Beware the Chicken Little Consultant

Paying for expertise is an inherent part of business. How else can we make the best decisions in specialty areas without informed help?

Unfortunately there can be conflicts of interest on the part of your expert which can be subtle yet extremely powerful.

Ask yourself one question: Would your consultant benefit by prolonging your issue or project? If the answer is yes, you may be paying more than you should.

Paid experts have the power to prolong an issue or project thereby stuffing their pockets with more of your money, simply through their presentation style. If you have a Chicken Little consultant, fire him or her immediately.

For those to whom Chicken Little is unknown or a fog in the distance, here's the scoop: Chicken Little is a storybook character who would periodically run about crying, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

The townspeople were initially frightened and would run for cover similar to how our government expects us to, when one of their multi-colored alerts are issued.

After a while they realized that Chicken Little was really a turkey - the disparaging term type - and came to ignore him.

Miraculously, after they completely tuned him out, he actually had something important to say. Needless to say, they ignored him and got creamed.

Now we come to your paid expert. Does he try to prey on your insecurities? Does he disparage everyone but himself? Does he present his ideas with emotionalism rather than researched fact? If the answers are yes, save yourself a bundle and get a new consultant.

Better yet, take some time to study the subject yourself. The internet and a good search engine is the best consultant you will ever have. If some sites utilize scare tactics, there will be plenty of others to balance the message.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Show your consultant how effective you can be without him. Learn how here.
____________________________________________________________________________________

To receive these postings hot off the keyboard,
subscribe to poingology, the newsletter

Jealousy and Territoriality in the Workplace

There are times in every company when people "butt heads" with each other whether subtly or overtly. These conflicts, if persistent, can become detrimental to the business and should be addressed if possible.

If you are a manager or co-worker of the conflicting parties, you can have a positive effect on tension reduction. If you are an underling of one or both parties, hide under the desk and avoid the crossfire unless you have an exceptionally strong relationship with a "superior".

If you are in a position to help, there are two things to do: gain understanding, then take action.

The understanding part is interesting, especially if you watch National Geographic specials on tv, or on your phone if you are exceptionally wired. Doesn't it seem that the non-alpha males are always butting each other so they can get chummier with the alpha and mate with better gals?

Those head-butts can look quite ferocious, and indeed they should. The young bucks are fighting for nothing less than the optimized survival of their line. It is not a laughing matter for them. They may not die if they lose the conflict, but their progeny will suffer in number and quality.

And of course it goes without saying that the more determined, capable and intelligent of those bucks will win the conflict and over generations, alphas and wannabees will be naturally bred with those traits in spades.

To enormously simplify a point, your workplace sparring partners may be enacting the essential primal drama of survival. Morphed, twisted and filtered through millennia of the human experience, but underneath it all, a head-butt in the prairie.

Here is what there is to understand:
1. The feelings run deep and strong and for good reason. We're talking nature here.
2. If it is an unequal match and nature takes its course, the little guy will get clobbered and should slink back to his cubicle, licking whatever body part he can reach.
3. If it a pretty equal match, the contestants will need either an open venue for the final battle where a clear winner will be established, or they will need to be separated.

Here is what there is to do:
1. As a manager, understand that a certain amount of competition is good for the herd, uh, company. But beyond that the company can suffer. If the manager perceives that there are more negatives than positives to the competition, he (or she) should remember the alpha role and head-butt the boata dem (Chicago-ese for "both of them") until they remember who is the big boss.

Example: "Guys, your behavior is making it hard for others to do their work and is creating a bad atmosphere around here. Shake hands and get on the same team, or take your problem to another company."

2. As a co-worker, understand that ultimately the herd survives if it cooperates and stays together. As much as competition may advance the individual, true cooperation advances the whole company. Then you can be vocal about these ideas which will encourage the rest of the tribe, I mean the business, to also express them. Eventually it will seep into the thickened sculls of the contestants.

Example: "I am getting very tired of our work being interrupted by the feud between those two. It is taking our minds off of what we really need to be doing. If they keep it up, we are all going down the tubes. We should pull together."
______________________________________________________________________

Challenge your head-butters to increase their effectiveness. Send them here.
______________________________________________________________________

To receive these postings hot off the keyboard,
subscribe to poingology, the newsletter

How to Shmooze

Definition: talk idly or casually in a friendly way
Value: priceless

Gearheads like me have trouble understanding that great ideas and hard work aren't enough... you gotta shmooze too. Every day we deal with peculiar life forms called "humans", and they have needs beyond the performance of tasks. They like to connect on a human level, too.

Even non-gearheads need this reminder. Sometimes they are trying so hard to get the job done, or are just uncertain and uncomfortable, that they forget to blend this critical element into their work.

