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Dramatically increase your influence

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by Patty Azzarello

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influence

Do you have a seat at the table?

I am often asked to speak about how to have more influence.

Managers often feel like they are getting blocked or ignored by the power structure in their company.

Influence

How can you make sure you are included when important strategies are being decided? How can you impact them?

There are many aspects to this including the need to increase the impact of your work, build your credibility, make the right connections with people, and create a network of support for your ideas, your work, and your career.

But today I want to talk about something very specific. A powerful, practical approach to dramatically increase your influence with your stakeholders.

Be a Translator

I can’t overstate the importance of translating what you talk about into the language of your stakeholders.

It starts here…

No one really cares what you do…

(At least not as much as you do.)

Don’t Educate.  Be more Relevant.

Don’t try to educate your stakeholders. I often talk to managers who say, I need to educate my boss about what my group does.

My advice. Don’t bother. It doesn’t work and it only annoys both of you!

But the important thing to realize is this:

If you have to educate people about what you do, you are not relevant.

Just think about that. If you have to educate, you are not relevant…

What IS relevant? What they already know and care about.

If you want to increase your influence, the way to be more relevant is to always start your conversation with something they already know and care about.

Use that as a hook, and then hang your information that hook.

They will think you are smart and be motivated to listen to you because you are starting the conversation by making them feel smart.

You are engaging them on terms they already know and on things they want to make progress on. Once they are thinking that, they will be ready to listen to you.

Translate your ideas, use their hook

To follow the marketing example, don’t talk about a multi-quarter integrated marketing campaign. While you are at it, don’t even use the word marketing. Talk about building pipeline, decreasing the time to close a sale, or opening new revenue streams.

If you are in IT don’t talk about data centers and virtualization. Translate to improving sales effectiveness, helping reach new markets, or reducing the cost of acquiring customers.

A magic translation tool

Here is a very specific bit of magic to make your work and your ideas much more relevant to the rest of the business.

1. Interview your business stakeholders about what they care about. What is driving their business? What are their pressures and opportunities? What are their key “can’t fail” initiatives right now?
2. Listen for two things:

  • What are the things on their list?
  • What are the exact words they use to describe them?

3. Go back and summarize their top initiatives in their words.

4. Prepare your next communication about what you are doing or trying to influence and ONLY USE THEIR WORDS.

Use your “outside voice”

Remember your plans and your budget are riddled with jargon from your own function. I call that your “inside voice”. You need those things to run your function but don’t – under any circumstances – use those those same artifacts to communicate outside your function.

You need to use your “outside voice”. You need to specifically create new communication tools that are versions of your plans, your proposals, and your budget, but using the language of your stakeholders.

The magic then happens when you are suddenly asking them to approve budget for things they want anyway!

When you translate and use their words, not yours, you are more relevant, you appear more credible and you dramatically increase your ability to influence.

Have you ever been blocked?

What things have you done to increase your influence? Please leave your ideas in the comment box below.

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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Make More Time

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by Patty Azzarello

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Make More Time

If you had 20 percent more time magically appear in your work week — a full uncommitted, unscheduled work day, every week — what would you do with it?

Would you do more email? Would you go to more meetings? Would you do even more of what you are already doing?

Or would you do something different? And Better?

Is being over-busy Valuable?

Think about being over-busy is a low-value way of working.

In fact you could even think of staying over-busy as a form of laziness — not getting the real job done, because you have failed to apply the hard, strategic thinking to prioritize your workload for the highest impact.

But why is it so hard to do this?  Why do we get stuck?  Why can’t we let stuff go?

You might feel like you’re dropping the ball, letting someone down, risking your job.  You might be one of those people that feels good when you are constantly busy, and you get recognition for working hard. 

Consider a Values change. 

You  need to see getting less busy as more valuable than having your time consumed by your work. 

You need to recognize that the more strategic work you could be doing instead of the endless activity, would deliver more value to your team and your company.

