Authority without influence is hollow. Stop trying to get more authority and start spending your time gaining more influence.

Authority in business is positional. The Vice President has more authority than the manager, the Executive Vice President … well you get the picture. Far too many managers truly believe that when they get promoted they will have more authority and they will then be able to get more done. This smacks of authority tied to power.  And such belief is probably a key reason so few managers get things done.

Managers who truly believe that getting promoted and getting more authority will make the difference are not only lying to themselves, but they are in essence surrendering their future to someone else.

We propose the belief and practice of building a network through influence as a much more powerful strategy than waiting to be anointed with authority through a promotion.

Yes, some people may choose the pejorative to describe people who use influence as playing politics, and manipulators. Sure these people (and their negative behavioral patterns) exist; they exist in every organization, but we are not talking about this subset.. (And more often than not, they fail to achieve long-term meaningful success, or just plain fail early on.)

What we are talking about is using positive influence; understanding the meaning of reciprocity and mutuality, which is providing something of meaningful value to another person, who in turn will provide something of meaningful value to you. This is how relationships are formed, networks are built, and how influence is gained. The question is, are you just waiting for it, or, are you positively working it?

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

Trust. It’s the bedrock of business and personal success. Yet we often find when we talk with people about trust, they say “of course it’s important and if only (fill in the name) would recognize it”. Well this Blog is not about someone else, it’s about you.

We have yet to talk with someone who said – “you know, I just can’t be trusted”. We all see ourselves as trustworthy. Our filters carefully sort out those we feel we can trust and those we feel we cannot. But remember, someone else is applying their filter on you. How do you measure up? Do you know?

What we call “trust events”, situations that create a trust violation, can range from small and easily resolved (i.e. your boss asked if you called a client, you say yes, then immediately call the client after the conversation ends). Or it can be large and non-recoverable (i.e. embezzling money from your employer). Large trust events tend to result in immediate and strong negative feedback. Small trust events don’t. But if they are a part of your behavior, they accumulate, and just like a boxer throwing body punches for nine rounds, they add up and will lead to major problems. For the boxer – a tenth round knockout.

We see partnerships dissolve, employees leave organizations because of trust violations, employees no longer interacting and cooperating in the workplace. Billions of dollars of lost productivity, lost opportunity, and suppressed growth can be attributed to trust issues.

We realize it’s difficult to self-reflect on an issue as sensitive as trust in the workplace and business. And it’s also unrealistic to assume that if someone has a trust issue with you, they will tell you. Some will, of course, but most won’t. So instead of asking you directly to assess your trust quotient, we suggest you derive it (or test it) based on a series of simple questions:

ü  Are people you once interacted with on the job, spending less time with you? Maybe even avoiding you?

ü  Are people who once shared personal stories and talked with you with animation and interest – not doing so any longer? Has the conversation turned and stayed matter of fact and business like?

ü  Are you invited to fewer meetings and events?

ü  Are you losing customers and having a hard time acquiring new ones?

ü  Are calls that once were returned quickly not being returned?

ü  Are emails that were once responded to quickly being responded to slower and with less information in the response?

ü  Are you being passed over for key projects or a promotion?

If you answered these questions with a yes, you likely have a trust issue. Now, sure, this could stem from a temporary work overload or stress overload of the other person.  However, a pattern of yeses with various people, and over some time presents a high likelihood that your trustworthiness is not coming through to others.  And, this calls for attention on your part if you do not wish it to diminish your relationships and success.

In Thursday’s Quick Tips, we will provide examples of actions you can take to gain and keep trust.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

On Monday, we wrote about 5 key changes that are impacting people in the workplace. Today we offer you thoughts and ideas on two areas to focus on to best prepare yourself for these changes.

1. Mastering the fundamentals of your personal business skills. This is essential to differentiate and prepare yourself for new opportunities. It includes:

ü  Knowing and clearly articulating your skills, competences, job history, and interests. You need to do this both verbally (for the interviews), and in writing (resume, application, letters of interest). And it must be evidenced based focusing on your strengths and growth progression (that is, demonstrated results).

