Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

How to influence people

By

If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that I have been busy tweeting up a storm from the Career Directors International conference (#CDI10) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Atlanta conference (#SHRMATL10)  in the past week.

Today, I want to share some insights from Tom Herringon, a senior partner with The PAR Group. Tom spoke at SHRM Atlanta about the art of leadership and influence. It’s an important topic, both for managers and those in leadership positions and for job seekers who hope to influence people to hire them.

A few key points from Tom:

  • Everyone is a decision maker. Telling people to do something is not effective; influencing them to take action is best.
  • No decision is made without emotion. Gut instincts and feelings influence every decision we make.
  • If you want to know how people feel, don’t pay attention to what they say, pay attention to their actions. Consider how they are speaking and what they actually do. Actions are easy to see, emotions are not. (I will have more insights about how to listen with all of your senses in my post about Beverly Inman-Ebel’s talk regarding listening. Hint: it’s not something you should be doing only with your ears!)
  • Salesmanship done right looks like leadership.
  • Leaders evaluate situations to allow themselves to be more easily followed.
  • Leaders are inflexible about their goals, outcomes, objectives and targeted results. They are flexible about HOW to get there.
  • Recognize that the decision about what to do rests with the individual. You can’t “make” someone take a specific action, but you can empathize, acknowledge their needs and respect their opinions in an effort to impact behavior.

Tom suggested acknowledging and respecting people, in part by suspending your point of view, empathizing with the other person’s viewpoint and depersonalizing the interaction. For example, instead of starting sentences with “you,” think about using “It” or “That” statements.

While Tom’s talk was for human resource professionals, there were many takeaways for job seekers:

  • Your search is not only about being qualified for the job — people also hire based on what feels “right” to them — emotion is a key factor in hiring decisions. If you are not getting the job, it does not mean you are not qualified, it may relate to a larger issue of how you come across,  how you present yourself or how you make people feel. Self awareness about these topics may be difficult. Ask a trusted friend or coach if you think these factors may be preventing you from getting hired.
  • In an interview, what people say is not always how they feel. An interviewer may tell you one thing, but if they look disinterested, check their watch, or don’t make eye contact, the important information is probably the non-verbal communication.
  • You (the job seeker) are a decision maker, too. Remember — you are evaluating the employer in an interviewer, even as he or she assesses your qualifications for the job. Maybe the organization is not a good fit for you.
  • Think about what you can do to make yourself a leader. Tom said, “Leaders evaluate situations to allow themselves to be more easily followed.” What are you doing to help people decide to follow you? Think about how to use social media tools to share your expertise. Wouldn’t it be great to have people coming to you with job opportunities instead of you applying for every job you want? (It is possible — I coach job seekers and entrepreneurs to leverage these tools for results.)

What other ideas to you have about the topic of influence and leadership, especially as they relate to the workplace and job search? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

photo from thegoldguys.blogspot.com/

Job seekers and motivation – things to consider when job hunting

By

The following is a guest post by Miri Zena McDonald, an organization development and communications strategist on a quest to help companies thrive by engaging employees, improving culture and promoting wellness. She tweets at @miri_orgchange.

Have you ever really thought about what it takes to motivate you? I think job seekers have an obligation to themselves and the companies where they would like to work to determine what really motivates them. Why do I say this? Gallup has been studying employee engagement over the past decade. Their latest data (July 2009) from a longitudinal study of over 7000 employees shows that:

  • 30% of respondents are engaged
  • 52% are not engaged
  • 18% are actively disengaged

Meaning, about 70% of employees are not engaged at work! To be honest, that depresses me because I think we should be proactive in determining what environment and characteristics engage us. I also think learning what motivates us is key to being engaged and new research makes it even easier for us to do so.

Daniel Pink recently spoke about motivation at The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). RSA produced an engaging video of the talk. It’s a bit long (about 10 minutes) but in my opinion worth viewing because it provides some actionable data for job seekers:

The first two findings that kind of blew my mind were the ones about money:

  • Money is a motivator but not in the way we might think. If you don’t pay people fairly, they will not be motivated. Fair compensation takes money off the table and people are freed up to think about work.
  • When tasks involved even simple cognitive ability, monetary rewards didn’t work. They actually had a detrimental effect on performance. Meaning, offering a big bonus is not really the best way to get the best thinking and solutions.

So if money doesn’t do it, what does? The data pointed to three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

  1. Autonomy allows employees to be self-directed.
  2. Mastery is working to get better at what you do.
  3. Purpose helps people feel they are part of something bigger.

Job seekers can use this information in a few ways.

  • Review Salary Data: Research salaries to determine fair pay for your field and geographic location. Prepare to negotiate what you think is fair given your skills and experience to know what salary offer will “take money off the table” in your mind.
  • Ask Questions: During your interview, tactfully ask questions about management style and the company’s overall mindset regarding self-directed work. Ask about formal and informal growth opportunities. What about the ability to create your own special projects?
  • Review Corporate Websites: To learn more about whether the company will inspire your purpose motive, read mission statements, look for community outreach initiatives, and other clues for a higher purpose other than revenue!

I think it’s easy to get lost in the “I hope they like me” mindset when looking for a job and after the thrill of getting that offer, we can forget that we actually have to come to this place every day and work! Wouldn’t it be much more fun if we could be motivated and engaged and as a result happier while we are there?

photo by sarkasmo