The Force Awakens Business Tips

It is time to say hello to your 2016 work goals. It’s time to say good bye to holiday decorations, lulls in work and office holiday parties. You can ring in the new business year with more joie de vivre than in the past by mastering business lessons inspired by the recent Star Wars movie.  The tips below will also help you obtain clarity, focus your efforts and it does not require using Jedi mind tricks.

4 Business Lessons inspired by the Stars Wars Force Awakens Movie

Lesson 1: Build strong workplace coalitions.
Seek out like minded business individuals who are trustworthy, show initiative and can readily see the big picture. One of the reasons Rey, Finn and the Resistance were strong opponents against the First Order is because they were able to find and build a strong alliance of supporters to help advance their goals. You can do the same.

Lesson 2: Protect your team.
Do you have your team’s back? Are you willing to put aside your pride or “glory-seeking” to help your peers in their time of need? Take time in the New Year to check on your coworkers and offer them help on their projects without expecting anything in return. General Leia was willing to provide battle support to her team in another star system without notice.  Be willing to jump into light speed to protect your colleagues.

Lesson 3: Lead your own rebellion.
It is easy as feds to follow daily orders and get into a routine where you may stop questioning why things happen at work. Be more like the Force Awakens’ character Finn and challenge the status quo. For example, don’t be afraid to question leadership tactfully when you are not comfortable with following certain orders or completing different tasks. Also be willing to disagree with the team and provide tangible solutions that are outside the norm. If your gut tells you something is wrong with a process, or specific assignment, it is okay to ask questions to determine the best course of action.

Lesson 4: Light Side versus Dark Side.
We’ve all been there before where we may feel like we are sliding to the Dark Side at the office because we’ve lost faith in our progress at the office. Our work may begin to slip or we may stop caring about being present at meetings. A true Jedi will recognize the signs of their waning expectations at work before their efforts fail and make a decision to keep moving forward. When you feel like there is no hope in getting promoted, getting recognition or getting what you want at work, create an exit strategy so you can move to the Light Side your career path. 

Volunteering: A Fed's Guide to giving back during the Season of Giving

Gillian Anderson once said "Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker, or you make time every month to do volunteer work, there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need." Federal employees have great resilience in overcoming a variety of challenges in the federal work space to meet agency goals. Their tenacity is also used in service to others. On occasion, some feds will take time out to volunteer in their local communities throughout the year as a means of giving back.

So how does one find the time to volunteer during this holiday season when schedules are packed with so many other requirements? Check out this Fed's Guide to Volunteering during the Season of Giving.

1. Volunteer for projects that peak your interest and leverage your skills by checking out Serve.gov for opportunities near you
2. Support annual charity programs such as the Combined Federal Campaign, Special Olympics, Feds Feed Families, Toys for Tots and many others to make an impact year round
3. Consider your next team building event as a volunteer group effort
4. Encourage employees to seek out volunteer opportunities that will engage, empower and explore the world around them
5. Share employee success stories regarding volunteering in office newspapers and other employee communications
6. Nominate  extraordinary coworkers for the President's Volunteer Service Awards Program to recognize their amazing volunteer efforts
7. Donate additional leave to co-workers in need

This is Not Your Mother's Career Path: 7 Tips to develop a Credible IDP

It is the first of November, and some of us are diving into the yearly individual development plan (IDP) phase- phase two. Phase one included management's review of your of your initial drafts and now you are finalizing details on what you really want out of your career.

Everyone will try to share insight including your Mom on how to plan your professional development. This is a good opportunity to listen with "a grain of salt" and then make decisions based on your actual career goals. Not the goals that someone has suggested you follow. For example, in the no so distant past some people stayed with the same federal agency for 30 to 40 years only to retire and ride off into the sunset.

Those days for the most part are over due to a fluctuating economy, continuing resolutions, reorganized structures as well as "right-sizing" agency offices under the guise that efficiency will occur in the end. Feds, especially women can take a more proactive approach to their jobs by letting go of the perception that every job will last for lifetime as in bygone eras.
Top 7 Tips to Develop a Credible IDP:

1. Take time to identify the type of work that you are passionate about
2. Document your career progression using an IDP to map your progress for 2 to 5 years
3. Leverage new workplace skills by using business acumen books as part of your professional development
4. Seek leadership training opportunities such as the OPM Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program
5. Draft as well as revise your IDP to ensure you achieve the desired career results
6. Share your ideas with a mentor and seek guidance on diverse training programs
7. Consider the possibly of changing careers if the one you have does not readily meet your professional and personal needs

Press Release Checklist

Business communicators and public relations professionals at one time or another develop materials for the press to communicate, inform, educate and manage crisis events. There is a canonical way to develop a "good" press release such as working with an entire team of seasoned public relations (PR) professionals and leadership to generate an accurate and consistent message. Or simply just gathering facts and dispelling rumors.

How does one create a succinct press release? Leverage tips from the checklist below.