ü  Refresh and expand your personal and professional relationships and network

ü  Clearly understand the job you are pursuing (or your new job). This includes function, key responsibilities and the strategic direction of the organization. This is essential to focus your learning and direct your energy – and it avoids learning through guessing and trial and error.

ü  Take a business personality profile assessment to better understand your strengths, potential derailers and the type of job you would most enjoy. This information will help you define your career options (including starting your own business) and prepare you for the interviews.

ü  Use a coach, mentor or trusted friend to help improve your skills and help you through the transition.

2. Know and practice the intangibles of business success. Business success does not rely solely on the hard business skills. Everyone applying for the job or seeking promotion has these. The differentiators lie in the intangibles, which include:

ü  Not letting fear stop you and limit your chance of success

ü  Being proactive and responsive

ü  Not overselling, which can happen when you are unsure of yourself

ü  Not quitting at no. Show confidence in yourself to explore a no– it may just be a no, not now, or no, not like that, or that they don’t fully understand the benefits yet.

ü  Don’t get hung up on perfection. The perfect resume is less important than getting an interview – use the mantra “success not perfection”

ü  Focus. Don’t wander and flit from topic to topic, task to task.

ü  Do not waste people’s time with your personal beliefs and opinions

ü  Look the part – how you present is extremely important. It’s not just what you say that makes an impact.

ü  Demonstrate gratitude to everyone that helps you.

Look at the list and identify areas where you feel you can improve – and start working on them – today.

Copyright 2010 Kubica LaForest

In other words, how well prepared are you for change? One thing we do know is that change is certain—it simply becomes a matter of when and how. And “eyes wide shut”, that is, not anticipating, is a strategy loaded with vulnerability.

Over forty-five years ago, Bob Dylan released a song whose title rings as true today as it did in 1964: The times they are a-changin. Clearly the times are different today than in 1964. And once again we are engulfed in a major societal change.

There are 5 Key Changes we see that are impacting people in the workplace today:

1. Leaving the organization

A. Voluntarily

B. Involuntarily termination (for a variety of reasons)

2. Promotion from within

A. With previous management experience

B. With no or little management experience

3. Lateral Transfers

A. Intra-divisional

B. Inter-divisional

4. Protirement

5. A new job in a new organization

And the chances are if you are reading this, you’ve had or may soon be facing one of these changes. Also, there are distinctions that will influence differently the experience you have in several of these key change situations. (More about that in future blogs.)

Now that we are coming out of the devastating impact of the recent recession, we are starting to see more people leaving organizations voluntarily rather than involuntarily. The Wall Street Journal (5/12/10) reported that in the last two months more workers quit their jobs than were laid off. This is interesting, and perhaps an encouraging sign.

As the job market begins to open up, as demand for leadership (especially now as business models are changing and adapting to a new economic and marketplace reality), opportunities for are available for the well-prepared. We smile when we hear people talk about luck: “I was lucky to find a good job, I was lucky to find the right business partner, I was lucky that I started my business when I did.”We believe that luck, at least in the long term, has very little to do with success. As the old adage goes: luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.

Well, the opportunities are opening up. So, how prepared are you to take advantage of them?

On Thursday, we will provide Quick Tips on how to better prepare you for the changes ahead. If you have specific questions or comments you would like us to address, we welcome them.

Tony and Sara

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

On Monday we discussed another unfortunate result of the recession is a generalized societal crisis in confidence: Trust eroded, then generalized.
As a business owner or organizational leader, the following tips can help you overcome these generalized fears, high skepticism about businesses today and cautious buying trends.

