Dear Lindsey,

I recently received two master’s degrees (MBA, 2008 and MSA, 2010) after many years of working in state government. Now, I am ready to explore more opportunities in the private and public sector.

Thank you,
Beverly

Read my answer to this question on Excelle.com…

TAGS: career advice, management tips, women

Those who are seen as able to quickly bounce back after encountering difficulty are more likely to keep their jobs in difficult economic times according to a recent study conducted by Accenture, the global consulting firm. The study, Women Leaders and Resilience: Perspectives from the C-Suite, surveyed over 500 senior executives from 20 countries, found that 71% report that resilience ─ the ability to overcome challenges and turn them into opportunities ─ is extremely important when determining whom to retain. And, women were viewed as slightly more resilient than men (53% to 51%). Not surprisingly, there were regional and generational differences as well as variances in what the study termed as “resilience attitudes” ─ proficiency, confidence and team work.

What stood out to me were the low confidence numbers – in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, women just aren’t perceived by the corporate leaders to be as confident as men.  On the other hand, women were seen as team players.  So the question remains how can women be seen as confident without being characterized as individualistic?  A true thin pink line conundrum.

Some ideas:

• Gather input from others but don’t be reluctant to make a decision.
  When you are in a leadership role, the buck stops with you.  Claim the authority that comes with your responsibility.

• Don’t “awfulize”.
  When you make a mistake, and you will if you are taking appropriate risk, it’s probably not as bad as you think it is.  Put things in perspective.

• Surround yourself with supporters.
  Build a strategic network of people who have your best interests at heart and will bolster your confidence if it sags.

The bottom line is that when you have confidence in yourself, others will see you as resilient. And everybody loves a comeback!

TAGS: gaining confidence, LinkedIn, Women and confidence

According to the BBC, the title of Sarah Palin’s autobiography, Going Rogue, is derived from accusations that while campaigning as John McCain’s running mate, she pursued her own agenda. Regardless of how Ms. Palin deals with those charges in the book (might she deny them?), it is clear that many times people do “go rogue”.

Twice in the last few days, I’ve heard stories from women who are struggling with direct reports who refuse to play the game according to the rules.

In one case, the woman is relatively new to a senior job in IT; the person who’s causing her to lose sleep goes around her to discuss his concerns about the priorities she’s set directly with her boss. In the other, a lawyer is receiving work from an associate working with her is so shoddy that she is spending way too much time redoing it.

If you’re facing something like this, how do you handle it?

• Do not ignore the situation. This is not something that you can expect will resolve itself; you must take action. When this topic came up during the research we conducted for Her Place at the Table , not once did a woman we interviewed say, “I wish I had ignored a person I suspected of trying to undermine me longer.”  Au contraire! They said, “I didn’t want to shake things up.” or “I had so much to do that I decided I’d deal with her when things were more settled.”, or “I hoped he would get on board.” And they all said that they had made a mistake.

• Consider what may be driving the behavior. It may be that she/he is consciously trying to undermine you or that they are merely oblivious to the havoc they wreak. If the former, what do you think is his end game? If the latter, you can clear it up by having a clarifying conversation.

• If you’re sure that the person in acting intentionally, devise a plan. Decide whether to discuss the behavior directly with him/her or instead to discuss the situation with your boss. She may not realize what is going on; you can ask her to modify her behavior by re-directing/rebuffing the culprit.

When the first woman described above told her boss what was going on, he said, “I didn’t realize! Next time he comes to me, I’ll tell him that I’d prefer to get ‘updates’ directly from you.”

In the other case, she used her positional power as supervisor to call a meeting. She provide specific feedback regarding the poor work and was clear that the quality had to be improved. She was careful not to dilute her message by apologizing at any time during the conversation and unequivocally stated that she would have to replace him on the matter unless she saw immediate improvement. The jury is still out on this one but she is cautiously optimistic.