Press Release Checklist

• Take the time to verify all facts for accuracy
  
• Work with management and identify organizational messaging goals
• Determine target audience messaging
• Depending on the situation, create readily accessible online resources for people to view and take action
• Make your message clear and concise
• Brevity is key. Too much information will lead to message overload
• Coordinate the distribution of your message to key target audiences so the data is shared in a consistent manner
• Share your communications team's contact information
• Be receptive  and responsive to media inquiries

Business Lessons I Learned from the Movie “The Intern”

During my career I’ve worked on a variety of jobs and realized that business lessons can materialize from a variety of places. For example, your mentor, manager or friends can inspire you to do great things. You can also learn from your business experience, books such as the collection of Harvard Business Review and maybe a movie or two.

I recently took a break from catching up on work over the weekend to take in a movie titled “The Intern” with some friends. While watching the movie, we saw some resounding business lessons and ended up discussing them at the end of the film. The movie stars Anne Hathaway as the founder of an e-commerce business that recently began hiring senior citizens as office interns. Robert DeNiro plays Hathaways’ office intern.

The light hearted film included everything from the complex office dynamics, teamwork, to inter-generational communications and collaboration that offered a few stark similarities to the federal workforce today.


Read more.

Build a Better Business Case in Zero to Sixty

Innovation and initiative are great talents for federal employees to exude every day. The ideas that you generate today can lead to process improvement, reduced expenses as well as improved customer service. Yet the road to develop, design and implement great ideas can be a challenging one.

The ability to create, implement and manage new concepts starts in one place- your business case. A solid business case may include a multi-tiered process that allows you to determine how to move new ideas forward so you can actually see the potential for tangible results.

Read more on GovLoop.com.

The Art of Informal Mentoring

Today's employee may seek a work life balance, solid wages and a great path forward in their chosen field. It is truly a gift to work with a group of highly trained professionals with a focus on a common goal. It also helps to identify your personal career goals so that the path forward incorporates your needs as an employee.

A great way to begin and maintain one's career goals is through the art of informal mentoring. This may occur by identifying various subject matter experts, leaders and innovators in your chosen field to talk to about how to excel at work. Their input may guide your decisions about your future and specific skills needed to advance your career.

Moreover, the great part of informal mentoring includes meeting with thought-leaders based on specific career needs instead of a dedicated schedule of meetings. Flexibility and the use of various communication and technology tools will keep you and your informal mentor connected even during hectic times at work.

Remember to keep all informal mentoring sessions confidential between you and your mentor. There is no need to share information regarding your informal mentoring sessions as it may only create animosity or challenges with peers who may perceive similar access to these types of opportunities are limited. It is helpful to share with your manager that you are meeting with an informal mentor to ensure that you meet or exceed agency expectations. It will reflect positively on your initiative and problem-solving skills.

It also helps to have more than one informal mentor so that you can gain diverse perspectives regarding everything from business communications; leadership; team work challenges; issues with managers; training and preparing for promotions. Their wisdom can help you grow professionally in the right direction. Moreover, when informal mentors share their insights with new mentees they also learn something new as well.

9 Ways to Prime and Prep your Promotion

Imagine today is the last day at your current job. You checked out the link at USAJobs and realized the offer letter is real and you have received your promotion job offer letter. It is a great feeling to know that after countless hours of resume writing, editing, and interview practicing that you can reap the rewards of your deft career efforts. Read more...

Employee Personalities: Heroes, Martyrs and Villians

In today's inter-generational work environment, some people in the diverse workforce approach their daily routine differently. For example, some of staffers may show great initiative while others simply wait for assignments to come to them. Still others avoid taking risks out of concern that their ideas may not yield desired results. Often employees are judged based on the path they use to take on work projects.

As result, we may create perceptions of our peers based on first impressions that may not always be rooted in fact. These perceptions are based on our feelings and may not always be rooted in fact. For example, one type of work place perception is the "office hero." You know the type; they are always "leaping over defeat in a single bound." They may often brag about accomplishing things on behalf of others by doing solo work. Then the person maligns their peers with a statement about "stepping up to meet the challenge." An example of this was displayed on a recent episode of the TV show "Suits" in which the character Luis Litt tried to make himself the hero to impress another partner at his law firm.

This type of fabricated "heroism" can create animosity among colleagues, especially those always singled out as not contributing to the overall good of team, despite their best efforts.
Another work place personality is the "martyr." Their daily diatribe is focused on being burdened with too much work while others simply do nothing. Every time this person speaks, it seems like the song "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" begins wafting through your mind. Their mantra is a "woeisme" scenario where they distill story after story about being the only ones working no matter the size of the office or team.

For every office, there is a perceived villain in each work place narrative. This person or persons are identified as the sole reason for halting progress. Sometimes when stories about heroes, villains and martyrs continue to spin through cubicle havens, people may begin to think that what is perceived is actually reality.

On the TV show suits, often the character of Luis Litt lashes out to hurt others at work when his effort to be the hero and the martyr simultaneously does not work. His lack of emotional intelligence can be detrimental to others. Also, consider the fact that sometimes we try to make ourselves the hero of the office narrative as a way to bring attention to our overlooked work and aspirations. As a result, when some perceive their coworkers always as the villain, martyr or hero they tend to forget that they missed out on an opportunity to get to know the truth about that person via real world work experiences.  

