That means your colleague cares just as much about completing a task or project as you do, regardless of their management level, and will stop their work to lend a hand and complete the goal. On the GM line, there’s one thing you never do: stop the production line. Union workers let imperfect cars go all the way through production on the GM line, never pulling the stop chord; but the Japanese let anyone stop the line if it meant finding a solution. Together, they’d find a solution and get the line back up and running. This was Toyota’s secret to high quality cars, something GM definitely wasn’t known for at the time.

The partnership was brilliant and Nummi was a huge success. The joint venture played out well for Toyota as they entered the U.S. market. Looking back, experts say GM couldn’t implement the lessons they learned from the joint venture company-wide, for a variety of reason. Toyota’s willingness to let them in on their production secrets and emphasis on teamwork was huge, but GM was missing a key ingredient of Toyota’s philosophy for success. Toyota strongly believes in the Japanese practice of kaizen, or continuous improvement. Any Toyota employee is encouraged to look for ways to improve their product and process, even if it means pointing out a flaw in the production line, recommending a solution that could save 10 seconds per car, or coming up with an idea for a new tool to fit those bolts just right…anything you could imagine. And Toyota would take those ideas for improvement, explore them with engineers or whomever needed to be involved, and implement them as soon as possible. Wahlah! Continuous improvement.

Anyway, you get it: GM went bankrupt, the top quality car makers in the world are now Japanese, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve yet to see an American company that practices kaizen at all levels of management.

Have you heard any great case studies on organizational change, good or bad, successful or not? Better yet, please tell me you have some podcasts to recommend!

– Ashley Respecki

Categories
Awesomeness in the World

What’s Wrong with Being Confident?

Jennifer Lawrence has been in the news lately for a post she wrote for Lenny, Lena Dunham’s latest creation. The post is titled “Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?” It’s short and to the point, which is that pay gap is still very real, regardless of the scale (it’s possible Jennifer and I may be in different tax brackets…). And it’s not just the pay gap – it’s the expectations around our behavior. When it comes to negotiating, sharing our ideas or stating an opinion, we’re too busy trying to be liked to be as effective as we could be. While certainly not a universal truth for all women everywhere in every scenario, this issue obviously hit close to home for many of us, given all the attention her post is receiving.

I’ve been pretty neutral on most things Demi Lovato up to this point, but her newest song is my jam. And while this might seem wholly unrelated to Jennifer Lawrence’s post, bear with me. Confident is the second release off Demi’s upcoming album of the same name. It’s no secret that I love a good pop anthem, and this song doesn’t disappoint. But in the middle of the strong bass line and ridiculously catchy tune, she asks a good question – what’s wrong with being confident? Her chorus goes a little something like this:

So you say I’m complicated
That I must be outta my mind
But you’ve had me underrated
What’s wrong with being confident?

It’s a good reminder for me to not let others define who I am (plus, the song is just fun). And that’s Jennifer’s point, too – we define our value. As women, more often that not, we need to remind others that they’ve underrated us. Yes, it’s not fair and it’s ridiculous that we need to do any reminding at all. But until that changes, there’s not a damn thing wrong with being confident.

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Libby On the Job

Planning

At my office, we are in the midst of our annual planning. This may be annoying to some, but I find this exercise kind of fun! Here are my top five reasons I love planning:

  1. It’s an opportunity to review what’s been accomplished both individually and collectively. This is an important exercise as it reminds you of what you’re capable of on your own and as a team – some back-patting is something we all can benefit from now and again!
  2. It’s paid time to dream about fun things that you might be able to do in the future.
  3. Having a plan at work can allow you to plan in your personal life, too – now that you have an idea of what you’ll be doing when, you have a general idea of how much time each project will take and when your busy times in the office will be. This allows you to figure out when the best time to take vacation, go on that professional development retreat or volunteer at your child’s school. You can keep the stress level on an even keel all year long!
  4. Planning is a chance to evaluate your resources and articulate reasons for why you’re doing what you’re doing…and what you’re NOT doing. A blueprint is a great thing to go back to at review time, too!
  5. You get a year-long worthy to-do list…check, check, check!!

So, what’s your plan??

– Libby Bingham

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Career Libby

Back to School

As of this week, summer is officially over. My son has been in school since August 31, but we went on a family trip to the beach last week and now it really feels like the end. It makes me feel a little sad, but I also embrace the seasonal transitions, both personally and professionally.

Personally, I’m getting back into my routine: less cocktailing and more working out, along with less staying up late and more getting up early. Professionally, I need to do the same thing.