Readers, have you faced this challenge? How did you handle it?

TAGS: giving feedback, LinkedIn, managing difficult people

Read any newspaper or talk to any Boomer or Gen X manager today and you are likely to hear about the “problem” of Generation Y (a.k.a. the Millennials) in the workforce:

“They act entitled to everything!”

“They don’t want to pay their dues and expect to be promoted, even during a recession!”

“Why are they always texting?”

As someone who coaches and writes a blog for college students and young professionals, I think there is some merit to these complaints. A lot of young people today grew up with doting parents, a healthy sense of self-esteem and the whole world (literally) at their fingertips thanks to the Internet.

We can focus on the downsides of these characteristics, or we can embrace the upsides. I’ve chosen the latter, and I hope you will, too. As we struggle with the bad economy and the uncertainty it brings, it’s more important than ever to identify and bring out the best in every employee. Here are five reasons to like your twentysomething employees…and maybe even love them:

1. They are effortlessly tech-savvy. Today’s young people have been using computers for more than half their lives. Their natural instinct is to know technology and the Internet like the back of their hands. Every time I have a question about the best cell phone, blogging platform, web resource or instant message acronym, I ask a Gen Y. Even if this advising is not part of their job descriptions, Gen Ys are usually eager and excited to share their expertise. You’ll never miss out on the next big technology trend (social networking, Twittering, texting, wikis) as long as you have Millennials around.

2. They love feedback. According a recent survey commissioned by Yahoo!HotJobs, 60 percent of Gen Y-ers want to hear from their managers at least once a day. This may sound incredibly time-consuming, but think of the upside potential: by providing regular feedback, you have the opportunity to tweak an employee’s performance regularly. Plus, positive reinforcement is great for morale and productivity.

3. They are capable of super-productivity. When I meet college students, I am consistently impressed by all of their involvements—they manage academics, extra curriculars, sports and jobs and still have time to spend hours a day on Facebook. Notice all of the student-run conferences, volunteer events and online businesses popping up on campuses across the country. When young people are engaged by their employers, they will use their multi-tasking talents and super-productivity on behalf of your company.

4. Their lives are an open book. Thanks to their comfort with websites like Facebook and MySpace, Gen Y-ers are comfortable talking about pretty much anything: their likes, dislikes, opinions and more. If you want to know what your young employees are thinking, feeling, buying or anything else (anything it is legal for an employer to ask, of course), go ahead and start a conversation. Your Gen Y employees would love to provide their opinions. Think of this as free market research into an important customer segment.

5. They are diverse. Generation Y is not only our country’s largest generation (over 75 million — even bigger than the Boomers), it is also our most diverse. One in three Gen Y-ers is a person of color, one in four was raised by a single parent. I have also found most members of this generation to be broadminded about religious differences, sexual preferences, regional differences and gender roles. Your youngest employees will bring a naturally diverse and tolerant perspective to your organization, which reflects the diverse customer bases we all serve.

What positive characteristics have you noticed in your Gen Y employees? Please share!

TAGS: Generation Y, managing

If you’re like most people who work in organizations, you’ve got plenty of meetings. On average, people spend almost 6 hours per week in meetings (that seems low to me!) and 70% report that the meetings are “unproductive”.

My experience has been that meetings can be magical, however. Okay, perhaps that’s a bit dramatic, but meetings can certainly be productive when they are well planned and well executed. Good meetings can unleash creativity, help people to collaborate and find ways to solve critical business problems.

Tips for the Meeting Leader:

• Consider whether a meeting is the best way to get the work done.  Can you accomplish the objective in another way – e.g., one-on-one conversations, through use of an internal wiki or via an email discussion? Sometimes a meeting is that best way but it should not be the default way to move things along.

• Have a clear purpose and expected outcome for the meeting.  Communicate it to meeting attendees in writing before the meeting, reiterate it at the beginning of the meeting and loop back to it at the end of the meeting.