Have you ever been frustrated seeing a back-slapping moron doing very well in business, while you, the much more capable one, are struggling? Then these ideas are for you. When working with customers, vendors or co-workers, try this:

1. Don't start by diving into the task. Spend a couple sentences warming up first. A simple "How was your weekend?" followed by listening to the answer, will start the interaction on a human level.

2. When you listen, listen also for the emotional tone of the response and respond to it. Example: if the person is harried, consider saying, "Hey, you look like you are under a lot of pressure right now... what can I do to help?" And mean it. And try to help.

3. Sprinkle the person's name into your conversation once or twice. People pay more attention when they hear their name. And it brings you closer to her.

4. Smile and relax. Putting yourself in a good, balanced attitude will help her get there too.

5. Don't take yourself too seriously. Recognize that we are all imperfect and struggling. Share a bit of your struggle and recognize theirs. Example: "Wow, I tried so hard to get this done, but it was really tough. I know you must be having a hard time with your part of it, too. "

5. Create alliances as opposed to adversity. In business we are constantly trying to get someone else to do what we want them to do. Frame your request against a backdrop of mutual benefit. Instead of, "I need this...", try "In order for us to reach our goal, I can accomplish this if you can do that."

6. Observe people you consider to be good shmoozers. Note what behaviors are effective and try to add them to your skill set. The art here is to still be yourself at the same time. Think of it as an adjustment to your approach rather than a complete redo. If you have been a vocal non-golfer, don't suddenly morph into Tiger Woods overnight and expect to be taken seriously.

7. Try to gain a clear vision of the difference between who you are, and what you do. The former is called personality, the latter is called behavior. Personality is very close to your core. Behavior is actions which you undertake. Developing shmoozing skills involves experimentation with your behavior.

But the real beauty of working on your shmoozing is that the positive responses you will get from others will, in turn, be gratifying to you. And this response will make you happier and more successful, which in turn will go right to your core.

What started out as developing a business skill has a real chance of actually enhancing your life. Is there a reason to wait?

I encourage you to share your comments and experiences with these ideas by clicking "Comments" below.


_____________________________________________________________________________________

In between shmoozing, get some productivity here.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
To receive these postings hot off the keyboard,
subscribe to poingology, the newsletter

Work Like Lightning with Lightning Navigator

Have you ever...

Spent tedious minutes clicking through layers of folders to arrive at the file you are looking for?

Had your screen so filled with windows that you couldn't find the icon you need to launch a new program?

Needed to easily grab a portion of your screen display so you could quickly paste it into a document or spreadsheet?

Or maybe you have...

Wanted to have an easy way to paste often-used text into your documents instead of retyping it each time?

Wished you could drop a logo or other graphic into your work whenever you wanted to, in an eyeblink?

Thought of opening and sending a new email, even pre-addressed just by pressing HotKeys?

Or have you thought of...

Finding a quick way to create training manuals which are loaded with informative photos and other graphics, even graphics extracted from websites?

Easily critiquing software development by screen-grabbing and pasting into a critique document with comments?

Easily capturing the path/filename of software programs you use regularly, so you can shortcut to them for easy launching?

Being able to create HotKey shortcuts which do all the tasks listed here?

Printing an exact list of all the shortcuts you have created to work exactly the way you do?

Guess what...

You can do all of the above and much more with Lightning Navigator, the shortcut software by Poingo.

What is a HotKey?

A HotKey is a set of 3 keys pressed simultaneously. Two of the three keys are always Control + Alt. You select the third HotKey for ease of remembering. Or, print a cheat-sheet to help you remember even more easily.

Using Lightning Navigator, you easily associate your HotKey selection with the task you want to perform. Then, when you are working and you need to perform that task, just press your HotKeys and the task executes, lightning fast.

Here's how Lightning Navigator will speed your work:
Save 12-15 seconds every time you navigate to a file or folder, including within the "browse" windows of most Microsoft(tm)and Adobe(tm) products and Windows Explorer(tm).

Save 3-5 minutes every time you capture a portion of your screen display, compared with using Print Screen/Paint/Crop.

Save 10-25 seconds every time you paste preprogrammed text, such as name/address/phone information into your documents.

Save 12-15 seconds every time you paste a pre-loaded graphic, such as a logo, into your document.

You can even...

Open your browser and drive it to a favorite website, just by pressing your HotKey.

Navigate to an FTP site and log in with username and password, just by pressing your HotKey.

Try Lightning Navigator for FREE.

If you like it, pay only $14.95 for (3) unlimited licenses - you can even give your extra licenses to friends.

There is absolutely NO reason to pass up this opportunity to make your work-flow so much easier and contoured to the way you work.
________________________________________________________________________________

Download Lightning Navigator now

Full instructions

Other great Poingo products, and a quick & easy graphical overview of Lightning Navigator
________________________________________________________________________________

To receive these postings hot off the keyboard,
subscribe to poingology, the newsletter