Make the Container Smaller

It’s like the Ideal Gas Law:  A gas will expand to fill the size of its container – no matter how big the container.  Likewise, the amount of activity in any job will always expand to fill your time – no matter what the job, and no matter how much time you allow.

It’s up to you to contain it – make your container of time for your current activities smaller. 

Here’s how to get started:

1. Give yourself permission

2. Realize you are not merely allowed to be less busy, it’s a requirement of your job, especially if you want to create value and stand out.

3. Then take some time back. 

Just take it. 

For a start, schedule 2 hours per week and HIDE. 

The hiding part is important.  It won’t work otherwise — the activity knows where to find you…

This time is just for you – to think, to plan, to focus on what’s most critical, re-prioritize, delegate, create processes.  Remember: It’s not stealing from the company. 

It’s not dropping the ball.  It’s not getting less done. 
It’s getting more of the right things done better — it’s creating value.

But it’s up to you to take back the time.

You’ll find that you can make even more Time.

For example, if you take two hours to improve a process or clarify an outcome or a delegated task, you could gain another five hours in saved time.

Then you use those five hours to communicate more effectively, and re-assess priorities and outcomes for your team. When those efforts then take hold you have created even more time. And so on…

It is a core trait of the most successful people to rise above being over-busy.  And it’s important to remember that the most successful people are not the ones who were less busy along the way.  They are the ones who dealt with it. 
If there are any secrets to what really successful people do – this is one of them. 

They make more time.

What about you?

What do you struggle with that saps your time? How do you fight it? Leave you ideas in the comment box below!

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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How to Hire a Star

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by Patty Azzarello

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how-to-hire-a-star

You’ll make a lot of decent hires, (and some bad ones)  but if you want to hire real stars here is how to find them.

Experience vs. Everything Else

Experience is the first thing we tend to look for but is never the primary indicator of  stardom.

Experience is only one factor in making a hiring choice, and in fact is one of the least important in gauging whether or not someone is a star — it can sometimes even be a red flag.

Experience matters, but be cautious to not be overly impressed if someone has a lot of experience in the area you are looking – and don’t make the experience the primary factor for your choice.

I learned this lesson very early in my career when I hired a guy for a telemarketing position which was a new function we were starting in the company.  I had no experience in telemarketing.  He had 20 years of experience in telemarketing.  I was impressed.

The problem was that the reason he spent 20 years in telemarketing is that he was not very good!  So he never advanced.

Stars don’t stay in the same role for decades.

Stars are talented and hungry.  They are on the move.

Hire based on potential not experience

Here are some of the important clues:

1. Advancement

If a star has been working for 20 years, they have held progressively bigger roles.  There are some big leaps and weird transitions on their resume.

When you look at their resume, you’ve just got to hear the story about how they went from working on a manufacturing line, to managing the procurement department, and then to running the customer service organization.

If you are interviewing a new-hire out of school, they have run the events program at their college, contributed articles to New York magazine, built a non-profit organization from scratch, or produced a radio show,  you get the point –They have a track record of doing things that were bigger than their job and more than their peers.

2. Mastery

If someone has spent 20 years in the same type of role, they can still be a star if they are a Master.  Look for proof.  If someone is a Master at PR, they will bring you many examples of how they created a market, got remarkable headlines, or drove web traffic exponentially.

If they are in engineering, they will be known for building or pioneering something important.  If they are in sales they will have a spotless track record.  All will have third party validation on their expertise, you will hear about them from others.

If someone is just telling you about their years of experience in the same role, and have nothing extraordinary to show you about their results, and no one else is talking about them, they may still be a good hire, but they are not a star.

Stars either move up or become a Master.

3. Ambition

Stars are ambitious.  They are going somewhere.  They don’t need you, they need a vehicle to get them to their next bigger or more interesting role.  (This is a good thing).

You don’t get to keep a star forever.

They will move mountains for you, and then they will move on.  Don’t be afraid of, or threatened by rising stars.   Stars are self-motivated to achieve great things for you.  Enjoy it while you can and then support them to move up and onward. 

