A friend of mine, Colleen Aylward a nationally renowned recruiter, has written a great book called From Bedlam to the Boardroom. It is about how job search has changed dramatically in the last 24 to 36 months and what you should do about it. Some data points:

1. A job placed on Career Builder or similar sites can generate 1500 plus resumes in three days. A keyword filter can churn out a short list in minutes, 20 killer qualified candidates!
2. Over 2.5 million business execs announced themselves unemployed a year ago; it is likely a much higher number based on those too embarrassed to take unemployment checks or who are seriously under-employed. The estimate is 5 to 7 million top execs are looking for work.
3. With LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media sites employers can target exactly who and what they want and search on referrals alone.
4. Try this: put your job description in Google, do a search, and note how many applicants come up. That should set your toes a jingling.

Character Move: future employers have the following questions, and you have to have a heck of a fact-based story to tell in answering them:

1. How have you contributed to increasing revenues and profitability?
2. How have you contributed to decreasing costs?
3. What problems have you solved and how?
4. How creative are you?

Be great at developing personal case studies right now, as you are working, and read Colleen’s book for a lot more insight!

Competing in The Triangle,

Lorne

Customers do not care about what department people work in. In the extreme case, do you think the passengers desperate to get off the sinking Costa Concordia cruise ship (off the west coast of Italy) cared if they were being helped by customer service, engineering, or catering? Of course not. Products and services flow across departments and positions, and end up in the hands and heart of the customer. However, the entire customer experience will not be consistently and sustainably great without every person and process in the chain inside an organization working together. The point is – we have to sincerely care for each other first before we can achieve exceptional customer service. It takes huge amounts of personal energy and commitment.

Character Move:

1. Great customer care starts with you. Are you working in a tight link with your team in a way where you deeply care about each other and your respective processes?
2. It starts with what you do and how you do it. Depending on your position or role, you will have more or less power to influence your entire company culture.
3. And it starts by really listening and getting to know the people on your “left and right” and building from there. One day the customer experience crosses over from inconsistent offerings and marketing spin to real customers shouting out (through social media) about how great you are.

Together in the Triangle,

Lorne

You may have seen the art posters showing photographs of many different types and colors of doors. When I look at those doors, I wonder what’s behind each of them. It reminds me that each of us will open and close workplace doors many times in our careers. The current data suggests we will do so 10 to 12 times throughout a working span… perhaps even more in the turbulent work world we currently compete in. Each time we close a door we end a chapter in our personal work story. That storybook is, of course, our resume. Being clear about what we have given and received is vital in writing a story with meaning. I recently had to look at my resume and “paint each door” with a picture to describe what I gave and received, an interesting and reflective exercise. Overall I’m proud of the “art poster” I’ve created, but some doors look better than others. I would like to be able to do a touch up here and there but… Each of us has more doors in front of us. It is better to think about painting with the brush still in hand.

Character Move:

1. Consciously think about the legacy you have left behind, the work doors you have closed. Identify two to three things of lasting value you have given, two to three things you have received.
2. How are you doing painting the door of the organization you’re currently with? What can you do to more of, or less of, to have that door become worthy of being on a metaphorical poster of art?

Painting doors in The Triangle,

Lorne

A CEO friend runs a company where a year’s business relationship and contract hinges on about 24 hours of intense activity. He supports inventory services for tier one companies. The “moment of truth,” including all his company brand promises, is focused on this intense period of time. The company delivers or not, all in a real time basis. The only way to stay sane and ensure success is to purposefully practice all the way up to “game time.” This includes covering every situation where something could go wrong and having a contingency. Everything is a process (to get desired results) and the process is everything. People who complain about process like to rely on blind chance (good luck). But even the greatest poker players follow a reliable, practiced process.

Character Move:

1. Determine what competencies you want to purposefully practice.
2. Define your “moment of truth” (i.e. where your competencies are exposed and tested)?
3. Practice, practice, practice doing it right. Develop contingencies.
4. Then, practice more.

Purposeful Practice in The Triangle,

Lorne

Leigh Steinberg, the famed sports agent, has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7. He has represented many successful athletes and coaches in most major sports including the first overall pick in the NFL draft an unprecedented eight times. His clients have included Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks Steve Young, Troy Aikman, and Warren Moon, and he served as the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire.

The following is a quote from Steinberg as reported recently in the online magazine Postgame,

“I have struggled with alcohol for a number of years. In the past five or six years I began to check out episodically for short periods. My judgment and oversight of my affairs was not consistent and was at times impaired. I am responsible for my own addiction — no one forced me to drink — and in revealing my struggle with alcoholism, I am in no way justifying or excusing my circumstance. But I discuss it to provide context as well as understanding and inspiration to those who also battle addictive behavior. I surrendered to the reality that I was an alcoholic and my behavior was impacting family and associates in March 2010. I surrendered to the concept that until I tackled alcoholism, other priorities needed to be put aside.”

