The Case for Clarity in Short-List Interviews

My daughter recently attended a play at the University of Washington, which she reported was one of the most confusing theatrical performances she’d ever seen.  The play was performed completely in Polish with English subtitles streamed across the top of the theater. She said it was extremely confusing, not just because of the content matter, but because she had to constantly take her attention away from what was happening on stage to understand what the actors were saying.  I wonder if selection committees for A/E/C short-list interviews often feel the same way.  I suspect they might.

After 25 years in the industry, I’m convinced we speak a different language, one for which we rarely provide helpful subtitles. And, when we do, they are often presented in such a way that disconnects our audience from the action happening on the project or in the interview.  Even when clients know the multitude of acronyms we use (I challenge each of you to go an entire day without using one!), most don’t understand what they really mean, though few would ask for clarification.  Even the team requirements of the procurement methods clients use are fraught with confusion for us and them.   For example, I suspect that the vast majority of clients who are currently experimenting with IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) don’t really understand the ramifications of either the contract or the working relationship – as evidenced by the many who like the concept but balk at negotiating an actual IPD contract. 

Do we think clients really understand how the entire realm of relationships changes when they move from DBB (Design Bid Build) to CMAR (Construction Manager at Risk)?  Clearly, some do and some don’t.  But, I think our industry needs to do a much better job explaining how teams work together differently under each procurement method beyond the contractual obligations and transference of risk. This is essential because within these relationships we see the real benefits of CMAR, CM/GC, IPD, Design Build, etc.

In two weeks, I’m working on one of the more refreshing interviews of my career. The client, understanding that his organization does not understand the costs and benefits of different procurement methods, has requested a very non-traditional short-list interview.  In the interview for a $300+ million project, the team must first educate and convince the owner as to the benefits of the Construction Manager at Risk procurement method and then convince him that the team is the best choice for the project.  I’m looking forward to this interview because we will really get to explore the core benefits of the procurement method and how by working together, the entire team – owner, designer, and construction manager – can reap the benefits in cost, schedule, quality, profitability, and relationship.

So, what do we take away for short-list interviews?  Beyond the obvious goal to explain our acronyms (if you didn’t get that, “Return to Go; do not collect $200”), I think we need to do a better job explaining the benefits and the requirements of the procurement methodologies used for projects.  This affords us the chance to position our teams as meeting not only the needs of the project, but being able to work with the owner to achieve the benefits of the procurement method.  For example, how can the owner and the design team get real benefit from the CM’s early engagement of subs?  Beyond just saying that we will engage subs early, teams should explain how this process works and the real benefit to the project and the team.  In shorter interviews in particular, I’d love to see teams spend more time explaining the details of what they can do for the project via the procurement method than trying to cover the entire breadth of typical topics (our history, our experience, our staffing, our management plan….).

The partnership required to make any of the delivery methods work can start in the interview – with clarity of expectations and a conversation about how to achieve the benefits of team members working together.  Savvy teams take the time to explain how they are going to achieve the promise of the procurement method vs. delivering a typical quals-based interview.  Clients are yearning for teamwork, partnership, protection from growth in their budgets and schedules – and they are turning to procurement methods many of them don’t fully understand to get there.  It behooves teams to not only deliver on the promises these procurement methods may offer, but to fully explain to owners how they will get there.  A winning interview presents not only the benefits, but the unique methodology to achieve them in a way that is clear, compelling, and game changing.

A Tale of Two Leaders

I’ve been coaching a lot in the past several months – both incredible wins and hard losses, but all hard fought.  My teams are working harder and the quality of interviews keeps rising.  I’m impressed with their energy and commitment to excellence. One of the things I’m noticing as I spend more time around presentation teams is the way in which company leaders interact with their presentation teams during the interview preparation and right before the team leaves for the interview.  I’m seeing some profound and, quite frankly, shocking differences.

Let me illustrate by way of two cases from two different teams.  Each team was working diligently to prepare for a very important, potentially game changing interview.  Each team also struggled to get through their content at some point in the preparation process, as is normal for most large, complex interviews.  As most of us in marketing and business development know, interviews seldom come together seamlessly. They generally go through a creative process that sometimes resembles the making of sausage (tastes great at the end, but really messy and difficult to create, even though it follows a logical production process).  Teams struggle as part of the creative process because they challenge ideas and they try new strategies to develop and deliver interviews that are different than the status quo.

