It is not often that I miss blogging on a business day, however I have managed to miss the last couple of business days. I don’t have any great excuse other than the volume of work on my plate these days. I have blogged about the need to increase the effort during these economic times, how critical it is to be out meeting clients, understanding their needs and having a finger on the pulse. In the last few weeks I have significantly increased the number of meetings I have been at … more coffees, breakfasts, lunches and dinners than I am accustomed to … but a great way to understand what is going on. Needless to say, the pressure builds and other things tend to give a little … hence missed blog entries.

I am also totally immersed in the issues facing the staffing industry … right now in Ontario we are under a relentless attack with Bill 139, which in its current form will cause significant damage and cost a lot of jobs. The Liberals in another of their behind closed doors decisions also decided to implement HST … as if we didn’t have enough to contend with. The cost to business of implementing this change will be significant and to many services based industries like the staffing industry there will be serious long term implications. Just to compound our misery, the Federal Government have decided to review the labour code based upon the Arthur’s report, which at first read appears to be singing from the same song book as Dalton McGuinty and Minister Fonseca in Ontario. NOBODY seems to understand that we should be focused on fixing a broken economy and that these well meaning, bleeding heart bills will cost Ontarians and ultimately all Canadians jobs! These politicians need to look at FACTS not listen to the heartrending stories of the few people who have had bad experiences … this industry employs 300,000 people in Ontario and McGuinty’s government are going to mess with that! Yes fix the problems, but don’t paint us all with a brush that should be aimed at the bad apples!

So … now I feel the need for a blog about optimism! I am a positive person, despite the challenges of running a business in a tough economy. I liked Colleen Francis’s blog today about Getting Rid of Life Suckers from your life. It reminded me a lot about a blog entry I wrote in October last year about Positive Influences. It is a hard thing to do, but if you can spend most of your time with happy and positive people then it will reflect on your mood too … conversely it is very easy for the naysayers to drag you down! So hang out with positive people!

With the current economy and strange activity by our elected representatives it would be very easy to worry … but worrying doesn’t solve anything. My blog called Don’t Worry be Happy, attempts to put things in perspective. YES … it is important to take action on those things you can affect, but worrying about what MIGHT happen isn’t a productive use of your energy. Having said that, for many people it is very hard to remain positive through the tough times … so my blog entry called Staying Motivated, gives some ideas about how you can do that!

The McGuinty government concerns me and along with my fellow ACSESS members I am doing what I can to educate ministers about the serious damage they are doing to Ontario’s economy. They may listen or not … I can’t worry too much about it, all I can do is my best effort on the issue and plan for the future. No matter how bad things seem, tomorrow the sun will rise and opportunity will knock!

Walk fast and smile!

A little while ago i referenced a John Izzo article about Managing Through a Downturn … some good advice to managers and business owners in the face of the coming economic downturn … which of course we are now experiencing full-force!

A little while later I thought it would be a good idea to provide some ideas for those who are not in management … people that actually DO stuff, what can they be doing to improve their chances through such an economic downturn. I called that entry What to do in a Recession.

I still think these are very topical … and if you are currently recession-proof perhaps working in the government it would be good for you to understand what is going on out in the private sector. (Perhaps someone could give a copy to Premier McGuinty, Minister Fonseca and those ministers seemingly intent on hurting the private sector in Ontario).

Today I was visiting one of my favorite blog sites, Tom Peters from In Search of Excellence fame and a noted consultant, speaker and industry expert. His blog entry is called Dealing With Recessionary Times and as I might expect he is a far better author than I could ever be! her are Tom’s thoughts as you deal with these very challenging times ….

I am constantly asked for “strategies/’secrets’ for surviving the recession.” I try to appear wise and informed—and parade original, sophisticated thoughts. But if you want to know what’s going through my head, read the list below:

You work longer.
You work harder.
You may well work for less; and, if so, you adapt to the untoward circumstances with a smile—even if it kills you inside.
You volunteer to do more.
You always bring a good attitude to work.
You fake it if your good attitude flags.
You literally practice your “game face” in the mirror in the morning, and in the loo mid-morning.
You shrug off shit that flows downhill in your direction—buy a shovel or a “pre-worn” raincoat on eBay.
You get there earlier.
You leave later.
You forget about “the good old days”—nostalgia is for wimps.
You buck yourself up with the thought that “this too shall pass”—but then remind yourself that it might not pass anytime soon, so you re-dedicate yourself to making the absolute best of what you have now.
You eschew all forms of personal excess.
You simplify.
You sweat the details as you never have before.
You sweat the details as you never have before.
You sweat the details as you never have before.
You raise to the sky the standards of excellence by which you evaluate your own performance.
You thank others by the truckload if good things happen—and take the heat yourself if bad things happen.
You behave kindly, but you don’t sugarcoat or hide the truth—humans are startlingly resilient.
You treat small successes as if they were Superbowl victories—and celebrate and commend accordingly.
You shrug off the losses (ignoring what’s going on inside your tummy), and get back on the horse and try again.
You avoid negative people to the extent you can—pollution kills.
You eventually read the gloom-sprayers the riot act.
You learn new tricks of your trade.
You network like a demon.
You help others with their issues.
You give new meaning to the word “thoughtful.”
You redouble, re-triple your efforts to “walk in your customer’s shoes.” (Especially if the shoes smell.)
You mind your manners—and accept others’ lack of manners in the face of their strains.
You are kind to all mankind.
You leave the blame game at the office door.
You become a paragon of accountability.
And then you pray.

Thanks Tom … Hold on tight people we are all in for a rough ride!!!!

As our Blackberries, iPhones, Windows Mobile Devices, Palms and a host of other hand-held “offices” invade our lives more and more it becomes clear that many people need some basic rules around their usage!

I am a productivity junkie and absolutely love the fact that “being connected” allows me to stay in touch with my business without being shackled to the office … but there are definite limits!

1. Meetings!

PDAs should really be banned from meetings. How many times do you see the people around you looking intently at their kneecap, and all of a sudden their attention is absolutely somewhere else. Its rude! It does not value the other people in the meeting and it wastes their time.

At the very minimum the things should be set to silent … NOT vibrate!!! We can all hear the thing going off every 30 seconds and watch your body language change every time it happens. “Gee … I wonder if that is important?”

2. Meals!

Don’t leave the thing on the table … its really bad manners. Leave it holstered, turn it off or turn it to silent. Do NOT take calls or look at emails unless there is some emergency brewing in which case state that up front … and go somewhere private for your call (and don’t use your foghorn voice)!

PDA junkies disrupt not only those they are sitting with but those around them too. How often have you been distracted at lunch or dinner by the buzzing PDA on the table next to you, or worse still by the person talking on it!

3. At Home and on holiday.

Unless you are the President of the United States, or some equally important person there is absolutely no reason to have 24 hours access to email while you are on “personal time”.

As a business owner I like to know what is going on, so I do keep in touch. However a buzzing PDA, or constant checking for emails or working the keyboard while on the beach or out on tour or when you and your family are “relaxing” is just nuts! Its a bad example for the kids, its rude to your spouse and it makes you an extremely one dimensional (read BORING) person! Oh … and don’t even go there with the PDA on the bedside table!!!!

So people … get a life!

The blackberries are GREAT … but don’t let them take over your lives!

I received an email from my niece about this day of recognition … I received it late in the day, but just in time to post on March 24th … just Eastern Standard Time as opposed to Greenwich Mean Time! My wife is not going to be happy with me for this … but you only live once (it just might be short)!

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology.

Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Entrepreneurs, innovators, sysadmins, programmers, designers, games developers, hardware experts, tech journalists, tech consultants. The list of tech-related careers is endless.

Recent research by psychologist Penelope Lockwood discovered that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones. That’s a relatively simple problem to begin to address. If women need female role models, let’s come together to highlight the women in technology that we look up to. Let’s create new role models and make sure that whenever the question “Who are the leading women in tech?” is asked, that we all have a list of candidates on the tips of our tongues.

Here goes …

Janis Grantham is President and COO of Eagle Professional Resources Inc. one of Canada’s leading IT Staffing companies. She has been in the technology world longer than she would care to admit and has worked as a programmer, systems analyst, client support rep, in sales support roles, as project lead, database designer, project manager and her last title before joining Eagle was as Director of System Integration.

She was one of the founders of Eagle, bringing her management skills, technology skills, client relationship skills and her newly minted Executive MBA to the table when we started the company in 1996.

She has been a driving force behind the company’s success and as a woman leader in business has been honoured many times.

She has been on the Profit W100 of Top Canadian Women Entrepreneurs for seven years.

