If you want something, it's YOUR problem
In the first week of my first post-college job, I was introduced to an older gentleman named Will that still remains my valued mentor. On the Thursday of my first week, I sat in his office and listened to the advice that he gave all the new consulting rookies. One piece that I'll never forget was this: "When you're at work and you want something, no matter what it is, it's your problem -- nobody else's." As the years have passed, this statement has continued to prove itself to be so true.
My friend Jesse and I sat at the table last night and discussed the similarities and differences of our current and past jobs. We found common ground in that we had both been disappointed at a point in a coworker's lack of response to a request or comment of ours. Specifically, at one point or another, he and I had each built a tool to make our work lives easier; me, some auditing software and him, a data warehouse.
He joked about how he spent an entire summer building this data warehouse tool and how he wasn't even sure if people used it. I explained how frustrated I had become when I found out that someone had performed an audit for a client without using my tool. Though we both believed in our work and knew that we had created something useful, we hadn't convinced people like we'd hoped.
Sometimes we forget that the principles of marketing don't always apply to just business and sales -- they apply to us and our everyday activities. It's up to us to convince people that we're worth what we think we are and that the things we do and think are important and applicable to others. To get what we want in life, whether at home or at work, it's up to us to take the steps to get there.
When I built my audit software last year, I wanted my coworkers to use it for each of their future audits. So what did I do? I wrote an instruction manual and sent an email to all of our auditors with a product description. It received a little bit of interest, but few responses were tendered. Looking back, I see that only I and those with whom I worked most closely ended up using my software regularly. Though initially I grew frustrated with the lack of response, I realized the problem was mine -- and not anyone else's.
I thought about all of the emails I receive on a regular basis at times when I don't have a lot of time to read them -- especially from people that I don't consider to be very important. No offense to anyone, but there's a big difference between getting an email from my boss saying 'Call me NOW' and an email from the facilities manager saying 'all the cars need to be moved from the parking lot by five o'clock.' I'm sure that to many people I email, I'm most like the latter. Some of the auditors that I emailed didn't know me from a stick in the mud. Most already had their own way of doing things. And they probably received my looooooong email on their Blackberries when they were having lunch with a client. They read it and they forgot it...and I gave up.
That was a perfect example of ineffective communication and self-marketing on my part; my intended message wasn't received like I expected it to be. I wasn't empathetic with my audience, and I assumed that they would have the same passion as me for something they'd never heard of.
What I should have done was get creative with the marketing of my message. If I believed in the software so much, I should have made it my priority to market it. I should have set up a meeting with my boss and my boss' boss to demonstrate how it works and prove that it can save us time and money. After seeing its benefits, they would take over its marketing for me, particularly because it affects their bottom line.
By understanding my self-marketing mistake, I have learned to more carefully consider my audience when discussing my personal and career objectives. In a perfect world, every one of your emails would get answered in the way that you hoped. But your recipients are busy, distracted, and set in their ways. If you want something, it's your problem. Whether you want people to use and compliment your software, give you a job, or give your company their business, if they're not listening, you're the one that needs to do something different.
When have you been frustrated when someone just wouldn't listen?
My friend Jesse and I sat at the table last night and discussed the similarities and differences of our current and past jobs. We found common ground in that we had both been disappointed at a point in a coworker's lack of response to a request or comment of ours. Specifically, at one point or another, he and I had each built a tool to make our work lives easier; me, some auditing software and him, a data warehouse.
He joked about how he spent an entire summer building this data warehouse tool and how he wasn't even sure if people used it. I explained how frustrated I had become when I found out that someone had performed an audit for a client without using my tool. Though we both believed in our work and knew that we had created something useful, we hadn't convinced people like we'd hoped.
Sometimes we forget that the principles of marketing don't always apply to just business and sales -- they apply to us and our everyday activities. It's up to us to convince people that we're worth what we think we are and that the things we do and think are important and applicable to others. To get what we want in life, whether at home or at work, it's up to us to take the steps to get there.
When I built my audit software last year, I wanted my coworkers to use it for each of their future audits. So what did I do? I wrote an instruction manual and sent an email to all of our auditors with a product description. It received a little bit of interest, but few responses were tendered. Looking back, I see that only I and those with whom I worked most closely ended up using my software regularly. Though initially I grew frustrated with the lack of response, I realized the problem was mine -- and not anyone else's.