• Create an agenda; you may even want to circulate it in advance and invite others to add to it.

• Be clear about the roles you want people to play and let them know what they are. Also set the ground rules ─ for example, “So that we can accomplish what we need to, I’d like to be sure we stay on track.  So, if there are some times that we get into an important discussion that won’t help us to meet our objective for this meeting, I’ll take note of that and we’ll figure out when and how to deal with it afterward.”

• Anticipate what will be on the minds of meeting attendees and figure out a way to get them engaged. If you know that one person tends to dominate, have a plan to shut him or her down.  For example, “Thanks so much for your contribution, George. Now, I’d like to hear from Bill and Mary to get their team’s perspectives.”

• Consider basic human needs─ room temperature, appropriate breaks, etc.

• Start and end on time.

Tips for the Meeting Attendee:

• Be prepared.  Read the agenda and bring the information you’ll need to contribute.

• Be on time.

• Be present.  Pay attention ─that means no surreptitious sneak peeks at your blackberry

• Don’t make a comment just to say something.  On the other hand, don’t be shy about sharing your ideas about the issue under discussion.

Particularly these days when time and resources are so strained, having good meetings is more important than ever.

What other tips do you have?

TAGS: creativity, meetings, productivity

I am thrilled to share my first post on The Thin Pink Line, joining the ranks of three women I admire tremendously. I’m eager to contribute my thoughts, opinions and stories as a Gen X woman whose passion is helping Gen Ys adapt to the professional world and helping organizations adapt to Gen Y.

So, I thought it would be fitting to make my first post about a generational issue that’s been on my mind a lot lately: the bashing of Gen Y workers.

I try to read everything in the news about Generation Y and careers. This means I regularly find myself plodding through frustrating stories about how the Millennials are “entitled,” “coddled” and “disloyal.” A recent article on MSNBC.com is yet another maddening example.

When did the Baby Boomers mantra “Don’t trust anyone over 30” turn into “Don’t trust anyone under 30”?

Why, during the worst economy in over 60 years, would anyone tell our youngest workers—our future leaders—that they are “not special” and “woefully unprepared”? If we said this about any other type of worker, it would be discrimination. Why is it okay to bash young workers?

I acknowledge that many Millennials (those born in the 1980s and 90s) are not as prepared as previous generations when it comes to some very important areas of work, such as writing skills and professionalism. I would argue in return that they are significantly more prepared in such very important areas as technology, sensitivity to diversity and globalization.

And yes, many young workers like to change jobs frequently. But this is a natural and understandable result of growing up in a time of unprecedented economic expansion, the dot com revolution and rounds upon rounds of corporate downsizings. Millennials know they’ll never work at one company for 30 years and retire with a gold watch. They’re not disloyal; they’re realistic. And, when they find a company that has adapted to the new realities of the workforce, such as Zappos.com, they do stay.

It’s important for a news outlet like MSNBC to report that younger workers have been especially hard hit in the economic downturn. It’s another thing entirely to basically blame it on the young workers. Criticizing Millennials is a total waste of time and energy. Instead of disparaging the young people quoted in the article, why not offer them some tips to land jobs, or balance the piece with some stories of Millennials who are succeeding despite the recession?

Most of the organizations I know that employ Millennials have some complaints. But, those employers tell me, once they provide some coaching and adapt their training and management practices a bit, they are generally thrilled with the productivity, creativity and hard work of their young workers. I’ve seen the same with the Gen Ys I know and work with.

I’ve seen:

young people, like Marissa Davis, who are starting nonprofit organizations to solve social problems

young people, like the college women featured in the terrific documentary “What’s Your Point, Honey?” who want to be President someday

young people, like Nuzhat Karim, who are working diligently to contribute to the success of their employers.

What is the point of my rant? It’s this: I challenge anyone who wants to criticize young workers to do three things:

1) Talk to a Millennial and ask that young person how he or she sees the world.