She was on the list of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful for three years before being inducted into the Top 100 Hall of Fame.

She was Ottawa Businesswoman of the Year in 2006.

I am proud of this woman leader in management and technology, she is my business partner and my wife!

So the McGuinty government will start its public consultations on Bill 139 this week. I posted my feelings about this bill a few days ago, and I have to admit I am very nervous about the outcome. This Ontario government has not proven itself to have an ounce of common sense when it comes to business.

I was always taught to live within my means … so just because I wanted a new car, if I couldn’t afford it then I didn’t get it. If I wanted to eat a steak meal out i might often have made do with a home cooked meal because I couldn’t afford it.

The Ontario government seem to approach things a little differently. Perhaps I just don’t understand politics … its all about getting votes. It doesn’t really matter whether you are fiscally responsible or not.

This is the government that brought in Family Day. Nice idea. Very popular with workers because another day off work is great, February was a good time to do it … so lets grab some votes. The estimated cost to Ontario businesses was $2 Billion in lost productivity.

This is the government that brought in mandatory WSIB in the construction industry. Again a great idea that will cost the average contractor an extra $11,000 a year.

Now they are coming after the staffing industry, which generates 300,000 jibs a year in Ontario and something like $4.5 Billion in revenues. This bill will hurt any agency that supplies temporary labour to the point that many (including Eagle) will be forced to walk away from the temp business. It is designed to create jobs … and it will cost jobs. The people most hurt … those who need the short term gigs, people new to the work force, new immigrants, people with few skills … in short, the very vulnerable workers this bill is intended to help.

McGuinty’s government will do what it wants … and if it wants to get votes it will push this bill through. The fallout will not get much press as slowly companies go out of business and jobs are lost. The Liberals will hail their bill as protecting the vulnerable workers … right, it will protect them so much they won’t get a job!

This government is costing business money, adding red tape and ultimately costing all Ontarians jobs. It does not understand the concept of responsible fiscal management and is spending my dollars! I thought it was tough owning and operating a business before … but when you have to battle through normal competitive pressures, add in a global recession and then your government decides to “put the boot in” things go to a whole new level … I guess my character is being tested!

I know who I won’t be voting for in the future … the big question is whether there is an alternative or should I just take my business elsewhere.

Life is a journey, and during that journey there will be good times and bad times, there will be tough situations and there will be situations that don’t work out as bad as you think they might.

When times are tough you will lean on your friends, dig a little deeper into your fortitude and get through it. The world will keep turning, it may take time for things to get back to an even keel … but it will happen.

When times are good, you need to enjoy them, savour them and build up “credits” for when you might need them. That might mean investing in your friends and relatives, it might mean building up a nest egg in case it is needed, it might mean investing in your health so that you have the strength to tackle anything that might come. It might just mean enjoying the good!

Somehow we know what we need to do when things are bad or things are good … often uncertainty is a tougher challenge.

When faced with uncertainty I think you need to have a positive strategy, assume the best and don’t let yourself worry. Worrying won’t help, if things work out well then you will have caused yourself heartache for nothing. If things don’t work out so well then you can deal with it when the bad news comes.:

- Assume it will work out OK
- Think through your options
- Develop an action plan
- Execute on it
- Still assume it will work out OK!

What kinds of situations am I talking about, could be anything.

A performance conversation with your boss;
A health discussion with your doctor;
A special meeting with the school principal;
A “heart to heart” with your significant other;
Any discussion where it would be easy to anticipate bad news.

Don’t worry about things beyond your control … focus on those things that you can change!

Discipline is an “old fashioned” word … you won’t see it mentioned too much in our 21st Century, web 2.0 enabled world. The word reminds me of my time in the military, several decades ago … a time that is very different than the one we live in today. The implementation of “discipline” in the military is not really what I am focused on here, but there are a lot of positive attributes to associate to the word discipline … and they ARE really very pertinent today. Maybe I learned a little about discipline during my time in the Royal Navy!

What AM I talking about?

We live in a society where generally we get quite comfortable in our surroundings, and there is little that we deny ourselves. If we feel like something to eat, we eat … whether we are truly hungry or not. If we want to buy ourselves some treat, clothes, jewellery, electronics or whatever … whether we need it or not, whether it is a special occasion or not, we go ahead and buy it.

There really isn’t anything wrong with that … we just need to be aware of the consequences, because there are consequences to EVERYTHING! So if we over indulge in food we may put on weight, if we buy too much “stuff” we might get ourselves into debt etc.

Applying some SELF-discipline to these situations might make us act a little differently … but again, that is personal choice.

Where self-discipline is REALLY needed is at work!

It is very easy to let our personal habits invade the workplace … and that can hurt your productivity, your chances for promotion, your earning power and even your employ ability!

Let me give you some examples …

There are 8 hours in the typical work day … how many do you “waste”?

If you smoke then you probably waste 20 minutes each time you smoke a cigarette … between getting ready for a smoke, gathering your companions, going outside, chatting, waiting for your friends to finish and then walking back and getting back to work. If you smoke just 3 cigarettes in a day you wasted an hour … every day, more than half a day each week.

If you read the paper at your desk … maybe when you get to the office, or at “break” you might be wasting a half hour of productive time each day.

If you surf the Internet for some personal stuff, read online articles and stay on top of news you can easily waste an hour a day.

If you are instant messaging with your friends while doing your job you will be easily wasting hours.

If you get up and go for coffee/water every hour or so, stop and chit chat for a couple of minutes, maybe stop at the washroom … then that could be 10 minutes every hour, or more than hour every day!

These kind of behaviours become the “norm” in the workplace and get tolerated, but companies need productivity from their employees in order to survive in the global economy … never mind in the current recession!

If you do these things and are still be one of the most productive people in your company then perhaps you have tremendous discipline or focus for those hours that are not being wasted, and more power to you. The reality is that most people are very productive or they aren’t … and if you fall into the NOT category, then I reiterate … you risk your career, your chances for promotion and your very employ ability. More importantly you are not getting SELF-satisfaction!

Discipline is an old fashioned word that could help YOU to be a better employee, which gives the power back to you.

CHOOSE to be productive! Look at the top producers in your company and emulate them. Choose to stop doing the things that hurt your productivity. Choose to be very focused with your time, doing ONLY things that will bring value. WORK at being successful … and that means giving up bad habits and investing in new ones!

All of that takes DISCIPLINE … have you got what it takes?

The negative nellies out there will say that this is just a management perspective. I would suggest that this is the perspective of people that want success and are willing to do something about it. Everyone can strive to be better and enjoy the “wins” along the way. The personal satisfaction you get from self improvement, from recognition and from the resulting career moves are the rewards for this kind of approach. It helps that you get to keep your job too!

Sometimes people just walk into minefields … and don’t even know it! I guess there is a good lesson there for all of us.

The latest incident involved somebody I was interviewing who arrived somewhat unprepared, which was a bad start. On their resume was the statement Excellent Time management skills, which of course caught my attention. Anyone that knows me also knows that time management is one of my areas of interest, and indeed I have written plenty of blog entries on the subject.

The art of interviewing is to really understand what is beneath the words on paper, and that is best achieved by asking questions and getting the person talking. This can be a series of more pointed questions as you get deeper into the subject. In this case it took three questions … all with very short answers.

So … do you have specific time management techniques you use? No, I’m just a productive person and do what it takes to get the job done.
I see … have you had any time management training? No.
Have you read any time management books? No.

At this point, after establishing that the candidate had not even researched our website before the interview I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to work. I wrote about the need for preparation for job interviews just a couple of days ago.

The point is that if you are going to make claims about a skill, expertise or any other experience then you had better be able to back it up … because some day you will be talking to someone who knows a bit about it!

A CareerBuilder survey some time ago suggested that perhaps as many as 57% of resumes contain significant lies. This young man wasn’t lying, just trying to make himself look good … but shot himself in the foot!

IF he had done any research he might have seen that I write a blog and a quick search would have revealed a lot of content about time management. My most recent blog entry on the subject was called a Good Time Management Approach written just a few weeks ago on February 19th.

A week or so before that I referenced David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology in my blog entry about harnessing productivity.

I have written a blog entry with Time Management Tips, I have even highlighted some of my own Time Management Hiccups and I have written many blog entries about goals and how they can help you to be successful.

When you are passionate on a subject and somebody casually suggests that they are an expert on it, they are really setting themselves up for scrutiny. I have no problem with people admitting they don’t know a subject or are willing to learn. I am huge believer in lifelong learning … somehow I think other people subscribe to the BS approach to advancement, and it always catches up with you eventually!