If you hire with the assumption that you want an experienced person who will stay in this job forever, that is what you will get.  But you won’t get a star.

4. Really Smart

There is no substitute for raw intelligence.  Sure you need emotional and people skills too, but stars typically have both.  Raw IQ points count for a lot.

Stars are motivated by learning, and have a track record of learning on the job (fast) and advancing beyond peers.  One year of experience for a star can equate to many years of experience for someone else, because stars learn so much faster, and just go faster than everybody else.

5. They have a life.

It has always been interesting to note that every star I know and have worked with has had a life outside of their job.  People who are fully consumed by their work are usually not the stars.
This is true of both big executives and gifted contributors.

Stars find the technique to contain the job and get in done in less time so they make room to do more. They use some of the time to enjoy their life, and some of the time to do a bigger job – which is one of the things that makes them a star.

This topic of making room, and not getting fully consumed by your job is a critical factor for success.

Stars are not easy hires

When I’ve had the opportunity to hire stars,  they have always had less direct experience in the job than their competition. But they had at least a few of the traits describe above.

It is tough to get them on board because stars always have other choices and multiple offers, AND your hiring committee will think you are taking a big risk.  So no one is helping you get them in the boat.

The star is saying “I don’t need you”,  and your stakeholders are saying “we don’t want him”. You need to sell both parties, to get the person in the door.

It is very important that you are prepared to fight for them.

Eyebrows will raise when you choose  the less “experienced” individual, but if you choose a star, they will come up to speed very quickly and everyone will quickly and ultimately be impressed and appreciative at what a good hire you have made.

Stars are not easy to find

It is not realistic to think that you can hire 100% stars.  There are just not enough of them.  There are lots of talented people out there who will do good work, and you will need them on your team too.

Stars are hiding either because they are already working, or they don’t realize that they are stars.  You need to seek them out.  Sometimes you need to convince them that they can do more than they think.

The best way to find stars is to never stop looking.  Don’t wait for a position to open up.  Keep your eyes open for them, build relationships with them (you can’t have too many stars in your network at any level), and recruit them whenever you get the chance.

How have you found and kept stars in your team?

Please add your ideas to the comment box below.

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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How NOT to ask for a raise

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by Patty Azzarello

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When I was in my early 20’s I learned an important lesson.

I was working in a start-up company and had gone 3 years without a raise.

The wrong way…

I went to the CEO and asked for a raise.
He said, Why?

Among other things, I said that I had been working for 3 years without a raise, and that I had taken on more and more responsibility over that time, and that I always delivered and often exceeded expectations. I told him it was becoming un-motivating to feel I was working so hard and not moving forward in pay, and peers in other companies were making more money than I was…

He said, I don’t’ care. It’s not my problem. I only care about what the cost is to replace you, and I could replace you for your salary or less – so no raise.

Your job is a contract with your company

You don’t get a raise for good attendance, or because you feel like you deserve one.

You earn a raise by increasing the value of your contribution.

And if you want to get that raise, you need to re-negotiate your contract on terms that are relevant and valuable to your company, not based on what you want or need. And you have to ask.

1. YOU Drive the process

If you are uncomfortable having this conversation with your boss either get comfortable with it, do it anyway, or don’t be disappointed if you get overlooked.

Know that you are at a disadvantage by not having this conversation.

It is vitally important that you and your boss share a common view of your performance and your expectations for promotion and compensation, even if your boss does not drive this discussion.

Of the 20-something years I worked in a corporation for a boss, I did my own performance review 17 times, just to make sure that there were never any disconnects.

2. Understand how you and your role are perceived

It is important to know if you are perceived as a high, average or low performer. Don’t ever guess about this. There should never be any surprises about this. Find out.

Even in an economy where there are not a lot of raises going around, you still need to be communicating with your boss about your performance and what it is worth, so when there is money, you have done all the groundwork.