2) Tell that Millennial how you see the world.

3) Repeat.

Stop bashing Generation Y. We’re all in this together.

A version of this article previously appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: Gen Y Women, Generational issues

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Cleo Thompson, Executive Producer of ‘“Closing the Gender Gap: Challenges, Opportunities and the Future”.  She had the vision to take her firm’s commitment to women more public and to make it accessible to others though a film.

This thought-provoking film includes interviews with thought leaders from business, academia and politics who encourage businesses to think strategically about the issues that impact women in the workplace now and in the future as a business imperative.

PwC’s Global CEO Sam DiPiazza comments:

“There is no doubt that the global economic picture in 2050 will look very different from today. In addition to economic change, we are going through a period of huge social transformation. The leading companies of the world in 2050 will be those that have found ways to create opportunities for women throughout the organization all the way to the top. They have no choice – the fierce battle for talent means they need to use every resource they have to its full potential – and that includes women.”

Very impressive indeed when a global company renowned for its emphasis on talent management takes the lead to educate other organizations about the importance of retaining and promoting women as a business strategy. Not just a “nice to do” but a “must do”.

I have talked with many women who work for firms that still do not provide the tools and resources to support women who aspire to senior and executive roles. And even some of the firms that do, don’t take the next step ─ to hold executives accountable for results. If you work for a company that hasn’t made the right kinds of investment in women, I suggest you share the link to the film with your colleagues.

And for companies who have started on the journey, there is no doubt that the economic crisis will provide a temptation to cut back on gender initiatives in place currently. Don’t wait until it is too late; share the link to the PwC’ film with whomever holds the purse strings in your firm. You may be able to help them to stave off a bad decision with the solid information the film offers.

Thanks, PwC!

TAGS: business case for advancing women, investing in women, women's initiatives

I do.

I started when I was working full time and attending law school at night. There was always so much to do that the only way I could make a dent in my “to do” list was to try to accomplish more than one thing at a time. Some of my multitasking was fairly benign — reading while commuting, for example. This posed no risk to others since I wasn’t driving; the only risk was that I’d get a headache because I tend to get one when I read in a moving car. But even that wasn’t a very big risk because cars in New York City don’t move very quickly at all.

But I didn’t stop there.  As a working mom, my “to do” list grew and I got even more proficient at multitasking. It became a way of life.

Then, technology made it even easier and I was really hooked.

Last week, I read an article in the New York Times (okay, I had seen other study results before but I wasn’t ready to accept them) that points out that multitasking makes us less efficient and more stressed than focusing on one task at a time. This makes sense to me; I have done some research on how much longer it takes to complete a task when one is interrupted versus when one is left alone to tackle the same task. It is considerable.

So I am turning over a new leaf —one thing at a time. I’m hoping I will be able to produce more work, more quickly, with less stress. I am hoping that I will be able to enjoy my conversations more. I’ll let you know how it is going.

(Disclaimer: I never reached multitasking bottom—for example, answering emails while talking on the phone. Reading messages on the Blackberry while dining out. Texting while driving. What’s the worst you’ve seen?)

TAGS: efficiency, multitasking, stress, working mothers

Women make great coaches, but we often don’t call ourselves that.  Whether you coach a child how to ride a bicycle, an elderly parent how to remain safe in their own home, or an employee how to do an even better job, you coach.  We’re particularly good at coaching because many of the things I’ve listed below come naturally to us. Here are 7 tips for how to do it more consciously and confidently:

1.  It’s all in the relationship.  You can’t coach if you don’t have a strong, positive relationship with the person being coached.  Without the relationship people just assume you’re being critical.

2.   Religously follow the 7:1 rule.  This is another way to avoid being perceived as overly critical.  You must give seven pieces of positive feedback for every one piece of developmental feedback.  Catch people in the act of doing things right — no matter how simple — and positively reinforce it.

