Mannerisms

Sometimes when I do trainings for managers, one of the exercises I have them do is write down one thing that someone does at work that drives them nuts. I thought I would share some of those things with you today.

“He repeats things over and over and over again!” says one comment card. (Speaking of which, how many “over and over and over’s” do we need here??) This is a good reminder that hitting the nail once is usually quite enough.

“She complains constantly about the free breakfast.” She’d probably complain about the free hundred dollar bills, too. Some people aren’t happy unless they are miserable.

“She clicks her tongue while thinking”, says an HR manager.  Are you sure she’s thinking? That could be the sound her brain makes when it gets stuck. OK, this is actually what I call a ‘spacing tic’; a noise someone makes to fill up a silence. It’s probably more common for people to say, “Um… er… uh…” or something like that. Clicking wins the “Master Irritator Award”.

Then there are repeated words or phrases that would be fine to hear once, but when they become a habit, oh how annoying: “Every time he talks about his spouse he refers to her as, “My wife the R.N.” He’s either proud that his wife is a nurse or he’s worried that you’ll confuse her with one of his other wives if he doesn’t narrow it down.

“Crunching ice in her cubicle while working”, this card says in a scrawl. There’s a homicide waiting to happen here. When you’re in a sea of cubicles, the unspoken rule is to indulge only your silent habits. This person is blowing out the nerves of everyone within earshot, and somebody ought to give her the word. Do so kindly at first, but strongly if necessary, since she seems to be either totally oblivious or extremely malicious.

Then there’s the person who inflicts an unwanted nickname: “He calls me “Angel”. In this case you can be direct (recommended), as in: “Please don’t call me “angel” again – I find it to be offensive.” Or, you can cunningly think up a nickname he’ll loathe and reply with that. “OK, Donkey Boy.” (Not recommended.)

I’ll close with my personal favorite. “There is an individual who shoots across the office to other employees, which is very disruptive to everyone.” Shoots? What, spitballs, bullets? Yes, shooting across the office would be pretty disruptive.

So, gentle readers, it’s good to take a little look inside to check ourselves out for mannerisms that might be driving people around us nuts. Winning the “Most Hated at Work” award is not a good career move.

Doug Hickok, CEO, Institute for Provocative Leadership doug@IPLsmallbusiness.com

Three Great ‘Survive and Thrive’ Strategies

In these difficult economic times, it is easy to, a) hunker down and do nothing, hoping that things will get better, b) change something — anything — just because activity feels better than feeling helpless, c) move to Montana and work in a saloon.

If you choose “a)”, there is a chance that things will get better if you just wait. Could be.

If you choose “b”, you might stumble upon a change that loosens things up and moves you forward. It’s possible.

If you choose “c)”, you could have some fun while waiting to see how things settle out with the bigger picture. Some hardy adventurers would believe this to be the most creative and interesting of the three choices.

All this is to say that there are as many “answers” to the question of what one might do to respond to the economic downturn as there are people in the world. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone.

So you will find your way through these times in a way that perfectly suits you, but perhaps I could prime your creativity pump if I list my three favorite ways to survive and thrive in hard times:

• Change the focus within your current field. I know a real estate company owner who made big bucks from real estate speculation and development when home sales were hot. When sales crashed, he moved over into specialized leasing and multi-unit property management. A lot of people aren’t buying houses right now, but everyone has to have a place to live, and he went where the action is within his current field and is doing just fine.

• Change your sales funnel. A really smart financial services rep I met recently used to work the (previously) standard financial services business model that relied heavily upon doing a lot of networking, prospecting and presentations of her products. When the banks and the market nose-dived, she quickly developed a different funnel, a different way to get peoples’ interest in what she offers.She now offers a complete cash-flow analysis for any company that wants it, without charge. It shows where the money is coming from, where it goes, and what its coming-and-going cycles are, all for free. She builds relationship and trust with the business owner this way, and that person usually decides to go ahead and hire her for all the other stuff, too.

• Create lower-cost ways for people to do business with you. Let’s say you are a top-notch consultant, and in the good old days (pre-September, 2008), bosses would pay nice fat fees on big contracts to bring you in to help their people learn and grow. But, in times like these, consulting is one of the first things companies stop doing as they tighten their belts. What do you do when the big fat fees stop? You start doing webinars (internet seminars), telephone seminars, group coaching, or short, no-charge intro seminars that show your    stuff and give potential clients the experience of how much value you add to their businesses. You break down your services into smaller pieces so you can charge smaller, per-participant, per-event, or per item fees. This way the clients can target very specific needs, get great value, and are willing to write you a bunch of small checks that add up to a nice big fat amount.

Just three ideas, any one of which could be a game-changer. How many ideas can you theoretically come up with? An infinite number, so there’s really no limit to the ideas your own creativity can pull up for you to take you to the top. Play with them, test them in action, and change your business from survive to thrive.

And, if you want to change your whole life, there’s always that saloon in Montana.

Doug Hickok, CEO, Institute for Provocative Leadership, doug@IPLsmallbusiness.com