September is the start of our fiscal year. We tie our performance reviews to the start of the fiscal year so that we can see whether or not we met our goals for the prior year organizationally, departmentally and individually. I think it’s a decent process – it allows for reflection and a kind of kick start to the new fiscal year…a back-to-school bump if you will!

As I begin to reflect on what my department, and specifically what I, accomplished last year, it’s pretty impressive: we brought in almost $8M in revenue by holding over 150 programs. Out of that 150, twenty-one of them were my programs – all face-to-face and some lasting 2 hours, others 5 days…not too shabby for a part-timer. (I won’t say that I contributed significantly to the revenue numbers, but I helped!)

I think it’s important to periodically check-in with yourself and review your body of work. Work can sometimes feel like, well, work, so understanding all that you’ve accomplished is essential to maintaining forward progress and staying energized. It’s okay to be proud!

You should also be able to articulate your role on the team. While your individual successes are what make you shine, your part in elevating the entire department or in helping the organization meet their goals is what makes you valuable. Together, these are the things that keep you employed, but they are also the recipe for increasing your own self-esteem and a metric for whether or not this job is still the right fit for you.

– Libby Bingham

Categories
Awesomeness in the World

Workplace Unicorn Sighting!

We all know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I’m not immune to judging an article or post by its title, and I was absolutely going to click on “11 Signs You’re the Workplace Unicorn.” Amazing. I love the thought of a workplace unicorn in the first place, but 11 signs that I could actually be one? Magical!

When I was talking about this with my husband, he questioned the unicorn. “So you’d be a mythical creature who doesn’t actually exist?” he asked. I chose to go with a loser, less strict interpretation of unicorn – a rare and amazing creature, sought be everyone. And if you look long enough and believe hard enough, you might just find it.

With that in mind, I’ll admit to feeling a little sad that the behaviors and actions listed here are associated with rare (okay, okay…mythical) creatures. Things like sharing credit and making others look good should be what we all strive to do. And anticipating needs of your boss and colleagues? That just makes my life easier, too! While some may argue that a few of these 11 signs (suggestions?) are too touchy-feely and don’t belong in the workplace, I beg to differ. I firmly believe that the more we care about each other at work, the more successful our companies and organizations will be. The more invested I am in my colleagues, the more invested I am in coming to work and enjoying my time here. And the more I enjoy my time at work, the more productive I’ll be and you’ll hear me at those networking events talking about how much I love my job.

So go on…be rare and amazing. Prove the haters wrong and show them that workplace unicorns are totally a real thing.

Categories
Career Libby

Be a Rockstar

As I write this, I sit in the common area of my son’s music school, the School of Rock. There’s a video of various student performances playing, a private lesson or two going on in the rooms behind me, teens plucking away on their guitars while they hang out eating snacks and my son’s “band” doing their best to rock Seven Nation Army – cacophony! But amazing – how many of you are brave enough to get in front of an audience – even a small one – and do something that you’re not 100% sure that you’re terrific at? And you’re only seven, or eleven or fourteen? It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it? I’m inspired to think about how we can all be rockstars at work:

  1. Try. As we get older, we sometimes forget to try something new – it’s too embarrassing to take a crack at a presentation or the creation of a program description without being sure that we’ll succeed. You know what? It’s still okay to try. What’s the worst that can happen? You’ll still have your day job!
  2. Take a back seat. This is a strange one if I’m telling you how to be a rockstar, but letting other people shine is what makes a really good band. By allowing your own talents to support someone else’s makes everyone better – just as Jon Bon Jovi would be nothing without Richie Sambora or Steven Tyler just odd looking without Joe Perry, your CSE or boss is nothing without your kicka** talents and efforts at budgeting, marketing or meeting planning. Own your place in the band.
  3. Rock your solo. When it actually becomes time for you to take your solo, go for it – Angus Young it on the floor, freak out like Flea, channel Neal Pert – and give it your all. Don’t phone it in, really make it count: prepare, practice and crush it.
  4. Practice. Despite various mythologies and seven year old fantasies, no real rockstar ever made it by just picking up a guitar and starting to play – it takes years of practice, hours of repetitive exercises and the like. If you’re new to the game, respect your elders – they’ve been doing scales and chord work for a long time…you can learn something from them. And you who have been at it a while – doing the road tours and setting up your own gigs – don’t forget what it’s like to have a fire in your belly; give them some space to try (see numbers 1 and 2).
  5. Have fun. Some of us have Very Important Jobs. Some have less cachet. But we all have people depending on us to perform some duty and we’ll all do better if we’re having fun while we’re doing it. You know those bands that totally gel? The ones who have been together forever? It’s mostly because they’re having fun. You should too – the band will be stronger for it!

