Practicing Values & Principles

This post explores the second area of personal development in Authentic Leadership: Values.

Bill George and Peter Sims wrote True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership. I’ve shared many of the concepts in previous posts. As before, I recommend that you visit Bill George’s web site, read the articles, watch the TV and videos, and download the study guides to enhance your study of the book. You will especially want the study guide on chapter five for today’s post.

In the previous posts  we analyzed several aspects of authentic leadership (The links on each will allow you to download the study guide for that particular chapter). They included the following:

•  Leadership is a journey with three phases: beginning, peak leadership, & mentoring
• Why leaders lose their way including 5 archetypes that contribute to losing their way: Imposters, Rationalizers, Glory seekers, Loners, and Shooting stars
• Transforming from “I” to “We” leadership
• The first area of personal development to authentic leadership: self-awareness

Practicing Your Values and Principles

The five areas include the following. I explained the first on Monday. I will explain 2 today, & 2 more on Friday. The questions listed with each area will help you discover your authentic leadership:

1. Self-Awareness; What is my story? What are my strengths and developmental needs?
2. Values: What are my most deeply held values? What principles guide my leadership?
   • “In gaining a clear awareness of who you are, you must understand your values and the principles that guide your leadership. Several leaders referred to their values as their moral compass…Staying centered on our values is not easy. You can easily drift off course as the temptations and pressures of the outside world pull you away from your moral center. But if you are centered through/a high level of self-awareness, your compass can help you get back on track.”
   • Values: The relative importance of the things that matter in your life.
     • “It is under pressure—when our success, your career, or your life hangs in the balance—that you must decide what your values are. When you are forced to make trade-offs between your values under difficult circumstances, you learn what is most important in your life and what you are prepared to sacrifice for.
     • Those who develop a clear sense of their values before they get into a crisis are better prepared to keep their bearings and navigate through difficult decisions and dilemmas when the pressure mounts.”
     • The authors illustrate the importance of values with stories from David Gergen, Jon Huntsman, and Keith Krach.
   • Leadership Principles: A set of standards used in leading others, derived from your values. Principles are values translated into action.
   • Ethical Boundaries: The limits placed on your actions based on your standards of ethical behavior.
     • “Your ethical boundaries set clear limits on what you will do when you are tempted or are under pressure or when you start rationalizing a series of marginal decisions. If you establish clear boundaries early in life, your moral compass will kick in when you reach your limits and tell you it is time to pull back, even if personal sacrifices may be significant.”
3. Motivations: What motivates me? How do I balance external and internal motivations?
4. Support Teams: Who are the people I can count on to guide & support me along the way?
5. Integrated Life: How can I integrate all aspects of my life and find fulfillment?

Combining self-awareness with values and motivations begins to balance our personal development. However, authentic leaders add solid support teams and integrate all five areas to achieve authentic leadership.

Join me on Friday when we examine the third area of personal development: motivations

Self-Awareness & Leadership

This offers another segment in our series on Bill George’s Authentic Leadership. I strongly suggest you buy the book and study it using the downloadable study guides..
Developing and practicing leadership skills can help you get a better job whether in management, union, or civic organizations.
Bill George wrote in True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership “Discovering our authentic leadership requires us to test ourselves, our values, and our beliefs through real-world experiences. This is not an easy process as we are constantly buffered by the demands of the external world, the model of success that others hold out for us and our search to discover our truth.
Use a Compass to Stay on Track to Authentic Leadership
I quote the authors again “Because there is no map or direct path between where you are no and where you will go on your leadership journey, you need a compass to keep you focused on your True North and get back on track when you are pulled off by external forces or are at risk of being derailed.”
The compass is a dynamic tool that you can update and calibrate after every experience to ensure that each step you take on your leadership journey is consistent with how you want to lead your life. Because your circumstance, opportunities, and the world around you are always changing, you will never stop calibrating your compass.”
5 Areas of Personal Development for Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership finds root in each person differently. Your authentic leadership differs from mine or your neighbors. They key to discovering your authentic leadership lies in exploring 5 areas of personal development. The answers help you determine your authentic leadership. Once again, I recommend you read the whole book. The authors illustrate their principles with stories from famous leaders
The five areas include the following. The questions will help you discover your authentic leadership. I will explain one today, 2 on Wednesday, & 2 more on Friday:

1. Self-Awareness; What is my story? What are my strengths and developmental needs? “Leaders sad that gaining self-awareness was central to becoming authentic leaders. For this reason it is at the center of your compass. When you know yourself, you can find the passion that motivates you and the purpose of your leadership.”
• While intellectual intelligence, or IQ, has long been thought of as an essential characteristic for managers, EQ (emotional intelligence) may be more important for authentic leaders.
• Leaders stated several reasons why knowing yourself was so important:
• Finding the right role
• Increasing self-confidence
• Being consistent
• Connecting with others
• Identifying complimentary skills
• Peeling back the onion: “Knowing yourself can be compared to peeling back the layers of an onion as you search for your true self. Understanding your outer layers is a necessary first step to going deeper into what lies beneath, because they provide the access to your inner core.
• “Next in the process of gaining self-awareness is taking time for personal reflection and introspection. Reflecting on your life story and your experiences can help you understand them at a deeper level00and so you can reframe your life story in a more coherent way as your future.direction becomes congruent with the knowledge of who you are and the kind of person you want to become.
2. Values: When are my most deeply held values? What principles guide my leadership? /
3. Motivations: What motivates me? How do I balance external and internal motivations?
4. Support Teams: Who are the people I can count on to guide & support me along the way?
5. Integrated Life: How can I integrate all aspects of my life and find fulfillment?

Once you master self-awareness, you move to the next areas of authentic leadership: values and motivations. We will analyze them on Wednesday and finish the last two Authentic Leadership traits  on Friday. In the meantime, read chapter 4 of the book and use the downloadable study guide to increase your self-awareness.

Share what you discover about yourself as you read the chapter and answer the questions

“I” vs. “We” Leadership

This continues our discussion on how to stay on True North or Authentic Leadership to earn the biggest raises & best promotions. I suggest you buy the book and study from the source.

In previous posts we reviewed Bill George’s comments that we journey through three phases of our leadership: our beginnings, peak leadership, and giving back to others as mentor or coach. In our first post on Authentic Leadership we also introduced the 5 areas or points on the compass that allow us to get back on track. Our last post presented 5 archetypes that cause leaders to lose their way.

Today we will analyze the transformation from "I” to “We” centered leadership—a transformation vital to becoming an authentic leader.

Transforming from “I” to “We” is Vital

First, George and Sims help us understand the need for authentic leaders to shift emphasis from themselves to empowering those they lead. George writes “Most of the leaders we interviewed had transformative experiences on their journeys that enabled them to recognize that leading was not about their success but, the success they could create by empowering others to lead.”

The authors highlight that most of us, in our early years, must provide evidence of individual achievement. Early leadership opportunities allow us to lead on our own. Inability to empower others to lead, however, blocks continued leadership opportunities.

“To become authentic leaders, we must discard the myth that leadership means having legions of supporters following our directions as we ascend to the pinnacles of power. Only then can we realize that authentic leadership is empowering others on their journey.”

“This shift is the transformation form ‘I’ to ‘We.’ It is the most important process leaders go through in becoming authentic. How else can they unleash the power of their organizations unless they motivate people to reach their full potential? If our supporters are merely following our lead, then their efforts are limited to our visions and our directions about what needs to be done.”

Shifting Usually Requires a Transformative Event

Most leaders require some transformative event to trigger their evolution to we-centered leaders. Once again I share from the authors, “A transformative experience may come at any point in your life. It could result from the positive experience of having a wise mentor or having a unique opportunity at a young age. Bus as much as we all want positive experiences like these, transformations for many leaders result from going through a crucible.”

They cite Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas from their book Geeks and Geezers “the concept of the crucible as an experience that tests leaders to their limits. A crucible can be triggered by events such as confronting a difficult situation at work , receiving critical feedback, or losing your job. Or it may result from a painful personal experience such as divorce, illness, or the death of a loved one.”

  Several leaders share their experiences with transformative events including Dan Vassala of Novartis, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Thompson of the Positive Coaching Alliance, Nelson Mandela, and others. Their individual stories illustrate the various ways and times transformative events may enter our lives.