Also make sure you know how much your ROLE is valued by the company. For example you don’t want to be the superstar performer leading the support team for an obsolete product. You may be great, but need to move into a higher valued role to get a raise.

Once you confirm that you are a high performer then go on to build your case for what you want. If you are not perceived as a high performer – fix that first. Understand what it takes, and focus on adding value, before you start asking for things.

3. Discuss your raise as part of a business outcome

The basic premise here is:
If I do this, what is it worth to the company?

Here are some things you can say:

  • Last year, this is what I accomplished and this is my current compensation.
  • I would like to raise the bar for the upcoming year, and deliver more value to the company.
  • And If I were to add these additional business outcomes, exceed these goals, etc, would that be worth more to the company? How much more?
  • What business outcome would I need to accomplish that would be worth this level of pay, or this promotion?
  • Can we agree that if I deliver this, you will give me that?

4. Follow up on the specfics…

  • 9 months ago, we agreed on performance objectives which if accomplished would
    result in increased compensation.
  • I believe I have delivered on all of these and then some, and I also took on this additional project which has benefited the company by increasing our margin on this product line.
  • Do you agree? Can I get your feedback on my accomplishments? … (Assuming it’s very positive then…..)
  • Will you be increasing my compensation for next year, per our agreement?

If the answer is, No, for some reason outside performance, you need to get a next agreement.

As long as you keep focused on business outcomes, you are on the high ground.

  • If your hands are tied right now, I would like to understand the timeline of what is possible, and if it’s not a raise, is there [stock, bonus, promotion, etc.] that could be possible?
  • I’m very motivated, but I think you can understand that at some point this level of performance will be hard to keep delivering if it is not recognized by the company, what do you advise?
  • You have my commitment to keep delivering for you, but I can you help me understand what I can expect over time in terms of the company being able to hold up our prior agreement about my performance and compensation?

And my personal favorite…

  • If you were in my position, how long would YOU keep performing at this level with my current compensation?

What has worked for you?

If you have examples of how you or your people have asked you for raisies, and what works and backfires — please share in the comment box below!

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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10 Ways to Sell your Ideas

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by Patty Azzarello

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Selling Your Ideas

Selling Your Ideas

Are you ever frustrated that no one listens to your ideas?

If your opinions are not appreciated, or your proposals get dismissed, you need to do a better job selling them.

The Harsh Reality


1. Right or Effective? Remember, you can be 100% right and zero% effective. Having good ideas is completely different than getting them acted on. You need to do the work to put yourself in a position to sell your ideas, and then you need to actively sell them.

2. YOU are being judged. People are judging you as much as your content. Don’t spend so much time on your content that you forget your Personal Brand is also on trial. Be mindful of your Executive Presence. The way you present is as important as what you present. What is your strategy?

3. It takes Effort. You need to invest time, energy and personal relating, if you want to gain support for your ideas. Saying you don’t like politics is a cop out. It absolves you of any more effort. Successful people work to actively sell their ideas.
How can you stack the deck in your favor, and get your audience ready to say YES?

Performing Vs. Presenting

4. Don’t miss your 15 Minutes of Fame: My biggest career jumps have come from some very specific opportunities to present to important groups of people. Don’t just present. Use the opportunity to perform. Think about the key differences between performing and presenting and how you can make your communications the most persuasive.

5. Don’t bury the lead. Make sure to put the main point of your communication up front. Don’t bury it with lots of archaeology and context about how you got there to show how smart you are. It back fires. People get bored and you miss your chance.

6. Own the Outcome. Always own the outcome of the communication, not just the communication. What do you want to happen as a result of this communication? Think it through. If nothing is going to happen as a result, why are you communicating? Always ask for something.

Be More Relevant

7. Find a Hook. Make sure you connect your new information with things people already know and care about. Always find a hook that is something already on their mind to hang your information on.

8. Always translate: Be really careful not to use your jargon and your vocabulary when you are trying to convince others of something. Always relate your ideas in their words. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about this is to make the name of the meeting something they would want to come to.