Character Move:

1. Be honest. Accept the fall!
2. Have the courage to put ego aside and begin recovery.
3. It is necessary and strength to get help. Don’t go it alone.
4. Recovery will be an inspiration to others. Everyone likes a comeback story.

If you know of someone in addictive trouble at work, strongly encourage them to take advantage of the employee assistance programs available. Don’t close your eyes and hope they get better.

Recovery in the Triangle,

Lorne

This year’s college football bowl games have involved kickers missing critical field goals. Even if you are not a sports or football fan, you can likely appreciate the kicker in front of a huge crowd and television audience, falling to his knees in agony after a big miss. After all, the entire team and all fans are impacted by whether the kick goes through the goal posts or not. This year’s kickers who have missed have had to close off their Facebook pages and hide out. Death threats and derision spewed from fans that likely couldn’t kick a ball ten feet as these kickers become posting patsies. Ironically team mates normally are very understanding.

Character Move:

1. Remember you and I only trip when we’re moving. We are all destined to miss sometimes.
2. We have to leave behind the misses we make, try to learn, and keep practicing and focused on the next one.
3. You and I can’t fear failure or it will turn us into the people that want to judge from the sidelines rather than play the game.
4. Just keep kicking!

Through the goalposts in The Triangle,

Lorne

1. If you’ve made a formal New Year’s resolution, you’re more likely to make progress on the matter than someone who doesn’t.
2. If you can make it through January applying your resolution, you have a good chance of progress lasting longer.
3. With proven strategies and some digital tools you can really increase your odds of success.

The  New York Times recently had a great article by Times columnist John Tierney. He and Roy F Baumeister have coauthored “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.” Contrary to conventional beliefs, their research supports that you are ten times more likely to change by making a New Year’s resolution than non-resolvers!

Here are the key steps and actions to help you, as determined through Tierney and Baumeister’s research:

1. Set clear goals (less is more).
2. Pre-commit; bind yourself to taking action (e.g. put money at risk on your resolution).
3. Outsource self control by getting help from a support team.
4. Keep track of your results.
5. Don’t overreact to a lapse.
6. Reward yourself on progress often.

Character Move:

1. In my January 3rd blog I suggested three practical and specific improvement resolutions regarding making progress in applying The Character Triangle (CT). Determine the CT resolution best for you.
2. Write it down and be very specific in defining the resolution. Make progress clear and measurable.
3. Apply the support ideas in this blog to help you translate your resolution into a successful habit.

Successful resolutions in The Triangle,

Lorne

A study from Baylor University, reported in article in the winter 2011 issue of Personnel Psychology, found that the stress and tension caused by an abusive boss at work also filters through to an employee’s personal relationships and ultimately the whole family. When people reported having an abusive boss, their significant other was more likely to report increased relationship tension and family conflict at home. Numerous other studies reinforce this finding. Abusive bosses are “stalkers;” they follow you right to your kitchen table.

Character Move:

1. Try having a “crucial conversation” with your boss, pointing out abusive behavior. They will demonstrate their commitment to improve through active listening and taking meaningful action to improve.
2. Determine how and if you can help them self-improve. However they are self-accountable in stopping the abusive behavior. They need to demonstrate improvement.
3. Do not get caught into a “gripe fest” complaining about the boss’ behavior. This helps no one, least of all you.
4. Make a plan to get out of the relationship. RESPECT, for yourself and others, is a minimum acceptable requirement in a work environment.

No “stalking” in The Triangle,

Lorne

Accountability Resolution: Begin each problem solving meeting in the New Year by describing the issue you want to address for improvement. Start the dialogue by specifically and meaningfully defining FIRST what YOU personally could do to contribute to a resolution. Propose specific ways of how you would go about doing so. THEN ask your teammate(s) to follow suit by having them outline their personal recommendations. Discuss, amend and conclude by connecting each self accountable approach into a joint plan of improvement action.

Respect Resolution: Learn how to use and apply one of the most practical and easy to use listening/problem solving tools and methods. It is called S (situation) T (target) P (proposal): STP. I have had executives tell me years after they have started using it that it remains their most useful tool. Go to my web site www.lornerubis.com and check out the resource section for a quick video tutorial and a PDF explaining how to use it. Or, check out the appendix in “The Character Triangle.” Using STP and the Respect value is reinforced through better listening, dialogue and less negative conflict. Practice the STP until it becomes second nature.

Abundance Resolution: On 30 consecutive working days write a personal note of “thank you” to one person in the company. Be very specific in what behavior you want to say thank you for. Describe what their action meant to others, the company and you in your role. Be timely and spread this across all levels of the company. Schedule this commitment onto your calendar so that you treat this “thank you” activity as a very important meeting.

Commit to the above three actions purposefully and I promise you will see real and measurable positive outcomes.

Three New Year’s Resolutions in the Triangle,

Lorne