Gaining and improving leadership skills helps us get better jobs. Learning “We” leadership becomes essential to achieve our potential. I hope these excerpts on leadership help you develop skills that will lead you to your potential. Once again, I encourage you to read True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership by Bill George with Peter Sims. I also suggest you download the great guides for taking notes. You can get them at no charge from Bill George’s web site. You will also benefit by watching his TV and video clips on the site.

Monday will add detail to the five areas you must align to find your True North. Join us!

You will improve our conversation if you shared your transformative event. Please comment!

Why Leaders Lose Their Way

Today, we analyze why Bill George’s leaders to lose their way from true north

Monday we began our exploration of  Bill George and Peter Sims’ principles of authentic leadership found in True North Discover Your Authentic Leadership, Authentic Leadership, Finding Your True North, and True North Groups. Hopefully, you looked at Bill George’s wonderful collection of articles since 2003. Most of this post contains quotes directly from the book.

Five Archetypes to Lose Your Way

Unfortunately, many leaders lose their way along the journey. Too many leaders never achieve their full potential or sabotage their journey. They fail to stay true to their authentic leadership. Sometimes they fail to pass through the crucible of their trials and failures. Other times they lose sight of their bearings from one of the five archetypes:

1. “Imposters rise through the ranks with a combination of cunning and aggression. They understand the politics of getting ahead and let no one stand in their way…Having acquired power, Imposters may not be content about how to use it. They are beset with doubt about handling the responsibilities of leadership…Paralyzed by doubt, they are unable to act decisively. The inaction leads to poor results and external challenges, so they attack their critics and cut themselves off from internal feedback.”
2. “Rationalizers always appear on top of the issues. When things don’t go their way, they blame external forces or subordinates or offer facile answers to their problems. They rarely step up and take responsibilities themselves…As they advance and find themselves facing greater challenges, they transmit pressure to their subordinates instead of modulating it…Unfortunately, their actions only make the future worse. So they turn to more aggressive schemes, such as reporting future revenue streams in quarterly sales or filling customer warehouses with inventory…Ultimately they become victims of their own rationalizations, as do their depleted organizations.”
3. “Glory seekers define themselves by acclaim of the external world. Money, fame, glory, and power are their goals, as they pursue visible signs of success. Often it seems more important to them to appear on lists of the most powerful business leaders that it does to build organizations of lasting value…Their thirst for fame is unquenchable…Sometimes the emptiness creates envy of those who have more, a quality that is hard for outsiders to comprehend from someone who seems to have it all.”
4. “Loners avoid forming close relationships, seeking out mentors, or creating support networks. They believe they can and must make it on their own. Not to be confused with introverts. Loners often have a myriad of superficial relationships and acolytes, but they do not listen to them. They reject honest feedback, even from those who care about them. Without wise counsel, Loners are prone to make major mistakes.”
5. “Shooting Stars lives center entirely on their careers. To observers, they are perpetual motion machines, always on the go, traveling incessantly to get ahead. They rarely make time for family, friendships, their communities, or even themselves…They move up so rapidly in their careers that they never have time to learn from their mistakes. A year or two into any job, they are ready to move on, before they have had to confront the results of their decisions…One day they find themselves at the top, overwhelmed by an intractable set of problems. At this point, they are prone to irrational decisions.”

Heroes of Their Own Journeys

“All five archetypal leaders described here frame their life stories in the model of an all-conquering hero…If fails utterly when one leads a team, precisely because being a hero is not empowering to teammates or subordinates…The role of leaders is not to get other people to follow them but to empower others to lead. They cannot elicit the best performances from their teams if they are in the game primarily for themselves.”

Join us Friday when we conclude our examination of Bill George’s authentic leadership.

Authentic Leadership

Today our series on leadership reviews Bill George’s concept of Authentic Leadership

Bill George and Peter Sims wrote True North Discover Your Authentic Leadership. Bill George studied leadership for decades. He practiced it as CEO of Medtronic. He teaches leadership at Harvard. He’s authored best sellers on leadership. He focuses on helping leaders discover or rediscover their true north, their authentic leadership. He recently released a new book called True North Groups.

