Why is it that we seem to have to keep learning the same lessons over? Oh, I’m not talking about each of us as individuals, although that is sometimes true for us too. I’m talking about our organizations. We seem to keep solving the same problems that have been solved before. Why do we do that?
“I know you keep trying. And I know somehow, it isn’t working. You keep fiddling around the edges trying to figure out what will motivate me to do what YOU want. Stop breaking your pick on this. You can’t motivate me. There’s only one person who can motivate me and that’s ME. You are not doing your job as a manager if you fail to create an environment where I have some autonomy.”
In Tuesday’s post I discussed how leaders understand framing issues to ensure communication is clear. That is one reason that establishing Success Factors for the positions we wish to fill is so critical. I’m a big fan of using this method of hiring established by our friends over at Impact Hiring Solutions. Some folks call the success factors by other names (SMART goals, etc.), but whatever name you use the point is to make sure you properly frame your expectations for what the job is and what success will look like.
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Later in life, my mother became an artist; a painter. She worked in oil on canvass. Her skills progressed as she learned more from teachers and mentors and then began to teach students herself. I remember seeing her canvasses in various states of completion and was often intrigued by how she painstakingly and carefully selected frames for the final product. She would make her own choice if the picture was to hang in a show or other display. Or she would collaborate with the purchaser to select a frame that not only enhanced the painting but would “work” in that persons home. Framing, it seems, was not a simple thing.
I’ve been looking at what’s going on with internet commerce these days and how folks are dealing with the explosion of websites, blogs and users. I’ve come to realize that for many practical reasons the cost of SEO (search engine optimization) has put it out of reach for many small businesses. It’s an overstatement to say that SEO is dead, but it is definitely dead as far as most small businesses are concerned. The good news is, we don’t need to do more than the basics SEO work to thrive because internet marketing has changed.
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I came across a recent article from a person who is a sales trainer (no names to avoid embarrassments and conflicts) and who seemed to have suddenly awoken to discover that consumers and businesses are no longer buying the way they used to buy. “Gosh,” I thought, “where the heck have you been?” On the other hand, the comments made the point that I and others have been making for over a year now – maybe close to two years, namely that things have changed and they aren’t coming back.
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I admit to feeling inadequate. It seems as though I’m supposed to be able to multi-task, according to what I’m told by many people and according to what I observe others doing. But I can’t really. I try sometimes, but it just doesn’t work for me. I am not interested in “chatting” if I’m watching a television show (I rarely watch TV, it’s got to be something of immediate interest to me). I get annoyed if I’m deep in the middle of a spreadsheet, writing a blog post or wrestling a PC problem to the ground and the phone rings. I can’t read and also listen to music or radio or podcast.
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For lots of reasons, I love my work. One of the reasons is that I get to address a wide variety of challenges in a wide variety of companies and industries. Yet, while the details and personalities are different, many of the issues boil down to being pretty much the same. This week, I was revisiting the issue of an executive totally frustrated with business forecasting. He was “losing sleep” over the feeling of helplessness at missing a forecast through no fault of his organization. It was causing major stress in his life.
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Toyota apparently felt they had done well by convincing the NTSA to limit the recall investigation. Oops. It’s backfired. Now the money they saved is going to be lost and more. The banking industry seems oblivious to the disdain of the consuming customers and is already finding “sneaky” ways to charge higher interest. They are also fighting Credit Union requests to allow the Credit Unions to lend a higher portion of their assets to small businesses. They never learn.
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In part 1 of this series on Social Media Marketing I gave a brief overview of what seems to be going on in this young medium. In part 2 of this series, I walked through some of the tools that I’ve found to help me with managing the task of getting involved in Social Networking sites. Next, I’d like to share with you some of the additional tools I’ve found to help me manage the time involved. As I mentioned, I’m doing all this from the experience of a Novice. It won’t take you long to zoom past me once you get started.
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