In the first case, one of the owners of a large construction company walked into the room during one of the early creative meetings.  He went around the room to each team member, expressing gratitude for the team member’s contribution and offering the full support of the organization to the effort.  He introduced himself to me and thanked me – the hired coach – for agreeing to be a part of the pursuit.  He introduced himself to the outside team members and expressed his excitement for the firms to be able to collaborate.  After sitting through the meeting for a short time, he gracefully exited.  When the team was ready for a run-through – not the final one – he came back, and while sitting through through the rehearsal, provided some very insightful, but very supportive feedback.  He clearly moderated his comments to the skill level of each speaker and was very careful to support the work the team had done in the hours he was not in the room. 

In the second case, one of the owners of a design firm sat through a very short period of the first team meeting and spend much of that time expressing his perspective on the project.  He provided some very insightful comments, but left before team members could engage with him or ask questions.  He reminded the team how important the interview was and how he needed the team to bring home the project.  At one of the later rehearsals – again, not the final one – he sat through a portion of the presentation and proceeded to lambast the team for not performing to his standard.  He expressed disdain for the design of the presentation and told the team he thought it would not work well.  He picked apart the delivery skills of one of the younger team members.  Then, he left the room for another appointment.

Quite a difference.  In the first case, the team was treated respectfully and with gratitude for their efforts. Team members were trusted with the presentation and the content.  As a result, each team member worked his or her hardest to excel and had an easy time integrating the relevant feedback into the presentation, making it better. Team members left for the interview relaxed, confident, and knowing they had the full support of their leadership.

In the second case, the team was treated disrespectfully and with disdain.  Team members felt belittled and at a very late hour, began questioning their plan and content, even though the time for wholesale changes had clearly passed.  Team members spent the next hours fretting over the overall approach to the interview vs. coming together and feeling confident.  It was truly a disappointment that the leader of the firm did not ever see the overall approach to the interview before offering criticism. In one short interaction with the team, this individual created uncertainty and unease with a strategy that could have been fun and innovative.

So, what’s the take away?   The role of the company leader in the performance of a short-list team cannot be underestimated.  Leaders need to either engage in the entire process or trust their teams, entering the process strategically to support their teams and provide meaningful assistance.  In the first case, the company leader was not simply a figurehead.  He provided insightful and relevant comments that were easily integrated into the team’s performance, making it better.  In the second case, the leader provided global comments based on limited information that tore down the confidence of both individuals and the team as a whole.

That one team won and the other team lost is probably not due to the leaders and their engagement with the team.  But, the behavior of each, both separately and in juxtaposition to each other revealed volumes about the respective companies and how they will ultimately work together on real projects.  Leaders need to think about the power of their words as amplified by their role and their experience and tailor their content and their tone to the situation, the audience, and the timing.  Leaders can inspire confidence and incredible performance or they can tear down confidence and create fear and increased stage fright.  As with all things – leaders need to behave intentionally to drive the outcomes they want for their employees and their firms.  

Remembering the Importance of Connections

As many of us leave our holiday family reunions for another season (I’m flying home from ours as I write), it’s a good time to reflect on the importance of our "work family."  While sites liked LinkedIn do a great job of getting many of us back in touch with colleagues from around the Country and help us see the wide range of our work/social networks, they really aren’t a substitute for the real, interpersonal connections that build and nurture us in our working lives.

Researchers have long known the importance of social networks in professional and personal development.  Social networking websites, though a wonderful source of contact information, can’t provide the interaction, mentoring, problem solving, and perspective taking that are so necessary for growth and intellectual development.  Particularly in this economy, where companies can offer fewer training and development opportunities, interaction with and mentorship from other professionals are paramount.

I’m concerned that the moments many of us spend on social networking sites (I’ll admit to too much time on Facebook largely due to my Scramble addiction), may take away from the real interaction with others that is so necessary to develop worthwhile social networks that go beyond linked nodes on a network diagram.   In fact, even email, while a time saving (or some might argue a time sucking) advance, can take away from meaningful social interaction. Online connection can never effectively replace real life, face-to-face conversation.

Many years ago, my mentor, an incredible marketing professional named Dale McMichael, told me, “One must look after one’s friends.” And, Dale did.  Most times, when he flew through Seattle, he intentionally carved out time with me to find out how my business was doing and to teach me something new.  He once spent two days working with my team and me to figure out a plan for growing our business – I can say without a doubt, I’m doing what I do today because Dale believed in me and took the time to make our interaction meaningful.  He was a real mentor and a real friend. And, I know our relationship would not have been so valuable over email or social networking sites.  Dale gave me the gift of time – sharing his knowledge and his network, and being a ready ear for new ideas and difficult questions.  While Dale has been gone for many years, there isn’t a month that goes by that I don’t think of him in gratitude for what he taught me and the time he gave me in the busiest time of his own career.

So, in this New Year, I advocate for all of us to make a resolution to use our newly found linked networks to interact on a more meaningful, personal level.  Pick up the phone to connect with a colleague, help a younger employee build their skills by sharing your knowledge, and in the Northwest tradition, sit down for coffee to talk about work issues, needs, and concerns.  And, let’s share our networks with each other to find projects, learn more about the work we do, and help those who are not working find work.  The renewed connections we have as a result of social networking sites can be powerful and valuable, but only if we use them to really foster authentic connection and interaction.

For those of us lucky enough to be in supervisory positions, let’s share our networks with our protégé’s – take them along on client calls, talk about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, ask their advice and counsel on important issues and project requirements, and introduce them to a broader network of professionals who can provide different perspectives and opportunities.  I know that this kind of mentoring isn’t something we can do online.  It takes time to have the intellectual and social discourse necessary for growth and development.  We all need to take the time to encourage questions, provide information, and be actively engaged in communicating with our teams.

This year, I’m making some resolutions: I’ll be writing more, talking more, interacting more, and spending more time communicating meaningfully. This doesn’t mean that my colleagues and friends won’t get the occasional 3am email, but it does mean that I hope to spend more time over coffee talking and less time holding conversations by email, LinkedIn, or Facebook.  I know this is going to be hard, particularly for those of us who spend more time sitting on an airplane than we do sitting at our desks. But, I have to believe that the payoff will be worthwhile by way of stronger networks, better relationships, and more connected team members.

I’m not advocating unplugging; I’m simply advocating a new kind of being plugged in. We can use social networking to get back in touch AND simultaneously focus on bringing back old-fashioned conversation to make those connections mean something.

Thanksgiving Reflections

I always love Thanksgiving week; not only is the week short, but since so many of our colleagues and clients are on vacation, it’s a great time to catch up and take stock of things at work.  As a result, the first two days of the week are quite busy here at CRNW.  In honor of this season of thanks, I’d like to publicly give thanks for the amazing team that works here to serve our clients.  And, I encourage each of you to do the same for your own incredible staffs who work alongside you to serve clients, both internal and external.

This economy has been stressful for everyone, for firms that have lots of work and firms that are searching for more.  And, given shrinking staffs, our remaining teams are stretched thin, working longer hours to accomplish more work.  In fact, given the procurement “season”, I know many marketing and technical staffs will be spending time over the Thanksgiving holiday writing/editing proposals for late November due dates (and that will be a subject for a later blog – but in the interim, WHAT were those selectors thinking setting proposals due on the 29^th/30^th of November!!!??!!).

A lifetime ago in graduate school, my area of focus was on organizational stress and strain –and I’ve continued to be interested in this area of research.  Stress is a normal part of organizational life that varies with workload, team dynamics, market conditions, and any kind of change – good or bad.  And, most employees cope with stress quite well, with many performing their best work in stressful or chaotic situations.  However, when employees stop being able to cope with and adapt to organizational stress, it becomes strain, which is always a bad thing for the employees and the organization.

Symptoms of strain include a litany of somatic complaints – when physical meets psychological – such as sleeplessness, stomachaches, headaches, etc.  Organizations may see an increase in absenteeism and a decrease in productivity.  Previously high functioning employees become unfocused or even incredibly dissatisfied. Some leave; others simply implode.