Bill George wrote “The reality is that no one can be authentic by trying to be like someone else…Leaders are highly complex human beings, who have distinctive qualities that cannot be sufficiently described by lists of traits or characteristics.”

Keep Your Leadership Compass Pointing to True North

George and Sims interviewed 125 leaders including Jon Huntsman Sr. Oprah Winfrey, Howard Schultz, Ellen Breyer, and more. They researched their background, leadership successes and leadership mistakes. The book weaves their stories—both complimentary and cautionary—into the five key principles of authentic leadership:

1. Knowing your authentic self
2. Defining your values and leadership principles
3. Understanding your motivations
4. Building your support team
5. Staying grounded by integrating all aspects of your life

The authors use the compass model at the top of this post. All five facets must be balanced to point you to your true north, your authentic leadership. Stories from George’s dream team of leaders illustrate each of the facets. Exercises help readers ponder and apply the principles to define their true north.

Our Journey to Authentic Leadership

The authors compare leadership to a journey with three phases:

• Phase I: We learn the principles of leadership. We practice our leadership, and amass a following not of people who support our “glorious ascension”, but people we have empowered on their journeys. We journey in phase 1 until about age 30
• Phase II: Defines our best leadership, our prime years of leadership. We step into leadership prepared by phase I and deliver our most active leadership. If we work hard, we stay true to our authentic leadership without losing our way. Phase II typically runs from age 30 to about age 60.
• Phase III; Provides our opportunity to give back, mentor, and coach upcoming leaders. Many leaders move from for-profit endeavors to non-profit or charitable boards and leadership.

So we begin our study of authentic leadership. We will continue with 2 more posts. In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to visit Bill George’s web site. You can begin a great study on leadership by reading the articles he has posted since 2003 until now.

On Wednesday, we analyze 5 archetypes that can help you lose your way as an authentic leader

Collins’ 5 Levels of Leadership

Jim Collins evaluated a number of companies for his book Good to Great. They looked at 1,435 over 40 years. The looked for companies with 15 years of steady growth, a single point of change, and 15 years of phenomenal growth. They evaluated the financial records to find great companies.
Collins and his team of researchers did not begin their research to find level 5 leaders. In fact, he frequently states in his book that he told the team to ignore the executives. Yet, the evidence consistently indicated the need to evaluate the leadership of those companies that went from good to great. The research indicated that ten of the eleven companies that became great possessed level 5 leaders at their helm.
5 Levels of Leadership
Jim Collins describes 5 levels of leadership within corporations. Quoting from page 20 of his book Good to Great:

• “Level 1 Highly Capable Individual: Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills, and good work habits.
• Level 2 Contributing Team Member: Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting.
• Level 3 Competent Manager: Organizes people and resources toward the effective an efficient pursuit  of pre-determined objectives.
• Level 4 Effective Leader: Catalyzes commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards.
• Level 5 Executive: Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.”

Characteristics of Level 5 Leaders
Collins team of researchers identified several traits of a level 5 leader. (Once again, I summarize from chapter 2 Level 5 Leadership of Good to Great pages 39-40 First Edition 2001):

1. Exhibit a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will
2. Ambitious on behalf of the company, but not themselves
3. Set up their successors for greater success in the next generation
4. Display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing, and understated
5. Fanatically driven, infected, with an incurable need to produce sustained results
6. Show a workmanlike diligence—more plow horse than show horse
7. Attribute success to others, but accept blame for flaws

Interestingly, Collins states “I believe that potential level 5 leaders exist all around us, if we just know what to look for, and that many people have the potential to evolve into Level 5.” (Jim Collins, Good to Great, 2001, page 39).
Great leaders cannot imitate or fake the traits described above. You can evolve into level 5 by nurturing the traits within yourself. I strongly suggest that current and potential leaders study Good to Great and How the Mighty Fall. I also suggest you study the articles on leadership listed on Jim Collins web site.
Join me next Monday when we discuss Kotter’s leadership principles

Novation Leadership

Doctors Gene Dalton and Paul H Thompson published Novations Strategies for Career Management in 1993. They originally researched “technical obsolescence” to see why some “information workers” advanced in their careers and why others seemed to stagnate.