It’s Personal

9. Not just the facts. Even the most analytical people act based on emotion. The facts may make a compelling and persuasive case, but if you want people to act or change you have to also motivate them personally. How do you compel them to act with your data?

10. Get support up front: Know how your ideas impact people, get their input, give them a chance to shape what happens ahead of time. Don’t spring new ideas on people in public. Build a relationship and get their personal support before you start announcing or requesting things in a group setting.

Want to know more?

Selling your Ideas was the topic of a recent webinar I did. There’s a podcast.
I do a Free Webinar each month on a topic of personal leadership and business effectiveness. If you are interested you can get invited.

How do you sell your ideas?

What did I miss? Who do you need to convince? Who are your supporters and adversaries? Please add your best stories and strategies in the comment box below!

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at The Azzarello Group Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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Be Visible but not Annoying

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by Patty Azzarello

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Invisible doesn’t work

Good work does not stand on its own.

But if you are annoying in the way you pursue visibility, you are also not doing your career any favors.

Visibility is not selfish

Visibility is not just about you. Your visibility is good for your team and your business. People with visibility get more done. Get over thinking you are on the high ground by refusing to pander to politics, because you believe good work should speak for itself. Maybe it should, but it doesn’t.

If you remain uncomfortable with visibility, you remain invisible. So even though you keep delivering great work consistently, you will be disappointed by the lack of recognition, appreciation and rewards you receive.

Get more done

And you’ll also have a harder time getting resources and support for what you are trying to do. No one is comfortable giving great projects and big budgets to people they don’t know.

Visibility = progress for your business and your career.

1. Visibility for Real Results

Annoying: Go for publicity without results to back it up.

I am never advocating visibility INSTEAD of results. It’s always about great work and results FIRST.

You never want to be seen as managing your career more than you are doing work. (We all know and wish bad things for those people.) You don’t ever want to be viewed political with no substance.

Valuable: Be seen as doing and delivering high impact work.

The being seen part is as important as the high impact work. As long as you base the visibility on actual work that delivers value, there is nothing hollow or shallow about it.

2. Visibility with Executives

Annoying: Stalking Executives

Don’t talk to an executive when he has to go to the bathroom. I have seen people keep executives outside the door to the bathroom, and refuse to let them in. How much are they really going to listen to you at that point?

Don’t corner them at parties to pitch your agenda or complain about your issues. They are at a party. Don’t drag them down, they get enough of that when they are not at a party.

Don’t Blame them for things, with no proposals for improvement – Don’t bleed all over an executive about how everything is screwed up in their business, and think your analysis will make you look smart. If you have a complaint, have a proposal. Otherwise you are just annoying.

Valuable: Have a good reason to connect with an executive.

Pay attention to what they care about. Give them positive feedback or valuable inputs to solve issues or expose opportunities. Share a personal point of interest. Don’t start with an ask.

Have them know you as a person, not just a climber. Update them briefly when your work matters to THEM. And be careful that your work actually matters to them before you go on about it.

3. Visibility at Important Meetings

Annoying: Don’t go to meetings just to be seen.

The important people at the meeting notice if you have no function or reason for being there, and subtract points from you career. It backfires.

Valuable: Do high value work. Tune your job to deliver more value over time. Be the reason for an important meeting to happen around your work. Find ways to make that work visible in other ways.

4. Visibility based on truth.


Annoying: Never take credit for work you didn’t do.

You may get a blip of visibility, but it will backfire because it is not real. You get no real benefit from promoting yourself on any false foundation. Ultimately people will see right through it.

Valuable: Make other people famous.

Give credit to other people for good work that they did. The great thing about this is that you still get the visibility for doing the communicating. When you give the credit where it is due, based on the truth of who did the high value work, you get recognized for cultivating stars.

How have you seen people get this really right or wrong?

Let’s hear your best stories — the good, the bad, and the ugly in the comment box below!

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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