– Libby Bingham

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Career Karen

Frustration is the Opportunity to Reinvent

Frustration is an indicator that what is going on in your life or at work is simply not “good enough.” It’s the opportunity to re-think and re-invent how you do what you do, why you do what you do, how you think, how you perceive and how you will move forward.

A phrase I say often in coaching is, “What are you going to do about it?”

Frustration is an indicator that something indeed needs to be done. Whether it’s a conversation, a plan of action, a new goal or a different perspective, something needs to be done.

Frustration = Opportunity.

Frustration = Something more and something better.

Frustration = Change, adjustment

Frustration = A sign that it’s time to reinvent!

Note the word “reinvent.” Not all change is dramatic or drastic. Not all change is cut and dry. And not all change requires you to choose between options. Often, change is as simple as a reinvention of your life.

For example, a New Year’s Resolution is not about dramatic change; it’s usually associated with incremental change; an adjustment to how we live or view our lives.

In the business world, frustration is good news! It is a barometer on how a company moves forward. When frustration hits, stop! Evaluate. Assess. Analyze. Examine. Explore. Get feedback. Research. Find out more information. In other words, do something about it!

Create a think tank or have a group of friends over and begin to address the area of frustration you and/or your organization is experiencing.

We are to move through frustration, not settle for it.

– Karen Thrall

*also published on www.karenthrall.com

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Libby On the Job

There’s No Place Like Home!

Earlier this week, I arrived home after almost one month away from home.* I’ve lived overseas before and I’m not afraid of a road trip or extended vacation, but this time, coming home was even sweeter than it usually is. I’ve been thinking all day about what the difference is and I’ve come up with this:

  1. Routine. As an adult with a family, routine is the thing that makes it all work (relatively) smoothly – without routine, things are a lot more difficult! I loved the variety of family cultures we experienced on our trip, but I missed mine. At work, routine is the thing that can help keep the train from going off the track – if you have a routine, getting thrown that last minute project won’t generate as much angst.
  2. Familiar responses. While I know all the folks we stayed with, there were still times I was unsure of the best way to approach a subject or answer a question about politics or other delicate topics. It’s nice to be at home where I can speak my mind and not worry about whether or not my husband is going to have an adverse reaction to some statement I make. At work, it’s nice to know who your go-to co-workers are, that you have to give the marketing team chocolate if you want something done faster, that the facilities folks love your jokes or that a burger and beer can move your IT project to the top of the list!
  3. Showering is better at home. Actually, there were some places that had much nicer showers, and some that did not. It wasn’t the actual shower, but it was nice to be able to take it whenever I want without worrying about interfering with someone else’s routine or using up the hot water or not having access to all my lotions and potions. At work, it’s nice to have your own space where you know where everything is and you know how everything works – even with a wonky computer or printer, you know how to make it work like the Fonz, and that makes you a hero.
  4. My stuff. Oh, I brought plenty with me (too much, my husband would say) and I didn’t really miss anything I left home, but when I got back, I was just happy to see my stuff. My son spent several hours getting reacquainted with his stuff, checking out books, baseball equipment, rocks and Pokemon cards. He is delighted to just see his stuff again. At work, your “stuff” are all your projects – papers you have written, documents you’ve created, clients you’ve helped – it’s nice to reminisce a little bit and get reacquainted with your past accomplishments. They’ve helped you get where you are; they may also inspire a fresh perspective or creative idea.
  5. Sleeping is important. I had some VERY comfortable sleeping arrangements on this trip, but I was awoken more than I am at home. My son was often in another room with other kids and in the middle of the night, he’d get freaked out or have a little asthma attack or just miss me, so he’d come to visit. Vacationing and working at the same time is hard to do, but doing it with interrupted sleep was extra tough. There were many nights when I was going to come back to hang out with the adults after bedtime but I usually ended up falling asleep. At work, it is important to get rest – don’t be a martyr! If you’re tired from being the first one in and the last one out, you’re probably not doing your best work. Be kind to yourself – take a break, get some good sleep, live your life. It’ll all be there tomorrow after you’ve gotten some quality shut-eye.

*Thanks to all my family and friends (who are like family) who hosted me and Joey – we loved seeing you and spending time together…it was a terrific experience for both of us. You’re welcome here any time!

– Libby Bingham

Categories
Career

Starting Over

A friend of mine recently shared a LinkedIn post with me, “Competition can copy everything but not your culture.” While there are definitely some good reminders about creating and strengthening your culture in here, both of us were intrigued by one specific suggestion:

Keep disrupting your own organisation structure. An interesting exercise which we do is assume all of us got fired one day, and someone with no emotion of the past was re-building our team based on where we are today. It is amazing how many insights come out of this exercise, and while no one actually gets fired, many of the organisation’s priorities evolve in a refreshing way.