Career paths for other occupations solidified during the early 20th century. For example, the trades clearly defined career paths from apprenticeships, to journeymen, to masters. The decrease of manufacturing and trade positions into the 80’s created an increase in jobs dealing with knowledge: programmers, accountants, call centers, customer services, and others. Dalton and Thompson found that, contrary to common belief, similar career paths existed for these information workers.

Four Stages of Career Development.

Dalton and Thompson identified four stages to career development. They labeled the four stages as follows:

1. Apprentices are new to the organization. contribute little on their own because they are learning about the organization. The future success of an apprentice frequently depended on the person who became their coach (stage 3). Novations highlighted that CEO’s brought in from outside the organization went through an apprenticeship period.
2. Independent contributors successfully transitioned from apprentice to independent contributors. Independent contributors worked on a small portion of the overall project. They no longer needed to work under the direction of a coach. They work independently to produce their portion of the project.
3. The Coach or Idea Leader help apprentices transition into the independent contributor stage. Coaches see the overall picture of the organization or project. Coaches help generate ideas to improve the overall performance of the organization. Coaches must be able to contribute through others.
4. The Organizational leaders (also called the directors) influence the direction the organization moves. The research indicated that organizational leaders could influence from both formal and informal channels. In other words, several people in stage 4 had titles of director or vice president. Others in stage 4 lacked the titles, but maintained the influence. Organizational leaders also sponsored others in the organization. They also maintained an extensive network of contacts both inside and outside the organization.

Barriers to Transition

Novations also outlined what you need to do to transition from one stage to another. The book also identified those behaviors that prevented upward movement and could trap you in each stage.

For example, you need to demonstrate the following traits to move from stage 2 to stage 3:

• Obtain greater technical skills and apply the skills in multiple facets of the business
• Build a network of relationships inside the organization, but outside the workgroup, and use the relationships to further the work of the group
• Develop others in the organization

A major skill that you need to develop to move from coach to organizational leader involved contemplating long-term timeframes. The organizational leader considers changes and directions that will last much longer than the leader’s connection to the organization.

Learn More About the Four Stages of Leadership

While Gene Dalton and Paul H. Thompson published Novations a decade ago, it’s principles stand the test of time. I suggest you read the original work by Dalton and Thompson.

Gene died of cancer seven years after publication. Paul was promoted to dean of the Marriott School of Management and later to President of Weber State University. They did not continue their research. Their consulting firm Novations Group merged with Global Leadership to form Global Novations. Global Novations continued some of the research. They renamed the four stages as (1) Contributing Dependently, (2) Contributing Independently, (3) Contributing Through Other, and (4) Contributing Strategically. You may wish to review their white papers and articles.

Leadership Skills Develop Careers

This begins a multi-part series examining how—& which—leadership skills develop your career

Exhibiting current and potential leadership provides an excellent path to career growth. You can exert leadership as both a formal and informal leader. Your leadership may be a positive or a negative influence on the work team or organization. You may yearn to lead. You may resist leadership with all your might. Whatever you choose, leadership will affect your career growth.

Over the next few weeks we will examine various traits of leadership. Our study will include reviewing concepts presented by Bill George, Jim Collins, Stephen Covey, Paul Thompson, Gene Dalton, and other experts on leadership. We will explore the differences between leadership and management that will help you comprehend the differences between Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Operating Officers (COOs).

In addition, we will delve into the roles of leadership including establishing the vision for the organization, adopting and adapting the corporate culture, formulating and implementing strategy, evaluating and improving performance. Once again, we will refer to prominent studies and publications for you to study to better understand these roles.

Finally, we will discuss the models and tools leaders use to enhance and improve the organizations and teams they lead. Tools will include:

• Bill George’s True North or Model for Authentic Leadership
• Clawson’s Level Three Leadership
• Six Steps to Effective Leadership
• Agle’s Stakeholder Salience model
• Kotter’s Model for Leading Change
• Principle Centered Leadership
• Jim Collins theories on Built to Last, Good to Great, and How the Great Have Fallen
• RACI, SWOT, and Structure Analysis
• McKenzie’s Seven S Model
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Principle Based Negotiation

These concept will enhance your career, earn the biggest raises, and obtain the best promotions. I recognize that they will not apply to all of you at this time. They may in the future. For some of you they may help you understand management better, while you never pursue a career in management or leadership.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy our exploration of management and leadership.

