10 Great Traits to Look for in Managers and Clients

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What to Look for Before You Start

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So we meet for the first time, and we think we want this job or project. Sometimes we get so involved in proving ourselves worthy, we forget to look at the person we might be working with (or for) until after the project has started.

Whoa! If only we would slow down. A longer look before we jump into a relationship can often save so much heartache and time — yes even money — later. Just a longer look might change our mind about how much we want this job and the manager or client who comes with it.

10 Things to Look for in Managers and Clients

Managers and clients. They’re people too — human as we are — replete with our great qualities and our great . . . ahem . . . tiny . . . things that need working on. Every one of us has ‘em. Some go better together than others, that’s all.

When it comes right down to it, we can spend more time with managers and clients than we do with our family and friends. Managers and clients have an impact on the quality of our lives. So it makes sense to make sure that they are the sort of people we work well with. Here are 10 great traits to look for in managers and clients when you’re deciding whether you want that job.

  1. They already know who they are. A great manager or client is self-aware. You can talk frankly about what you do, what’s going wrong and right, without needing to preface or sugarcoat what you have to say. They look at the work. They look at you. They look at the big picture, their boss, and the market without using that information to define who they are.
  2. They listen actively. When you speak, they hear what you say and what you mean. They ask questions to be sure that they understand. They are curious about your ideas and your view point, because they know listening is one of the most powerful tools available to them.
  3. They are “the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage “ When they model or teach, it’s by telling stories or by participating with authentic curiosity and willingness to share.
  4. They don’t add too much value. They know when it’s someone else’s turn. Sometimes they don’t attend a meeting or don’t lead a discussion because they know that they can douse a fire by adding too much fuel.
  5. They respect the intuitive detail of those who do the work. Great managers know that those who live the work on a daily basis take in information and perceptions at every level. Those managers and clients realize that there’s a wealth of experience to be tapped if the right questions are asked. They also know that sweeping general decision they might make can disregard something hidden in that intuitive detail.
  6. They stand outside the process as much as they can. Great managers know that if they participate in the thinking, then there is no one outside of it to serve as a check. They have learned to hold the bigger picture to balance the folks who have the intuitive detail.
  7. They offer new perspectives and paradigms. When the going gets rough, great managers know what to say to get things back on track. They restore the vision by re-aligning the perspective that may have gone off track. They offer new paradigms when folks get stuck in problem thinking.
  8. They hold folks accountable with both head and heart. Great managers hold us all accountable for our professional behavior — in process, communication, personal, and interpersonal skills. That is a promise of a team well led and a project done well.
  9. They understand the business they are in. This may sound obvious but, if they don’t understand the business they are in, those above don’t matter, because we’ll all run out of money and have to find other jobs.
  10. Great managers understand that all people including themselves can only do what is humanly possible. They know that as long we can say that no one is going to die and we’re still going to eat tomorrow we are indeed lucky.

So the next time we go in for that job or that project, we might review this list from the bottom to the top and jot a few questions of our own. After all, a good fit saves everyone time and heartache and lots of other things you can count on a spreadsheet, that on a sunny morning don’t seem to mean nearly as much.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Are you coming to SOBCon 07?

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How Too Much Thinking Used to Screw Me Up
Business Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods?
Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies
Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle?

WOMMA: What Gets People To Talk About You?

Filed Under Business Book, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

What People Talk About

Word of Mouth Marketing Book

Andy Sernovitz knows what people talk about. He knows how to get people like me talking the way I’m talking to you about him right now. In fact, he wrote the book Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking.

If you want to get people tarking, Andy says in his book. You need to know what people talk about. People talk about three kinds of things.

  1. We talk about other people and their stuff. If you are interesting, we talk about you or the stuff you are selling. We talk about how the service you offer is grander or more remarkable than we expected or how you have done something that captured out imagination. We want a reason to talk about you. Good conversation makes our life more interesting too.
  2. We talk because it makes us feel smart, important, and helpful. We remember how you treat us and pass that along to our friends. Treat us exceptionally nice, and we become die-hard fans. Give us a product or service that amazes us, and we’ll become the experts on where to find you — making sure everyone knows you are the best in your field. Everyone likes to feel that they have the key to something special. We like to help our friends by showing them how to find a great deal. Keep your attention fresh and exciting, and you will keep us interested and talking about you.
  3. We want to feel part of a bigger group. When we share how we feel about a product or a service we have enjoyed, we feel connected to the experience and connected to the people we tell about it. The more times we tell the story, the more we identify with it as a part of us and our life. Offer something people want to be a part of and they’ll tell others about it.

Talking to each other is what we do — on the phone, at our desks, in the comment box, in the grocery, over the kitchen table. We fill up our life with stories about our experiences. Talking is how we share the experiences that we find interesting and defining.