What a fascinating idea. If we could detach ourselves from the knowledge of how things came to be, would we make the same decisions? So often we get attached to structure and roles because that’s just how things are. We end up with workarounds or solutions that are almost right because we’re too focused on keeping things the way they are because that’s the way we do things.

While I think we might lose a lot if we regularly fired everyone and started from scratch, the idea itself of staring over can be very freeing. Not only can organizations get stale, but we can get stale. Does there continue to be a need for the service or product we provide in the way we provide it? What needs might we anticipate now that we couldn’t have dreamed up five or ten years ago? Is there a way I could better be utilizing my skills? How has our organization grown since we last evaluated? How have I grown? What could I share that maybe I couldn’t have a few years ago? What if our organizational politics didn’t exist?

Whether it’s your work structure or the way you’ve structured your personal life, what would you do if you were starting from the beginning?

Categories
Career Libby

Being a Good Guest

I am on a “working vacation” for the month of August – I am taking my seven-year-old son on a road trip to visit family and friends throughout New England*. While he and his cousins enjoy swimming, running, biking and playing, I continue to work remotely with pools, ponds, mountains and meadows as my office view. We are nomadic, staying anywhere from two nights to a week in each place. Along the way, I’ve picked up some tips on being a good guest that I think translate really well to the work place.

  1. Pick up after yourself. When you don’t have any place to put your stuff, it can start migrating all over the place. Not only is that inconsiderate of the people who live there, but it makes it harder to pack up and you can lose stuff in the process. At work, keep your workspace neat and tidy – it shows respect for your co-workers and makes it easier to respond to them when they need something from you.
  2. Help with the chores. While you are a “guest,” you are also family! You are not there to be waited on – pitch in and help with the dishes, the laundry, weeding or childcare. Not only does it build a stronger bond and sense of community, but if you don’t, it can lead to resentment and a less pleasant environment. At work, if you’re not too busy or have finished a project, look around and see who else needs help – this not only strengthens your team, but it will come back to you next time you’re in a crunch.
  3. House rules. We have a lot of rules for our son – and they are not always the same at every house we visit. While some are non-negotiable (no-hitting, no stealing, no knocking over of Mommy’s cocktail), there is a need for flexibility. If something is a no-go in that house, it applies to my son, too; if they are allowed to do something that he normally would not be (we’re talking extra sweets here, not R-rated movies and cigarettes), it’s okay to loosen the reins and let him have that experience. It is more fun for everyone and I am often surprised how well he navigates a different routine or set of rules. At work, the way you do something is not the only way to do it – people have different ways of working or accomplishing a task – try letting go of the how and focusing just on the results.
  4. Ask for what you need. The people hosting you want you to be comfortable (not too comfortable, see #2 above!), but they don’t always know what you need. Do you prefer a certain type of milk or yogurt? Let them know next time they go to the store. Does your kid need to go to bed early? Say goodnight when it’s the appropriate time. Do you need to do some laundry? Ask if you can throw some things in next time they do a load. If you don’t let people know what you need in order to have the best experience and settle in to their routine, it can become a bit awkward – negative or uncomfortable energies are easily picked up on! At work, if you need help, ask someone – you may need extra resources, more time or a hand with something. If you don’t ask, your boss will still pick up on your less-than-positive energy but won’t know why and that can lead to all sorts of communication problems. Articulating what you need makes things clear, allows others to participate in finding a solution, and still lets you shine.
  5. Don’t forget to pick up the check. One of the nice things about a trip like this is that it can really reduce the cost of hotels and eating out – this is a good thing! However, it’s not free: you are adding costs to your hosts like a longer grocery list, a higher energy bill and a bigger laundry load. Be cognizant of their expenses and try to contribute where you can – do the grocery shopping sometimes or chip in for their weekly expenses. Take the kids out for ice-cream or a trip to a local activity, and definitely take them out to dinner at least once while you’re there – it’s a nice way to say thank you and no one has to cook or clean. It can be a vacation for everyone! At work, it is important to share the spotlight – chip in on others’ recognition and participation, share the credit for a project you worked on, let them work with the best volunteer – ensuring that they get some of the good stuff helps your office experience be a little less like work and just a wee bit more like vacation.

– Libby Bingham

*Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and back to Connecticut in 25 days by car! [Editor’s Note: Libby is a brave, brave woman!] 😉