Why Some Get Laid Off

Before I begin a series on leadership I want to share an example of why some people get laid off

I just wanted to share a story that exemplifies why some people lose their jobs when times get tough. I will share the story and let you draw your own conclusions.

At one point, my assistant’s husband worked as vice president for a major military contract company. The down economy, the war winding down, and military budget cuts were coming. The company, anticipating reduced revenues, sent instructions that he needed to reduce his workforce by 3,000.

He analyzed his options and devised the following strategy. He would let go all of the employees who:

1. Could not do what they said they could do when they were hired
2. Did not stay on task at work, but spent more time talking to co-workers
3. Came in late to work, took too long on lunch, and left work early

He identified 5,000 people on his staff who met this criteria and laid them off. Interestingly, productivity increased when he let them go in spite of the reduced staff.

I’m not saying that all people who get laid off meet this criteria. Others reasons exist. However, I think this story gives pause to consider our approach to work. I recently heard a too common story. A certain employee felt wonderful that he had found a job where he could put in the minimum requirement and never lose his job.

Once again, I will just share the story and let you draw your own conclusions. Good luck on your work ethic.

Don’t Lose Your New Job

Prior to the 1990’s a person starting a new job began working toward a promotion. That all changed in the 90’s. Today, a wise person starting a new job focuses on one goal—don’t lose the job. I discussed this concept in a series of blogs in July. I won’t go into as much detail this time, but will overview the concepts with links to the original series.

You worked very hard to land this job. You proved three things to the decision maker—or they wouldn’t have offered you the job. You proved that you can (1) do the job they want done, (2) fit into their organization, and (3) give a good return on investment.

Now, you need to follow through on the promise. The following steps give a very brief summary:

1. Do the Job They Want Done—and Then Some

• Find out as quickly as possible the productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, and quality expectations they have for you on the job
• Begin tracking and comparing your performance to their expectations
• Once you meet the expectations, begin to exceed them

2. Fit Into Their Organization

• Find a mentor to help guide you through the intricacies of the new company
• Build a network of contacts inside the firm to help you do the job more efficiently
• Show your competence while learning from the others on your team—don’t overbear
• Learn the written and unwritten rules and fit into corporate culture

3. Give a Good Return on Investment

• Identify how you can improve your performance. Discuss them with your supervisor
• Use home run statements to communicate the improvements, earnings, or savings
• Share at least one home run statement with your supervisor each month
• Include home run statements in your annual performance appraisals
• Verify that your results satisfy and impress your supervisor and management

Ensure that you deliver on the promises you implied during the job search. Your most important goal on starting a new job—don’t lose your new job..

Next Friday we will begin a series discussing leadership traits for career development

Rejecting or Accepting Offers

This concludes our series on what to do with a job offer

Having negotiated as close to a win-win solution, you must either reject or accept the offer. While that sounds simple, you can enhance both options with a few key steps.

Remember, that you will usually reject or accept the offer at the end of the negotiating meeting or phone call. While, in very rare circumstance, you may ask for more time to consider; that conveys the wrong impression.

You must therefore, make the preparations listed in my last post so that you already have a good idea of what you will decide. Your four part table, with notes added during the meeting, should clearly indicate your choice.

Rejecting the Offer

Do not sever the relationship when you reject an offer.

First, this same company may call you later with a position and situation more acceptable. You want them to still yearn to have you join their team.

Second, the person you worked so hard to impress, may move to another company that could need someone with your skills in a few years. You want them to put you on their short list of people to contact the next time they need the skills you possess.

Third, they may talk to people at other companies. Imagine, the Human Resource manager with the company you just rejected—and rejected poorly—attending the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) luncheon. Their tablemate is the Human Resource manager of the company you would love to hire you. The subject turns to a vacancy, needing your skills, at the desired company. What will the rejected manager think, and possibly say, about you?