People like to talk to people. What can you do to get people talking about what you do? What stories come to your mind when you read this? Are they all BIG and heroic or are some stories of regular size?

Thanks Andy. I can’t wait to hear you speak at SOBCon.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Hurry! The special rate rooms in the SOBCon Block at the OHare SOBCon 07 will be released back to the hotel on April 13th.

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Andy Sernovitz Is Speaking at SOBCon! Pass It On!

WOMM: If You Hate Self Promotion, Get People to Talk about You!

Filed Under Business Book, Successful Blog | 20 Comments

Get People Talking

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Remember in Jr. High, the worst that could happen was to know that people were talking about you. Even if what you heard might be good, you couldn’t be sure. It was creepy.

Life is different now. Talk is how people share the news about interesting, fascinating, dangerous, marvelous, outrageous, remarkable, unique, and outstanding events, people, businesses — anything that isn’t BORING OR INVISIBLE.

If folks AREN’T TALKING about you and me, we virtually DON’T EXIST.

Don’t exist as in we are invisible. How does a business thrive if no one knows it’s there?

Some folks seem to have a knack for getting folks to talk about them. I’d name, but that would be redundant. The fact that they’re good at it means you already know who they are.

So what do they do that gets them talked about? Andy Sernovitz says they do four things. In his book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Andy names four rules to follow if you want t6 be talked about.

  1. Be interesting. No one talks about boring. Give people a reason — an unexpected detail, a moment of something, a visual surprise, a unique feeling. People tell othere people about interesting things.
  2. Make people happy. Inspire your readers. Get them jazzed or move them to action. Energize them with positivity. Tim Sanders wrote a whole book in the Likeability Factor. Put it to work for you. We love to talk about people we like.
  3. Earn respect and trust. Know your truth and live your values. Keep your promises and make people proud to say they know you. Who doesn’t like to talk about their friends and family?
  4. Make it easy. Have a simple message and help folks share it. Put your message everywhere people look. Keep it in motion. Say it yourself whenever you talk.

Makes total sense doesn’t it? Four ways to spread the word gets people talking about you, me and our ideas.

Thanks Andy. Tomrrow, we’ll check out what folks talk about.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the SOBCon 07 blog

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Andy Sernovitz Is Speaking at SOBCon! Pass It On!

Those We Attract . . .

Filed Under Business Book, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Like to Like

Like attracts like.

Be who you are,
calm and clear and bright,
asking yourself every minute
is this what I really want to do,
doing it only when you answer yes.

This turns away those who have
nothing to learn from who you are
and attracts those who do,
and from whom you have to learn as well.
– Messiah’s Handbook, Reminders for the Advanced Soul,
by Richard Bach

Illusions. It’s all illusions. We invent the world.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How Too Much Thinking Used to Screw Me Up

Filed Under Business Book, Successful Blog | 15 Comments

We Think a Lot

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The other day, we were talking about being shy and telling stories in the context of self-promotion. I said something about the “ME” in self-conscious. I’ve always thought about it. RK came back and put to words in a pair of comments that said exactly what I always had wondered about . . . am I shy or am I egotistical?

Then, oh then, the killer sentence was this one.

I’d say the ME in the Self-Conscious could be very much due to hyper thinking and analysis. — Comment by RK

Guilty.

How Too Much Thinking Used to Screw Me Up

This is one of my best stories . . . ever.

The company had a feeling about people that was good. Some folks were larks and some were owls was how the president described it. So no one really watched what time anyone came in the door each morning. Everyone assumed we all knew what our role was and that we did our fair share.

Except well, it started to get noticed that my team was coming in later. Then later. Soon it was after 9:30 when the last ones were trailing in. Okay so maybe I was the only one who noticed . . . but I don’t think I was.

In any case, before anyone else said something I thought maybe I should.

We had a short meeting at 11 a.m. I explained that we were kind of pushing the envelope on the time we came in, that maybe we should be aware that other folks might misinterpret things. After some conversation, everyone went to lunch.

Two hours later, two people still weren’t back.

This is the part where I did too much thinking. . . . I had two completely different arguments going on in my head at the same time.

  1. They’re good people. This is a coincidence. I should handle this as I always would. Treat them as adults. Assume they have a reason. Move forward.

  2. We just had a meeting about taking advantage of time. If I don’t say something, I’m not doing my job.

I bet I had this argument going on for at least 20 minutes as I kept looking at the clock on my wall. I got absolutely nothing done during that time — talk about not doing my job.

As I’m in the middle of this argument, the two return. I hear their manager say to them, “Are you NUTS!?”

It was the perfect response for the two people and the situation.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar. She’s much better now.

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