3.   Be clear about expectations.  When you delegate projects or ask for something to be done, discuss timelines, outcomes, and how success will be measured.  Don’t expect others to read your mind.  For example, rather than say, “I need you to work with the graphics people to design a sales brochure,” say, “By January 1 we need a new sales brochure.  II’d like you to manage the project.  Start by working with our graphics people to get several design possibilities that include our products, customer testimonials, and easy ordering instructions.  Then let’s review them together, choose the best one and meet the deadline. .”  Now you have been specific enough to hold the person accountable for deliverables. 

4.   Coach when you observe behavior that can be improved.  Major league coaches don’t wait until the end of the season to give feedback.  They give it after every play, inning, and game.  If you coach regularly you won’t wind up lumping and dumping: lumping together every area that needs improvement and dumping on the person at one time.  For those of you who manage, this also makes the annual performance review a lot easier. 

5.   Coach people onto the playing field.  Both life and work are playing fields.  Depending on your values or those of your company there are boundaries, strategies, and rules that govern how to win the game.  Don’t think in terms of what someone is doing wrong, think in terms of how you can get the person onto the field and within bounds so that they can succeed at whatever they’re doing. 

6.   Coach the hard skills and the soft skills.  Soft skills are the intangible ones.  Like being honest, friendly, approachable, kind, etc.  They’re harder to coach because you can’t “see” them as clearly as you can the hard skills (such as brushing teeth, coming home on time, delivering reports on time, etc.).  But the soft skills are equally important for success.  To coach the soft skills observe behavior, put words to it, indicate the possible impact the behavior has on others, then re-direct toward more appropriate behavior.  For example, “I noticed you yell at Linda today.  It made her look afraid.  If you don’t want people to be afraid it would work better to cool off before saying anything then engaged in a productive discussion.”

7.   Prepare for every coaching session — regardless of who you’re coaching.  Whether it’s a child, a volunteer or a direct report, choose your words carefully.  Try putting your coaching comments into the framework of what’s working and where the person is getting stuck.  This minimizes the judgmental aspect of coaching and emphasizes behavior rather than characteristics.  You’re not saying that Jane is a bad girl because she threw sand in Sally’s face, you’re saying that behavior isn’t consistent with how you treat people in your family. 

For a free copy of my Coach-the-Coach Questionnaire and Coaching Effectiveness Inventory contact me at info@drloisfrankel.com. 

TAGS: Coaching, coaching children, developing people, feedback, women as coaches

My friend Susan Picascia and I wrote an article that appeared in the June issue of Hemisphere’s magazine entitled “Creating a Workplace Legacy.”  Our premise is that wherever you land about five years before you plan to retire is most likely where you’re going to remain.  Companies often marginalize employees in what we call the “final five” (particularly women!) but you can revitalize your career by thinking about the legacy you want to leave behind.  If you’re interested in seeing the entire article, e-mail me at info@drloisfrankel.com, but here are few tips for how you can remain productive and fulfilled during the last few years of employment:

• Take more risks.  At this stage of your career you have little to lose.  You’ve proven yourself, you have experience, and you can make a difference.  Be the voice of dissent when it’s clear the company is headed in a potentially disasterous direction or say the things everyone else is thinking but are afraid to say.
• Create new systems or processes.   You’ve been so busy doing your entire career you may have never taken the time to step back and see how things could be done more efficiently or cost effectively.   Now’s your chance to leave a lasting legacy based on your unique expertise and experience.
• Influence the vision, values, and goals of your company.  Seize opportunities to illuminate how the company can be a better member of the community, treat its staff better, or raise the bar for how business in your industry is done.  Comments like “I like this new idea.  Let’s think about how it will impact our community” or “If we really want to retain talent let’s look at the developmental opportunities we provide to all employees, not just ones we hand pick” can go a long way toward leaving a legacy of which you can be proud.

TAGS: making a difference, retirement, Women and Aging, workplace legacy