1. The Awareness Factor–Understand that the negative attitudes about business exist and can impact your business. Also understand that no matter how good or honest you think you are, your potentials customers may not feel the same way – they don’t know you, but they do read the paper and watch television

2. ProAction – Understand it’s your responsibility to build trust and you can do so by doing such things as:
o Doing what you say you will do
o Taking time to build a real relationship
o Demonstrate rapid responsiveness
o Provide value in everything you do, and first when meeting a prospect
o Don’t oversell (meaning, push your products or services, especially ones they don’t need) no matter how much you need the money today
o And, live your brand identity

Remember, you as the business owner or leader can change perceptions to the benefit of you, your business and your future customers.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

The recession has done more than create a financial meltdown. It has created a crisis of confidence that infects every element of our society. Witness:

o  Subprime mortgages

o  Wall Street

o  Goldman Sachs

o  Toyota

o  British Petroleum

o  Transocean Ltd.

o  Massey Energy

o  Nearly 1000 point drop in the stock market on 5/6/10

And unfortunately this is just a partial list! Our confidence in institutions we once trusted is diminished. And it’s not like it’s only one company that has an issue, such as Merck during the Vioxx debacle. It’s much more pervasive.

So why should you care? Other than eyes wide shut and hope is not a strategy, you need to care because what is now unfolding can have a direct negative impact on you and your business. Why? Trust lost.

Trust lost creates cynics, skeptics, and potential buyers who do not believe you. The cynicism about businesses is palpable. Even the brand name business schools like Harvard, Yale, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, Chicago and Michigan have either hired or are searching for new deans. According to the Wall Street Journal (5/6/2010), The “new deans … will be tasked with restoring the tarnished reputation of business schools.”

Businesses in general, are getting caught up in this and getting a bad rap. Trust eroded then generalized.

What should you do about it? First, recognize that the general and pervasive cynicism and loss of trust can have a negative affect on you and your business. While you see yourself as honest and trustworthy, don’t get lulled into believing that your potential customers will see you the same way, at least at first. Sure, we would like trust to be assumed, though it seems that there is more of a calling for demonstration to earn it. Ignore this at your own peril, as complacency will create a barrier to proactive behavior.

On Thursday, we’ll offer Quick Tips on what you can do.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

Do I really need a partner? This question is asked by every person we talk to who is interested in starting a business. Many accountants and attorneys we talk to say no. “Partnerships are trouble, and they often end badly – and expensively.” Well (no disregard to our CPA’S and attorneys, as we are very happy with their work and respect them personally and professionally, but) this is bad advice. The reason partnerships end badly is not because so many partnerships are destined to fail or inherently bad, it’s because people partner for the wrong reasons, and/or with the wrong partner. Poorly thought out, poorly aligned and impulsive partnerships are risky, and they often do end badly.

Good partnerships are a powerful way to get work done – to achieve a goal. Look at some of the great partnerships that yielded great results:

ü  Warren Buffett and Charles Munger – Berkshire Hathaway

ü  Mike Eisner and Frank Wells – Disney

ü  Karl Malone and John Stockton – Utah Jazz (for the sports fans)

In starting a business, you may be able to do it alone, but a good partner is what many of us need. Why? Because in truth, most of us just aren’t that smart and simply don’t have the time nor energy to get everything done that needs to be done for a growing and thriving business. We may be very good at many things, but we are rarely good at everything. Sure you can hire people to do what you’re not good at, but then you miss that intangible for success – mutuality – that can catapult your performance to new levels.

Mutuality is powerful. It’s the coming together of two people with a common goal/vision for the future where each brings complementary strengths to the business. And while it certainly helps to be friends, John D. Rockefeller made an interesting comment: a friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.

So, we caution listening to that generic advice about partnerships. It’s a waste of your time. Be careful by all means, but don’t determine your business future from someone who made the wrong partner decision or a generalized sound bit.

How should you decide whether and with whom to partner? Read our Quick Tips and Building Transformational Partnerships (Blog 4/22/2010) and consider taking a business personality assessment to better understand yourself and the person with whom you want to partner. Believe us – it’s worth it.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest