Q. What are the best strategies to move up quickly to senior management?
Very bluntly put, the right strategy for you would be largely dependent on the organization you are in and the prevalent ecosystem. Here are some of the strategies that have worked for me, more than once:
- Go significantly beyond your call of duty.
Provide objective evidence that you have delivered more than what was expected of you. What matters is the results you produce, and not just the effort you put in.
- Demonstrate the competency needed for a specific senior role that you may be eyeing.
This can be best done by actually delivering consistently on a KRA (Key Result Area) that is typically the domain of senior management in your company.
- Pick proven best practices in other industries and custom fit them to your organization's unique challenges to produce results that you need.
This will establish you as a quick learner and a creative leader.
- Build a healthy rapport of trust and dependability across your peer and cross-function groups.
Your subordinates may sing your praise, but you are taken even more seriously when your colleagues publicly acknowledge your help at her/his time of need and refer to you as the 'go to' person.
- Escalate against your biggest client if truly required.
Having the courage to stand up for what is right and push back appropriately (and respectfully) will set you apart from the rest of the breed who bend backwards to over accommodate. The icing on the cake is if you can provide an alternative solution, with an implementation plan... not just push back and stay put.
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Q. How do you deal with toxic people (bullies, snobs, control freaks, whiners, etc.) you just cannot avoid?
I'm assuming that,
- you have emphatically stated that you do not appreciate a particular behavior or trait, yet you see no change.
- You have at least a vague idea of why the toxic person is toxic (is it his personality type, or some deep insecurity, or frustration, or some deep rooted belief, etc.)
- You know the triggers (situations, behaviors, time of day, etc.) that could elicit an extreme display of the behaviors you so deeply abhor.
Here are some strategies (listed in no particular order of priority) that could work:
- Minimize opportunities for the undesirable behavior to show-up.Unless you are a trained psychologist or directly responsible for this individual's output, why bring up more of something that you clearly are unable to handle in the first place.
- Add someone else into the equation.i.e. someone who could neutralize or at least limit the degree of the toxicity. For instance, if a customer tends to get nit-picky with every single line on your status report, inviting your manager and your customer's manager into the review meeting may help move on and close the meeting on time.
- Mirror the other person's physical stance for immediate results.
If your boss is furious and is just hammering on... mimic the body posture, decibel level and breathing rhythm that is being displayed. Now that you both are on the "same page", gradually alter your stance and calm your own breathing to sub-consciously alter your bosses' physical stance as well. Notice that it is very difficult to breathe deeply and slowly and be angry at the same time.
- Give the person a taste of his own medicine.
This strategy is similar to the one above, but works when you want to highlight a certain trait or pattern that cannot be done in a single instance. The idea is to hold a mirror in front of this person and pull it back at the right time. Genuinely empathizing with the individual once he has experienced the "Oh $#!+ !" moment could help in fostering a much better relationship in the long run.
Use your own judgement on when to use which approach and detox your life.
A note of caution:
At times you may feel that this individual is successful in spite of such bad behavior. You may be tempted to overlook your better judgement and actually mimic the toxic behavior at display to be successful, just like that arrogant colleague who keeps screaming at the top of his voice and actually gets things done.
Please avoid this trap !
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Q. How do you tell your client that her suggested product feature is actually a bad idea?
It is important that you and your client start any kind of negotiation after getting on the same page. Reinstating the projects' goals and objectives can be a great starting point. One can easily get swayed by new trends, fads, and influences and hence it is critical to stay grounded and focused on the end result.
Keeping that end goal in mind, you should first re-evaluate your own perspective on the matter. Now if you still believe that the client's revisions are counter productive... you will be in a better position to objectively explain your perspective to the client.
Sometimes, things are not as black and white. The client's suggestions may appear to be the right thing, but your gut may not let you accept your client's perspective, call it experience or plain intuition. You probably just 'know it' and cannot articulate "why" in clear terms. This is where your client management skills are put to test. If you have a healthy working relationship with this client (i.e. one of trust), you may be able to express your opinion honestly and your client will trust your judgement.
The ideal solution in such a scenario is to attach some kind of measurement / validation over a period of time to prove your point. That way if you make the changes recommended by your client and the objectives / targets are not met, it is clear to both parties on whether or not the decision taken was an appropriate one. In fact, armed with the recent data, it is easier to get the client's nod, make any course correction and move in the right direction.
Hopefully the next time round, the client will trust your decision more readily.
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Q. What are some problems that are harder than they look?
Depends on your state of mind and circumstances while looking at these problems.
- Holding it in for 2 more minutes while your bladder is on the verge of explosion > and the client continues to ask the same questions that you answered 10 minutes back.
- Getting stuck in traffic while you are already behind schedule for an important meet
> and the fuel indicator displays a near empty tank status.
- Being polite to the tele-sales caller at the other end after you have politely declined
> for the third time in 3 hours.
- Sending a sensible reply to your irate boss over email > when your 2.5 year old is trying to climb all over you.
... the list can go on, but you get the point right?
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Q. Should a startup grow its own content or use another company's content?
The fundamental questions that precede your main question are...
- How CRITICAL is the content to the success of your startup?
- Do you know precisely WHAT content you need?
- Do you know who exactly is the TARGET AUDIENCE for different types of content?
- Do you know what content CONSUMPTION PATTERNS will work for different consumer types?
- Lastly, how CAPABLE is your startup in generating such content?
Assuming content is critical to your startup's core product / service, you may want to have better control and therefore generate your own content. You could however get creative on the execution strategy to keep your overheads low. While you work on your content strategy (that would emerge from the above questions)... you could outsource the creation part.
For instance, you could define the subjects, word count, target audience, and other parameters for your blog page and outsource the actual blog writing work to experienced professionals.
Some of the content may also be sourced (via appropriate channels) from external sources like another blog, website, or company... as long as it fits into your strategy and budget. You may then filter out what you need and present it the way you want to on your website, blog, etc.
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Q. How should one handle working with a client that chooses to handle all conflicts via email?
I assume that you have explicitly tried to talk to the client in person or on phone... with minimal or no results. I also assume that the client is important to you / your business and that you are willing to invest what it takes to improve your relationship in a professional, ethical and legal manner.
For the moment, I recommend that you continue to use the client's preferred mode of conflict resolution (email in this case) while consistently yet gently nudging the client to an alternate mode/s of your choice.
At the same time, do a proper RCA (Root Cause Analysis) to understand why the client behaves this way. Some critical questions to consider are:
- Are there other modes of resolution being used besides emails, by specific individuals and/or teams at the client's end... maybe occasionally?
- Is this behavior displayed by a specific individual or a group of individuals / department at the client's organization?
- Is this mode of conflict resolution noticed while your client interacts with an individual, or with a specific team within your organization?
- Has this always been the client's preferred mode or has it changed lately?
- You say 'all' conflicts, but is that really true? Is there a pattern in the nature and severity of conflicts being dealt with strictly via emails?
- Does this client behave only with you in this way?
- How important are you to the client in question?
Answers to these questions, should lead to further related questions till you reach the end of the rabbit hole.
Good luck !
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