The most important thing our own research has revealed is the importance of the relationship the employee has with his/her first-line supervisor relative to the employee’s ability to cope with or adapt to higher levels of stress.  In fact, key to avoiding strain or moving an employee from strain to coping, depends on the strength of the supervisor/subordinate relationship.

In this economy, the relationships we have with our staffs are increasingly important.  Supervisors need to remember the centrality of their role in the organization – not just to manage work, but to be a social support for employees.  This means stepping outside our own stressful work lives to actively engage with employees, learning what they need and how you can help.  It does not mean being sucked into the personal drama of a challenged employee, but it does mean developing a relationship with the employee in which s/he can ask for and find critical assistance.  And, it means obviously, regularly, repetitively thanking employees for their hard work.

Employees who feel their work matters do better work because they feel more connected to and more engaged in a relationship with the organization.   Most supervisors are very good at corrective action, finding problems and resolving them. But, most employees respond much more readily to recognition as a method for improvement.   So, in this week of thanks, set aside some time to not only give thanks for your team members’ work, but to tell them specifically what you appreciate.

As we leave our offices on Wednesday for some much needed time with family, friends, and the turkey, make sure you leave your organizational family feeling good about their jobs, their organization, and their worth to you and your projects.  Then, all of us can come back rejuvenated and ready to buckle down in the hectic weeks before the New Year.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. 

Mark Twain

When coaching presentations, I’m often asked about what team members should wear to the interview.  It sounds like a minor decision compared to the numerous other decisions we make in our professional lives. But, it is a critical one and we do need to spend time thinking about and strategizing our presentation wardrobe.

First impressions make a real difference.  If we make a bad first impression, we can spend the next 20-30 minutes of the interview working hard to change a negative impression of our intelligence, our professionalism, or our diligence.  And, like it or not, much of that first impression is made based on what we look like – our dress, our overall presentation of self, and how we carry ourselves.

As many of you know, I come from the Pacific Northwest – the place that brought us grunge.  My husband has only worn a tie twice in the past ten years, both times under duress.  And, I’ll confess to wearing sandals with socks – to work.  But, even for us devoted Northwesterners, our militantly casual style needs to stop at the interview.  At any interview, in fact, any professional presentation – we need to take care with our appearance and overall self presentation.

I work with a woman who is a contractor for one of our clients.  She’s very intelligent and has years of experience.  But, she comes to work wearing incredibly inappropriate clothing – lingerie type tops and garage cleaning jeans. And, I believe this hurts her when she makes a presentation about her work.  It took me over a week of working with her to believe she was indeed the professional I’d been assured she was. The way she presents herself contrasts sharply with the talent she brings to the work.  Unfortunately, I know I’m not the only one who thinks this.  What we wear and how we present ourselves do make a profound and immediate impact on how others perceive us, and, in fact, how able others are to hear our message.

The Three ‘C’s of Dress will serve you well for the interview and at work in general:  conservative, clean, and comfortable.  Presenting yourself at work is not the time to assert your outrageous sense of style.  In my humble opinion, others should notice our work, not our dress.  In dressing for presentations, we should take active steps to avoid calling attention to what we wear so listeners can focus on what we say and mean.

Conservative dress means muted colors, classic lines, and quality fabrics. Conservative need not mean staid or old-fashioned.  Think classic, not dowdy. Men and women should own one pair of well-fitted, tailored black pants (or for women, a skirt if they so desire) and a jacket.  Find a good tailor – or personal shopper – and get one outfit that fits well.  Choose good fabrics that last, natural fibers that breathe, and colors and fabrics that cross seasons.

Clothing should always be clean, well-pressed, and in good shape.  While grunge works in some circles, it doesn’t work in an interview.  At the risk of sounding like Emily Post, a clothing brush is an essential tool for any professional.  If you have a hairy pet (I do – thanks, Rosie!), use it right before you leave the house.  Or, choose clothing the same color as the dog.