Follow these simple steps:

1. Express how honored you were by their very generous offer.
2. Share two specific things you respect about the company (every company has at least 2)
3. Explain that nevertheless you do not feel this specific offer is in both of your interests
4. If you can diplomatically, you may share one or two reasons that it is not win-win
5. State that you still hope to work for the company in the future when it would be equally beneficial.
6. Thank them again for considering you to work for their team.

Accepting the Offer

Your acceptance transitions you from the negotiation phase of the meeting to beginning the onboarding (current jargon for starting) process. The following steps can help transition smoothly:

1. Review a final time the terms of the agreement
2. Express how honored you are by their very generous offer
3. Tell them you accept the offer based on those terms
4. Ask how the terms will be solidified. Verify if you will
• Sign a written contract
• Clarify them in an email
• See it in the new hire packet
5. Verify the date, time, location, and person you should meet on your first day
6. Inquire what percent of the first day will involve new hire packet & orientation
7. Offer to let them copy your passport, or driver’s license and social security card for I-9
8. Offer to jumpstart your work by reading any orientation, policy, or other  materials now
9. Inquire if there is anything else you need to know or do
10. Thank them again for allowing you to work for their team

How you reject or accept a job offer indicates a lot about what kind of employee—and person—you are. The tips above can help you start the job well, or leave doors open to work with them later. I hope this helps with your next job offer.

Join me on Wednesday when we review your next big goal—do not lose the job!

Negotiate a Win-Win Solution

This second part continues our 3-part series on negotiating job offers. This is a little long (I probably should have done a four part series)

We previously described how to show appreciation and enthusiasm for the offer. Today we will explore two parts of negotiating a job offer: writing your ideal employer description (or What I Want) and negotiating a win-win solution. Negotiating a win-win solution begins with both parties establishing what they want, not in terms of money alone, but in terms of the overall package.

Many job seekers find and start a new job only to discover they hate it. Usually they failed to consider what they really wanted other than a salary, job title, and geographic location. Too many tell us they will “take anything”—and further probing proves them right. Others worry about finding a job in this tough economy. They cannot comprehend establishing expectations for responsibilities, corporate culture, workplace environment, or benefits. As a result, they land jobs they detest rather then landing jobs they love.

Write your Ideal Employer Description

The first step to landing the job you love and negotiating a win-win solution involves determining and writing what I call your ideal employer description or What I Want (see illustration).  The following questions (and others you will determine) help you draft your ideal employer description

• What 5 skills do you want to use 70% of the time?
• What responsibilities or tasks do you want to spend 70% of your time performing?
• What values, management styles, work and social interactions do you prefer?
• What attitudes, habits, support, & personalities do you want from team members?
• Describe how you want your workstation to feel (office, cubicle, outdoor, other)?
• What do you want in terms of working hours, days, travel, routine, or variety?
• What training, skill development, memberships, or subscriptions do you want?
• What is the lowest salary you will accept? What do you really want? What perks?
• How often do you expect a raise, bonus, or commission payment? How much?
• What do you want in health benefits, life insurance, retirement, and premiums?
• What other elements of the job have you not described that you should outline?

Prepare to Negotiate Your Win-Win Solution

We encouraged you to ask key questions during your due diligence, the interview, and when they offered you the job. Hopefully, you kept good notes of the information you discovered. Now you transfer the information into the chart illustrated at the top of this post. You will list:

• What they offer you: salary, benefits, responsibilities, and the answers to the questions you listed under what you want. Recognize that you will not have all the information you want. Write some questions to use in the negotiation meeting to gather the rest of the information you want.
• What they want from you: skills, work experiences, return on investment, job expectations, results, budgetary and personnel responsibilities (in estimated dollars and numbers) and more. List the most important elements they want at the top of the cell with the least important at the bottom.
• What you offer them: use home run statements to describe your skills, work experience, return on investment, job performance, results, budgetary and personnel successes, and more. List your home run statements to mirror what they want from you, so that your statements satisfy each of their requirements. Be prepared to either show compensating strengths to offset anything you do not offer that they want, or be ready to drop parts of the salary package.

Become very familiar with the information in your worksheet. Find the prevailing salary for the job at one of the web sites listed on Dick Bolles’ JobHuntersBible.com. Highlight those elements of what you want that if not met would require you to reject the offer (often called “deal breakers”). You will not share these in the negotiation meeting. They remain for you to anchor yourself to avoid accepting an offer that would make you miserable.