The National Hockey League (NHL) has 30 hockey teams who all play something like 80 games in a regular season. At the end of that season 16 teams will battle for the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup.

Every team, whether it is a hockey team or a business team needs its players to deliver to a high standard and if you get the opportunity to strengthen your team then you take it!

A few weeks ago was the trade deadline for the National Hockey league, teams jockeyed and negotiated and traded players and “futures” with the intention of closing the season with the strongest possible team they could. Those teams who are not going to be “contenders” this year might reluctantly give up a “star” here and there, with the hope that they can rebuild their team to do better next year. The top teams will “tweak” a little, add some grit perhaps, or a goal scorer … maybe even a backup goalie to bolster their chances of lifting that cup.

In business we try to find talented individuals to add to our teams, so that we can get better, grow and prosper. Typically however there is no trade deadline and it is very hard to find those “great players” who are willing to move.

Enter the recession … and maybe this is our trade deadline!

Good companies will survive the recession, perhaps because they are well diversified, their clients are strong and they have a good team. But they can always get better! The other thing that happens during a recession is that good people sometimes realise they are on a struggling team, and so they suddenly become “available”, also some companies are forced to let good people go, so they too become available.

All of a sudden companies looking for talent are faced with some choices … “I already have a team, but if I cut my weaker players and brought in the strong players would my team be better”? Probably!

We have seen many companies around the world lay off 5% to 10% of their staff, citing economic reasons. Well really those economic reasons are that the company can very probably “trade up” and increase their productivity, profitability and return to shareholders! They might not even need as many people to replace the “bottom 10%”.

So … recessions actually help strong companies to get stronger. In addition to taking the opportunity to buy weaker competitors at a time when valuations are low, the strong players also improve the quality of their team! Its no wonder that the strong players keep getting better!

So … if you are a company, are you growing or are you shrinking?

If you are an employee, are you close to the bottom 10%? I wouldn’t want to be one of those. Of course your destiny is in often in your own hands, just make sure that you are not one of the bottom 10%. As the old saying goes … you don’t need to out-run the Grizzly Bear, just your friend next to you!!!

Job interviews are a stressful thing and I can remember early in my career not really having a clue about what to do that might increase my chance of getting a job. In fact I probably didn’t even think about it in those terms … I would probably “hope” I did well, which puts all of the power in the hands of the interviewer!

There are a myriad of sites with advice about job interviews but I thought I would make a few of my own observations.

In addition to the basic skills needed to do the job, here are some other things that I look for …

• A positive and cheery attitude … I don’t want to introduce a “negative personality’ into my work place.
• Evidence that the person did some research before the interview … at a minimum visited the website and understands a bit about the company.
• Some questions that show they have thought about the role, and how it might work.
• They should dress appropriately.
• Enthusiasm for the opportunity … I want to feel they really want the job.
• Good manners!

Some of the things I might “dig for” in an interview will reveal a little more about the person …

• Will they be willing to put in longer hours when it is needed.
• Are they going to have “staying power” or stamina as per a recent blog entry.
• Are they interested in ongoing education? Will they invest in themselves or just expect the company to provide all of the training?
• Do they get involved in other activities outside work … charities, hobbies etc. Signs of a balanced approach to life.

It is hard to hit the right “note” when in the interview process, but good preparation goes a long way.

Visit the website and try to find out about the company, its values, mission, vision etc. What does the company do? Does it have awards? Is it involved in charities … and what are they?

If someone interviewing with me said that they saw we are involved with children’s charities and would the new role present an opportunity to get involved … I would be impressed.

If someone said, I hope you don’t mind but I googled you and see that you are very involved in industry associations, that must be a big commitment does Eagle get anything from that? … I would be impressed.

Our website has a ton of information about the company, its history, awards, press releases etc. in addition to executive bios … it would be excellent fodder to differentiate with. I saw that your President has numerous awards … is good stuff.

It is pretty easy to find general questions to ask … what is the culture like in the office? Does the company have any training or a philosophy about training? Do people move about within the company? Are there growth opportunities?

There are also more specific questions about the role … who will i work with most? Where do I sit? What kind of technology do you use? Is there travel? etc.

When you go into a job interview it should always be with the sole purpose of getting the offer. By having that very clear goal, then you can develop a plan that includes research, developing questions, deciding what you should highlight about your experience and skills.

A job interview is hard work … if you “wing it” then you are flipping a coin, if you do the preparation then you have a much better chance of success.