Finally, in any interview, comfort is critical.  Natural fibers breath and minimize the tell tale signs of stress.  An undershirt can be essential to comfort and appearance.  And, make sure the clothing fits in a non-constraining way.  I need to be able to move in my clothing; when I’m presenting, I don’t want to think about what I’m wearing and whether what I’m wearing will continue to be decent in spite of how I might move around the space.

A good rule of thumb for any speaking team is to dress one step above how you think the selection committee will be dressed.  This communicates professionalism and that you’ve taken the event seriously.  I also believe – though I don’t have any hard proof – that when we dress the part, we have an easier time speaking and projecting an image. 

I’m not sure I’d go so far as Twain in saying that clothing makes the person, but I do know that it makes a very real difference in how audiences feel about us.  I’m also not sure that naked people don’t make an impact on society; but, in the context of a short-list interview, our choice of clothing is important and can make a significant difference to our success.  It’s one more way in which we communicate the type of people we are and how committed we are to the client relationship.

An Extra Hour

With the exception of my friends in Arizona and Hawaii, most of us in the US received the annual fall gift of an extra hour today.  While this hour was given while we were sleeping, it always feels to me as if the day is longer, affording me endless possibilities of things to do.  I feel energized by the opportunity to finish long-avoided tasks, catch up on work projects, or spend time with family and dog.  This hour – 60 minutes – seems so much longer than what it is in actuality.  As I get older, I look forward to “falling” back more than almost any other day on the calendar.  And, to be fair, I resent giving that hour back in the spring.

As with many things, this makes me think of the difference an hour can make to my teams and to my clients.  What if we had an extra hour to get ready for a critical short-list presentation?  What would we do with it?  As you might imagine, I have several suggestions of both what to do, and what not to do with your extra hour.

First, though, in the absence of any cosmic gift of fabricated time, how do we gain an extra hour of preparation and/or rehearsal time?  By planning the presentation development like we would a project, we can capture time by minimizing waste.  In other words, by developing clear milestones for preparation and by holding team members accountable to preparation deliverables, any team can significantly decrease the amount of time it takes to create a good presentation.  And, by establishing realistic milestones right up to the time the team leaves for the interview, we can capture that extra hour between the final rehearsal and the time we leave.

Before writing about what we can do with that time – there are so many possibilities – I should establish what teams and individual speakers should not do.  Teams that practice right up to the time they leave for the interview create nervous speakers and risk being “flat” in the actual performance.  Team members who fiddle with their visuals and PPT slides up until “go live,” create anxiety for themselves and others and buy themselves enormous risk of failure of both content and technology in the actual interview.  And, please, don’t spend your hour rewriting your notes.  Not only will you waste time, but you’ll actually decrease the value of any notes because your eye will no longer recognize the shapes and patterns of words on the page.  Finally, don’t go to your office and return emails or solve problems of your day. The hour before the team leaves for the interview is a time to prepare, to relax, and to get ready.

The hour before the team leaves for the interview can be a gift and can be the most important period of time of all.  Successful teams finish their team rehearsal at least an hour before the team leaves.  These teams keep speakers together to have a snack, rehearse Q and A, and work logistics. This enables each team member to leave for the interview rested, relaxed, and confident. 

In some cases, I put teams through a “blocking” rehearsal.  Blocking, a term borrowed from the theater, means to put speakers through the movement of the interview without practicing the actual content.  This helps speakers know who is on their left and who is on their right, where they move in the space, and where to find visuals.  Blocking creates confidence in movement and interaction.  And, most importantly, it reduces uncertainty and burns off energy to help team members relax into the process of speaking.

In the final hour before departure, I sometimes recommend to particularly nervous speakers that they take a walk around the building, speaking their content out loud to themselves or another team member.  In this way, the speaker reinforces the “body memory” necessary to link content to delivery and s/he continues to manage nervous energy.  Some of my most memorable presentations involved long walks with principal speakers who went on to give the best presentation in the interview room before the real selection committee.

For particularly nervous speakers, helping them breathe can be a huge help. It sounds strange –and sometimes it is – but reminding a speaker to take deep breaths can be enormously helpful.  Getting away from the bustle of energy to sit in a quiet room and calmly breathe in and out can be the best strategy for managing frayed nerves. Let the marketing professionals pack the team up for the interview.