In the Negotiation Meeting

Take a copy of your form to the negotiation meeting. Ask permission to take notes on it. Begin the negotiation with the following:

1. Restate your sincere gratitude and enthusiasm for the offer and hope to work with them
2. Ask permission to verify what they want from you and restate what you offer them. Read the information your recorded in the bottom two squares. Verify that your understanding matches theirs. Write any corrections offer on your sheet
3. Ask permission to verify your understanding of what they offer you. Ask the questions you highlighted on your form. Write the answers you receive. As you discuss the salary, premiums, and payments made by both you and the company; you may wish to write how much more or less you will have to pay than the prevailing standard in your community.
4. After verifying you understand what they offer you, express appreciation for the offer.
1. Compare what you want to what they offer. Look for any elements you highlighted before to verify that no “deal breakers” remain unresolved. If so, try to resolve them.
2. Always refer to the salary offer as “low”, “mid”, or“high” 20's, 30s, or 100s.
3. Raise any questions you have about how much more or less than prevailing standards you will have to pay. State how much more you may have to pay and ask “Is there anything we can do to raise the salary or decrease the other payments to bring this closer to prevailing standards?”
4. Use some of the negotiation tips found in the following web sites to improve the offer: Getting to Yes, 101 Salary Secrets: How to Negotiate Like a Pro,  Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute, and 10 Best Tips to Win Salary Negotiations .
5. Either accept or reject the offer based on your worksheet and feelings (subject of my next post).

We’ve outlined some basic moves in salary negotiation. I encourage you to review the other web sites linked from number 3. They provide other secrets to salary negotiation.

Come back Monday to learn more details on accepting or rejecting a job offer

What to Do With Job Offers

This begins a 3-part series on negotiating job offers

Successful job searches result in job offers. Your search began by recognizing how people really get hired. You did your due diligence. You called 10 people a day and met face-to-face with 10 people a week. You used your  answers to interview questions, home run statements, and reframe your weakness. You followed up effectively and prepared excellent written job search materials. So, now you have one or two job offers. What do you do?

Steps to Accepting a Job Offer

I suggest a few steps to analyzing, negotiating, and accepting your job offer.

1. Express your appreciation for the offer.
2. Compare the offer with your ideal employer description
3. Negotiate for a win-win solution
4. Accept or reject (yes you might reject) the job offer

We will discuss step 1 today, steps 2 & 3 on Friday, and step 4 next Monday.

Express Your Appreciation for the Job Offer

Get excited and thank them for the offer: One of the most exciting times in a person’s life occurs when they get offered a job. So, get excited. You don’t have to hold your enthusiasm back to appear professional. Companies like to hear that people want to work with them. It confirms that they made a wise decision in offering you the job. Thank them for the offer and tell them you really want to work for them. However, do not accept the job immediately.

Gather information about the job and offer: Ask the person making the offer a few questions:

• Are there any changes in the position from what we discussed during the interview?
• May I take a minute to review the job expectations as I understand them?
• Tell me about the salary, benefits, agreements or bonuses involved with the offer?
• Who will I negotiate the offer with you, or someone else? How do I contact them?
• If I accept, what onboarding activities need to occur and what are your milestones?
• I’m very excited about the offer, but would like to think it over. Can we meet (or talk if it’s a distance away) tomorrow to discuss it further and let me give you my answer?
• Thank you very much. I look forward to seeing (or talking) to you at xx tomorrow.

Once again express appreciation and excitement about the offer: Let them feel your excitement and enthusiasm after gathering the information. End the conversation on a positive note. Tell them you are really excited to work with them.

Celebrate the offer: Take time to celebrate the offer, even if you do not want to accept it. Any offer deserves celebration. Call family, friends, and your job coach to share you joy. Our family always buys doughnuts to announce big changes. Go buy some doughnuts.

Then, prepare to compare the offer with your ideal employer description and to negotiate the offer tomorrow. It will be a busy evening before tomorrow’s meeting.

Join me Friday when we will explore comparing the offer and negotiating a win-win solution.