I thought about all of the emails I receive on a regular basis at times when I don't have a lot of time to read them -- especially from people that I don't consider to be very important. No offense to anyone, but there's a big difference between getting an email from my boss saying 'Call me NOW' and an email from the facilities manager saying 'all the cars need to be moved from the parking lot by five o'clock.' I'm sure that to many people I email, I'm most like the latter. Some of the auditors that I emailed didn't know me from a stick in the mud. Most already had their own way of doing things. And they probably received my looooooong email on their Blackberries when they were having lunch with a client. They read it and they forgot it...and I gave up.
That was a perfect example of ineffective communication and self-marketing on my part; my intended message wasn't received like I expected it to be. I wasn't empathetic with my audience, and I assumed that they would have the same passion as me for something they'd never heard of.
What I should have done was get creative with the marketing of my message. If I believed in the software so much, I should have made it my priority to market it. I should have set up a meeting with my boss and my boss' boss to demonstrate how it works and prove that it can save us time and money. After seeing its benefits, they would take over its marketing for me, particularly because it affects their bottom line.
By understanding my self-marketing mistake, I have learned to more carefully consider my audience when discussing my personal and career objectives. In a perfect world, every one of your emails would get answered in the way that you hoped. But your recipients are busy, distracted, and set in their ways. If you want something, it's your problem. Whether you want people to use and compliment your software, give you a job, or give your company their business, if they're not listening, you're the one that needs to do something different.
When have you been frustrated when someone just wouldn't listen?
posted by Scott Bliss @ 6:37 AM
2 Comments:
At July 23, 2008 11:13 AM ,
Steve said...
I've noticed similar things as well. It's pretty universal for people to ignore everything they don't see as immediately important. It's a finely honed survival technique and the same reason everyone has trouble with some subjects in school, or something like trying to learn a new language as an adult - your brain doesn't see conjugating a foreign verb as important to your survival.
Your thoughts on marketing yourself more effectively ties into this - in order to learn something new, you have to trick your brain into thinking it is immediately important. This can be done by making things immensely interesting and/or showing that they have serious consequences. You talked about both - giving your bosses a hands on demo of your software that really drives home the benefits is making something interesting, grabbing someone's attention. Having your bosses then pass that information on to your co-workers makes it of high importance - if they don't learn something new to keep up, their job might be in question.
Another way around your instincts to not remember dull everyday things is simple repetition. We all saw plenty of that in school. Repetition isn't very time efficient when you're talking about work. Understanding how to use the way the human brain works to make things stick in your head (or a co-worker's head) can make things run much more smoothly for you. Most dumb tricks sold in self-help or career-help books are just applications of basic brain science to a particular situation. If you understand the underlying psychology and instincts behind memory and social interactions, you don't need those stupid tips because you'll be able to adapt to situations on your own.
As far as good job advice, I like "When you're at work and you want something, no matter what it is, it's your problem -- nobody else's." One of the best pieces of advice I've gotten was from one of my brothers - do what you say you are going to do. Seems unnecessary. Should be unnecessary. I am dumbfounded that people are surprised and impressed when I do what I say I will.
I think everyone is always busy and some things usually fall through the cracks. As a result, when people hear 'I'll do A, B, C, and D' and then A, B, C, and D get done on time, it is always a pleasant surprise. Everyone is used to hearing that things will get done and then finding out that A and C are finished, but B and D will take two more weeks and cost twice as much, etc.
I think that constant expectation that there will be problems makes it kind of easy to succeed. Instead of dwelling on problems, just make it happen. Do what you say you're going to do. Figure out how to foresee that you might have a problem getting something done and get the help you need early on. Hiding problems is the worst thing you can do, and people do it constantly. It really does just boil down to doing what you say you will. Make it happen. No one else will.
At July 23, 2008 11:19 AM ,
Steve said...
In that post, when talking about making things immediately important to your brain to trick it, I meant to say that it is important to SURPRISE. When your brain sees something truly NEW, it is excited and has added incentive to remember it. The cheap way is to make something flashy or loud. A more practical way is simply to show things in a new way. Also, engaging more than one part of your brain helps - images with words instead of just images or just words, adding sound, etc.
That's basically what I meant by making something immensely interesting. You gotta get the right chemicals flowing when the right information is going through the brain.
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