On this day of extra time, I wish each team an extra hour to get ready for each interview.  While the rest of the year only affords us 24 hours in each day, by proper planning and time management, teams can capture an hour to get speakers really ready to present their best and most relaxed selves before selectors.

Election Day Thoughts on Social Media/Marketing

It’s been a long and particularly difficult election season; I’m so tired of negative ads about candidates, issues, and propositions.   Despite my election exhaustion, however, I am hopeful that the majority of my clients, friends, and family have stood up for democracy and voted today.  It really doesn’t matter to me how you vote – just that you do so in a timely and thoughtful manner. 

This election day, I’m amazed at how many politically insensitive statements I’m reading from friends and colleagues about the issues in today’s election on both Facebook and Linked In. This makes me think about how professionals should use social media as compared with our high school and college aged counterparts. 

I’m a fan of Facebook (I love reading what many of you are up to – and it’s nice to know my children are alive and well when I’m not in daily contact). I have a Linked In account, which I use sporadically. As you can read, I maintain a regular blog.   And, at Communication Resources, we send out tweets about articles and events – though I have to admit someone does this for me as I’m not as technically savvy as you might think. 

As technical professionals, we should be different kinds of Facebook users.  We need to hold ourselves to a different standard of care relative to what and how we write.  Most of us in marketing and business development use a variety of social media modalities to report on issues and ideas (as in a blog), highlight events or accomplishments (as in Twitter), and connect with colleagues and clients (as in Linked In, etc.).  However, I’m finding less and less care is being taken in what and how we communicate in these venues.

I’d like to propose a new standard of communication be adopted by all of us who make use of a range of social media/marketing venues. 

My father, a long-time attorney and my business mentor, taught me three things about writing:

1) Never write anything you wouldn’t want read back to you in court.  This sounds strange for social media, which was intended to be more immediate and “edgy.” But remember, the way we use social media is to create an image of our businesses and ourselves.  Posting political statements undermines relationships and exhibits a lack of sensitivity to others’ viewpoints.  All of us need to remember that what we write exists forever as a statement of who we are, what we believe in, and the professionalism of ourselves and our businesses.  So, be thoughtful and careful about what you write and to whom you write it.  If you have a business Facebook (or other venue) account, keep it professional and leave the chatter to the kids. 

2) If you are going to write it down, make it complete, objective, and verifiable.  Blogs were never meant to be conversational.  In my opinion, it’s a mistake to write opinions as facts or to post thoughts that haven’t been vetted.  Blogs written for business purposes shouldn’t be merely stream of consciousness – they are another important vehicle for readers to understand you and your business perspectives.  Assume your words may be printed, copied, and distributed. Take the same care with this writing as you would a letter, a report, or an article.  Don’t write negative things that may hurt you (or others) later.  Check your facts.  Reread before you hit “post”. 

3)Whatever you write should pass the Mom-Test by being exceptionally well-written.  My mother is a linguist, champion Scrabble player, and the best editor in the business.  Passing the Mom-Test meant that any document had to be well-written.  I still hold myself to the standard that anything I write should be well punctuated, grammatically correct, and spellchecked.   Fortunately, my mother (at 83 years of age) is still ever-vigilant, watching my writing and others’ for hanging prepositions, verb-tense agreement, or the lack of a referent.  

For those of you not acquainted with my mother, The Elements of Style is still a great resource and I encourage regular bloggers (and in fact, anyone who writes regularly) to make active use of it.  Read it – it’s quite good and still – for me – the definitive work on what good writing looks like.  In addition, find and use a good editor.  Read through and check the quality of what you write.  Remember, what you write is a reflection of you and your firm.

Social Media venues like Blogger, Facebook, and Linked In provide excellent vehicles for our firms to get the word out about products, services, areas of expertise, and new ideas.  But, as with any written form of communication, these venues come with the responsibility to take great care with what we write and to uphold traditional conventions of good writing.   Communicating through a social media venue doesn’t absolve us from the responsibility to adhere to the standards of good writing.  If we want to reverse the downward trajectory of quality writing in this country, it starts with us.