The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Message of the Day - Making it easier for others to work with or for you

Good Morning,

I apologize for not writing in a while. It seems I have some form of writers block. Not that I don’t have anything to say, very few people would actually agree that that could ever happen. It’s just that I have been very busy over the last few months. I have plans to slow it down over the next year, but that is a year away. My second book is moving incrementally forward, now in its first edit. After I finish the edit, add the chapter highlights at the end of each chapter, followed by an introduction and conclusion, I will be shipping the book off to several folks for their feedback, and to my friend Dr. Todd Arwood for a forward. It is my hope to have the book ready for print or turning into an ebook by December, maybe sooner.

Anyway, my current read is a book from one of my heroes, General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State. His new book is “It worked for Me: In life and Leadership” (http://www.amazon.com/It-Worked-Me-Life-Leadership/dp/0062135120). I love the format of the book in that it is filled with many short lessons, grouped by subject. The General writes with many personal examples and helps flesh out each point so that they are easy to understand.

While a lot of what he talks about is common sense, we all know the world is not full of people who commonly use common sense.

One of the gems that I find to be most powerful the list of items that he gives to new employees so that they understand what it is like working for him, how he likes things, how he expects communication to flow, etc. It makes sense that when you first enter an organization, and are trying to feel you way around the newness of the place, that without a roadmap, you have to find your way blind, while also getting to know the ropes of the new job.

By having a cheat-sheet of basically ‘what to expect working with me’ lays out the key do’s and don’ts for succeeding within an organization, the learning curve for fitting in is reduced greatly.

If we all thought about, we could all come up with some items that if someone new were to join our team, the list would benefit them in integrating with everyone else.

For me, I know there are a few concepts which I convey to each of my teams. My list would include:

1. I work for my team. If a member of my team needs something, I will do what I can to provide it. If there are problems keeping someone from being fully engaged in their job, let me know and I will try to help. Even if isn’t work related.

2. Tell it to me straight. I cannot fix what I don’t know, so not telling me something because it may upset me will probably backfire as I find out what it is and that it could have been told to me earlier.

3. We both don’t need to be doing the same job. While I will help everyone who starts to get to know their role and what is expected of them, there is a point where I expect others to do their own job. If I have to micromanage someone, then we need to find out why, and either fix it or we part ways.

I bet each of us could come up with a list of suggestions, rules or whatnot that if someone coming work with us for the first time may find useful and will help reduce the amount of time it takes to get acclimated.

If you like this idea and want to implement it yourself, you can help speed up the process by asking those you have worked with one question: What, if you knew when you first started working with me, would have made it easier for you?

This is a great book, it is easy to read and understand. You can open it up anywhere and find something useful within a few moments reading.

Enjoy, and I hope to have my next message either later in the week or over the weekend.

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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