So, what can be done to reduce or stop the cycle of inaccurate work place personalities based on perceptions? Get up front your desk and get to know the other people inside and outside of your team. Volunteer for tasks that will allow you to follow others lead instead of always wanting to lead the pack to greatness. Learn more about your colleagues’ motivations and begin to share insight into how you operate as well. Then share information about opportunities that will allow both of you to grow professionally.

Work Place Personalities Inspired by the TV Show "Suits" - Heroes and Victims

     Some work environments are comprised of a variety of people and their personalities. There are saints, worker-bees, leaders and numerous others that make up the team of people you collaborate with on a daily basis. People spend a majority of their days and nights focused on work projects and strategies. They also become more aware of the source of potential conflicts. Scarce resources, incompatible goals and perception issues are tantamount to creating hostility among work place colleagues.


Often these personalities work fine when focused on a common goal. However, there are times when the things like perception wreak havoc on a work environment. On a recent episode of the TV Show "Suits" the character Luis Litt, a partner in a New York Law Firm decided to fabricate a situation in which he would save the day in order to earn another partner's adoration. Luis' actions of pretending to support another colleagues' inappropriate behavior had one main goal: to create the "hero" persona he craved at work.

The issue with creating false expectations or situations where one person is the sole hero is that after a while your peers will tire of feeling like there is only one savior in every work place situation. So how do you combat peers trying to use the "Hero" syndrome at work to make you and your colleagues look bad? Create a way to redistribute the work load so that only one person is perceived as leading the pack. In addition, get out of your comfort zone and talk with others to generate buzz regarding your extraordinary work efforts. Distribute weekly project tracking reports touting your work place progress.

Another work place personalities is the staffer who self-identifies as the "office victim." Their "whoaistome" attitude leaps front and center where the self proclaimed victim describes a litany of lies describing office scenarios where they seem to be "overwhelmed" every day. It is a unique situation and a difficult one to manage. For example, some peers may be readily interested in knowing why one person is always crying foul about being overworked while simultaneously making it  seem like their colleagues are not doing enough to support the organization's mission.

In the TV Show Suits, the same character Luis Litt always makes himself the "office victim" so he can garner attention and support from others. Litt's characters garners so much interest in this type of diatribe. Therefore, he has the ability to control the narrative because there will always be others who want to save the day by unleashing  their "hero persona."

The challenge is ensuring that you are not perceived as the person who is perceived as creating the unfair work environment where your peer or peers are considered as the only ones making an effort. How can one possibly combat this type of scenario? Take control of the "office victim" narrative by sharing your own account of your work related progress. The fine balance is to ensure that you discuss your collaborative accomplishments as a team so as to avoid the perception that you are aiming to become the next workplace "hero."

How do you manage incorrect office perceptions? You can ignore the inaccurate narrative and assume your extraordinary work will make you stand out. You may consider going directly to the person spinning the inaccurate opinions, however there is a potential they will cry foul as to yield a victim scenario that will only hinder your efforts. A third more advantageous option is to increase your awareness of the hero/victim spin cycle that is going on. Be cognizant of your peer's perception, acknowledge that their perceptions even if you disagree with their assertions.  Then continue to focus on generating tangible work products by leveraging team work.

The office hero and victims play is a strategy used by some colleagues that may lack certain skills, have low confidence or are simply trying to garner the attention of leadership by spinning the narrative of the office politics. Your goal is to not be distracted by the weekly "heroes and victims" scenarios because this type of effort has little staying power. Moreover, your ability to focus on your work and less on others' work place whims will result in tangible work products that advance the organization's mission.

Perception: 5 Tips to manage perception at work

Once upon a time, people only need to focus on hard work, determination and measurable results to be considered a top performer in the office. Then time changed and employees began to barter in one unique thing: information. Instead of delving into projects, some of them focused on things like perception.

Then all of a sudden, people began to pick and choose people for key projects based on their perceptions about others. As you may know, perception is not always rooted in fact or based in reality. It is however, someone's reality- right or wrong and can create a boat load of problems for those on the negative receiving end.

Another issue with the whole "perception is reality" issue is that people begin to believe the perceptions based on predetermined biases instead of investigating the facts. Moreover, if a person's confidence is on the bubble, they may accept the negative perceptions others are saying about them.

What should you do when an inaccurate perception about you arises at work? One critical organizational tool is managing perception at work. When you learn how to master the others' perception of you, the ability to achieve great things may be realized.

Top 5 Things to Manage Perception at Work:

1. Go outside your comfort zone by talking with everyone. 
2. Learn about others' interests and be genuine 
3. Be helpful with no expectation of a thank you
• This is a reflection of your kindness. However, do not mistake being supportive as being a doormat
4. Ensure you are cognizant of shared resources and communicate any changes to the entire team
5. Gain an informal mentor who can help you navigate office politics